I have done an MS SQL Query in excel.
I have added extra colums in the excel sheet which I want to enter manual
data in.
When I refresh the data, these manually inputted columns become misaligned
to the imported data they refer to.
Is there any around this happening.
I have tried to link the imported data sheet to a manual data sheet via
vlookup but this isn't working as there are no unique fields to link together.
Please help!
Thanks
Excel version is 2010.
MS SQL version is 2005.
There is no unique data.
Because excel firstly looks like this.
when we entered a new order in to database Excel looks like this
Try this: in the External Data Range Properties, select "Insert entire rows for new data".
Not sure, but worth a try. And keep us updated of the result !
edit: And make sure you provide a consistent sort order.
There is no relationship to the spreadsheets external data and the columns you are entering. When refreshing typically the data is cleared and updated though there are other options in the external data refresh menu you could play with. You could play around with the External data options in the menu to see if changing the settings on what happens with the new data would help.
If you want your manually entered data to link to the data in the embedded dataset, you have to establish the lookup with a vlookup or some formula to find the rows info and show it.
Basically you are thinking the SQL data on the spreadsheet is static, but it isn't unless you never refresh it or disconnect it from the database
note that Marcel Beug has given a full solution to this problem in a more recent post in this forum # Inserting text manually in a custom column and should be visible on refresh of the report
he has even taken the time to record an example in a video # https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duNYHfvP_8U&feature=youtu.be
Related
I have a SQL View that I'm working on that spits out some important information for my boss's boss's boss. The view includes a field called Item ID, which can be in several different formats.
Here are some examples (that may or many not be made up to protect the innocent):
ATS-LC-PLN-RT-RH-0.3125-18-3X2.125X1.5-1
012345.012345
01234567.0123
123456789012
000000.000000
000000.000002
I'd like to take the view and use it to (eventually) produce an excel spreadsheet, but I'm not confident that there's a way to format this column in a way that will work for all of these different Item ID's.
When playing around with Excel, these numbers drop their trailing zeroes and switch to scientific notation, among other shenanigans. I just need to format this column in a way that will preserve the Item ID.
If you know of a way to programmatically create an excel spreadsheet in a way that allows me to assign a format based on the data in the cell, that would work great. The problem that I'm mainly suffering from is that this spreadsheet naturally has hundreds of lines, soon to be thousands, and there's no feasible way to hand-format these lines one at a time on a daily or weekly basis.
I've got SQL-Server 2014 and Excel via Microsoft Office Standard 2013, which may offer more options.
Permit me to suggest another way of framing your issue. I don't think you really want to analyze (either manually or programmatically) each item ID and determine whether it is an integer, a decimal, or alphanumeric text. Since your item ID data varies, the only Excel formatting that will work for all of your cases is 'Text.' So my suggestion is look for a way to automate the export of your data to Excel while making sure that the formatting in Excel is set to 'Text' for all cells to contain your item ID data. As you've noticed, if you are pasting data in Excel, if the target cells are not first set to 'Text' formatting, Excel will make its own 'corrections' to each pasted value, including removal of leading and trailing zeros.
The best solution is to use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). You can set the field formatting in SSRS, and then (if you choose) automate the export of your data to Excel by calling the report server by URL with &rs:Format=excel. (There is learning curve for SSRS but if you plan to continue doing things like this, it will be worth it.)
Other options
The easiest manual option is to 1) export the data to .csv format, 2) Open Excel and use the Text Import Wizard, and during Step 3 make sure to click the data column and then choose 'Text' as the data format. (You could automate this somewhat with an Excel VBA macro.)
The most complicated method involves programming using Excel VBA and ADO to automate the connection and querying of the data from your database view, and then rendering that data to a spreadsheet, using VBA to set the formatting to 'Text.'
please bear with me; I'm not particularly confident with MS Access, although I am quite experienced with SQL Databases from website work.
For my sins, I have been tasked with developing a database which will unify the hundreds of spreadsheets which we currently use to record details of our clients, work, and other stuff... The database is established and built, but I am now working with the forms to allow data entry.
I have a datasheet form (we have a member of admin staff who is hell-bent on refusing to use forms, so a datasheet form seems to be the best way to appease her!) and it is bound to a specific table ('referrals') to allow a user to input data into that table. It looks like this:
However, I need to be able to load values from another table ('pupil_details') into the 'UPN' field so that if a pupil already exists in the 'pupil_details' table, the user can pick that pupil and have their details automatically filled into the form for convenience.
The form's Record Source is currently:
SELECT referrals.*
FROM referrals;
The most obvious way to do this seemed at first to be to use a join query for the form's record source, along the lines of:
SELECT referrals.*, pupil_details.UPN
FROM referrals LEFT JOIN pupil_details ON referrals.UPN = pupil_details.pupil_id
and then use this as the control source but when I do this, it breaks the functionality of the form (displays all the records, prevents it being used to enter data)
So, can anybody suggest to me how I might be able to get the 'UPN' field to display a list of records based on this query when a user types into it:
SELECT pupil_details.UPN, pupil_details.name, pupil_details.date_of_birth FROM pupil_details
But then enter the details into the 'referrals' table when the user submits the form? Sort of like this that I mocked up in Photoshop:
I'm stumped, and half a day on Google has left me none the wiser... :(
Thanks!
You should use a continuous form, not a datasheet, it will give you a lot more control, but still look like Excel. Once you have the form, you can add a combobox to get the details you want. It is nearly always best to avoid Excel attitudes in Access.
My job requires that I look up information on a long spreadsheet that's updated and sent to me once or twice a week. Sometimes the newest spreadsheet leaves off information that was in the last spreadsheet causing me to have to look through several different spreadsheets to find the info I need. I recently discovered that I could convert the spreadsheet to a CSV file and then upload it to a database table. With a few lines of script all I have to do is type in what I'm looking for and Voila! Now I just got the newest spreadsheet and I'm wondering if I can just Import it on top of the old one. There is a unique number for each row that I have set to primary in the database. If I try to import it on top of the current info will it just skip the rows where the primary would be duplicated or would it just mess up my database?
Thought I'd ask the experts before I tried it. Thanks for your input!
Details:
the spreadsheet consists of clients of ours. Each row contains the client's name, a unique id number, their address and contact info. I can set the row containing the unique ID to primary, then upload it. My concern is that there is nothing to signify a new row in a csv file (i think). when I upload it it it gives me the option to skip duplicates but will it skip the entire row or just that cell causing my data to be placed in the wrong rows.. It's apache server IDK what versions of mysql. I'm using 000webhost for this.
Higgs,
This issue in database/ETL terminology is called deduplication strategy.
There is not a template answer for this, but I suggest these helpful readings:
Academic paper - Joint Deduplication of Multiple Record Types
in Relational Data
Deduplication article
Some open source tools:
Duke tool
Data cleaner
there's a little checkbox when you click on import near the bottom that says 'ignore duplicates' or something like that. simpler than i thought.
I have a huge amount of trouble loading spreadsheets into a SQL Server database.
Currently, I'm using an SSIS package to load the data and I have had to make lots of adjustments to get the data to load:
All numbers must be formatted as text (otherwise they don't load properly).
Sometimes numbers must be preceded with single quote (') to get them to load.
If a column has a mix of number cells and text cells, the text cells must come first in the file (otherwise only numbers load and text comes in as NULL).
If a user changes a column name the file will not load.
If a user changes a tab name the file won't load.
If a user adds a new column (even at the end of a sheet) the file won't load.
Extra sheets in the file is not a problem, thankfully!
Dates seem sensitive whether or not they will load properly.
Connection strings to the Excel file must include "IMEX=1" or things are worse.
Scheduled SSIS jobs must be run as 32-bit even on 64-bit system.
I've been loading the data (usually 200,000-500,000 rows per file) into a table with all fields defined as nvarchar. Then, when loaded I transfer that data in the next step of the SSIS package to the working table with typed data fields.
All of the requirements that I must put on the user for how to format the Excel file is really a pain. We usually have to send the file back multiple times until all the formatting issues are correct before the file will load. I'd like to eliminate this thrash.
I know I'm not the only one that is facing this type of problem. So, I must ask...
What is a better alternative to Excel for loading data into a SQL Server database?
Or, am I going about this the wrong way? Should I be using something other than SSIS to load Excel spreadsheets?
You can try OpenRowSet:
SELECT *
INTO SomeTable
From OpenRowSet('Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
'Excel 8.0;Database=\\servername\c$\filename.xls;HDR=YES;IMEX=1', [Sheet2$])
Not really a SQL answer, but an easy one:
You could require the users to copy and paste data to an excel spreadsheet where everything but the data fields to be included are locked. This will prevent many of the pain points described.
I have an Access database that I use to to run a bunch of aggregate TOP 5 queries. The end game of this particular function is ppt presentations with charts. So to automate this a bit, I created an excel spreadsheet with a bunch of pre-made charts in it. The I linked/data imported the query results into the excel spreadsheet, and set the cell ranges to match the source ranges for the charts. Finally I set the spreadsheet to enable auto refresh upon every "file open", and presto, I run the queries in access with a button press, then open the excel file, and the data refreshes, and they are my charts. I then use some VB to copy paste all active charts into ppt, but that is another matter.
Okay so here is the snag I hit. I needed to do the exact same procedure with another spreadsheet from another ag query. Before the process I was using was just clicking data > import external data > import data and then choosing the file of the database, and then it would populate a list of tables and queries to choose from. Only now, it will not show any queries in that populated list; only tables!?!
any ideas? btw MSO 2003
I can't reproduce that Justin. In the dialog that shows the tables, scroll over to the right and check the TYPE column. Queries will have a type of VIEW and tables of TABLE. Verify that they all say TABLE.
Next, try using Data - Import External Data - New Database Query instead of 'Import Data'. Select the Access driver and the Access mdb. This will bring up a different dialog, but should show both tables and queries. See if that shows only tables or shows both.
I presume this is a security feature that has been introduced?
Try selecting any table then select Data>Import External Data>Edit Query
Then select SQL as the command type and either enter the query SQL or just select from a query i.e.:
select * from qryCat;
Hope this helps
thanks Mark