Figure 1-4: Create a different file for each form on your Web site in .NET

Drawing UPC Code in .NET Figure 1-4: Create a different file for each form on your Web site

Modify the File Name field to point to a new file The file always has a CSV extension You use a separate file for each form on your site so that it s easy to retrieve the data and analyze it Excel offers great analysis features, but you can use a database such as Access, MySQL, or SQL Server when you want traditional storage capabilities

Normally, you view the CSV file as text in FrontPage by double-clicking the file However, FrontPage lacks analysis capability and it s very hard to perform tasks such as sorting the data A better option is to use Excel to view, edit, and manage the data as needed, even when you eventually display it on a Web page To open the file in Excel, right-click the file in the Folder List and choose Open With Microsoft Office Excel from the context menu Excel opens the file and displays it as a table You can now use any Excel feature to work with the data

You can either create your data in Excel or import data from another application but Excel won t recognize your data as a table unless you follow some specific rules: The first row of data always contains the field names The actual data doesn t start until the second row When you fail to observe this first rule, you find that manipulating the data is much harder and some features won t work You have to provide data entries for every field of every row An empty (or null) entry can cause problems with some Excel features If you put a nonentry (such as N/A or 0) in some fields, Excel is at least satisfied that there s something in there, and keeps working The spreadsheet must contain a named range of cells that act as the database Make sure you include the field names in the range To create a named range, select the cells you want to use as the database and click the Name Box field of the Formula toolbar Type the name you want to use for the named range and press Enter The named range can t include any spaces or special characters A database table is always square every row has the same number of columns You can t create a table that has some optional entries in some fields and not in others Make sure every field contains just one value and every record contains entries for every field The SampleDataxls file provided with the source code for this chapter on the Wiley Web site shows how to create a simple table on the Simple Table tab

You can create links to Excel using a number of techniques How you go about it depends on the output you expect Excel to provide and the level of interactivity the user requires The most straightforward linking mechanism relies on creating a database link This technique works with a number of Microsoft database products, including Excel, Access, and SQL Server

You must create a new connection at least once while using FrontPage A new connection can use any Excel file The following steps describe how to create an Excel link:

You see the Database Results Wizard dialog box shown in Figure 1-5 FrontPage provides support for both ASP and ASPNET scripts when working with database connections Only use the ASPNET option when you have the NET Framework installed on the server Excel only supports two connection modes You can use an existing database connection or you can create a new database connection

You see the New Database Connection dialog box shown in Figure 1-6