OpenSesame: Edit view in spreadsheet let's you see changes

What has been said:

573.1. Stephen Hood (03/22/2007 10:07 AM)

Ben this is just great stuff...few questions

1. Does Editview respect embedded views filtering

2. If not will filtering be possible via parameters

3. Would joining multiple views be possible based on some parameters

4. Will there be something similar for collections built behind the scenes.

5. Will it accept spreadsheet templates as a parameter so you can launch people into a certain look and feel for reporting etc.

6. Will non-joined views reference the original doc for easy editing of the Notes doc.

7. Can the spreadsheet component be stripped down so it can be "embedded" in the Notes Gui (or at least have that visual effect) preferably NOT an OLE kind of model, etc.

8. Will this be available as small component in size and price :) for the VSMB market.

9. Are you expecting to have this ready the same time Notes 8 ships

If you need someone to provide beta feedback - let me know when your ready to start that process.

573.2. Ben Langhinrichs (03/22/2007 11:55 AM)

OK, I'll do my best to answer all these (and I'm glad to hear any questions people have, because they pften give me good ideas):

1. Does Editview respect embedded views filtering

I'm not quite sure about the embedded view scenario, but that would make sense.

2. If not will filtering be possible via parameters

I am looking into the best ways to do this.It is certain that you will be able to use only documents you have selected, and it is quite likely that you could use only documents that match a formula. I'm not quite sure beyond that.

3. Would joining multiple views be possible based on some parameters

It is relatively easy to do, but I had not thought of it. I'll think about what that would look like.

4. Will there be something similar for collections built behind the scenes.

Certainly. There is no great need for the view except as a design to show widths and colors. The documents themselves are identified uniquely, so an obvious use would be dynamic pseudo-views.

5. Will it accept spreadsheet templates as a parameter so you can launch people into a certain look and feel for reporting etc.

I hope so. This was the original plan, but it is a bit of a challenge to implement flexibly but clearly. In other words, it is not hard to do, but it is hard to do elegantly. There are many issues, such as whether to allow some number of rows per page and then start over. While it is all possible, I am trying to avoid making a full report writer.

6. Will non-joined views reference the original doc for easy editing of the Notes doc.

No matter what method is used, each row is identified under the covers by a UNID, so it is easy to get back to the original document. This would be true as well of joined views. In theory, you could even have multiple databases represented and include the replica as well, but I am not sure I'll go there.

7. Can the spreadsheet component be stripped down so it can be "embedded" in the Notes Gui (or at least have that visual effect) preferably NOT an OLE kind of model, etc.

This is what I wish you could do, but there seems to be relatively little exposed to allow it. If I can do it, I'll do it, but I wouldn't count on it.

8. Will this be available as small component in size and price :) for the VSMB market.

I imagine it will be fairly cheap for the VSMB market, but no pricing has been determined. What would it be worth to you? As for size, it will be small and fast for any market.

9. Are you expecting to have this ready the same time Notes 8 ships

Absolutely, that is the plan. I should point out that this is only one of four or five OpenSesame projects/products, so marketability may determine which are ready for Notes 8 launch and which will not. I should also point out that these will work with Notes 7 and OpenOffice.org, although I don't know how large that market is. I am also looking into the possibility of have a version that works with Excel 2007, or even Excel 2003.

If you need someone to provide beta feedback - let me know when your ready to start that process.

I'll keep you in mind.

573.3. Stephen Hood (03/22/2007 05:37 PM)

8. I'll have to think about that more. There is certainly no doubt the time to develop internally isn't worth it for most SMB's but might be for larger orgs.

It's also relative/will get compared to the pricing of a notes express license..so not sure.

What are the other 4 since that might be a relevant to the above - if they are packaged together for example.

Thanks for clarifying all the questions.