I've been using Symtrax's Compleo Explorer 3.1 for years. It allows you to flip spool files to MS Word, Excel, Adobe PDF, Email, etc. <p>You can save templates to use again and again for spool files that are formatted the same. <p>Combined with their Supervisor product, you can automate the process. We schedule the job, when the spool file is generated, Supervisor picks it up, formats it with Explorer, then Emails or Archives the final document, then it goes back and deletes the original spool file. <p>golf anyone?

In addition to the third party solutions suggested by Bob, consider ariadne software's Slipstream & CoolSpools products. We have been very please with the flexability and performace of their products, as well as their technical support.

I use Visual Basic to run a CL program to convert data to a CSV file and send to the IFS, then open up a spreadsheet, paste the new data, and format (complete with custom colors, borders, row heights, number type, etc.). The user can choose from several selections of queries and libraries which are passed as parms thru the cl program, and they can even select records just as if they were in the query "select records" screen. You just got to get creative.

Why not just use VBA and ADO within Excel to return the data straight back to the spreadsheet?

<i>Why not just use VBA and ADO within Excel to return the data straight back to the spreadsheet?</i> <p>Because then you have business rules on how to extract the data embedded redundantly in every copy of this spreadsheet. And if a rule changes, you have to hunt down every copy of the XLS and give the user a new copy. Ugh. It's better to have an RPG program generate a CSV and email that to the user. This centralizes the rules. <p>Chris

Why spend a bunch of time writing a program that then has to be maintained when you can purchase a product like SpoolFlex for less the $2,000 and spend your free time on bigger and better projects. <BR>
SpoolFlex is fully automated iSeries AS/400 based solution, no programming required. They offer a free trial www.drvtech.com

CPYTOIMPF FROMFILE(lib/myfile) <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;TOSTMF('/HOME/USERS/john/data.CSV') <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;MBROPT(*REPLACE) <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;STMFCODPAG(*PCASCII) <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;RCDDLM(*CRLF) <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;DTAFMT(*DLM) <BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;FLDDLM(',') <p>Just have the user map to \iseriesnetserversharename

This is a discussion about <B>Copying Data to MS Excel</b>.<p align='center'><a href=http://www.mcpressonline.com/mc? This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it @.6b34013f>Click here for the article</a>.</p>

This works great until you realize that you may have text fields with embedded double quotes, apostrophes, and commas. <p>Placed in a certain way, these characters can ruin your entire morning. <p>Dave