10/20/07 There is a slightly easier work around that still involves copying and pasting but to a lesser degree. From an Excel file, copy the cells you want and paste them into Babel in the convert text box; in the From Format use Tab-Separated Values; in the To Format use Exhibit JSON. If using EditGrid for an online spreadsheet file, copy the data you want using the EditGrid copy to clipboard option within EditGrid, select copy from your browser and paste the data in the convert text box in Babel. These options should maintain the correct date formats.
-- David Cohen, AICP On Oct 20, 2007, at 2:27 PM, David Huynh wrote: > william gunn wrote: >> I'm having an issue with dates converting from Excel to JSON for >> Exhibit. >> I'm converting from an Excel file, and the only way I can get the >> dates to >> show up as dates and not numbers in Exhibit is by using the text() >> Excel >> function to make a new column converting the original dates to >> text as shown >> here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1927710,00.asp, then doing >> "paste-special-values" into a new spreadsheet, omitting the >> original date >> columns. >> >> If I leave in the original columns, the dates show up as 0 in >> Exhibit, and >> if I try to format the original columns using the format cells >> menu option, >> the dates turn into numbers. >> >> I know David's been working on this, but I don't know if it's been >> worked >> out yet. It's not a big deal, really, but has anyone figured out a >> workaround that doesn't involve copying and pasting? >> > I haven't gotten to the bottom of this yet. I used some > external .jar to > access Excel files and I'll need to see how to retrieve dates > properly. > >> On a related note, I'm converting my file on-the-fly, because I >> don't think >> it'll see too many pageloads, and it just seemed like overkill to >> check out >> babel for one little table, but does anyone have some code to >> write the on >> the fly babel output to a file so that the next pageload could >> check for the >> existence of the converted file and use that if present? >> > You could do this > > <link href="your-file.xls" > rel="exhibit/data" > type="application/msexcel" /> > > Given that your .xls file is publically accessible at a URL, that code > will bounce the Excel file through http://simile.mit.edu/babel/ > automatically. > > David > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/general _______________________________________________ General mailing list [email protected] http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/general
