THE USE OF MICROSOFT EXCEL AS A USER-INTERFACE FOR BIOLOGICAL SIMULATIONS

We used Microsoft Excel 4.0 for Windows running on a PC-486 to develop a user interface for two biological simulation models: a lung fluid b alance model and a fractal model of the pulmonary circulation. The sim ulation programs were written in the C programming language, while the user interface was written in the macro language of Excel. The interf ace builds input data files for the simulation programs and provides a mechanism for displaying relevant information from output files produ ced from the simulations. Input fields are partially protected so that the user cannot modify certain portions of the spreadsheet. The Excel interface is used to build models from different available components and to select appropriate parameters for these models. The developed interface was also useful for running models in the batch mode. After selecting changes in lung fluid balance parameters, the interface allo ws users to find new steady state values by automatically running the model and adjusting initial conditions. Several different graphical op tions allow users to easily investigate the effects of selecting parti cular models and parameters. Techniques used in developing our user in terface can be extended to most biological simulation programs which m anipulate input and output data files. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.