Re^5: Excel automatically pulling data from Perl?

Oh, thanks very much for that. I'll try and be less dialect-specific in future.

Hmm...digging through the PostgreSQL docs, I see that it should be possible to have PG user-defined-functions in perl, via a perl plugin for PG.

So I guess you might be able to do some appropriate CREATE FUNCTION calls to stash some perl code within your db server and then define some PG views in terms of these functions.

Or is this adding too much complexity, especially since the HTTP solution exists?

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Re^6: Excel automatically pulling data from Perl? by tilly (Archbishop) on Jun 29, 2007 at 16:54 UTC
The complexity that it adds which I really don't like is that it moves code out of a directory under revision control and into the database. Sure, if people are good about it, you can keep them in sync. But why let the issue come up if there is a choice?	[reply]
Re^7: Excel automatically pulling data from Perl? by jbert (Priest) on Jul 01, 2007 at 16:45 UTC
Very good point. Of course, a cron which regularly checks the stored function from the db against a copy in the version control system and updates the VCS (and possibly complains somewhere via email) if the db copy changes is pretty easy, but is also just another thing to go wrong. Then again, you could argue that your db schema is as much a part of your app as such stored functions and the same applies to them. If you already have scripts to recreate your schema under version control (which some people do) then you could consider this as part of the same? Sorry for continuing this theme ad nauseum, I'm just intrigued by the pros and cons of this.	[reply]
Re^8: Excel automatically pulling data from Perl? by tilly (Archbishop) on Jul 02, 2007 at 20:43 UTC
Yeah, the pros and cons of this go back and forth for some time. At some point the decision comes down to personal taste. In this case I've decided to keep it out of the database. Under different circumstances, I might choose to put it into the database.	[reply]