1) No, a spatial view can only see what SQL can see, which is tables in the database
2) Not possible, but using network drives is a poor solution, even for situations where it is possible.
3) The only solution is to load the data into the database. Note that Excel is not a database format, and shouldn't be considered one; working with data coming out of Excel requires an awful lot of error handling. Real-time or near-real-time updates based on a flat file are extremely difficult to detect and manifest - a mediocre implementation could take weeks to stabilize, and a robust solution might involve months and custom modifications to the database itself.
- V