plug-in using excel data

[erieru103]

hi,everybody!

I need to create a plug-in that will use excel data.

But I don't know how to access to excel from the frameMaker plug-in.

Can someone give me any idea?

regard.

erieru103

[Russ Ward]

Hi erieru,

You certainly won't be able to do it with the FDK library. You'll need to move into system calls. What exactly do you mean by "access to excel?" Do you need to operate Excel for something or just read the data?  If I needed to read data only, I think I would just save it as CSV, XML, or something else that I could read more easily.

You did say "plugin", so I'm assuming the FDK. If you were flexible in the manner of automation, I think that FrameScript has some strong COM abilities which I would think should allow an easier hookup to Excel. I can't speak firsthand on that, though, because I don't use FrameScript.

Russ

[Van Kurtz]

In another thread, someone told me that you can import an Excel spreadsheet directly into FrameMaker, which converts it into a Frame table. I tried it in structured document and it worked; it even assigned it's own concept of the element structure. So, my guess is that it should work in unstructured Frame as well.

Van

[erieru103]

Hi, Van.

Thank you for your advice.

About importing an Excel spreadsheet directly into FrameMaker,

it means saving excel file as csv file?

Bescause ｔhe garble occurs to some characters in CSV file,

so I can't use csv file.

[Arnis Gubins]

IIRC, FM has been able to directly import Excel .xls files since v.7.2.

[Russ Ward]

erieru,

What I meant is that that there won't be any FDK functions to read a binary CSV file and/or operate Excel remotely. You'll need to make calls to the Windows API to do that sort of thing. That doesn't mean you can't do it... it just means you won't find anything in the FDK docs about it.

Russ

[erieru103]

Hi, Russ.

Thank you for your replay.

I'm sorry to answer you lately.

I know I can't  find any functions to acess excel file in FDK.

I'll need to study how to use OLE.

[erieru103]

Hi, Arnis

I'm sorry for delaying in answering.

I have tried to import the excel file to FM,

but maybe the excel file size is big,

so it cannot be done well.

when I import excel files, sometime FM shows the message

"The filter encountered an error and could not complete the translation."

What this means?

[AxialInfo]

erieru, the "filter error" means that either

1) there is something in the file that FrameMaker does not know how to read, for example some special formatting or a graphic, or else

2) it means that FrameMaker's filter cannot read the file at all, perhaps because version of Excel that you are using is newer than FrameMaker can read.

I would suggest testing with a very simple test Excel file, with only a few cells, no formatting, no formulas, just a simple file. Then save the Excel file and try it.

If your test file can't be read, then try saving it as an older version such as Excel 2003 or even an older version.

Sheila

[erieru103]

Hi, Sheila

Thank you for your replay.

I have tested a simple excel file saved as Excel 2002 and it worked OK.

The text in the excel file that I 'll work on are written by many language such as Chinese, Russian and others.

So the font suitable for each language is used.

And, there is a macro in the file.

Is this also a reason that the excel file can't be imported in the FrameMaker?

[AxialInfo]

Yes, having multiple languages and fonts in the file could be a cause for having a filter problem. I don't know whether having macros would cause problems, I would guess probably not as I think the filter would just ignore them.

For more troubleshooting, I would suggest starting by making simplified copies of the Excel file, starting with having just a single language in the Excel file (one with Russian, one with Chinese, and so on), to see if you can narrow the problem down to any particular language or font.

In addition, I would look at any special formatting in the file, for example are there columns or rows that have spanned cells or columns, or rows that are divided in some special way, because Excel can format cells in ways that FrameMaker cannot handle, so that could cause the filter to make an error.

And, another possible way to proceed would be to have the Excel file open, copy a few cells to the Windows clipboard, then paste them into FrameMaker. If the cells correctly appear in FrameMaker with the font correctly maintained and the language characteristics are preserved, then that might indicate that the filter is having a problem with the Excel version or with some special formatting in the file, not with the language and font.

SHeila

[erieru103]

Hi,Russ

Thank you for your advice.

The system calls do you mean is OLE?

I haven't use OLE. Do you know any site about using OLE in FrameMaker?

I want to acess to Excel because I want to get data from Excel and use those data to work with FM files.

I can't save it as CSV bescause ｔhe garble occurs to some characters.

About FrameScript, I don't use it too.