Datasheet

Row 3 shows or describes another item, coffee, also at Sams Grocery, for $8.
In the same way, the other rows of the super-sized grocery list show items
that you will buy. For each item, the table identifies the store, the item, the
quantity, and the price.
Building Tables
You build a table that you want to later analyze by using Excel in one of
two ways:
 Export the table from a database.
 Manually enter items into an Excel workbook.
Exporting from a database
The usual way to create a table to use in Excel is to export information from a
database. Exporting information from a database isn’t tricky. However, you
need to reflect a bit on the fact that the information stored in your database
is probably organized into many separate tables that need to be combined
into a large flat-file database or table.
In Chapter 2, I describe the process of exporting data from the database and
then importing this data into Excel so it can be analyzed. Hop over to that
chapter for more on creating a table by exporting and then importing.
Even if you plan to create your tables by exporting data from a database,
however, read on through the next paragraphs of this chapter. Understanding
the nuts and bolts of building a table makes exporting database information
to a table and later using that information easier.
Building a table the hard way
The other common way to create an Excel table (besides exporting from a
relational database) is to do it manually. For example, you can create a table
in the same way that I create the grocery list shown in Figure 1-2. You first
enter field names into the first row of the worksheet and then enter individ-
ual records, or items, into the subsequent rows of the worksheet. When a
table isn’t too big, this method is very workable. This is the way, obviously,
that I created the table shown in Figure 1-2.
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Part I: Where’s the Beef?
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