Kevin Self
asked on
Simple linking of text field to imported excel
Lots of discussions shape data, but I can't seem to find this simple case.
1. I have four rectangles in my drawing. Each rectangle represents a desk. These are the only shapes in the drawing.
2. I have imported an excel spreadsheet using the Custom Import tool (using all the default settings). My spreadsheet has two columns and 5 rows. The Desk_Name column will be the unique identifier.
Desk_Name | Employee_Name
Desk1 | Alice
Desk2 |Bob
Desk3 | Charlie
Desk4 | Alice
3. I want the text field of rectangle 1 to display Alice, rectangle 2 to display Bob, etc. Desk4 is occupied by fourth employee also named Alice. I don't want the Desk_Name displayed. I don't want any text to appear off to the side of the shape, like I see in most of the examples. The only text that should appear inside the rectangle is the employee name.
4. The text inside the rectangles should be updated if I change any of the employee names. I don't expect this to happen automatically; I'll have to hit a refresh button somewhere.
5. *Eventually* the drawing will have up to 144 desks, and of course I will increase the size of the spreadsheet to match.
As I said, total noob with shape data. I know I have to assign a unique identifier (DeskName?) to each rectangle, and I have to link the text field of that shape to a specific excel cell, but I don't know how to start. To me this seems a simple case, but all the examples I've seen are for more complicated cases... Is there a simple solution for a simpleton?
1. I have four rectangles in my drawing. Each rectangle represents a desk. These are the only shapes in the drawing.
2. I have imported an excel spreadsheet using the Custom Import tool (using all the default settings). My spreadsheet has two columns and 5 rows. The Desk_Name column will be the unique identifier.
Desk_Name | Employee_Name
Desk1 | Alice
Desk2 |Bob
Desk3 | Charlie
Desk4 | Alice
3. I want the text field of rectangle 1 to display Alice, rectangle 2 to display Bob, etc. Desk4 is occupied by fourth employee also named Alice. I don't want the Desk_Name displayed. I don't want any text to appear off to the side of the shape, like I see in most of the examples. The only text that should appear inside the rectangle is the employee name.
4. The text inside the rectangles should be updated if I change any of the employee names. I don't expect this to happen automatically; I'll have to hit a refresh button somewhere.
5. *Eventually* the drawing will have up to 144 desks, and of course I will increase the size of the spreadsheet to match.
As I said, total noob with shape data. I know I have to assign a unique identifier (DeskName?) to each rectangle, and I have to link the text field of that shape to a specific excel cell, but I don't know how to start. To me this seems a simple case, but all the examples I've seen are for more complicated cases... Is there a simple solution for a simpleton?
Kevin,
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Scott
Was the information above helpful? Do you need more assistance?
Scott
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Once you've linked the diagram to data and see the External Data window, you need to link data rows to specific shapes. As you'll see in the video, you can drag a row of data onto a shape, which works fine when you have a small number of shapes. But when you have a lot of desks, you'll probably want to preset an ID field in each desk shape (your "Desk1", "Desk2", etc.) so that you can use automatic linking.
The other thing to do is to insert a text display field so that each person's name appears on the desk. Let's assume that the shape data field has the name "Occupant" (although the name of the field can be whatever you want it to be).
-- Select all desks
-- Insert>Text>Field
-- On the left side of the Field dialog box select Shape Data
-- On the right side of the Field dialog box select Occupant
-- Click OK
At this point each shape is set to display the contents of the occupant field. If the field is empty, nothing will appear on the desk. If the field contains data, it will appear.