Spectre Flow Excel Input Object

The Spectre Flow Excel Input object brings typed data into the build script from an xlsx file.

The Excel Input object has three sections in the properties panel where you set attributes.

Spectre Flow Excel Input Attributes

Object Attributes

You set attributes for the Excel Input object in the object attributes section.

Attribute	Description
File	Defines a .xlsx file as a data source. Use project-based pathing. For information about the flow script tag, see file. Defining the input Click the browse button for a row in the File attribute. The Select File dialog box displays. Navigate to the file or to a folder (if using multiple files with similar names). Select the input file. The File attribute is now populated.
Password	Provides a password if the Excel file is password-protected. It is not recommended to use password-protected Excel files as data sources. For information about the flow script tag, see password.
Sheet	Specifies which sheet in the Excel file to pull data from. The value can be either a name or a number. Spectre checks for a name match first. If that fails, it tries treating the sheet as a number. Name matching ignores case, and if multiple sheets have the same name, Spectre only looks at the first one that matches. If this value is empty, the first worksheet in the Excel file is used. For information about the flow script tag, see sheet.
Range	Specifies a range of cells to use from the input. Any cells outside of the range are ignored. The format for the range is the top-left cell (column letter and row number), followed by a colon, followed by the bottom-right cell (column letter and row number). For example, `A1:D25` returns the first 25 rows from the first column (column A) through the fourth column (column D). For information about the flow script tag, see range.
Start Row	Defines the row number to begin reading data from. If this value is empty, Spectre attempts to automatically determine which row represents the start. For information about the flow script tag, see start-row. NOTE: If the No Headers attribute is set to False, the value of Start Row should be the row number the header is on.
No Headers	Indicates the presence or absence of column headings in the Excel file. Set to True to name each column manually. For information about the flow script tag, see no-headers.
No Trim	Removes any leading or trailing spaces from the data. This is the default behavior for Spectre. Set to True to disable the trimming of white space. For information about the flow script tag, see no-trim.
Include Other Columns	If true, any columns found in the input that are not specified are included. For information about the flow script tag, see include-other-columns.
Limit Rows	Directs the build to use a specific number of rows from the Excel file. For information about the flow script tag, see limit-rows.
Prefix	Sets a string to add to the beginning of all column names from this input. Optional. For information about the flow script tag, see prefix.
Current Date	Specifies the current day for time-series calculations and Analysis Tables. The value of this attribute must follow the default DI date formatting of "YYYY/MM/DD". It is DI best practice to pass a parameter with the current date value to this attribute rather than writing the value directly in the attribute. The default current date is today().
Date Dimension	Specifies the name of the date dimension. This dimension is used in time-series calculations and Analysis Tables.
Extract Timestamp	Defines a timestamp value for later use in ProDiver. The timestamp value is accessed in ProDiver using the $EXTRACT_DATE and $EXTRACT_TIME macros. It is DI best practice to pass a parameter with the extract timestamp value to this attribute rather than writing the value directly in the attribute.

Column Properties

To access column properties, select a column from the Column List. The following attributes are common column attributes. For a list of all column attributes, including attributes specific to certain data types, see Spectre Flow Column Tags.

Attribute	Description
Name	Read only attribute displaying the name of the column.
Type	Specifies the data type of the column. Available data types are string, integer, double, fixed100, date, datetime, period, and boolean.
Sort By	Defines another column to sort by when this column is sorted. For example, setting Month Number as the Sort By column for Month sorts months by their number instead of their alphabetical order (1 (Jan), 2 (Feb), 3 (Mar), etc.).
Label	Defines a display name for a column. This name is displayed in ProDiver and DivePort, while calculations and other technical processes use the value in the Name attribute.
Required Dimension	Sets a column to behave like a classic Info Field. In ProDiver, the info field is available as a column that you can add to other columns displayed in a dive. For example, to see the Address column requires that the Customer column is available. Setting a Required Dimension Select the column you want to define as an Info Field. Select Required Dimension in the Properties pane. Locate and select the core dimension from the list. The first column is only available when the second column is displayed in the client.
Suggested Dimension	Allows you to promote or demote a column. Set to True to promote a numeric column type to become a diveable dimension and have it appear in the ProDiver console. Set to False to demote a column from classification as a dimension so it does not appear in the ProDiver console. When set to False, the new dimension does not appear in the console (which requires dimcount processing), but it can be promoted to a dimension for diving—equivalent to the concept of a dynamic dimension for a classic model. Using Required Dimension on a column effectively sets Suggested Dimension to False.
Comment	Defines a comment that describes this column.

Column Grid

The Excel Input object column grid section lists the columns from the input files.

Attribute	Description
Name	Displays the name of each input column. This attribute is read-only.
Alias	Defines an alternate name for one or more input columns. Spaces before or after an alias column name are ignored. Spaces within an alias column name are acceptable.
Type	Displays and sets the type of each input column.
Repeat if Blank	When set to true, each blank value in the column is given the value of the previous non-blank value in the column. For example, if the value of row 1 is "A", and row 2 has a blank value, row 2 is given the value "A".
Keep	Manages which columns are kept in the output data flow. If no columns have a Keep check mark, all columns are kept in the output data flow, except for any explicitly marked Drop. Select the Keep check box for columns you want to explicitly keep in the output data flow. A number is automatically added in the Keep Order column when you select its Keep check box. After marking any column with a Keep check mark, only those marked Keep are kept in the output data flow. NOTE: After any Keep check boxes are checked, do not use the Drop check boxes, because clicking a Drop check box sets all Keep check boxes to unchecked.
Keep Order	Manages the order of the columns in the output data flow. By default, columns that are passed to the next object in the data flow are displayed in the order in which they appear in the Name column. You can change this order by typing a number in the Keep Order column. When you assign a Keep Order number, the Keep column is checked automatically. The Keep Order numbers might reorder to accommodate any changes you make.
Drop	Manages which columns are removed from the output data flow. Select the Drop check box for columns that you want to explicitly suppress from the output data flow. NOTE: Use the Drop check boxes only when no Keep check boxes are checked.