I don't know programming. Is this possible?

[KENNY LIU]

First off let me say that I know very very little about programming and what is or isn't possible.

But I'm planning on building something for a business and outsourcing the development, but first I want to find out if what I am trying to build is even possible.

Here is my project:

Everybody knows that Microsoft Word and Excel don't exactly play nice with each other.

It isn't the easiest thing to move data between excel files and word files.

Is it possible to build a program that integrates "excel type" features into a word processor like Microsoft Word.

I don't need a program that is an exact Microsoft Word + Excel hybrid.

Instead I simply want to build a program that can do both word processing and spreadsheet applications easily and seamlessly within the same program.

Is this possible? Would this be expensive to build (price estimate)? And what language would this be built in?

Thank you to whoever reads and responds to this

[Stewart Ross]

Possible? Yes

Expensive? You bet!

Word and Excel have had twenty years plus of development, involving tens of thousands of person-hours of programming effort. If you want to lauch a quest to write a best-of-both combination I hope you have a lot of time at your disposal and can pay to hire good skills in any of the Windows development languages - you'll need them.

Is this some form of assignment question? I doubt you are seriously setting yourself such a task... Especially as people who don't want to use MS Office can download Open Office, with its own excellent word processor and a separate spreadsheet package, entirely free of charge.

By the way, Word already has calculations built into its table editor - if someone just wants to sum a column in a table that is straightforward to do. I have no idea what you mean when you say that Word and Excel don't play nice with each other - in my experience they do an excellent job of what they are intended to do, and they remain specialist products for a reason - the two applications are not fundamentally the same at all.


-Stewart

[twinnyfo]

Kenny,

I agree with Stewart. What is the reason for this new software development, especially since you admit you have very little programming experience?

As far as integration, I also agree that Word and Excel work great together, as you can import and link Excel Spreadsheet data into Word with no hitch.

Just wondering about the need for something that pretty much already exists.....