The OAS AdXML Kit: What is it for, how to install & use

I have developed a simple DLL, to facilitate code development in Excel. Without this component it would be necessary to write some extra code in Excel to develop our examples. As I have mentioned before, I am trying to avoid focusing too much on code (but we will need quite a bit) and focus more on getting results -this is really what matters. The DLL is available through SourceForge (click here to download) and the installation follows a standard Windows installation routine. I will make the source code of this DLL available through GitHub, for those who prefer to see what is under the hood.

Once it is installed, it is quite simple to activate for use in VBA (MS-Office macro language). You will, in VBA screen, click on Tools > References and select OAS Integration Module as in the image below.

This will allow you to reference the OAS API by simply creating an object. An example of this follows, using VBA;

The worksheet associated with the code.

MS-Excel: Defending my choice

The examples I have outlined (see old post) have opted to develop using primarily Excel + VBA (we will use some PHP as well). Some of you may cringe at this choice -given that many in this industry are proficient in languages such as PHP, Ruby and Java... But my reasoning is simply that I wanted to develop examples using a tool that is available to most end-users.

Also this is not really a blog about coding, but more about showing with practical examples what can be done with OAS API. Additionally, Excel will allow us to avoid side issues such as some basic math -which we will not have to code for, we can simply use the spreadsheet. To avoid a lot of overhead in learning how to use SOAP through Excel, I have made available through SourceForge (link) a DLL which should facilitate access to the API.