Setting up an Excel Spreadsheet as a Data Source

  To set up an Excel spreadsheet as a data source:

1. Open the Excel spreadsheet , and select the entire section (range of cells) of the Excel spreadsheet that is to be used as a "topic" (table) in Interactive Reporting.

   Note that the Name Box in the top left corner of the Excel window displays the name of the first cell selected (such as A1).

2. Click in this Name Box.

   Make sure that the entire range of cells is still selected in the main document.

3. Enter the name you want to use for this "table" when you access the Table Catalog in your data source from Interactive Reporting.

4. Confirm that the name is referencing all of the cells that you need.

   You can do this by deselecting the cells, then selecting the name just assigned from the Name Box. Verify that this highlights the correct range of cells.

5. Save the spreadsheet.

   You can repeat steps 1–5 in the spreadsheet to create multiple tables.

6. Open the ODBC control panel application and create a new Data Source using an Excel driver.

7. Point this data source to the spreadsheet file that you just manipulated.

8. Click OK to save the data source.

9. Open Interactive Reporting and create an Interactive Reporting document connection file (OCE) to point to this new Excel ODBC data source.

   This source should be created with ODBC for both the connection software and the Server.

10. Click OK.

11. On the ODBC control panel, assign a name to the data source and click OK.

12. On the Catalog Definition Window, click OK.

13. Save the Interactive Reporting document connection file (OCE) and give it a meaningful name.