Excel - Get selected cell(s)

Declaration

<AMEXCEL ACTIVITY="active_cell" CONNECTBY="text (options)" WORKBOOK="text" OPENPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" MODIFYPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" VISIBLE="YES/NO" WORKBOOKTEMPLATE="text" OVERWRITE="YES/NO" SAVETYPE="text (options)" DESTINATION="text" OVERWRITEDESTINATION="YES/NO" ACTION="text (options)" CELLREFVARIABLE="text" CELLCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" UPPERLEFTROWVARIABLE="text" UPPERLEFTREFVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTROWVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTREFVARIABLE="text" />

Related Topics   

Description

Retrieves the position of the active cell or range of cells in an established Excel session and populates one or more variables with the cell reference or position coordinates. To activate a single cell or range of cells, use the  Excel - Select cell(s) activity.

IMPORTANT: Automate's Excel activities rely on Microsoft's Excel engine to perform their work, therefore, Excel must be installed and licensed on the computer to ensure proper functionality.

Practical Usage

Used to get the currently active cell or range of cells associated with the specified worksheet in a Microsoft Excel document. Active cells can be determined from a document that was previously opened by the Excel - Open/create workbook activity or one that contains cells that were previously activated by the Excel - Select cell(s) activity.

Parameters

Resource

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Resource --- --- --- --- Indicates where the source Excel document should originate from. This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes. The available options are:
  • File (default) - The source derives from an Excel file located on the system. This option is normally selected if only a single activity is required to complete the operation.
  • Session - The source Excel document is obtained from a pre-configured session created in an earlier step with the use of the Excel - Open/create workbook activity. This option is normally selected if a combination of related activities are required to complete an operation. Consolidating several activities to a single session can eliminate redundancy. Moreover, a single task supports multi-session executions which can improve efficiency and speed up production.
Session Text Yes, if Resource is set to Session Excelsession1 SESSION="mySession" The name of an existing session to associate this activity with. This parameter is only active if the Resource parameter is set to Session.
Get document by Text (options) Yes, if Resource is set to File Open
  • CONNECTBY="open_workbook"
  • CONNECTBY="create_workbook"
 Specifies whether this activity will be performed on an existing Excel document or on a new one. This parameter is active only if the Resource parameter is set to File. The available options are:
  • Open (default) - This activity will be performed on an existing document that will be opened during runtime.
  • Create - This activity will be performed on a new document to be created during runtime.
File name Text Yes (Empty) WORKBOOK="C:\Temp\fileName.xls" If the Get document by parameter is set to Open, specifies the path and file name of the Excel document in which to open. If the Get document by parameter is set to Create, specifies the path and file name of the Excel document in which to create.
Application is invisible Yes/No No No VISIBLE="NO" If selected, specifies that the Excel window will not be displayed and all processing will occur in the background. This option should be disabled during task construction and debugging but can be selected for production. The workbook is visible by default.
Password to open (optional) Text No (Empty) OPENPASSWORD="encrypted" The password required to open the Excel document if it is password protected. This parameter is active only if the Get document by parameter is set to Open.
Password to modify (optional) Text No (Empty)

MODIFYPASSWORD="encrypted"

The password required to modify the Excel document if it is password protected. This parameter is active only if the Get document by parameter is set to Open.
Create from template Text No No WORKBOOKTEMPLATE="C:\Temp\file.xls" If selected, specifies the path and file name of a template file that already has preferred formatting in which to base the new workbook on. A template can include formatting, styles,  standardized text such as page headers and row and column labels, formulas, macros and custom toolbars. This parameter is only active if the Get document by parameter is set to Create ( disabled by default).
On completion Text (options) No Save
  • SAVETYPE="save"
  • SAVETYPE="save_as"
  • SAVETYPE="do_not_save"
Specifies what to do with the document upon completion of this activity. The available options are:
  • Save - Save changes to the default location.
  • Save as - Save to the specified path and file name.
  • Do not save changes - Changes will not be saved.
File Text Yes, if On completion parameter is set to Save as (Empty) DESTINATION="c:\temp\dest.xls" The path and file name of the file in which changes will be saved. Click the folder icon to open a standard Explorer dialog in order to navigate to the desired file or simply enter the path and file name in the provided text box. This parameter is active only if the On completion parameter is set to Save as.
Overwrite if workbook already exists Yes/No Yes, if On completion parameter is set to Save as No OVERWRITE="YES" If selected, the saved workbook will overwrite any workbook with the same name that exists in the destination. If disabled (default), an existing workbook with the same name will not be overwritten, however, an error will occur during runtime as a result of matching file names. This parameter is active only if the On completion parameter is set to Save as.

Cell

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Get selected Text (options) Yes Cell by reference
  • ACTION="cellByReference"
  • ACTION="cellByPosition"
  • ACTION="rangeByReference"
  • ACTION="rangeByPosition"
 Specifies the method in which this action retrieves the active cell or range of cells. The available options are:
  • Cell by reference (default) - Returns a single cell using a reference such as A1 or B3. If more than one cell is active, this action returns the upper left cell.
  • Cell by position - Returns row and column positions for a single cell. If more than one cell is active, this action returns the upper left cell.
  • Range of cells by reference - Returns a range of cells using the reference designations for the upper left and lower right cells in the active range of cells.
  • Range of cells by position - Returns the row and column positions of the upper left and lower right cells in the active range of cells.
Populate variable with cell reference Text Yes, if Get method is set to Cell by reference (Empty) CELLREFVARIABLE="cell_reference_value The name of an existing variable to populate with the cell reference. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Cell by reference.
Populate variable with row Number Yes, if the Get method is set to Cell by position (Empty) CELLROWVARIABLE="row_reference_value The name of an existing variable to populate with the row number of the specified cell. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Cell by reference.
Populate variable with column Number Yes, if the Get method is set to Cell by position (Empty) CELLCOLUMNVARIABLE="column_reference_value The name of an existing variable to populate with the column number of the specified cell. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Cell by reference.
Populate variable with upper left cell Text Yes, if the Get method is set to Range of cells by reference

(Empty)

 		 UPPERLEFTREFVARIABLE="upper_left_reference_value The variable to populate with the row number of the upper left cell in the range of active cells. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by reference.
Populate variable with lower right cell Text Yes, if the Get method is set to Range of cells by reference (Empty)

 

 LOWERRIGHTREFVARIABLE="lower_right_reference_value The variable to populate with the row number of the lower right cell in the range of active cells. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by reference.
Populate variable with upper left cell row Text Yes, if the Get method is set to Range of cells by position (Empty)

 

 UPPERLEFTROWVARIABLE="upper_left_cell_row_value The variable to populate with the row number of the lower right cell in the range of active cells. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.
Populate variable with upper left cell column Text Yes, if the Get method is set to Range of cells by position

(Empty)

 		 UPPERLEFTCOLUMNVARIABLE="upper_left_cell_column_value The variable to populate with the row number of the upper left cell in the range of active cells. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.
Populate variable with lower right Cell row Text Yes, if the Get method is set to Range of cells by position

(Empty)

 

 LOWERRIGHTROWVARIABLE="lower_right_cell_row_value The variable to populate with the row number of the lower right cell in the range of active cells. This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.
Populate variable with lower right cell column Text Yes, if the Get method is set to Range of cells by position Sheet1 LOWERRIGHTCOLUMNVARIABLE="lower_right_cell_column_value The variable to populate with the column number of the lower right cell in the range of active cells.This parameter is only active if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.

Description

Error Causes

On Error

Example

NOTE:
  • The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps Panel of the Task Builder.
  • Parameters containing user credentials, files, file paths, and/or other information specific to the task must be customized before the sample code can run successfully.

Description

This sample task gets active cells from an workbook and then populates a variable with the results.

Copy 
<AMEXCEL ACTIVITY="active_cell" SESSION="Session 102" ACTION="rangebyposition" UPPERLEFTROWVARIABLE="topLeftRow" UPPERLEFTCOLUMNVARIABLE="topLeftColumn" LOWERRIGHTROWVARIABLE="bottomRightRow" LOWERRIGHTCOLUMNVARIABLE="bottomRightColumn" />