Web Services Toolkit: Excel 2003 - SAP (WAS 620) integration

Hello,

I have trying to prototype a scenario wherein I would like to use Excel 2003 as a "dashboard" with enterprise data coming out of a SAP 620 box.

<u>What am I using ?</u>

VBA in Excel 2003

Office Web Services Toolkit

SOAP/RFC ICM service from SAP 620 to access RFC function modules

<i>I dont have Visual Studio and if possible would like to avoid it</i>

<u>What did I try ?</u>

I was playing around with the Office Web Services Toolkit and found that it works quite well with simple types like String / Int / Double. In fact, the proxy that it generates is quite decent and very usable. Unfortunately, with SAP function modules the proxy class generated uses MSXML2.IXMLDOMNodeList and I have not been able to figure out how to send / receive data with this interface. I was just not able to get a solution working with a simple RFC like STFC_CONNECTION. Surprisingly, MS Infopath is quite easy to use with SAP Web Services. I was able to easily create a Mater-Detail form with BANK_GET_LIST and BANK_GET_DETAIL BAPIs.

<u>My questions</u>

(1) Is this (using Web Services Toolkit) the right way to go about doing Excel - SAP integration ? I know Visual Studio would be an obvious answer, but can I do without it ?

(2) Does somebody have a sample that can be shared with the community and can get me started? (dealing with complex types)

(3) Would Mendocino be the future for Office - SAP integration (specially with regard to SAP's commitment to delivering Office smart clients)?

Thanks a lot for all the help.

Regards, Parag.