rtdfile

MS Excel Real Time Data (RTD) with live TSV File sources

The RTDFile MS Excel add-in lets you automatically retrieve real-time data as it changes, from tab-delimited text files into Microsoft Excel 2002. A cell within the tab-delimited text file is retrieved via the RealTimeData (RTD) function, supplying the RTDFile add-in, the name of the tab-delimited text file, and a cell reference.

Setup

To install the RTDFile add-in, make sure Excel is closed, then run the following command.

regsvr32.exe c:\RTDFile\Debug\rtdfile.dll

Syntax

=RTD("rtdfile",, meta )

=RTD("rtdfile",, filename , cellref )

• "rtdfile" The quoted program name of the RTDFile add-in. Specify it exactly as shown.
• meta One of the following RTDFile keywords (must be quoted):
  • "=version" Returns the RTDFile version
  • "=web" Web address for RTDFile website.
  • "=help" Web address for RTDFile help documentation.
• filename The quoted name of the tab-delimited text file.
• cellref The quoted cell reference in filename.

For additional information, see [How to set up and use the RTD function in Excel] (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289150).

Example: Old Faithful

Examine the sample oldfaithful.txt data file.

    Row 2: Date        Duration        Interruption Time
    Row 3: 1        4.4        78
    Row 4: 1        3.9        74

The corresponding cells in the oldfaithful.xls Excel file has these contents, whose computes values change as the oldfaithful.txt file changes. The Excel file uses its charting feature to graph the data.

    A3: Day
    B3: Duration (mins)
    C3: Interruption (mins)

    A4: =RTD("rtdfile",,file,ADDRESS(ROW()-1,COLUMN(),4))</td>
    B4: =VALUE(RTD("rtdfile",,file,ADDRESS(ROW()-1,COLUMN(),4)))</td>
    C4: =VALUE(RTD("rtdfile",,file,ADDRESS(ROW()-1,COLUMN(),4)))</td>
    D4: =ROW()-3</td>
    
    A5: =RTD("rtdfile",,file,ADDRESS(ROW()-1,COLUMN(),4))</td>
    B5: =VALUE(RTD("rtdfile",,file,ADDRESS(ROW()-1,COLUMN(),4)))</td>
    C5: =VALUE(RTD("rtdfile",,file,ADDRESS(ROW()-1,COLUMN(),4)))</td>
    D5: =ROW()-3</td>

Backstory

In 2010-2012 Grand-Am race seasons, I worked weekends with Phoenix Performance for the Subaru Road Racing Team. I wrote custom software that normalized the live track information transmitted to teams. A program parsed the putty.log stream attached to our TransNET RS232 receiver and produced CSV files that RTDFile used to populated our Excel spreadsheet. A series of web-based dashboards written by Michael and David then used this data to derive lap, time, and fuel information to help with race strategy. These were fun, but very tense weekends!

At the beginning of 2013, the factory terminated funding. Phoenix Performance continues to build, race, and sell championship winning cars.

In 2014 I shifted my full time efforts to P1Software - Software, DataViz, and DataScience for Motorsports.