[Python-talk] Excel vs. SQLite w Python ?

[Ben Scott]

On Sun, May 18, 2008 at 10:48 AM, Peter Courlis <neat_gent at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Since I add or update data each week, it gets to be time consuming
> to manually add data to each individual cell that I want to
> copy, change, create new data, etc...

  At the risk of being stoned as a heretic: There are features in
Excel which can be used to reduce data entry drudgery.

> Thinking further about this, I wondered if there was a Python module
> that interfaces Excel (or perhaps Perl) ?

  As someone else already mentioned, you can use Python to script
Excel by using Python to access the COM interfaces Excel exposes.
Basically, you'd be able to do the same things VBA does -- just
without the fancy IDE.

  There's also an ODBC driver for Excel.  You should be able to use
that to make your Excel spreadsheet act like a database for Python
purposes.

> So based on limited knowledge, what would you do?

  Ask you for more information.  ;-)  Specifically: Describe what it
is that you're doing.  What does the data describe?  What are the
fields?  What patterns occur in the data, and what constraints are
imposed?  What does the work flow for data entry look like?  What kind
of analysis/reporting are you after?  What's the user community?

  Deciding on tools without analyzing the task first is almost always folly.

-- Ben