Task Pane
The AEX task pane is a side panel inside Excel that complements the custom functions. It shows your connection status, market session state, a live order blotter, a manual order entry form, and your fill history — all without needing any spreadsheet formulas.
The task pane and custom functions share the same underlying connection. You do not need to log in separately for each.
Opening the Task Pane
- Select the AEX tab in the Excel ribbon.
- Click Open AEX (or the AEX icon) in the ribbon group.
The task pane opens on the right side of the Excel window. You can resize or undock it as you would any Excel task pane.
The add-in uses a shared runtime with lifetime="long". This means the WebSocket connection stays active even if you close the task pane. Your streaming functions continue to update and your orders remain live. You only lose the connection when you close Excel or sign out.
Connection Panel
The Connection Panel runs across the top of the task pane at all times, regardless of which tab is active.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Status icon | Green tick = connected; spinning yellow = connecting or reconnecting; red X = disconnected or error |
| User avatar and name | Shows your account initial and display name when authenticated |
| Version badge | Displays the current add-in version |
| Login button | Appears when you are not signed in. Opens the MSAL authentication dialog. |
| Sign-out button | Appears when you are signed in. Disconnects and clears your session. |
Signing In
- Click Login in the connection panel.
- An authentication dialog opens. Sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Once authenticated, the connection panel shows your name and a green connected icon.
- Custom functions that were showing
#GETTING_DATAbegin returning live values.
Reconnecting
If the connection drops, the status icon turns yellow and the panel shows a reconnecting message — for example, Reconnecting (attempt 2) — 8s.... The add-in attempts to reconnect automatically. You do not need to take any action unless the reconnection fails, in which case an error message appears and you can sign in again.
Market Tab
The Market tab shows a summary of the current session and connection state.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Session | Current session state: OPEN, PRE_OPEN, CLOSED, or HALTED |
| Connection | WebSocket connection status |
This tab is useful for a quick health check before trading — confirm the session is OPEN and the connection is live before enabling ORDERTRACK formulas or submitting manual orders.
The same session state is available as a formula: =AEX.SESSION().
Orders Tab
The Orders tab has two sections: the Order Entry form at the top and the Active Orders blotter below.
Order Entry Form
The order entry form lets you submit a single order without writing any formulas.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Node | GXP node selector — choose from available nodes (e.g. OTA, BEN) |
| Series | Contract profile selector (e.g. ON, EP, MP, BASE, PEAK) |
| BUY / SELL | Side toggle — green for BUY, red for SELL |
Price | Limit price in $/MWh |
Vol (MW) | Volume in MW |
| Volume shortcuts | Quick-set buttons for common volumes |
| Submit Order | Submits the order. Disabled if fields are invalid or if a submission is in progress. |
The form validates price and volume as you type and shows inline error messages for invalid values. There is a 500 ms cooldown between submissions to prevent accidental double-clicks.
Orders submitted through the Order Entry form appear in the Active Orders blotter and are accessible via AEX.ORDERS() and AEX.ORDER() in your spreadsheet.
Active Orders Blotter
The Active Orders blotter shows all orders for your session.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Contract | Contract ID |
| Side | BUY (green) or SELL (red) |
| Qty | Order quantity in MW |
| Price | Limit price in $/MWh |
| State | Current order state with an icon |
| Cancel button | Sends a cancel request for that order |
Order states:
| State | Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
working | Blue circle | Active in the matching engine |
held | Yellow pause | Submitted but not in matching (liveFlag = FALSE) |
partial | Yellow tick | Partially filled, remainder still working |
filled | Green tick | Fully filled |
cancelled | Grey X | Cancelled |
rejected | Red triangle | Rejected by the server |
Click Cancel on any working or held order to send a cancellation request. The button shows Cancelling... while the request is in flight.
Cancelling an order from the blotter cancels the server order. If the order was created by an AEX.ORDERTRACK formula, the formula cell will show the order ID followed by [CANCELLED]. The formula does not re-submit the order automatically.
Fills Tab
The Fills tab shows the fill history for the current session in reverse-chronological order.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Time | Timestamp of the trade |
| Contract | Contract ID of the filled contract |
| Side | Aggressing side (BUY or SELL) |
| Qty | Filled quantity in MW |
| Price | Fill price in $/MWh |
The same fill data is available as a formula: =AEX.FILLS(filterKey, count). The task pane blotter shows all fills; the formula lets you filter by order or contract.
How the Task Pane Complements Spreadsheet Functions
The task pane and custom functions are two views of the same underlying data:
| Task | Task pane | Custom functions |
|---|---|---|
| Check connection status | Connection panel | =AEX.STATUS() |
| Check session state | Market tab | =AEX.SESSION() |
| View working orders | Orders blotter | =AEX.ORDERS() + =AEX.ORDER() |
| Submit a one-off order | Order Entry form | — |
| Enable ORDERTRACK formulas | Orders tab (Enable button) | — |
| Cancel an order | Orders blotter Cancel button | — |
| View fill history | Fills tab | =AEX.FILLS() |
| View positions | — | =AEX.POSITIONS() or =AEX.POSITION() |
Use the task pane for one-off actions and status checks. Use the custom functions when you want live data wired into your spreadsheet calculations.
Next Steps
- Custom Functions Reference — all available streaming and static functions
- ORDERTRACK Formula — create orders from spreadsheet cells, including the enable/disable mechanism
- Position Tracking — track your session positions in a spreadsheet blotter