2 Using Excel Templates

By the end of this section you will be able to associate an Excel template with a view.

First, specify the location of excel templates.

1. Find System Configuration in the repository browser. It is right at the bottom of the repository list.
2. Open System Configuration and expand the System Directories section.
3. Make a note of directory specified in the Template Location, which is set to something like /opt/phixflow/excelTemplates.

You will now use a template in this directory to format one of the views you created:

1. Open the model Dashboards and Forms 01-08: Views, filters and dashboards.
2. Click on the icon for the Overall Debt Levels stream to open its configuration form.
3. In the Views section, click on Overall Debt Levels. This opens the stream view configuration form.
4. In the Advanced section, in the Excel Template box, enter debtOverview.xls and press .
5. The template itself is stored on the PhixFlow server but you can have a look at copy.
   1. Download  train.zip and extract the contents to a folder on your computer (indicated as <path> in the following instructions).
   2. Open <path>\train\excelTemplates\debtOverview.xls. The file opens with one worksheet, called Formatted Data, which shows how the data will be formatted.
   3. If the file is protected, enable editing.
   4. There is a another, hidden worksheet. To view it, right-click on Formatted Data and select Unhide.

   5. 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.

6. Open the view Overall Debt Levels and export the data to Excel.
7. You will see the exported data from PhixFlow in the first worksheet and the formatted output on the second worksheet.