Database Connectivity in Microsoft
Office Macintosh Applications
By Jim Gordon, co-author of Office 2008 for
Mac All-in-One For
Dummies There are several components of
Microsoft Office that provide connections to database tables.
These connections can be used for a variety of purposes such as mail
merge, tables, database reports, graphs, and pivot tables in Microsoft
Office Macintosh applications including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Glossary
Connectivity in
Microsoft Office for Macintosh uses these technologies: AppleScript
- programming language to
automate processes and develop new applications DDE
– Dynamic Data Exchange connects
applications to data sources Linking
- By using special paste techniques you can create data links between
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Microsoft
Query
– A graphical user
interface for working with database tables. MS Query ships with Office
98, 2001 and 2004. An installer download is available for Office v.X
(see below). ODBC
– Open Database Connectivity
connects applications to data sources ODBC
Add-In – Provides added
functionality for automating SQL using Visual Basic for Applications.
This add-in shipped with Office 98 and 2001. It is not available for
Office 2004 or v.X. ODBC
Driver – acts as intermediary to
connect Office applications to database tables made by Office and other
applications. These
drivers must be purchased from 3rd party providers. OLE – Object Linking and Embedding REALBasic
- programming language to
automate processes and develop new applications SQL
– Structured Query Language
provides a means to select records and manipulate tables VBA
– Visual Basic for Applications
programming language to automate processes and develop new applications Web
Query – Connects applications to
web page HTML tables WordBasic
- older programming language to
automate processes in Microsoft Word Word
Field – special way to use and
format data in Microsoft Word XML
- programming language to
automate processes and develop new applications. New in Excel 2004.
Features specific to Macintosh
Versions of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
VBA support is not included
with
Office 2008. It will return in the next full version of Office.
Microsoft Word 2008 directly
supports
everything above except for ODBC, VBA and XML. ODBC can be used with
Excel 2008. Word’s Data Merge Manager can import the resulting data.
Excel 2008 supports everything
above
except for VBA and the ODBC Visual Basic add-in. Excel 2008 has
excellent XML
support. Excel makes a good data source for Word’s Data Merge Manager.
See Using Microsoft Office as a Relational
Database for details.
DDE and ODBC do not work
directly in PowerPoint.
Word 2008 directly supports
everything above except for ODBC and XML.
Microsoft Query is included
with the
standard install of Office 2008.
Microsoft Graph is included
with the
standard install of Office 2008 using the Insert > Object feature in
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft Graph is provided for backwards
compatibility. Don't rely on it being there in future versions of
Office.