Anyone have any idea how I could get a Java program to talk to a spreadsheet or database or something? Like tell it to grab a random entry that fulfils certain conditions and use it in the program? The only programming background I have is VBasic, which Ive forgotten most of, and game config scripting (which probably doesnt count), but Im learning Java at university as of 3 weeks ago.

You can do stuff with ODBC I think.

www.mysql.com - get their JDBC drivers. I'm sure other DBs have JDBC implementations.

yeahhh, I use Oracle which of course does as well... I also use an RMI server to talk from Oracle (Database) to WebLogic (Application Server) for JSP development. As far as spreadsheets go, well some (especially distinct MS formats) you're out of luck with, but if their a common format which is basically anything you can readably open in notepad, and then be able to parse data from (For Excel, I've often used .csv files as cheap workarounds, Also XML storage is often identical) other then that you'll need special toys that you can get from the applied company or some third party one wherever. (ok yes I was tired typing this hehe :o)