There is RExcel (available by downloading the CRAN package RExcelInstaller. It allows to transfer data between R and Excel, and run R code from within Excel. So you can start with your data in Excel, let R do an analysis, and transfer the results back to Excel. You can write VBA macros which do this, but "hidden from exposure", so the Excel user does not even notice that R is doing the hatd work. It also has an Excel worksheet function RApply which allows to call an R function from an Excel cell formula. =RApply("rfun",A1) would apply the R function rfun to the value in cell A1. If the value in A1 changes, Excel will force R to recalculate the formula.
There is a (half hour long) video demo about RExcel at http://rcom.univie.ac.at/RExcelDemo/ http://rcom.univie.ac.at/ has more information about the project. For recent information, visit the Wiki on this site. This site also has the alpha version of an OpenOffice add-in giving roughly the same functionality. It is available at http://rcom.univie.ac.at/download/ROOo/ The main source of information about this project is the mailing list. You can subscribe also via the project server, http://rcom.univie.ac.at ohri2...@gmail.com wrote: > Even using the VBA back of Excel to create interfaces with R would > make a lot of sense. Suppose I could have access to VBA macros that > import and export data into R , it would be great. > > The R GUI series like Rattle come even closer to Excel...so a VBA > _R_ExCel package might be useful to ordinary folks . > > Besides Excel costs money, so adding R functions to Open Office would > help both of them ( if not attempted already) > > Regards, > > Ajay > > www.decisionstats.com > > On 1/8/09, Stavros Macrakis <macra...@alum.mit.edu> wrote: >>> "Some people familiar with R describe it as a supercharged version of >>> Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software..." >>> >> It is easy to ridicule this line from the NYT article. But this is not only >> a very sensible comment by a smart reporter, but also one that is good for >> R: >> >> It is good for R because it explains the new (R) in terms of the familiar >> (Excel). Of course R can do far more than Excel ever could, but most >> readers will not be familiar with boxplots, let alone studentized bootstrap >> confidence intervals, yet R is useful even for elementary analyses. >> >> It is good for R because it will bring us new users. I have often looked >> over the shoulders of Excel users struggling to do analyses or construct >> graphics that are just slightly beyond what Excel makes easy. Perhaps the >> dataset is too large, or the analysis doesn't fit into the spreadsheet >> model, or the analysis isn't built-in (and so requires either many manual >> steps, or Visual Basic programming, or an expensive add-on package), or it >> requires data sources that Excel doesn't handle well, or it has gotten so >> complicated that it is unmaintainable in spreadsheet form. R scales better >> in every way: in size of problem, in complexity of analysis, in data >> sources. >> >> It is good for R because it makes it sound unthreatening and easy, both for >> the person who might consider using R rather than Excel, and for his/her >> management. Of course, R is not trivial to learn, but you don't have to >> master everything about it to get useful results (just like Excel, I might >> add). >> >> It is good for R because it reminds us that there are other useful computing >> paradigms that we can learn from. The spreadsheet model, including instant >> update, is compelling for a wide range of problems. I have not used any of >> the R/Excel interface packages, but presumably they combine the advantages >> of the approaches. Perhaps there is room for not just integrating R with >> Excel, but for incorporating the core ideas of Excel into R in some >> intelligent way. >> >> It is good for R because it shows areas where R can be improved. Excel >> makes it very easy to present tabular data and format it. It makes it very >> easy to work with summary/contingency tables (pivot tables) interactively >> and only a little more difficult to do drill-down. In all cases, its >> functionality is limited, but what it can do, it does well. >> >> It is good for R because it reminds us that there are many people using >> other tools who could benefit from outreach from the R community, both >> through tools (smoother interoperability) and through education. >> >> All in all, characterizing R as a supercharged version of Excel makes a lot >> of sense. >> >> -s >> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >> >> ______________________________________________ >> R-help@r-project.org mailing list >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com > Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.5/1882 - Release Date: 1/8/2009 > 8:13 AM > -- Erich Neuwirth, University of Vienna Faculty of Computer Science Computer Supported Didactics Working Group Visit our SunSITE at http://sunsite.univie.ac.at Phone: +43-1-4277-39464 Fax: +43-1-4277-39459 ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.