Chapter 17
Playing Records with Database Functions
In This Chapter
Understanding an Excel database structure
Figuring out how criteria work
Adding, averaging, and counting database records
Testing for duplicate records
Believe it or not, an Excel worksheet has the same structure as a database table. A database table has fields and records; an Excel worksheet has columns and rows. Same thing. Given this fact, why not ask questions of, or query, your information in much the same way as is done with a database?
In this chapter, I tell you how to use Excel’s database functions to get quick answers from big lists. Say you have a client list on a worksheet — name, address — that sort of thing. You want to know how many clients are in New York. You may think about sorting your list by state and then counting the number of rows. Forget it. That’s the old way! In this chapter, I show you how to do this sort of thing with a single function.
Putting Your Data into a Database Structure
To use ...