i have a spreadsheet of experiment results. each row contains the experiment parameters and results. there is one row for every possible combination of experiment parameters.

what i want is a thing where the user is able to use a bunch of pull down text boxes to choose what set of parameters he wants to see, and be shown the corresponding results.

i tried various things, and then a few minutes ago i discovered pivot tables

the pivot table looks like an ideal solution, i have set the page area with the parameters, and the data area with results.

the only problem is that when any of the parameters in the page area is set to "all", it adds the results of multiple experiements. the output that is generated by choosing "all" for any of the parameters in the page area is useless, and could serve to confuse the user.

is there any way to remove the "all" choice from the page area parameters?


if not, is there any better way to do it?
i'm only interested in picking a single set of parameters and finding the corresponding results.

i have five parameters, and six recorded results for each experiment. my first instinct would be to treat the database as a query where i look for the row with parameters matching what is in the pull down menus, and display the results that are on that same row.