How to Integrate Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services with Microsoft Excel

Set Up Your Azure Cognitive Services Account

• Log in to the Microsoft Azure Portal. If you don't have an account, create one.

 

• Navigate to "Create a resource" and search for "Cognitive Services". Select it and click "Create".

 

• Fill out the necessary details, like Subscription, Resource Group, and the Resource Name. Ensure you select the appropriate pricing tier and region.

 

• After creation, navigate to the resource and find your "Key" and "Endpoint" – you'll need these for integration.

Prepare Microsoft Excel for Integration

• Open Microsoft Excel and navigate to the "Developer" tab. If it's not visible, enable it from File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Check "Developer".

 

• Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) will be used to run scripts, so ensure your Excel is ready to run macros.

 

• Set up a worksheet where you'll input data you want to analyze with Azure Cognitive Services.

Create a VBA Script to Access Azure

• In Excel, under the "Developer" tab, click "Visual Basic" to open the VBA editor.

 

• In the editor, select "Insert" > "Module" to create a new module.

 

• Paste the following VBA code into the module, replacing placeholders with your specific Azure details:

Sub CallAzureCognitiveService()
    Dim AzureKey As String
    Dim AzureEndpoint As String
    Dim Request As Object
    Dim JsonResponse As String
    Dim InputText As String
    
    AzureKey = "YOUR_AZURE_KEY"
    AzureEndpoint = "YOUR_AZURE_ENDPOINT"
    
    ' Example input
    InputText = Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Value
    
    Set Request = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
    
    With Request
        .Open "POST", AzureEndpoint & "/text/analytics/v3.0/sentiment", False
        .setRequestHeader "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", AzureKey
        .setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json"
        .send "{""documents"":[{""id"":""1"",""text"":""" & InputText & """}]}"
        JsonResponse = .responseText
    End With
    
    MsgBox "API Response: " & JsonResponse
End Sub

• Change the string concatenation to match the specific type of Cognitive Service you are using.

Test the VBA Script

• Return to Excel, and in the "Developer" tab, click on "Macros".

 

• Select "CallAzureCognitiveService" and click "Run".

 

• Ensure you have some input in cell A1 (or adjust the VBA code to point to another cell) to analyze.

Interpret API Responses

• Review the MsgBox output to understand the response from Azure. This output can include sentiment analysis, key phrase extraction, etc.

 

• Based on this output, consider automating further analysis or result storage in your Excel worksheet.

Secure and Optimize Integration

• Ensure your Azure Key is stored securely. Consider encrypting it with VBA or fetching it from a secure location.

 

• Monitor Azure usage to manage your costs and ensure efficiency.

 

• Consider using batch requests if you plan to analyze large datasets to reduce the number of HTTP requests.