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A few quick questions
- Thread starter Bauer
- Start date
cheesegrits
Support Gopher
I had a look, couldn't find it, thought I'd responded. Don't think there is one. Don't know how difficult to add, as I'd have to figure out how all that stuff works since it got recently re-vamped to make it easier to work in both bs2 and bs3.
-- hugh
-- hugh
Thanks for the reply, Hugh. As you know I don't usually post until I've given up on trying to figure it out for myself. Such was the case here. If you could point me to where the dimensions of the tooltip are set, maybe I could write the XML code to add a 'Width:' option to the tooltip configuration. I can't even find that.
BTW - Have you received and had time to read the email I sent you Wednesday?
I have all of that working (revamped 'inline-edit' and import/export of lists directly to/from Excel files) and am anxious for you to see and give me some feedback.
BTW - Have you received and had time to read the email I sent you Wednesday?
I have all of that working (revamped 'inline-edit' and import/export of lists directly to/from Excel files) and am anxious for you to see and give me some feedback.
cheesegrits
Support Gopher
I haven't had time, I'll try and reply tomorrow.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Where would be the best place to start a discussion regarding the Fabrik lists CSV import/export feature? - a place where I could explain my position and plead my case for some much-needed changes.
For example - IMO I think there needs to be separate configurations for Import and Export (in the admin configuration for each list on the admin backend). Those would be the defaults. But there also needs to be a place where overrides can be made to those defaults - e.g. included in the Fabrik List Menu Plugin - since there may be situations where the List produced by a Menu is not the same as the List setup itself.
I needed a way of saving the exported CSV to a 'user files area' - and that file would need to have a unique file name. There are numerous 3rd party Joomla extensions that allow for this. (I use jsmallfib)
As I mention in the email I sent you, the CSV file that is produced is not acceptable 'as is'.
So I added an additional step that (will eval php from configuration) allows me to use the phpExcel library to convert that file into a TRUE Excel file - and include the unique document properties, cell formatting, locked cells (like locked column header or xx left columns), etc.
The biggest problem with the csv, as is, is that the cells are all formatted as align-left and any decimals lose their formatting. Compare the 2 export types - as I now have it working (csv vs. xlsx) - when opened in Excel (see attachments) - and you'll see what I mean. Also note that in the xlsx version (generated via phpExcel) the header (row 1) is fixed at the top - as are columns A-D, which are set as read-only. All that is done with a few lines of phpExcel code that is part of the menu configuration. Now which one is more 'user-friendly'?
Then there is the fact that Excel just doesn't like csv files. There is really no such thing as an 'Excel CSV file'. Excel may be able to read and convert csv files in any variety of formats, but that is a very confusing and convoluted process - and my client doesn't want the end-user to have to do that. If the user wants an xlsx file, they get an xlsx file - if they want a xls file, they get an xls file - and if they don't have Excel (and very few, if any, won't) and want a csv file, they get a csv file.
Another problem is the 'Overwrite' option for imports. While I want the user to be able to select the type of file they are uploading (though I really don't think that should be needed as the system should recognize the file type) , I do NOT want them to be able to change the Overwrite option. In my situation, the file will always be overwritten with the new values. (And there were some bugs there too, 'as is' - but that's for another discussion) As is, if front-end selection is allowed, the user gets to see/change all the options. But, since this is a survey that is filtered for this particular user/facility_type combination only, I don't want the user to be able to change the filters or add any new rows - ever. And the only time the delimiter options should show is if/when they select 'csv' as the file type.
With the changes I made thus far, it all works fine (both import and export) - but that is only because I know what selections to make from the options in order to make it work like I need it to work. I don't want to give the user the option to change that - but rather for the admin to be able to set that up in the Menu configuration (I have a different menu link configured for each of 7 facility types that produce the correct filtered list for that facility type - and each might include different columns.)
I also included 2 snips of the list with my changes for how inline-edit works in a list. (The 'old way' is still possible via configuration.) When in navigation mode, the tab or arrow keys can be used to navigate through the cells - just like in Excel - and any non-editable cells are skipped. Pressing the spacebar or enter (or clicking on any cell) switches into edit mode and each edited cell is saved when exited (via tab or enter), which then moves on to the next cell.
Sorry I got off into all this before you even answered my question. There's a lot more I'd like to be discussed.
With a little tweaking, this post-processing engine I am using could be used to create any type of files for the import/export process. It doesn't have to just be a 'csv' export - so long as the post-processing code can read CSV files (like phpExcel can), then you could use the fabrik-generated list-to-csv data to allow the admin to include some php code to convert that data into whatever they want/need - and name the resulting file whatever they want/need - and store it wherever they want/need.
For example - IMO I think there needs to be separate configurations for Import and Export (in the admin configuration for each list on the admin backend). Those would be the defaults. But there also needs to be a place where overrides can be made to those defaults - e.g. included in the Fabrik List Menu Plugin - since there may be situations where the List produced by a Menu is not the same as the List setup itself.
I needed a way of saving the exported CSV to a 'user files area' - and that file would need to have a unique file name. There are numerous 3rd party Joomla extensions that allow for this. (I use jsmallfib)
As I mention in the email I sent you, the CSV file that is produced is not acceptable 'as is'.
So I added an additional step that (will eval php from configuration) allows me to use the phpExcel library to convert that file into a TRUE Excel file - and include the unique document properties, cell formatting, locked cells (like locked column header or xx left columns), etc.
The biggest problem with the csv, as is, is that the cells are all formatted as align-left and any decimals lose their formatting. Compare the 2 export types - as I now have it working (csv vs. xlsx) - when opened in Excel (see attachments) - and you'll see what I mean. Also note that in the xlsx version (generated via phpExcel) the header (row 1) is fixed at the top - as are columns A-D, which are set as read-only. All that is done with a few lines of phpExcel code that is part of the menu configuration. Now which one is more 'user-friendly'?
Then there is the fact that Excel just doesn't like csv files. There is really no such thing as an 'Excel CSV file'. Excel may be able to read and convert csv files in any variety of formats, but that is a very confusing and convoluted process - and my client doesn't want the end-user to have to do that. If the user wants an xlsx file, they get an xlsx file - if they want a xls file, they get an xls file - and if they don't have Excel (and very few, if any, won't) and want a csv file, they get a csv file.
Another problem is the 'Overwrite' option for imports. While I want the user to be able to select the type of file they are uploading (though I really don't think that should be needed as the system should recognize the file type) , I do NOT want them to be able to change the Overwrite option. In my situation, the file will always be overwritten with the new values. (And there were some bugs there too, 'as is' - but that's for another discussion) As is, if front-end selection is allowed, the user gets to see/change all the options. But, since this is a survey that is filtered for this particular user/facility_type combination only, I don't want the user to be able to change the filters or add any new rows - ever. And the only time the delimiter options should show is if/when they select 'csv' as the file type.
With the changes I made thus far, it all works fine (both import and export) - but that is only because I know what selections to make from the options in order to make it work like I need it to work. I don't want to give the user the option to change that - but rather for the admin to be able to set that up in the Menu configuration (I have a different menu link configured for each of 7 facility types that produce the correct filtered list for that facility type - and each might include different columns.)
I also included 2 snips of the list with my changes for how inline-edit works in a list. (The 'old way' is still possible via configuration.) When in navigation mode, the tab or arrow keys can be used to navigate through the cells - just like in Excel - and any non-editable cells are skipped. Pressing the spacebar or enter (or clicking on any cell) switches into edit mode and each edited cell is saved when exited (via tab or enter), which then moves on to the next cell.
Sorry I got off into all this before you even answered my question. There's a lot more I'd like to be discussed.
With a little tweaking, this post-processing engine I am using could be used to create any type of files for the import/export process. It doesn't have to just be a 'csv' export - so long as the post-processing code can read CSV files (like phpExcel can), then you could use the fabrik-generated list-to-csv data to allow the admin to include some php code to convert that data into whatever they want/need - and name the resulting file whatever they want/need - and store it wherever they want/need.
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