Beginning Excel Services (Programmer to Programmer)

Given the prominent role Excel plays in today's companies, the need for users to better manage, distribute, and incorporate spreadsheets in larger applications is greater than ever. Written by Microsoft's lead developers of Excel Services, this book shares their insights into the benefits and usage of Excel's new server technology so that you can solve business problems. It walks you through all of the functionality of Excel Services and details how to incorporate it in your solutions.
You'll begin with the basics, learning what Excel Services is for and how it is used. The authors also show you how to deploy an evaluation copy of the server and effectively administer it. You'll delve into the server's architecture and get an in depth understanding of how the server works. You will then find step-by-step guidelines for using the server in each of the scenarios for which it was designed.

What you will learn from this book

Methods for publishing a workbook to the server and viewing it in the browser
How to use Excel Services to control the workbook distribution
Ways to leverage Excel Services for reporting, interacting with data, dashboards, and key performance indicators (KPIs)
Tips for offloading calculation-intensive workbooks to a server Farm
How to develop applications leveraging the Excel Server's web services API
How to query data from external databases into Excel Services
Techniques for configuring Excel Services to mitigate security threats

This book is for anyone who wants to learn what Excel Services is, what it does, what the benefits are, and how to get started. You should have an understanding of Excel, basic knowledge of Excel 2007, and familiarity with Windows SharePoint Services.