OpenDocument Spreadsheet - Get cell reference/position

Declaration

<AMODS ACTIVITY="get_cell_reference" 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" CELLREF="text" CELLROWVARIABLE="textr" CELLCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" CELLROW="number" CELLCOLUMN="number" CELLREFVARIABLE="text" />

Related Topics    

Description

Retrieves the cell position or cell reference of an individual cell and populates one or more variables with results.

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 location of a specific cell.

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 cell by --- --- --- --- Specifies the method in which to retrieve the cell's location. This is a visual parameter only used during design-time, therefore contains no markups.  The available options are:
  • Reference (default) - Gets a cell's location specified by its reference, such as A1 or B3.
  • Position - Gets a cell's location specified by its row and column position, such as Row 2, Column F.
Cell reference Text Yes, if Get cell by   is set to Reference (Empty) CELLREF="B3" The reference of the cell to retrieve (for example, A1 or B4). This parameter is active only if the Get cell by  parameter is set to Reference.
Populate variable with row Text Yes, if Get cell by   is set to Reference (Empty) CELLROWVARIABLE="text" The name of an existing variable in which to populate with the row number of the cell. This parameter is active only if the Get cell by  parameter is set to Reference.
Populate variable with column Text Yes, if Get cell by   is set to Reference (Empty) CELLCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" The name of an existing variable in which to populate with the column number of the cell. This parameter is active only if the Get cell by  parameter is set to Reference.
Populate variable with cell reference Text Yes, if Get cell by   is set to Position (Empty) CELLREFVARIABLE="var1" The name of an existing variable in which to populate the cell reference. This parameter is active only if the Get cell by  parameter is set to Position.
Row Number Yes, if Get cell by   is set to 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 cell by  parameter is set to Position.
Column Number Yes, if Get cell by   is set to 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 cell by  parameter is set to Position.

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 coordinates for a cell and populates a variable and column with the results.

Copy 
<AMODS ACTIVITY="get_cell_reference" SESSION="OPENDOCSession1" CELLREF="A1" CELLROWVARIABLE="var" CELLCOLUMNVARIABLE="B1" />