It would be great if these clever hints could go into the documentation 
wiki.  Please feel free to add...

dlcohen1 wrote:
> 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
>   
_______________________________________________
General mailing list
[email protected]
http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/general

Reply via email to