OpenDocument Spreadsheet - Get cell(s)

Declaration

<AMODS ACTIVITY="get_cell" SESSION="text" CONNECTBY="create_workbook" WORKBOOK="text" WORKBOOKTEMPLATE="text" TEMPLATEPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" OVERWRITE="YES/NO" OPENPASSWORD="text (encrypted)" SAVETYPE="text (options)" DESTINATION="text" OVERWRITEDESTINATION="YES/NO" ACTION="text (options)" RESULTVARIABLE="text" CELLREF="text" VALUETYPE="text (options)" CELLROW="number" CELLCOLUMN="number" STARTCELLREF="text" STARTCELLCOLUMN="text" ENDCELLROW="text" ENDCELLCOLUMN="text" LASTCELL"YES/NO" FIRSTROWCOLUMN="YES/NO" WORKSHEET="text" />

Related Topics    

Description

Retrieves an individual cell and populates a variable with its value or retrieves a range of cells and populates a dataset with their values.

NOTE: Unlike Automate Desktop's Excel activities, the OpenDocument Spreadsheet activities do not require Microsoft's Excel engine to run. Supported file types include Excel (*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsb, *.xlsm ), Open document spreadsheet (*.ods) and CSV (Comma Separated Value) files (*.csv).

Practical usage

Used to retrieve the contents of one or more cells.

Parameters

Resource

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Resource --- --- --- --- Indicates where the source workbook document should originate from. The available options are:
  • File (default) - The source document derives from a file located on the system. This option is normally selected if only a single activity is required to complete the operation.
  • Session - The source document is obtained from a pre-configured session created in an earlier step with the use of the OpenDocument Spreadsheet - 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.
NOTE: This parameter does not contain markup and is only displayed in visual mode for task construction and configuration purposes.

Resource - File

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Get document by Text (options) Yes, if Resource is set to File Open
  • CONNECTBY="open_workbook"
  • CONNECTBY="create_workbook"
 Specifies whether to perform this activity on an existing document or a new one. This parameter is only active if the Resource parameter is set to File. The available options are:
  • Open (default) - Performs this activity on an existing document open during runtime.
  • Create - Performs this activity on a new document created during runtime.
File name Text Yes (Empty) WORKBOOK="C:\Temp\fileName.xls" If Get document by is set to Open, specifies the path and file name of the document to open. If Get document by is set to Create, specifies the path and file name in which to save the newly created document.
Password to open (optional) Text No (Empty) OPENPASSWORD="encrypted" The password required to open the document if it is password protected. This parameter is only active if Get document by is set to Open, or if Get document by is set to Create and Create from template is selected.
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. If this activity is performed on an existing document, changes will be saved to its current location. If performed on a new document, changes will be saved to the location specified under the File name parameter.
  • Save as - Save changes to the specified path and file name.
  • Do not save changes - Changes will not be saved.  
File Text No (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 only active if On completion is set to Save as.
Overwrite if workbook already exists Yes/No No 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 only active if On completion is set to Save as, and/or if Get document by is set to Create.
Create from template Text No No WORKBOOKTEMPLATE="C:\Temp\file.xls" If enabled, 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. This parameter is active only if Get document by parameter is set to Create. This parameter is disabled by default.
Overwrite if workbook already exists Yes/No No No OVERWRITEDESTINATION="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 only active if Get document by is set to Create.

Resource - Session

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Session Text Yes, if Resource is set to Session OPENDOCSession1 SESSION="mySession" The name of an existing session to associate this activity with. The default session name is OPENDOCSession1. This parameter is active only if Resource is set to Session.

Cell

Property Type Required Default Markup Description
Get Text (options) Yes Cell by reference
  • ACTION="rangeByReference"
  • ACTION="cellByPosition:
  • ACTION="rangeByReference"
  • ACTION="rangeByPosition"
 Specifies the method in which to retrieve the cells. The available options are:
  • Cell by reference(default) - Gets a single cell specified by its cell reference, such as A1 or B3.
  • Cell by position - Gets a single cell specified by its row and column position, such as Row 2, Column F.
  • Range of cells by reference - Gets a range of cells specified by the cell reference for the upper left and lower right cells in the range, such as Upper left cell = A1, Lower right cell = C3.
  • Range of cells by position - Gets a range of cells specified by the row and column positions of the upper left and lower right cells in the range (for example, Upper left cell row = 1, Upper left cell column = 1, Lower right cell row = 14, Lower right cell column = 3).
Populate variable with value Text Yes (Empty) RESULTVARIABLE="text" The name of an existing variable with which to populate with the contents of the individual cell. This parameter is active only if the Get parameter is set to Cell by reference or Cell by position.
Cell reference Text Yes, if Get is set to Cell by reference (Empty) CELLREF="B3" The reference of the cell to retrieve (for example, A1 or B4). This parameter is active only if the Get parameter is set to Cell by reference.
Row Number Yes, if Get is set to Cell by position 1 CELLROW="3" The row number of the cell to retrieve. This value will be used along with the value entered in the Column parameter in order to reference a specific cell. This parameter is active only if the Get parameter is set to Cell by position.
Column Number Yes, if Get is set to Cell by position 1 CELLCOLUMN="2" The column number of the cell to retrieve. This value will be used along with the value entered in the Row parameter in order to reference a specific cell. This parameter is active only if the Get parameter is set to Cell by position.
Create and populate dataset Text Yes (Empty) RESULTDATASET="text" The name of the dataset in which to populate with the contents of the range of cells. This parameter is active only if the Get parameter is set to Range of cells by reference or Range of cells by position.
Auto detect Yes/No No No AUTODETECT="YES" If selected, Automate Desktop will automatically detect the last cell populated with a value. If the Get parameter is set to Range of cells by reference, Automate Desktop will determine the cell reference of the bottom right most cell populated with data. If the Get parameter is set to Range of cells by position, Automate Desktop will determine the end row/end column specifying the bottom right most cell populated with data. Disabled by default. This parameter is active only if the Get parameter is set to Range of cells by reference or Range of cells by position.
Use active worksheet --- --- --- --- If enabled, specifies that this action will be performed on the currently active worksheet. This is a design time parameter, therefore, contains no markup or parameters.
Use specific worksheet Text No Sheet1 WORKSHEET="Sheet3" If enabled, indicates that the data will be retrieved from a specific worksheet instead of the currently active worksheet. Enter the name of the appropriate worksheet in the provided text-box. If left blank or omitted, the current active worksheet will be used.

Description

Error Causes

On Error

Example

NOTE:
  • Copy and paste the sample AML code below directly into the Task Builder Steps Panel.
  • To successfully run the sample code, update parameters containing user credentials, files, file paths, or other information specific to the task to match your environment.

Description

This sample task gets the text in an Excel cell and populates a variable with the results.

Copy 
<AMODS ACTIVITY="get_cell" SESSION="OPENDOCSession1" RESULTVARIABLE="var" CELLREF="A1" />