Web Query Concerns

This page is associated with the article, "Excel Web Query Secrets Revealed"

Along with every new technology comes the question of ethical uses of that technology. After experimenting with the power of Excel Web Queries and discussing matters with various websites, we have formed two opinions regarding the proper use of web queries in Excel (Note: These opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Microsoft).

  1. A web query can be thought of as simply a method of displaying a website (or a portion of a website) in Microsoft Excel instead of a typical browser.


  2. Any use of a web query that does not require manual input from the user can be deemed "automated". This includes, but is not necessarily limited to (a) accessing a site successively via VBA macros and (b) using the timed refresh option.

Again, these statements represent the current opinion of Vertex42 only. Above all else, we value integrity, and we welcome any comments you may have regarding these issues.

Many websites, such as most search engines, prohibit the use of automated queries. There may be more reasons for wanting to prevent automated queries than just preventing an unfair load on their servers. While we cannot offer legal advice, we do suggest that you carefully read the terms of use for any website that you wish to query via automated excel web queries.

There are three main concerns that people and businesses have when I contact them about including their site in my list of useful web query examples:

  1. "I use my site or on-line tool as a demo, so I don't want people to be able to use macros or scripts"

  2. "What about people who abuse the privilege and bog down my system resources?"

  3. "I WANT people to use my tool on-line because I make revenue through advertising."


Concern #1: Evaluation or Demo Tools

There are ways to prevent people from being able to use web queries to access your site. For example, cookies and redirects can be used to prevent excessive use.

If your concern is that your demo tool is used to encourage people to buy a full or professional version, then preventing misuse of the demo is understandable. Just keep in mind that the number of people capable of developing a script based upon a web query are few and far between.

Concern #2: System Resource Issues

First, your web host should provide a way to block the IP addresses of offenders. If you are concerned about this, contact your web host and find out. Don't pass up the opportunity to license your technology, though. The "offending" party may actually be willing to compensate you for the drain on your system resources!

Second, the issue is not likely to come up anyway. You see, if the tool on your website uses a lot of system resources, it is going to be slow when accessed via a web query (so nobody is going to want to use the tool anyway). AND, the fact that an Excel web query does not download graphics and images means that when you have an efficient on-line tool or script, there should actually be LESS of a load (per query or page load) on your system, compared to someone using a web browser.

Concern #3: Advertising

As mentioned above, web queries do not download graphics, so banner ads will not appear. To a user, this is great! We are currently investigating other effects of Excel web queries on advertising.

Please contact us if you have any questions, comments, or insights on the use of Excel web queries.

Happy Excelling!

Jon Wittwer
Vertex42, LLC
© 2003 Vertex42, LLC