OpenDocument Spreadsheet - Get selected cell(s)

Declaration

<AMODS ACTIVITY="active_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)" CELLREFVARIABLE="text" CELLROWVARIABLE="text" CELLCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" UPPERLEFTREFVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTREFVARIABLE="text" UPPERLEFTROWVARIABLE="text" UPPERLEFTCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTROWVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" WORKSHEET="text" />

Related Topics    

Description

Retrieves the position of the active cell or range of cells in a workbook and populates one or more existing variables with the cell reference and/or position coordinates. To activate a single cell or range of cells, use the Select cells activity.

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 get the currently active cell or range of cells associated with the specified worksheet. Active cells can be determined from a document that was previously opened by the OpenDocument Spreadsheet - Open/Create workbook activity or one that contains cells that were previously activated.

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 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 selected is set to Cell by reference (Empty) CELLREFVARIABLE="cell_reference_value The name of an existing variable to populate with the cell reference. Active only if Get selected is set to Cell by reference.
Populate variable with row Number Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Cell by position.
Populate variable with column Number Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Cell by position.
Populate variable with upper left cell Text Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by reference.
Populate variable with lower right cell Text Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by reference.
Populate variable with upper left cell row Text Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.
Populate variable with upper left cell column Text Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.
Populate variable with lower right Cell row Text Yes, if Get selected 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.
Populate variable with lower right cell column Text Yes, if Get selected is set to Range of cells by position (Empty) 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to 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 position of the active cell in a workbook and populates a variable with the cell reference.

Copy 
<AMODS ACTIVITY="active_cell" WORKBOOK="C:\temp\Employees.xls" OPENPASSWORD="AM4xlGNrPWiqs7ctMMj18bANJWh/7Dwvh7baME" SAVETYPE="save_as" DESTINATION="C:\temp3\newFile.xls" OVERWRITEDESTINATION="YES" CELLREFVARIABLE="theCellData" />