Database vs embedded systems (Excel or else)

[kennyden]

Hello,

I'm new to VB in MS Excel and I have some very specific questions before I dig into it further. But first, here is basically what I'm trying to do :

I need to upload data (such as dates, names etc..) to my embedded application which runs on a microcontroller. This uctrl has a USB host interface.

So the way I want to do it would be for a user to:
1) In windows XP, enter data in say, an excel file
2) save it in a CSV format to a USB flash drive
3) Connect that USB key to my embedded system and have the uctrl read that file and update its internal memory
________________________

I'm thinking of building an excel template with VB macros for date and time pickers etc..

Questions:
1) Besides Excel, would you know of a small customizable stand-alone database software that could allow me to save its user filled data in a simple file format (such as CSV in excel) ? Ideally. it wouls also need to support password protection.

2) If not, can I use macros and templates in Excel and still be able to only save its user filled data ?

Thanks for your help.

Ken

 

[xwb]

How are you on C++ or SQL? Have a look at SQLite.

 

[kennyden]

Hello xwb,

Well, I'm not bad in C, C++, MFC and PHP/MySQL. However, I'm really trying to avoid this sort of programming. Besides, I don't really need database specific operations (shouldn't have mentionned the word "database" in my heading )

All I need really is for users to enter data in a file in a structured, formated way so that it can be transmitted to my embedded system via a USB port/drive. That system will be lacking any form of input peripherals such as a keypoard or Irda port or else to save on cost.

I could well develop my own MFC stand alone app. but again this will take some time + debugging where all I need is a simple way of asking users for some specific data. That is why I saw Excel as a nice, readily available way of gathering data while being able to format the data, filter it for errors through a VB script etc..

The problem with Excel is that I loose password protection if I don't save my file in a .xls format and I don't know if I can only save the user filled data and not the headers, or other unwanted data.

Being a hardware eng. I was wondering if you software people knew of a quick and easy stand alone, royalty free database app. that would allow allow me to do this.

BTW, Thanks for your quick reply.

Ken

 

[kennyden]

I found what I was looking for : "Database Designer 10.4L" from Ezyware.

If you guys have a recommendation for another similar please feel free to let me know.

Thanks

Ken

 

[xwb]

Here's one but you have to be on the internet to use it. I don't know the actual webpage for it but here's a starting point

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/tour1.html

It is basically spreadsheets that you can share across the internet. They will save in xls format but don't have some of the fancy features (which you won't be using anyway since they don't exist in CSV either) like text rotation and grouping.