Excel Connector - CData Arc Documentation

The Excel connector converts data between Excel sheets (.xlsx) and XML files.

Key Capabilities

Bidirectional Excel/XML conversion in both Table and Template modes
Advanced template system using ArcScript for dynamic data population
Support for multiple worksheets with configurable row/column ranges

Overview

Excel connectors can be configured in two modes: Table and Template. These modes are described below.

Table Mode

The default mode for Excel connectors is Table. This mode only supports converting files from XLSX to XML. To convert from XML to XSLX, use Template mode. In Table mode, the connector treats input XLSX files exactly like CSV files. The resulting output XML file has the following structure, where each row (record) in the original file becomes a child of a sheet wrapper element, which is a child of the root element Items. By default, the wrapper element is named after the worksheet. To control the name of the wrapper element, see Root Element Name.

<Items>
 <Sheet1>
  <Record>
   <field_0></field_0>
   <field_1></field_1>
   <field_2></field_2>
  </Record>
 </Sheet1>
</Items>

Template Mode

In Template mode, the connector uses a template file to perform conversions. This template file matches the output file format:

When converting from XML to Excel, the template file is an Excel file.
When converting from Excel to XML, the template file is an XML file.

These template files use ArcScript to dynamically populate the output files with data from the input files. For more information, see the Templates section.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Configuration

Settings related to the core configuration of the connector.

Setting	Description
Connector Id	The static, unique identifier for the connector.
Connector Type	Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
Connector Description	An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
Translation Mode	Specify which method (Table or Template) to use to translate the input file to the output format. See the Overview for more information.
Column headers	(Table mode) Check this to have the translation use the values in the first row of the XLSX file as the element names of the child elements. If unchecked, the value elements are given generic names such as field_0, field_1, etc.
Template File	(Template mode) The file that functions as the output template. Data is dynamically added to the file based on the scripting in the template. See the Templates section for details.

Advanced Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

Setting	Description
Sheet Names	(Table mode) A comma-separated list of the workbook sheet names to output. By default, all sheets are output.
Start Row	(Table mode) The first row in the sheet to use for the output table.
Start Column	(Table mode) The first column in the sheet to use for the output table.
End Column	(Table mode) The last column in the sheet to use for the output table. If not set, the column preceding the first empty cell on the first row is detected as the end of the sheet.
DateTime Format	(Table mode) The format to use for DateTime values in the Excel document.
Number Format	(Table mode) The format to use for numbers in the Excel document. Set this if you want all numbers in the document to be handled in the same way.
Root Element Name	(Table mode) The XML element name to use for the wrapper element of each XML message output in Table mode. Macros are supported. The default, `%SheetName%`, names the element after the worksheet being processed. Use `%Sequence%` to include the processing sequence number of the sheet when processing multiple sheets. See Root Element Name for details.
Propagate Merged Cell Values	(Table mode) When reading Excel in table mode, check this to propagate the value of each merged cell to all rows in the merged area. This option provides more complete data but it requires an extra read of the Excel file, which can affect performance on large workbooks.
Local File Scheme	A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.

Advanced Tab

Logging

Settings that govern the creation and storage of logs.

Setting	Description
Log Level	The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
Log Subfolder Scheme	Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. The Weekly option (which is the default) instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. Leaving this setting blank tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
Log Messages	Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Transactions tab.

Other Settings

Setting	Description
Processing Delay	The amount of time (in seconds) by which the processing of files placed in the Transactions tab is delayed. This is a legacy setting. Best practice is to use a File connector to manage local file systems instead of this setting.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

Setting	Description
Other Settings	Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, `setting1=value1;setting2=value2`). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Automation Tab

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

Automation Settings

Setting	Description
Send	Whether messages arriving at the connector are automatically processed.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

Setting	Description
Max Workers	The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.
Max Files	The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Performance Settings portion of the Advanced Settings page.

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Templates

XML to Excel

The following snippet from an XML file contains a list of elements under the /Items/Orders path.

<Items>
    <Orders>
        <OrderNo>PO0012345</OrderNo>
        <Customer>Teddy</Customer>
        <Date>04/19/2023</Date>
        <SubTotal>23.98</SubTotal>
        <Items>
            <Name>Teddy Bear</Name>
            <Cost>14.99</Cost>
            <Desc>Brown</Desc>
        </Items>
        <Items>
            <Name>Truck</Name>
            <Cost>8.99</Cost>
            <Desc>Red</Desc>
        </Items>
    </Orders>
</Items>

To convert this XML file to XSLX, you must create an Excel template. The image below shows an example Excel template that uses xmlDOMSearch and xpath to loop through the elements of the XML file:

Every Excel template must contain the following elements, which are shown in the example above:

Static column headers. In the example above, this is Order Detail.
Scripting in Excel notes. This scripting should use the xmlDOMSearch operation to loop through the input XML at a specified XPath. In the example above, this is contained in the arc:call operation.
Scripting in Excel cells. This scripting should use the xpath formatters to read values from the XML at a given xpath. This xpath is relative to the xpath specified in the xmlDOMSearch operation.

The details of the xmlDOMSearch operation and xpath formatters in this example are described below.

xmlDOMSearch

The xmlDOMSearch requires two parameters:

Parameter	Description
URI	The resource path to the XML file to parse. The `[filepath]` attribute resolves to the input XML file to the connector, and the URI should almost always be set to this value. In the above example, the filepath is URL-encoded with the urlencode formatter to ensure that special characters in the filepath do not prevent the connector from reading the file: `[filepath \| urlencode]`
xpath	The XML path to loop over in the document. The operation loops for each occurrence of the specified xpath. For example, with the xpath `/Items/Orders`, each Orders element that is a child of the root Items element causes a new set of output in the resulting Excel file.

xpath formatters

The Excel notes with the xmlDOMSearch operation surround a block of cells that reference the input XML via the xpath formatter. The xpath formatter reads values from the input XML at the specified xpath.

This xpath is relative to the path provided as a parameter to the xmlDOMSearch operation.

In the above example, the first cell is populated with: [xpath("OrderNo")]. Since this xpath is relative, the cell is populated with the value from the following path in the input XML: /Items/Orders/OrderNo. If the xmlDOMSearch operation loops more than once—that is, if more than one instance of the operation’s xpath parameter is found—then the block of cells between the Excel notes is repeated. The new cells are added vertically, so in the above example the second OrderNo cell would be directly below the first Notes cell.

Excel to XML

To convert from XSLX to an XML file, you must create a custom XML template using ArcScript commands. Since XML does not support the same scripting functionality as Excel files, the structure and formatting for converting from XSLX to XML is different than from XML to Excel.

Due to the wide range of potential input and output structures, there is no universal solution for every conversion need. The example template shown below is just one of many potential solutions. You need to create a template based on your own needs.

This example template uses a combination of standard XML syntax and Arc Script to read, process, and convert data from an input Excel file. The arc:set lines below specify the location of the file and the Excel version used to create the file.

<!-- Read Excel -->
<arc:set attr="xml.file" value="[FilePath]" />
<arc:set attr="xml.version" value="2007" />

The sections below specify the conversion parameters and map the headers into standard XML formatting. The parameter [_value | toalphanum | replace(' ','')] indicates that the arc:set command should parse header names from the Excel file, convert them to alphanumeric format, eliminate blank spaces, and assign them as headers in the XML file.

<!-- Always use first sheet-->
<arc:call op="excelListSheets" in ="xml" out="sheet">
  <arc:set attr="xml.sheet" value="[sheet.sheet]" />
  <arc:break />
</arc:call>

<!-- read the headers into an array-->
<arc:set attr="xml.map:headers" value="A1:*1" />
<arc:call op="excelGet" in="xml" out="header">
  <arc:enum attr="header.headers#">
    <arc:set attr="data.headernames#" value="[_value | toalphanum | replace(' ','')]" />
  </arc:enum>
</arc:call>

<arc:set attr="_log.info" value="[data.headernames#1]" />

<arc:enum range="A..Z">
  <arc:set attr="tmp.cells#" value="[_value]" />
</arc:enum>

The sections below process the remaining data and build the data columns according to the specified structure.

<!-- read the remaining cells -->
<arc:enum attr="data.headernames#">
  <arc:set attr="xml.map:[_value]" value="[tmp.cells#[_index]]2:[tmp.cells#[_index]]*" />
</arc:enum>

<!-- build the columns -->
<arc:call op="excelGet" in="xml" out="cols">
  <arc:map from="cols" to="data" map="*=*" />
</arc:call>

<Items>
  <arc:enum attr="data.[data.headernames#1]#"><arc:set attr="tmp.colIndex" value="[_index]" />
    <Record>
      <arc:enum attr="data.headernames#">
        <[_value]>[data.[_value]#[tmp.colIndex] | def]</[_value]>
      </arc:enum>
    </Record>
  </arc:enum>
</Items>

Root Element Name

In Table mode, the connector outputs one XML message for each worksheet it processes. By default, the rows of each sheet are wrapped in an element named after the sheet. For a sheet named Sheet1, the output looks like this:

<Items>
  <Sheet1>
    <Record>
      <field_0></field_0>
    </Record>
  </Sheet1>
</Items>

If the sheet name changes from file to file, the wrapper element changes with it. Downstream XML Map connectors that reference the sheet name then fail to match unless you use wildcards in the map.

Use the Root Element Name setting to control the name of this wrapper element. The setting defaults to %SheetName%, which names the element after the worksheet being processed, as shown above. When a workbook contains multiple sheets, the connector outputs one message for each sheet. Use %Sequence% to include the processing sequence number of the sheet in the element name, so each message has a distinct wrapper element. For example, Sheet_%Sequence% produces Sheet_1 for the first sheet processed, Sheet_2 for the second, and so on.

Element names must be valid XML names. After macros are evaluated, the connector silently replaces any invalid characters in the result with an underscore (_). For example, Sales Data becomes Sales_Data.

Using a Static Name

Enter a fixed value to give every output message the same wrapper element, regardless of the sheet name. For example, with a sheet named Sheet1 and Root Element Name set to Data, the output is:

<Items>
  <Data>
    <Record>
      <field_0></field_0>
    </Record>
  </Data>
</Items>

This is useful when you only process the first sheet of a workbook, or when sheet names are not predictable.

Macros

Examples

Excel Operations

In addition to the Operations provided with Arc, connectors can provide operations that extend functionality into ArcScript. These connector operations can be called just like any other ArcScript operation, except for two details:

They must be called through the connector.rsc endpoint.
They must include an auth token.

For example, calling a connector operation using both of these rules might look something like this:

<arc:set attr="in.myInput" value="myvalue" />
<arc:call op="connector.rsc/opName" authtoken="admin:1j9P8v8b9K0x6g5R5t7k" in="in" out="out">
  <!-- handle output from the op here -->
</arc:call>

Operations specific to the functionality of the Excel connector are listed below.

excelClose

Close an Excel connection.

Optional Parameters

handle: The handle for the Excel file.

Output Attributes

success: True if the connection is closed successfully.

excelGet

Queries the specified Excel worksheet.

Required Parameters

sheet: The name of the Excel worksheet.

Optional Parameters

version: The version of Excel you are using. The default is AUTO. You only need to choose another version if you are using a legacy Excel version.
file: The path to the Excel workbook.
handle: The handle for the Excel file.
map:*: This set of inputs contains a mapping of the attribute name and the name of the cell whose value is to be retrieved from the spreadsheet. For example, the attribute name map:MyValue which has a value of C1 pushes an attribute named MyValue with the value found in the cell at C1 in the sheet. You can specify a range of cell names to retrieve a range of cell values.

Output Attributes

*: Depends on the content of the sheet and the query specified. If column headers are present they are used to name the output attributes.

excelListSheets

Lists the worksheets in a specified Excel workbook.

Optional Parameters

version: The version of Excel you are using. The default is AUTO. You only need to choose another version if you are using a legacy Excel version.
file: The path to the Excel workbook.
handle: The handle for the Excel file.

Output Attributes

isHidden: Returns true if the sheet is hidden from view in Excel.
sheet: The name of the Excel worksheet. Note that the name ends with $. This is not required when specifying worksheet names to other operations.

excelOpen

Open an existing Excel workbook.

Required Parameters

file: The path to the Excel workbook.

Optional Parameters

version: The version of Excel you are using. The default is AUTO. You only need to choose another version if you are using a legacy Excel version.

Output Attributes

handle: The handle which is used to execute other operations.

​Key Capabilities

​Overview

​Table Mode

​Template Mode

​Connector Configuration

​Settings Tab

​Configuration

​Advanced Settings

​Advanced Tab

​Logging

​Other Settings

​Miscellaneous

​Automation Tab

​Automation Settings

​Performance

​Alerts Tab

​SLAs Tab

​Templates

​XML to Excel

​xmlDOMSearch

​xpath formatters

​Excel to XML

​Root Element Name

​Using a Static Name

​Macros

​Examples

​Excel Operations

​excelClose

​Optional Parameters

​Output Attributes

​excelGet

​Required Parameters

​Optional Parameters

​Output Attributes

​excelListSheets

​Optional Parameters

​Output Attributes

​excelOpen

​Required Parameters

​Optional Parameters

​Output Attributes

Key Capabilities

Overview

Table Mode

Template Mode

Connector Configuration

Settings Tab

Configuration

Advanced Settings

Advanced Tab

Logging

Other Settings

Miscellaneous

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Performance

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

Templates

XML to Excel

xmlDOMSearch

xpath formatters

Excel to XML

Root Element Name

Using a Static Name

Macros

Examples

Excel Operations

excelClose

Optional Parameters

Output Attributes

excelGet

Required Parameters

Optional Parameters

Output Attributes

excelListSheets

Optional Parameters

Output Attributes

excelOpen

Required Parameters

Optional Parameters

Output Attributes