Excel - Get selected cell(s)

Declaration

<AMEXCELGETACTIVECELL SESSION="text" ACTION="text(options)" UPPERLEFTROWVARIABLE="text" UPPERLEFTCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTROWVARIABLE="text" LOWERRIGHTCOLUMNVARIABLE="text" />

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  Select cell(s) activity.

IMPORTANT: Excel activities rely on Microsoft's Excel engine to perform their work,therefore, MS Excel must be licensed and installed on the system in order for these activities to function properly.

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 Open/Create Workbook activity or one that contains cells that were previously activated by the Select cell(s) activity.

Parameters

Resource

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Resource

---

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Indicates where the source Excel document should originate from. This is a design mode parameter used only during task construction and configuration, thus, comprises no markup. 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 active only if the Resource parameter is set to Session.

Get document by

Text (options)

Yes if Resource is set to File

Open

  1. CONNECTBY="open_workbook"

  2. 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 filename of the Excel document in which to open. If the Get document by parameter is set to Create, specifies the path and filename of the Excel document in which to create.

Application is invisible

Yes/No

No

No

VISIBLE="NO"

If set to YES, specifies that the Excel window will not be displayed and all processing will occur in the background. This option should be set to NO during task construction and debugging but can be set to YES 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 enabled, specifies the path and filename 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 active only if the Get document by parameter is set to Create. It is disabled by default.

On completion

Text (options)

No

Save

  1. SAVETYPE="save"

  2. SAVETYPE="save_as"

  3. 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 filename.

  • 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 filename 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 filename 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 set to YES, the saved workbook will overwrite any workbook with the same name that exists in the destination. If set to NO (default), an existing workbook with the same name will not be overwritten, however, an error will occur during runtime as a result of matching filenames. 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

  1. ACTION="cellByReference"

  2. ACTION="cellByPosition"

  3. ACTION="rangeByReference"

  4. 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 Cell by reference

(Empty)

CELLREFVARIABLE="cell_reference_value"

The name of an existing variable to populate with the cell reference. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Cell by reference.

Populate variable with row

Number

Yes if Get method is 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 reference.

Populate variable with column

Number

Yes if Get method is 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 reference.

Populate variable with upper left cell

Text

Yes if Get method is 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 method is 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 method is 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 method is 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 method is 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 method is 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. Active only if the Get selected parameter is set to Range of cells by position.

Example

NOTE: The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Get active cell in workbook open in session "Session 102".  Populate variable "top_left_row_value" with the row of the cell in the upper left corner of the selection.  Populate variable "top_left_column_value" with the column # of the cell in the upper left corner of the selection.  Populate variable "bottom_right_row_value" with the row of the cell in the lower right corner of the selection.  Populate variable "bottom_right_column_value" with the column # of the cell in the lower right corner of the selection.  

<AMEXCELGETACTIVECELL SESSION="Session 102" ACTION="rangeByPosition" UPPERLEFTROWVARIABLE="topLeftRow" UPPERLEFTCOLUMNVARIABLE="topLeftColumn" LOWERRIGHTROWVARIABLE="bottomRightRow" LOWERRIGHTCOLUMNVARIABLE="bottom_right_column_value" />