Can anyone tell me what this thing does exactly and how it can be (ab)used for other purposes? Any documentation available?

There must be some documentation on the Baan website. As for examples check out this forum and also "Code & Utilities". You may see it mentioned as Baan OLE or something similar. If you see VBA code you have hit Baan Automation Server. The experts on this are Gordon and Mark, my fellow moderators.

In the old Excel-Examples, the gui was started to interact with Baan. Is the Baan-Automation Server a replacement for this? Does the Automation Server have to be installed to use VB? The old Excel-Examples worked without it.

Thanks for your reply

I do not think "Baan General Automation Server" is a product that they sell, but rather a feature of the Baan software itself. An example of an automation server can be a Baan function server or a VB program that automates a Baan session in the back ground. At least that is my interpretation.

I did try to location something on their home page , but no such luck. One of the reasons I think it is a feature, but I could be wrong.

Mark

It's Baan Generic Automation Server - maybe search on that for better results. I believe this exists for Baan IVx, but it is coming into it's own in Baan V. This allows for tighter integration to MS Word, Excel and Outlook.

For example, with all of this set up, you can create new Baan Templates in Word, allowing you to search for Baan table fields and place them in your document. You can then run the documents without running standard sessions in Baan. It just uses the BAS (Baan Automation Server) to connect (via VB I think) and extract the data.

You do NOT need BAS to use VB to access Baan. Other way around I am pretty sure. BAS uses the Baan.Connection or whatever those BOI and VB scripts use. You can still program VB in Excel to access Baan that way. The Automation Server and 'Office Integration' installations (on the host and the user's PC) update Word and Excel to have new Baan options right on the main menus, making it more convienent to develop new reports.

Sorry that's all I know for now, should have some more info soon as I am working on getting a someone set up on that now. Please post back if you have any specific questions.

Is there a link you could post to where I could read up on it? I have search Baans home page, but can find nothing. You would think if it was a product a search on "Baan Automation Server" would get a hit or two.

Thanks

Mark