Page Comparison

1. Code Language:

   • The code that handles communication with Excel is written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

2. Communication Process:

   • Data is sent and received using HTTP requests.

   • The adapter parses incoming data and formats outgoing data to work with Excel.

3. Configuration Table:

   • A configuration table in Excel determines which web services to query and where to store the data. It contains the following key columns:

     • Enabled - true if the call is executed when pressing the Get Data from Iguana button

     • Table: Specifies where the data will be stored.

       • The adapter will create or update an Excel table object with this name in a tab of the same name.

       • You can change this on the fly simply by editing the name in the Table column. The adapter will create a new tab and a new table when you click on the Get Data from Iguana button.

     • URL: Provides the URL of the Iguana-powered web service to fetch the data.

     • ParamName and ParamValue: Optional parameters that can be used for more advanced customization when querying the web service.

By leveraging Excel table objects, the adapter ensures that data is dynamically updated and formatted properly. This setup provides flexibility for storing and customizing data retrieval and storage processes.

Similarly for sending data we have the following configuration table:

Writing code in Visual Basic for Applications is challenging, so I chose a format that’s simple to parse and generate in VB, avoiding the need for a complex parser.

Since we control both ends of the ‘pipe’ in this case it makes sense to do it this way.

Currently it’s invoking the session API of Iguana itself so every login is done with an Iguana login. I was a little lazy with how I did it - it doesn’t maintain a session.

The authentication is just done using HTTP basic authentication.

One could use #hash_tags on users if one wanted to restrict the data being given to particular users but for this example the code doesn’t do this for simplicity, the code uses Iguana's session API for login, relying on Iguana's own login credentials. However, it doesn't maintain a session and simply authenticates via HTTP basic authentication.

For simplicity, the example code doesn't restrict data access per user, but this could be implemented using #hash_tags if needed.