The Excel interface

The spreadsheet interfaces defined by the module mmsheet do not require any extra setup or additional software as this is the case with ODBC. The dedicated Excel driver excel can only be used if MS Excel is installed and licensed. The drivers xls, xlsx, and csv are independent of Excel and can be used, including, on non-Windows platforms.

Excel spreadsheets are accessed by simply stating their file name, preceded by the driver prefix as shown below (see Section Spreadsheets: Excel and CSV).

Although certain spreadsheets support some ODBC functionality, we recommend to use one of the dedicated spreadsheet interfaces in the place of an ODBC connection. The access to the spreadsheet is more direct and hence more efficient and these interfaces remove some restrictions and possible sources of problems specific to the use of ODBC technology with Excel spreadsheets.