How to use IBM App Connect with Microsoft Excel Online
Microsoft Excel Online is a spreadsheet software used to create, edit, and share Excel spreadsheets. Microsoft Office Online combines the most common Office features with real-time co-authoring capabilities that enable users to collaborate on shared documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.
- App Connect Enterprise as a Service connector
-
Local
connector in containers (Continuous Delivery release) 12.0.5.0-r3 or later -
Local connector in containers (Long Term Support Cycle-2 release)
Supported product and API versions
To find out which product and API versions this connector supports, see Detailed System Requirements on the IBM Support page.
Connecting to Microsoft Excel Online
Complete the connection fields that you see in the App Connect Designer page (previously the Catalog page) or flow editor. If necessary, work with your Microsoft Excel Online administrator to obtain these values.
| Authorization method | Applicability | Authorization Scope (Permissions) |
|---|---|---|
| Provide credentials for App Connect to use (BASIC OAUTH) | App Connect Enterprise as a Service and App Connect in containers | Files.ReadWrite.All, offline_access, User.Read, and Sites.ReadWrite.All |
| Provide a username, password, and client credentials (OAUTH 2.0 PASSWORD) | App Connect in containers, and App Connect Enterprise as a Service | Files.ReadWrite.All, offline_access, User.Read, and Sites.ReadWrite.All |
| Provide credentials for App Connect to use (BASIC OAUTH) | Provide a username, password, and client credentials (OAUTH 2.0 PASSWORD) |
|---|---|
| Client ID | Username |
| Client secret | Password |
| Access token | Client ID |
| Refresh token | Client secret |
| Connection field | Description |
|---|---|
| Client ID | The unique identifier generated after the Microsoft Azure app registration gets mapped to the specific project requests |
| Client secret | The application client secret for the project-specific client ID |
| Access token | The access token generated from the application client ID and client secret |
| Refresh token | The refresh token generated from the application client ID and client secret |
| Username | The username to log in to your Microsoft Excel Online account |
| Password | The password for the specified username |
To obtain the connection values for Microsoft Excel Online, see Obtaining connection values for Microsoft Excel Online.
To connect to a Microsoft Excel Online endpoint from the App Connect Designer Applications and APIs page for the first time, expand Microsoft Excel Online, then click Connect. For more information, see Managing accounts.
Before you use the account that is created in App Connect in a flow, rename the account to something meaningful that helps you to identify it. To rename the account on the Applications and APIs page, select the account, open its options menu (⋮), then click Rename Account.
General considerations
Before you use App Connect Designer with Microsoft Excel Online, take note of the following considerations:
- (General consideration) You can see lists of the trigger events and
actions that are available on the Applications and APIs page of the App Connect Designer.
For some applications, the events and actions depend on the environment and whether the connector supports configurable events and dynamic discovery of actions. If the application supports configurable events, you see a Show more configurable events link under the events list. If the application supports dynamic discovery of actions, you see a Show more link under the actions list.
- (General consideration) If you are using multiple accounts for an application, the set of fields that is displayed when you select an action for that application can vary for different accounts. In the flow editor, some applications always provide a curated set of static fields for an action. Other applications use dynamic discovery to retrieve the set of fields that are configured on the instance that you are connected to. For example, if you have two accounts for two instances of an application, the first account might use settings that are ready for immediate use. However, the second account might be configured with extra custom fields.
Events and actions
Microsoft Excel Online events
- The event is emitted only if the row is appended to the existing list.
- If you try to update an existing list, then no events are emitted.
- If you delete some rows or table rows, then no events are emitted.
- There won’t be any events that are emitted for a blank row. This case can occur if you append a new row by skipping some rows from the existing list.
- If the event is started on an MS Excel worksheet that already has records, then the event won’t be triggered for existing rows. It gets triggered only for the new rows that are appended when the event flow is started.
- You will not have control over polling configurations (for example, interval, size, and so on) as there are no controls available in the Microsoft Excel Online connector to configure these settings. The polling interval is set to run every minute in the background.
- An event does not get updated if a poll has already started. As an example, consider a scenario where you are adding data to columns in Microsoft Excel Online, and the poll starts while you completed only half the required data (say, 3 out of 5 columns). The returned data reflects only what was filled (that is, 3 columns in the response). Even at a later stage, if the other rows are updated, the event will not get updated.
These events are for changes in this application that trigger a flow to start completing the actions in the flow.
- Rows
-
- New row appended
- Table rows
-
- New table row appended
Microsoft Excel Online actions
Your flow completes these actions on this application.
- Columns
-
- Retrieve column data
- Ranges
-
- Retrieve cell ranges
- Rows
-
- Insert row
- Retrieve rows
- Delete row
- Update row
- Append row
- Table rows
-
- Append table rows
- Retrieve table rows
- Delete table row
- Update table row
- Tables
-
- Create table
- Retrieve tables
- Delete table
- Update table
- Workbooks
-
- Create workbook
- Retrieve workbooks
- Delete workbook
- Rename workbook
- Download workbook
- Upload workbook
- Worksheets
-
- Create worksheet
- Retrieve worksheets
- Delete worksheet
- Rename worksheet
More items are available when you have connected App Connect to Microsoft Excel Online.
Examples
Use templates to quickly create flows for Microsoft Excel Online
Learn how to use App Connect templates to quickly create flows that perform actions on Microsoft Excel Online. For example, open the Templates gallery, and then search for Microsoft Excel Online.
Use IBM® App Connect to build flows that integrate with Microsoft Excel Online.
Read the blog in the IBM Community to learn how to retrieve and update Microsoft Excel Online worksheet rows with the status email sent through Gmail. Click Read the blog to go the blog.