Roll back changes made by mistake in Excel 2007 - excel-2007

While using Microsoft Excel 2007, something weird happened and all the names after the nth row change to ABCD and I saved the file by mistake. How do I bring back the old names which have changed to ABCD?

If you do not have a copy or back-up, it may be possible to use features of your operating system.

Related

bunch of weird characters instead of text

I really count on your help.
Well, for hours I've been trying to have my excel files inserted in sql database as a table through the msvs and no matter what I have tried, the output data is always some sets of weird characters, boxes and etc. First I thought that it could be the PC language settings, I've tried changing them to my local one, changed the system locale to my own language and etc. But there was no result.
Then I just opened an excel file, typed there a single letter "d" and tried to open it in notepad++ to check whether the result will be the same or not. It was again a big pile of boxes and symbols instead of single letter "d". *Tried to change the encoding in notepad++, didnt work either.
Do you have any idea what can help me? It's really frustrating.
Thanks
Sabuhi.
Of course that happens, this is common behaviour when you are trying to open a compiled program in a text editor.
As #Gary'sStudent suggested, if you want to open the excel file
directly in a text-editor, it needs to be saved as .csv
Ctrl+Alt+S
Select the .csv file type:
Save (may need to adjust your table data to fit the .csv formatting
Either way, it sounds like you're a bit confused with what you're trying to achieve. If you want to export your Excel file as a database (which has it's own quirks and is not exactly the best approach to databases) then you should be able to view your database in your database editor - whatever you're using, after you have imported it and compiled it, instead of trying to open it in a text file!

Automated Excel document creation using VBA

The managing director at our company wants me to produce an automated monthly document that saves to a certain place on our system so that he doesn't have to manually input all of the data. I have set up so that the document can save to the correct place in the correct format but my knowledge of VBA is not great.
Tackling this from a 1 question at a time point of view I suppose my question would be is it possible to create 1 very long macro that will accomplish many different tasks over several workbooks. For example we have a report that comes from our ERP (Baan) and shoves all of the data into one cell. Is it possible to create a macro that will accomplish formatting text to columns, then copy data from a cell based on a row reference and then take said data and paste it in to a different workbook? Would it then be able to save the workbook all from just running one macro and if so how long will all of that take once the macro is executed?
Yes I believe this should be do-able, keeping in mind that the file names + location remain the same (otherwise you'll have to edit each month). Create different Subs/Functions and call them in one main macro.
The easiest way is probably to do it step by step. Record macro's and see whether that already helps you out and if not use google & stackoverflow for help! :)
it is entirely possible - but in my Opinion VBA is not well suited to the task. The editor is atrocius at best and it is easy to produce highly specific "spaghetti code".
File operatione are possible, but are not nice. Error handling is 80s style with lots of goto.
So if you want to build something maintainable, build an external Application using Interop or epplus (.net package for reading /writing to excel documents) or an .net addin for office.

Using an Excel 2010 document in Excel 2003 - VBA issues

I have been involved in writing an excel workbook for data analysis in Excel 2010. However I recently found out that some of the machines on which this document needs to be used run Excel 2003. I'm aware of the compatibility issues with saving to .xls format see here, but haven't been able to find a good summary of changes to the VBA code, specifically how to change from 2010 to 2003 (rather than the other way).
I do have access to a computer with Excel 2002 for testing, but it's very slow, in a room at the opposite end of the building, and has no internet access. So to avoid having to go back and forth to look up issues as they arise, I was hoping for some sort of list or summary that I could look through to identify issues before they arise.
I am aware that a similar question has been asked about 2007-2003 compatibility:
However all the answers simply suggest the use of a virtual machine. I do not have permission to install programs on my work computer (I'm not primarily employed for programming/IT), nor do I have Office on my home computer, or access to a licence.
The charting object model was substantially changed in Excel 2007, and then omitted from the macro recorder. Excel 2010 restored the macro recorder for charts, but you'll find the recorded code likely won't run on Excel 2003.
Tables aren't supported in Excel 2003. Use dynamic named ranges instead if you want a range object to grow automatically with the amount of data.
Excel 2003 uses command bars rather than the ribbon. If you put icons on the ribbon, you'll need to approach it differently for Excel 2003.
The Analysis ToolPak is an optional install in Excel 2003. If you use functions from it in your code, you'll need to make sure that it is installed and enabled.
If you save files in code, make sure that you use the FileFormat parameter (specifying the extension is not sufficient). Also make sure that you use integers rather than Enums for the FileFormat parameter (e.g. 51 instead of xlWorkbookDefault) because Excel 2003 won't recognize the newer Enums.

Importing from excel "applications" using SSIS

I am looking for any tips or resources on importing from excel into a SQL database, but specifically when the information is NOT in column and row format.
I am currently doing some pre-development work for a project, and in most ways I would like to use SSIS for the project. The one area that my research and googling is leaving a big question mark over is the import of the excel sheet.
In short our users are using excel as a simple calculator / application. Values are entered into specific cells in the sheet and then in other cells formulas come up with the final answers. The sheet has been "beautified" to make it easier for users to use (i.e. white space, merged cells, pretty colours, etc). I need a mechanism to get both the raw values and the final answers and import them into a SQL database.
There is a ton of information on the trials and tribulations of importing column and row info into Excel, but have any fellow stack-overflowers had experience with this? Is SSIS appropriate for this (the other viable option would have to be integration into a .NET service).
Thanks!
What about adding a sheet to the workbook that pulls the answers from the calculation sheet and shows them in a tabular format, and then use the magic of SSIS to suck in the values from that new sheet?
If you can't modify the worksheet, you might want to look into Interop services or something where you can specify the exact cells you want to pull data from.
I'd try the first route if possible, though another option might be to simply recreate their Excel calculator as a .NET app...
A SSIS Excel data source uses worksheet or range -- think table with column names. You could also consider using VBA from within Excel to push data into your DB.
SpreadsheetGear for .NET will let you load an Excel workbook, put values in cells, calculate, get results as raw values or formatted text and more. This might be your best option if the data is not suitable for SSIS - but it will require that you use .NET (C#, VB or any .NET language) to automate your process. The advantage of SpreadsheetGear is that you then have a solution which does not depend on anything other than .NET (of course it depends on SpreadsheetGear, but SpreadsheetGear can be deployed royalty free with your application using xcopy deployment or any other deployment method).
You can see live samples here and download the free trial here.
Disclaimer: I own SpreadsheetGear LLC

XML Import in Excel 2003 Standard Edition

We have built an Excel 2003 template that asks the user to select an XML file which is then imported into an XML Map and used to populate a worksheet.
Unfortunately it turns out that the users have Excel Standard Edition, which does not include the XML import functionality - namely the Workbook.XmlImport function.
Users are able to open the XML file via File -> Open etc, however this opens it up as a new workbook.
Does anyone know of a way to get around this? How can we get the XML data to populate the XML Map when the users have Excel 2003 Standard Edition?
Quick workaround:
Let them select the file to open
open that file into a new workbook using vba,
copy the contents of the new worksheet (or read it all in to vba recordsets to parse)
paste it back into your active worksheet (maybe after you've done stuff to it in VBA)
close the xml worksheet, not saving any changes.
That would get around it, but it won't be quite as flexible. Depends how much you need to do with it.
Any help?
The best course may be to buy a used version of 2003 Professional. You can get one for about $50. If you have a ton of users, this obviously doesn't scale. If you have four users, this would be a $200 fix to your problem.
If you're on the verge of upgrading, you might accelerate that process and make sure the 2007 flavor has XML support. I want to say that all of 2007 has XML, but definitely investigate it before you take my word.
Option 3 involves a lot of time and code. You can write VBA to import and refresh XML (or CSV or something else). Obviously you'd have to weigh the cost of coding to finding and buying enough used licenses.