Frequently Asked Questions
The following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) can help you answer some common
questions. If you do not find your question listed below or the answer is not
what you are looking for, please feel free to contact StrikeIron at support or call StrikeIron at +1-919-467-4545 opt.
3.
Click here to see the entire list of FAQs.
SOA Express for Excel
- Q: What happend to OnDemand Web
Services for Excel?
A: Nothing--we've simply renamed the product to
StrikeIron SOA Express for Excel to keep up with the growing trend of
Enterprises moving to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). You still get the
same robust features and the ability to use SOA Express for Excel for FREE
with StrikeIron Marketplace Web Services.
Note: If you have an
older version of OnDemand for Excel and want to upgrade to SOA Express for
Excel, the upgrade will erase your Professional Edition License Key. Simply
contact StrikeIron Support at support or call
StrikeIron at +1-919-467-4545 opt. 3. to get help with accessing your license
key.
- Q: What is SOA Express for
Excel?
A: StrikeIron SOA Express for Excel
(previously known as OnDemand Web Services for Excel) connects the front
office to the heterogeneous back office – empowering business users by
providing simple drag and drop data service directly into Microsoft Excel
spreadsheets. This offloads the high cost and time associated with data
integration efforts required by IT and instead gives business users greater
office productivity at their fingertips. Now anyone can create engaging,
interactive composite applications fed by real-time data.
- Eliminate the cost of I.T. involvement and support
- Create "live" spreadsheets that access real-time data via
Web services
- Turn Excel into a services-driven composite application
builder
- Eliminate the high cost of current specialized reporting
applications
- Eliminate the need to export the data to another
analytical application
- Use Microsoft Excel as a rich client to leverage SOA
investments
- Easy, integrated access to all Web services from
StrikeIron's Web Services Marketplace
At the same time you can gain a whole new level of benefits:
- Easier customizability by any Excel user
- Easier to get real-time data access and reporting
- Easier to do real-time analysis
- Easier to maintain control and provide data consistency
- Q: What's the difference between the
free Marketplace vs Professional Editions?
A: StrikeIron SOA
Express for Excel is free if you are using it with StrikeIron Marketplace Web
Services.
If you wish to use Web services outside of the StrikeIron
Marketplace, you will need to purchase the Professional Edition. You may trial
the Professional Edition for thirty (30) days. At the end of the trial, if
you do not purchase the Professional Edition, you simply revert back to the
Marketplace edition.
If you choose to use the Professional Edition in
the future, another trial is no longer available at that time.
- Q: Where can I get sample workbooks
that work with StrikeIron Marketplace Web Services?
A: StrikeIron
has created over 30 Sample Workbooks that utilize the various Web services
available from StrikeIron’s Web Services Marketplace. These "live-data"
workbooks are not only solutions as is, but also demonstrate the kinds of
rich-client, services-driven applications that can be created using SOA Express for Excel. Click here to download
the free sample workbooks.
- Q: Can I private label SOA Express for
Excel for our internal Web services?
A: Yes! StrikeIron also has a
private-label, branded edition available for resellers and partners. For more
information on a private label version, contact sales@strikeiron.com or call
+1.919.467.4545 opt. 2.
- Q: How can I get a free trial of SOA
Express for Excel Professional Edition?
A: Simply go to the SOA Express for Excel landing page. Select the “Free Download” button on this page. StrikeIron SOA
Express for Excel is free if you are using it with StrikeIron Marketplace Web
Services.
If you wish to use Web services outside of the StrikeIron
Marketplace, you will need to purchase the Professional Edition. You may trial
the Professional Edition for thirty (30) days. At the end of the trial, if
you do not purchase the Professional Edition, you simply revert back to the
Marketplace edition.
If you choose to use the Professional Edition in
the future, another trial is no longer available at that time.
- Q: How do I subscribe to SOA Express
for Excel Professional Edition?
A: Simply go to the SOA Express for Excel landing page and select “Buy” to purchase the product.
- Q: What do I need to access Web
services from SOA Express for Excel?
A: To access the StrikeIron Marketplace you
must be connected to the Internet and your firewalls must allow the
connection. To access your internal UDDI directories of Web services you must
be connected to your internal network.
You can then use the Search
capabilities to access those directories and search on a term. Then simply
highlight the Web service and select it to work with it in Excel.
- Q: How can I access an internal UDDI
from SOA Express for Excel?
A: You can start a new Web service
either by entering a known WSDL URL location, or by searching the StrikeIron
Web Services Marketplace, or by searching a Universal Description, Discovery,
and Integration directory (UDDI). A UDDI is an XML-based Internet directory
that is often used to store and manage internal Web services within your
company. Contact your administrator for information on how to access your
internal UDDI.
To search a UDDI:
a: Select UDDI.
From the corresponding drop-down list, select one of four predefined
registry locations or enter the location of any UDDI registry to which you
have access. When you enter a UDDI location it is automatically saved in the
drop-down list. You can delete a location by selecting it, clicking your right
mouse button, then selecting Delete.
You can select Options
next to the UDDI location to set parameters for alternative ways to do your
UDDI search.
The Options dialog displays.
- Select Exact Name and/or Case Sensitive to search by those
parameters.
- Modify the search type by Business Name, by Service Name,
or by Web service Operation.
- Select OK.
These optional search settings are saved
for all future UDDI searches.
b. In the <ENTER search
term here> field, enter a general term then select Search. The results
are displayed in the corresponding list below.
c. Highlight the
Web service you want to start then select OK.
The selected Web
service appears in the Web services Definition dialog listing.
- Q: How do I drag-and-drop a Web service
into a spreadsheet?
A: StrikeIron SOA Express for Excel's basic
usage paradigm is quite simple:
- Select the desired Web service(s) you want to start.
- Edit the Web service(s) options to determine which operation and
behaviors to include.
- Drag-and-drop the Web service fields into the spreadsheet.
- Enter input data as required.
- Refresh the Web service to access the most current real-time data and
save.
For step 3, to drag-and-drop fields into the spreadsheet, from
the Web services Definition dialog, double-click on a Web service defined in
this workbook, and then select the Set Input and Set Output
tabs. These tabs present available fields in a familiar tree structure format
providing a lot of flexibility. These tabs present available fields in a
familiar tree structure format providing a lot of flexibility.
You can
drag-and-drop any of the levels of the tree or drag-and-drop individual fields
and place them in the desired location in the spreadsheet. Corresponding
fields are copied to the spreadsheet. Note that selecting the highest level of
the tree copies over all of the corresponding fields below. Bringing in all of
the fields gives you an immediate look at all the data available. However,
since many Web services have a large number of fields you will most likely
find yourself selecting individual fields you need for your specific
application.
For more information please see the SOA Express for
Excel User Guide.
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