APEX

I am looking at APEX as a potential replacement for a growing reporting/analysis system. As yet I have not found a clear answer on an important question.

The current system is a shared database and a collection of Microsoft Excel and Word templates. Each template contains underlying VBA code that establishes a direct connection to the database via OLE DB (i.e. ADODB objects in VBA via the OLE DB Provider for JET).

Each template’s underlying VBA code executes stored procedures or queries as required, the results of which are returned as Recordset objects and rendered to the Excel worksheet or Word document. Similarly, in some cases, data entered into an Excel worksheet by a user can be submitted back to the database at the click of a button, again via Recordset objects.

Now most of our templates could easily be ported to APEX. However, there is a strong preference that some of our templates continue to exist and maintain current functionality. So we have a requirement that Excel and Word can seamlessly and directly interact with an APEX database.

Long question short – is there a way to establish a connection and retrieve/insert data from an APEX database using OLE DB (ADODB) in VBA, as described above? I understand that APEX sits ‘on top’ of a real Oracle database, and I know Oracle provides an OLE DB Provider (OraOLEDB) for Oracle databases. Would OraOLEDB do the trick, or is it not as simple as that?

Many thanks for your insights on this,

Michal