After you have specified the Excel section's properties
and clicked the Apply action to save
the properties, the Excel section exists. However, the Excel section
is not yet finished. One major step still remains.
All that we have done so far is to arrange for values in
a record's fields to be presented in a spreadsheet. We still need
to arrange for computed result values in the spreadsheet to be copied
to fields in the record being edited by the form.
Below the properties and above the spreadsheet is an action
labeled Link Cell. It is used to link
spreadsheet cells to fields. If a spreadsheet cell is linked to a
field, it means that the value in the spreadsheet cell will be copied
to the field(s) it is linked to. If a spreadsheet cell is linked to
more than one field, then the value in the spreadsheet cell is copied
to all the fields that the spreadsheet cell is linked to. The field
must be present in the form for it to be updated.
The way we link a spreadsheet cell to fields is to first
click the spreadsheet cell we want to link. When we click a spreadsheet
cell, the spreadsheet cell becomes highlighted.
After we have highlighted a spreadsheet cell, we click
the Link Cell action to link the spreadsheet
cell to field(s). Clicking the Link Cell action
causes an Excel Field List window to pop up.
Initially the spreadsheet cell is not linked to any fields, so the Excel Field List window is
empty. We can add a link to a field by clicking the Add action.
Clicking the Excel Field List window's Add action brings up a Formula
Tree window that allows you to select a field in the business object that contains the Excel
section. The Formula Tree window can also be used to select fields in business objects that are
associated, directly or indirectly, with the business object that contains the Excel section.
Formula trees are discussed in Application Building for the IBM
TRIRIGA Application Platform: Calculations.
The record number field defaults to 1, which is always
the correct value unless the field is in a multiple-record smart section.
If the field is in a multiple-record smart section, the Record Number value is used to determine
which record in the multiple-record smart section contains the field
that will be updated. The value 1 indicates the first record.
Be careful when linking a spreadsheet cell to a field on
an associated business object, as shown in the following figure. When
someone is using the spreadsheet to update data, the IBM
TRIRIGA Application Platform will
follow all specified associations to find the record that contains
the field a spreadsheet cell is linked to. If it finds multiple records
through the association, then it will update the field in all of the
records it finds with the spreadsheet cell value.
Figure 1. Result when cell is linked to associated business object field
