Protecting

Question

 I have a question about protectingspreadsheets.  I have developed a ration formulation program for horses that I would like to sell on CD.  The program is a series ofspreadsheets, where the formulation cells have been protected and hidden.  I would like to encrypt the disk to prevent it from being copied, and users can access and run the spreadsheets from the CD only.  However, I am wondering if there is a way that the user can save the completed worksheet to a file in a read-only format.  I would like the user to be able to save a soft copy of the final formulation, but not be able to use the program from the saved file.  Sorry if this question does not sound technically correct...horse expert here, not very computer savy :))

Answer

First of all, please don't think this is ANYTHING like my normal answer on allexperts.com.

But what you basically need is a smallAPPLICATION (with programming and all, in theprogramming language "VBA".)

I've done this several times for people before. Maybe $50 or so, it's hard to say, but something like that.

My idea is that the user would:

1. open yourfile (.xlsm, .xlsb, .xls, etc), or 2 different versions - accomodate users withand 2007).

2. a very professional looking "application-style" form loads - not looking at all like Excel, but more like this: http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/5595/screenshotqx.png Obviously, totally with your preferences - not necessarily identical to that pic.

They would enter/calculate what they need to (based on your underlying formulas + design), but it would look like a real professional screen.

They could then save/export the results of the formulation (PDF, HTML, XLS, XLSX, etc). But they could only operate this whole function from the CD.

This involves a lot of programming. Very possible, but I would like a modest fee - $50 or so.

And like I said, this is NOT my typical response for allexperts.com. But your situation requires a project, not just an answer.

See http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cps/2117747933.html and let me know.