The present invention allows a user to graphically create a refreshable Web Query
by selecting tabular data displayed in a Web page. When the user invokes the refreshable
Web Query command, an Internet browser module is launched within a Web Query dialog
box open in the spreadsheet program. The user then graphically selects at least
one instance of tabular data to import to the spreadsheet program. The invention
also makes Web queries more accessible to a user and is embedded in a software
utility, known as a Web Query Smart Tag (WQST) utility. The WQST utility allows
a user to create Web queries directly from an Internet browser module in one of
several methods. The first method, known as a "Copy-Paste Web Query," begins when
a user pastes the tabular data into the spreadsheet program and determines whether
the Web Query command should be presented to the user. If the decision is made
to present the Web Query command to the user, a Web Query option appears on a special
drop-down menu. The second method is embedded in a module known as the "Export
to Microsoft Excel" module, which allows a user to create a refreshable Web Query
in the MICROSOFT EXCEL 2002 spreadsheet program directly from the MICROSOFT INTERNET
EXPLORER browser program. The last method is known as the "Edit with Microsoft
Excel" method, which allows a user to open the entire file or choose a portion
of the file to import into the MICROSOFT EXCEL 2002 spreadsheet program as a refreshable
Web Query.