By the end of this section you will be able to associate a Microsoft Excel template with a view.
About the Excel templates used in this section
In this tutorial section, you will use an Excel template called debtOverview.xls
that is already stored on the PhixFlow server.
We have included a copy of this template in train.zip. To see what the template looks like:
- Download train.zip and extract the contents to a folder on your computer (indicated as <path> in the following instructions).
- Open <path>\train\excelTemplates\debtOverview.xls. The file opens with one worksheet, called Formatted Data, which shows how the data will be formatted.
- If the file is protected, enable editing.
- There is a another, hidden worksheet. To view it, right-click on the Formatted Data worksheet tab and select Unhide.
The Excel file now has a tab called Basic Data. This worksheet is blank ready for PhixFlow to populate it with data. Once the first sheet is populated, you can use the data in other sheets.
When PhixFlow exports data to Excel, it always writes the data to the first worksheet
Find the location of Excel templates
- In the repository browser, scroll to the bottom of the list and open System Configuration.
- Expand the System Directories section.
- Make a note of directory specified in the Template Location, which is set to something like
/opt/phixflow/excelTemplates
.
Specify an Excel template in a stream view
Open the model
Dashboards and Forms 01-08: Views, filters and dashboards
in the workspace.- Open the settings tab for the stream view called
Overall Debt Levels
. To do this:First open the settings for the
Overall Debt Levels
stream. In the model, click on the stream icon.- Then, in the stream settings → Views section, double-click on the view called
Overall Debt Levels
.
- Add an Excel template to the stream view. In settings → Advanced section → Excel Template box, enter
debtOverview.xls
, then click Apply and Close.
Export stream view data to Excel
Open the stream view
Overall Debt Levels
and check it has data.- In the stream view window, in the toolbar, click Download data to file.
- PhixFlow opens the Download Data Options window. Set Use Excel Template: tick then click the Excel icon.
- PhixFlow opens a notification in the the bottom right of your screen. Click the notification to download the Excel file.
- Open the Excel file. Unhide the Basic Data worksheet to see the exported source data. Switch to the Formatted Data worksheet and notice that the debt level is colour-coded.
Snapshot of the formatted Excel data: