RExcel Course: 2/3 Jun 2011 (canceled)

The course has been canceled.
Information about the next course will be published on this page in due time.

Following the successful RExcel courses in 2009 and 2010, the next course will be held in June 2011 in the vicinity of Vienna, in Bad Vöslau, Austria.

The main idea is to enable the course participants to develop real-world applications involving RExcel and to understand the main features of the connectivity component statconnDCOM which can also be used to develop other types of office and windows applications.

Understanding the architecture of the integration of R with Microsoft Excel is crucial for being able to understand why an application fails (if it does) and gives you the tools to fix problems in your application or your installation.

In order to achieve this, we will introduce the RExcel environment and the COM server. The integration of the COM server with Excel via RExcel will then be demonstrated on the worksheet and the VBA levels. Additionally, we will show how the components behave in case of failure and provide diagnostics tools and information to you. This will finish the first course day.

On the second course day, an RExcel application will be built from scratch. Ideally, this will use data collected at a wine tasting organized at the previous evening. The objective of this to go through all the common steps which are necessary in a complete development and to introduce some of the attractive features of the R graphics platform.

The course continues with an in-depth study of the COM server and its potential.

After noon, the course will focus on integrating Microsoft Word with R. We will show how to create reports and articles using SWord with in Microsoft Word and also how R can be used to automaticalls create reports in Microsoft Word.

Course outline

The topics covered are

Introductory demonstration
COM server technology explanation
Using and defining Excel worksheet functions accessing R
Using VBA to create subroutines accessing R
Creating a complete small application (from data import to custom application)
Accessing the server with different tools (VB, C#, ...)
Integrating R packages into the Excel user interface
Using SWord to create articles and reports in Word with embedded R code chunks
Automatically creating reports in Microsoft Word using R scripts

Description of the Technical Infrastructure

Embedding R into Microsoft Excel utilizes COM components provided by statconnDCOM and rcom. In the beginning, the installation of all required components for using R within Excel is shown:

R 2.12.2
R package rscproxy
R package rcom
statconnDCOM 3.2
RExcel
SWord 1.0

After installation basic tests are run to verify that all of the parts work as expected. This is a hands-on-experience for all participants. A short introduction into the components and their interaction is provided, so everyone is prepared for a first analysis if anything goes wrong.

Trouble-shooting a not working installation will be shown, including, but not limited to

how to interpret the COM servers' error codes,
where to look for information and
how to debug the installation

Next, we will compare the two COM servers available to embed R into Excel or third party applications and have a look at some specific use-cases where to use any of them. Short examples in VBA will give an introduction into the technology RExcel is built on and provide in-depth information on accessing R and solving issues in your own code.

Short examples integrating other applications into Excel/VBA and R are shown as well (e.g., creating PowerPoint presentations from within R). This also leads to integrating components written in Visual Basic and C# into R and Excel.

The discussion on statconnDCOM Server and rcom continues with:

access Scilab instead of R in your applications and integrate R and Scilab

A special focus is put on enhancing Office integration by providing access to R from within Microsoft Word and to Word from within R.

Course instructors

Thomas Baier (developer of rcom, statconnDCOM and SWord)
Erich Neuwirth (developer of RExcel, applied statistician and consultant)

Organizational structure

4 half days at 2 blocks: 8x90min
Participants are expected to bring their own laptops with Windows and Excel 2003 or 2007/2010 and Word 2003 or 2007/2010 installed.

Location and time

Hotel Stefanie
Badplatz 1
A-2540 Bad Vöslau
Austria
http://www.hotelstefanie.at

Course times

Thursday June 2, 9:00-17:00
Friday June 3, 9:00-17:00

Booking

The course fee is €1200, including lunch and coffee during the breaks, and the dinner with the wine tasting at the first evening. Details on how to pay depend on the country you live in. You will get the information via email when you register.

Until April 15 you can register for the course by sending email to .

The hotel has single and double rooms are available. Single rooms are approx. €60, double rooms are approx. €80 per night, and breakfast is included. Participants are expected to make the hotel reservation on their own behalf. We have reserved rooms for the course, so you should quote the course when making your reservation.

Location

Bad Vöslau is located about 30 km south of Vienna. There is a regional train to Vienna twice every hour until 10:30p.m. approx.

The train connection from Vienna airport to Bad Vöslau also is quite good. There is a train from the airport to Vienna every 30 minutes. You have to change the train once (station Rennweg, same platform level, connecting train ca. 15 min after arrival) to take the regional train to Bad Vöslau (schedule). Total travel time is about 75 minutes.

The hotel web site has more information about the region. There is a bus leaving in front of the hotel bringing you directly into the center of Vienna almost every hour during daytime. Since the course is ending on Friday you may want to spend the weekend after the course in Bad Vöslau. The hotel is prepared to accommodate this if you wish to do it.