mx

Now MS Excel and MUMPS database works together, all m-commands are located in cells of Excel

How it works :

• Information is kept not in the Excel books, but on the server in the form of globals MUMPS and virtual Excel sheets
• When user connects to the server, his real Excel sheet fills with data from required virtual sheet, also, any cell of the sheet can give a query to the database, the query result is displayed. Sheets are closely interrelated – changes are displayed on both
• User works with the sheet, mx-triggers (commands of MUMPS in cells) monitor his actions and initiate the necessary procedures
• After disconnection, the real Excel sheet is not being saved, however data still remains on the server if necessary
• MX work without additional programming of VBA-macros or MUMPS, enough mx-formulas

(MUMPS is an acronym for the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System, also known as M)

MUMPS: http://mumps.sourceforge.net/docs.html#commands
https://community.intersystems.com/post/intersystem-cache-—-high-performence-and-operations-dbms https://docs.intersystems.com/irislatest/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI.Page.cls?KEY=AFL_globals https://docs.intersystems.com/irislatest/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI.Page.cls?KEY=GGBL_using_storing https://community.intersystems.com/post/m-cell

Download IRIS: https://www.intersystems.com/try-intersystems-iris-for-free/ https://download.intersystems.com/download/login.csp

Preparation for start MX with Cache 8-bit or unicode, or IRIS InterSystems :

• download the repository as ZIP file, then unzip to a separate folder, for example: to c:\mx\

• if you don’t yet have Cache or IRIS, download and install IRIS, preferably in unicode, on any win-computer

• start IRIS (Cache) terminal, then run the following commands after USER>:

     zn "yournspace"
     Set root = "path on filesystem to which repository was downloaded"
     Do $System.OBJ.ImportDir(root,"vmx.ro","ck",,1) Do ^ZSTU
     ( Alternative option :   USER> zn "yournspace" Do ^%RI Do ^ZSTU  )
  

• edit the [connections] table in the MX_CONFI.xlsb (edit tcp port and $znspace)

• run mx.xlsb (MS EXCEL be sure, required dot . as system-decimal-delimiter) then select and press the big button to connect to the mx-server

you will see sheet with buttons for calling tests and games

notes : - if you import vmx.ro to %SYS as well, MX-server will start automatically.
	- for docker see https://github.com/mx-alex/mx/tree/docker
	- you can test MX without m-server installation - start mx.xlsb and click [test-CACHE-32 bit-internet]


With MX :

• you can create new complex projects, or use MX as an auxiliary tool
• your working Microsoft Excel applications receive powerful support : the MUMPS data server and M-language
• your working Mumps projects (Cache, IRIS, MSM, MiniM) receive an additional EXCEL INTERFACE
• you can use MX as their reporting framework, M creates tables and controls conditional formatting
• there is no problem exporting documents to Excel - with MX you are already in Excel

Using the tool is easy enough.
You write commands in sheet cells in MX_FORMA_TEST.xlsb in design_mode.
Do not use :    write $zv     in m-commands.
Instead of this :   ?=$zv     (or:  ?o ; set oo=$zv  ).  Version will be displayed in this cell.
Question mark to distinguish between mx-formulas and  excel’s native formulas.
In order to open a sheet for editing click the design_mode icon on the top bar MX.
After editing click this icon again for save.
Carefully program For …  loops so as not to cause an infinite loop.
Do not use column “A” - it is reserved for the system.
After running the mx.xlsb macro, you will see a few examples. The easiest to learn is game i15.
Small bonus.  In MX each cell is a mini calculator.
You entered  345+5=    in a cell, and immediately got the result: 350.
Try MX - it's just !