eCriteria: Publishing Excel Data on the Web

Uploading an Excel spreadsheet to create a Web database using eCriteria is very simple. The goal is two-fold: In order to upload data in your Excel spreadsheet to an eCriteria Web database, you need to (1) make sure that the first line of data are field names that contain no spaces, and (2) save your file with the file extension as a .csv rather than the usual .xls. The following are detailed instructions for preparing your Excel spreadsheet in a usable format for eCriteria.

Step 1	Make sure you have installed the necessary Excel components that allow you to export to comma delimited text format for eCriteria. You can tell if this is the case by first opening Excel, and then opening the File menu, and selecting “Save As.” From here, pull-down the "Save as Type" list found at the bottom of the “Save As” dialog box. If your installation of Excel allows exporting to text with comma delimitations, you should see the item "*CSV (Comma delimited)(.csv)**" in the list. If not, you must go back to your Microsoft Excel (of Office) CD and re-run the Setup program to select this feature. Fortunately, Microsoft does automatically install text features in a "Typical" install.
Step 2	In Excel sheet 1 on row #1, in each column, type in the names of the type of data you will want to see in your eCriteria database. These field names as a title or representation for the type of data that you want under each column. Imagine the spreadsheet as a table, with categorical column headings at the top. These column headings will be the field names for your eCriteria database. These names may not have any spaces in them, but this should not be a concern as you have the option of re-naming these column headings when you create your database with eCriteria. Your Excel spreadsheet should look something like the image below: Now, you can type in the data in each row, under each column. If you want to add more criteria, you can add more columns to your worksheet.
Step 3	With the "*CSV (Comma delimited)(.csv)" item selected in the "Save as Type" pull-down above, type in the name of your text output file. Since this is a temporary file that you can delete after uploading to eCriteria, the name of this file is not important. Click on the "Save" button in the dialog box. An error message might pop up at this time. If the error message says: "NameOfWorksheet.csv may contain features that are not compatible with CST. Do you want to keep the workbook in this format?" click "Yes."** Also, you must remember the name and directory location of this file because you’ll need to point to it during the eCriteria upload process.
Step 4	For good measure, you might open the new text file using the Windows Notepad or Wordpad utility available in your Accessories program group. The resulting file should resemble the following sample file's structure: Activity,Time,Date,Location Arts and Crafts,10am,4/22/00,L.A. Sculpture,10am,4/22/00,Irvine Waterpaint,10am,4/22/00,San Diego Board Games,12pm,4/22/00,L.A. Baking Cookies,12pm,4/22/00,Irvine Cooking,12pm,4/22/00,San Diego Musical Chairs,2pm,4/22/00,L.A.
Step 5	After you login to eCriteria and you want to upload this data file, on the following screen, please click the button "Upload Data." Click browse and find the file you wish to input. Then, follow the Web Database Publishing Wizard and finish creating your database. For further instructions on how to create a database, please refer to our demo on the How To page.