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The analytic repository is made of high
grade  production code libraries that have been on our backburner files for
quite a few years now. For the sake of packaging and usability, these
libraries have been wrapped around Excel® Add-ins. (XLL).
Running XLLs Online
directly from your browser
All the
tools are designed to run while you are online and offline.
To run the add-ins directly from your browser while you are online, open
the zip file
(that is, select open rather than save when you download the file),
this will launch the unzip package and display the decompressed files in
the standard zip dialog box.
double-click on the xll add-in. Then double-click on the xls
spreadsheet.
You can now use all the functions directly from your browser!
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Security and Viruses
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RiskServers takes security very seriously.
All c++
executables and libraries are produced on highly secure computers.
A
computer qualifies as high security if It runs only programs that are authenticated
and all running processes and services have proven to be necessary and secure.
The filesystems are encrypted and protected. All low level libraries are
protected against buffer / stack overflows.
Only stable versions and
controlled patches have been applied. Every new patch or upgrade triggers a
complete security audit.
The
computer is standalone: There are no permanent connection points, no external
devices (modems,pci cards, printer queues,..), remote procedure calls,disk
mounts., etc.
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Benchmarking and Validation
Designing and developing numerical routines is actually rather straightforward.
On the other hand ensuring they are accurate and return correct values is altogether another affair.
Ferreting out numerical quirks and bugs is actually rather arcane. Most companies usually leave it up
to the user to discover them, thereby saving large amounts of money and time, which is not good policy.
Though there is no such thing as 100% safe and accurate code, the libraries available from RiskServers
have gone through stringent benchmarking and validation procedures used at the top tiers.
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XLL Packaging ?
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Although Microsoft would like us not to believe it, the
Excel dll or xll as
it is commonly known, is still the method of choice when dealing with
professional
real-time Excel(R) analytics that require flexibility and ease of use.
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Many companies have made the mistake of switching
front-office analytics to
COM/DCOM "flavors of the month". Strangely enough many have now
recognized
their mistake and are now moving back! This change of heart can be explained by
the hype with which COM technology was marketed initially and the extreme
opacity of
the xll/Excel dll approach.
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There is indeed very little documentation on this subject, even Microsoft has had huge problems
fixing bugs. Actually truth is Excel still relies heavily on this architecture internally.
This said, the xll is, after all, an extremely simple callback function that has been widely available
since Excel ® 3.0. Strangely enough Microsoft actually wrapped OLE around this mechanism,
which means Typelibs, Standalone COM, #imports & OLE automation just cannot, at least as of yet,
fit right into that cell as the users would really like!
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Still don't believe me ? Compare the
samples in the Spreadsheet Server section,
such as the finite difference calculator!
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| Source Code, online
help and documentation
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Releasing Analytic Libraries is a
time consuming affair. Even if the library has already been
used extensively. Once code is moved it must be thoroughly benchmarked and
validated before it can be released again. In this process, documentation can
suffer.
Although documentation and on-line help are provided for most libraries, a
small
minority fall within "industry standards" and are released
"as-is". In such cases
the production source code is usually enclosed with the online help.
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  Source code
Source code for some of the Add-Ins was previously available to users with legitimate security concerns.
Due to abuse, we no longer offer this service free of charge.
Source code for some Add-Ins can be purchased by end-users.
For further information, please contact  .
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