Excel/SQL

[James Baker]

Here's my situation.

I need on-site manager's to be able to view a list of records on our website
(which they already can do). They need to be able to select any/all fields
and then export these items to an excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will
have dynamically created columns/rows to append and life is good.

What's the best way to go about this? I've used DTS to do this before, but
it's been a long time and I can't remember if there's a way to handle this
kind of stuff on a dynamic basis.

I guess my real question is: Is there a way to do this via ASP or should I
stick with a more SQL based approach?

Thanks,
James

 

[Aaron [SQL Server MVP]]

If you can export to CSV and have them import CSV into Excel (rather than
create an actual Office document), you can use methods described here:

http://www.aspfaq.com/2482

 

[James Baker]

Thanks for the link, searched there and didn't find that. I'll run that
concept by my boss, but in the very likely event that they want this to be
seemless, do I have any other options? Why people want everything in excel
is beyond me =).

Thanks!

 

[James Baker]

I failed to mention we're using SQL 7...which might come into play as it
seems that SQL 2000 had some DTS upgrades.

James

 

[Aaron [SQL Server MVP]]

Thanks for the link, searched there and didn't find that. I'll run that

concept by my boss, but in the very likely event that they want this to be
seemless, do I have any other options?

I don't understand what's not seamless. They download a CSV file, or they
download an XLS file. If they double-click it, unless they have changed
their settings, both should open in Excel. If they go to File... Open and
open the file, both will open in Excel.

A

 

[James Baker]

For some reason, when I do that...and I try to open it with Excel, I get the
error "Microsft Excel can't load the required converter. This feature is
not currently installed. Would you like to install it now?". Yet, if I
click no...it still loads the file. I tried installing it, but it keeps
asking for "Microsoft Office 2000 Premium". No idea why, I'm running Office
XP.

 

[Aaron [SQL Server MVP]]

Don't know, I don't have any problems loading CSV files directly.

Might want to run through Office XP setup and make sure you didn't do a
barebones install without any text converters...

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[Tom Kaminski [MVP]]

Here's my situation.

I need on-site manager's to be able to view a list of records on our website
(which they already can do). They need to be able to select any/all fields
and then export these items to an excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet will
have dynamically created columns/rows to append and life is good.

What's the best way to go about this? I've used DTS to do this before, but
it's been a long time and I can't remember if there's a way to handle this
kind of stuff on a dynamic basis.

I guess my real question is: Is there a way to do this via ASP or should I
stick with a more SQL based approach?

You could also try this ...
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=301044

--
Tom Kaminski IIS MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/community/centers/iis/
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
http://www.iistoolshed.com/ - tools, scripts, and utilities for running IIS
http://www.tryiis.com

 

[James Baker]

That problem aside...I think the ultimate goal (which I'm going to clarify
shortly) is to be able to e-mail the *.xls files to clients. As arbitrary
as it might sound, I really don't think that some of these managers could
figure out to how to do a file > save as and change the drop down to a *.xls
file as opposed to the CSV extension. We'll see.

 

[Aaron [SQL Server MVP]]

Same question... why do clients need XLS files? In fact, most of our
clients don't WANT xls files. Two main reasons: different versions of
Excel, and they also can use CSV much easier for importing into other
systems...

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(Reverse address to reply.)

 

[James Baker]

Very nice...looks good so far. Thanks much, barring anything unforseen,
this should be the ticket.

Thanks!
James

 

[Tom Kaminski [MVP]]

.... and you can use this technique to give the file an "xls" file name:
http://www.aspfaq.com/show.asp?id=2129