james.wilson Posted August 19, 2012 Posted August 19, 2012 We have our own db that we use on the windows machine that does all our costings etc. However i want a mobile version. We all (apart from our sales manager) have windows phone 7's but he has an iphone 4s. I can write code for windows but not ios. I was hoping to make a simple excel spread sheet that is then platform independant. But i want to have a limited amount of products on it. Just for little stuff. ie small commercial and domestic etc. Id like to have a drop down box in the product code column pull data from another sheet etc. But im useless with excel in anything other than basic functions etc. Anyone have anything or ideas where to look. Ill expand it and put back on here if so. Many Thanks securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
alterEGO Posted August 19, 2012 Posted August 19, 2012 Alarm master gives a spreadsheet, I'll have a look tomorrow. Jef will know.
Oxo Posted August 19, 2012 Posted August 19, 2012 Adding a drop list to excel. http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/datamanagementinexcel/qt/20071113_drpdwn.htm
Cubit Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 Drop list might over complicate life. Issues range from the simple stuff like usability (small touch screen as opposed to desktop monitor) right through to perceived excessive delays whilst the machine precesses 'the sheet'. With drop downs you also have the problem of ensuring ALL the formulae and calcs work correctly. Better to keep it simple and and have it all laid out on a sheet. easy to modify and check the changes. Also easier to use in the field then too. Any glaring errors are much more obvious. I put one together a year or three back and it worked quite well.
jb-eye Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 We have our own db that we use on the windows machine that does all our costings etc. However i want a mobile version. We all (apart from our sales manager) have windows phone 7's but he has an iphone 4s. I can write code for windows but not ios. I was hoping to make a simple excel spread sheet that is then platform independant. But i want to have a limited amount of products on it. Just for little stuff. ie small commercial and domestic etc. Id like to have a drop down box in the product code column pull data from another sheet etc. But im useless with excel in anything other than basic functions etc. Anyone have anything or ideas where to look. Ill expand it and put back on here if so. Many Thanks I have an idea James: Dont do it!Sounds to me that your prepaired to loose control; of pricing. A pen and paper solution sound a better idea and quotes are strictly from the office. The amount of time ive offered a rough idea to a customer and they throw it back at you when they get a quote "you told me £x". As a side not i would always preffer to qute a customer rather than time and materials as it inevitably produces a larger proffit. Customers!
MrHappy Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 Sounds to me that your prepaired to loose control; of pricing. I was reading a way of retaining control by having a price manual for all to follow ? Mr Veritas God
james.wilson Posted August 20, 2012 Author Posted August 20, 2012 Yes i want to retain control but use this to give an accurate price that will then be moved to the office system after. When i say platform independant i mean apple, win phone, windows, linux etc. My db will only work on a windows machine. securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
jb-eye Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 Yes i want to retain control but use this to give an accurate price that will then be moved to the office system after. When i say platform independant i mean apple, win phone, windows, linux etc. My db will only work on a windows machine. But the info will merge to any appoppsys. James we list our engineer stock on our PDA. The item and price is set from the DB. I dont see why you cant use that info as a drop list then use variables for labuor etc. what im not getting is how you are merging back to office system?Our quotes DB does use a spreed sheet created from quoted DB i never pay it much attention because each item already has a mark up plus an instal time. You looking for a basic material cost + mark up + labour + contingency +++ Customers!
sixwheeledbeast Posted August 20, 2012 Posted August 20, 2012 When i say platform independant i mean apple, win phone, windows, linux etc. My db will only work on a windows machine. LibreOffice Gnumeric OpenOffice Calligra Are all alternative spreadsheet programs (they all open .xls files to some extent), not certain if any are available for iOS or WP7. If you have them installed on all your machines, you can use there default open source file format (.odb, .gnu) for best compatibility. Is this what you require when you say "platform independent"? There is an iOS spreadsheet application that supports .xls. Another option, if you have data connection on all devices could be google docs via browser. I use Gnumeric and Libre for all my personal spreadsheets but all my devices/computers are of Debian derivative. If I need them for a different OS, I re-save them in .xls format. Although I found out the latest Excel doesn't do a bad job of opening .odb format files. There are spreadsheet programs that work on all desktop OS' it's finding one compatible with mobileOS' too.
james.wilson Posted August 20, 2012 Author Posted August 20, 2012 Dont over complicate this. This is purly for creating ball park figures when with a client. Quotes will still be done on the db. My point is that both myself and sales either are too high or too low. Never get it right in our heads. Its a tool to be closer ball park wise thats all securitywarehouse Security Supplies from Security Warehouse Trade Members please contact us for your TSI vetted trade discount.
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