Can I get Excel to import XML like Access?

[Ed from AZ]

(Windows XP Pro, Office 2003) I work with a Java-based program that
creates an XML file. Normally, we do not work directly with the XML
files. Sometimes, though, information needs to be transferred between
XML docs, and I've been trying to find a way to do that.

The Java program consists of forms to fill out, and some of them are
repeating, or child, forms. This is the data that I am most
interested it - seeing all the data for each of the child forms in a
group where I can edit, add, delete, etc as I wish.

When I try to open an XML file with Excel (either by right-clck on the
XML file and Open With or XL >> Data >> XML >> Import), Excel creates
a schema that doesn't present the information in a way I can logically
work with it. When I import the file into Access, thoguh, it creates
a separate table for each major section.

I am not familiar with Access, except to know that I can't manipulate
data in an Access table like I can in an Excel spreadsheet. I would
like to be able to get my XML data to import into Excel either as
separate worksheets for each major section or to be able to choose
just the one section to import and work with. Failing that, I'll
probably see about importing into Access, exporting the one table out
and Excel, working with it, importing that table back into Access, and
then saving the file.

Any pointers or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Ed

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

You can easily export data from Access to Excel, but remember that the data
in Access is relational, while Excel is a flat file. If you have referential
integrity enforced, it won't be as simple as exporting then reimporting
back. Depending upon what you need to do, you may be able to do your
manipulation in Access. If you need an analysis tool, Excel is just the
ticket. For storing, manipulating, and retrieving large amounts of data,
Access is the best choice.

 

[Ed from AZ]

Thanks for the reply, Arvin.

The main manipulation I would want to accomplish with this is moving
chunks of data from one file to another.

One of the Java forms is a grid-style data entry. There can be
multiple forms like this (these are "child" forms??) in one XML file.
The grid reminds me of an Access table in that the left column auto-
numbers, and several of the cells have drop-down lists. Within the
Java form grid, though, I can not copy rows, either singly or in a
block, to move to another XML file or even another child form in the
same file.

I have been able to accomplish this by opening the files in Word and
using cut and paste, but that doesn't seem like the best way to work
with a grid. This would work great in Excel, where I can simply copy
a hug block of rows and move them. If I had a template set up with
the drop-down validations to import this into, I could add new lines
and do a few other things as well.

As I said, I am unfamiliar with Access. I've managed to create a few
tables, queries, and generic forms and reports, but not really get
into a table and manipulate the information like this.

Where should I go to learn more about how to accomplish this?

Ed

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Is it possible to walk through the XML data and extract it to a plain CSV
text file? If you can get rid of all the extraneous XML junk, you can do
almost anything you want. Word, Excel, and Access (and almost anything else)
can read a plain text file without the encumbrance of having to use an xlt
template.

 

[Ed from AZ]

Is it possible to walk through the XML data and extract it to a plain CSV

text file?

Is this a function found in Word, Excel, or Access? I could probably
write a VBA macro in Word or Excel to take out all the tags. But
then, I could just aas easily make the macro find all the appropriate
tags and create a table or spreadsheet. But then I have to write it
all back into the XML file.

This file doesn't have a schema recognized by either Excel or Access
when I directly open a file, so writing it back is a head-scratcher at
the moment. (I obviously don't know much about XML, either!)

Whatever I do, I have to wind up with everything back in an XML file
with all the right tags in the right place. When I saw that Access
opened it all up in separate tables, I thought I might have found my
answer.

Ed

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Access can write it back to XML, but you'll need to use the template. It
cannot create those templates for you.

 

[Ed from AZ]

I just took a sample file, imported it into Access, took one of the
tables and modified it, then tried to export the file back into XML.
All it did was take just the one table and export it, rendering the
rest of the XML useless.

So I need to learn about how to create an Access template for these
files that will accept a change to one table and recreate a useable
XML file?

I'm beginning to think I would be better off in a VBA macro in Excel,
parsing this out as text and writing it to a worksheet, then writing
it back with the tags thrown in.

Ed

 

[ilia]

So wouldn't something like:

INSERT INTO File2 SELECT * FROM File1 WHERE myCondition=True

do the trick for your data manipulation?

 

[Ed from AZ]

Um, I have no idea, Ilia. How would I set that up?

Ed

 

[Ed from AZ]

Okay - an Append Query, according to Access Help files.

That would probably be okay, once I got the hang of making things
happen.

Right now, though, I'm really stuck on getting all these tables back
into an XML file. If I can't do that, then I really need to consider
another method.

Thanks for chiming in with help. I appreciate the interest in getting
a newbi un-lost!

Ed

 

[ilia]

Just open a new query, select SQL view, and paste that text. Replace
myCondition=True with your actual condition and File1/File2 with
actual table names.