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Excel Connector Manual

Introduction

The Coghead Excel Connector is designed to make it easy for customers to pull data from their Coghead applications into Microsoft Excel. The latest version also supports the uploading of new records and modifications to existing records. The connector is implemented using Excel's Add-In mechanism.

Prerequisites

Excel's Macro Security must be set to "Medium" or "Low." To check the current settings:

  1. In Excel, click Tools.
  2. Select Macro > Security.
  3. Select Medium or Low as the Security level. Detailed instructions for configuring security in Excel may be found in the Microsoft Office help documentation.

Installation

If this is your first time installing the Excel Connector, follow these instructions. If you are upgrading to the latest version, skip to the Upgrade section below.

  2. Click the Download link for the Excel Connector and save the file "Coghead_Connector.xla" to a directory on your local machine.
  3. Launch Microsoft Excel.
  4. Click Tools from the menu bar.
  5. Select Add-Ins.
  6. Click the Browse button and locate the directory where you saved the file "Coghead_Connector.xla".
  7. Select "Coghead_Connector.xla" and click OK. The Coghead Connector should appear on the list of Add-Ins available.
  8. Click OK.

Note: If you see a message about Macro Security, double-check that you have followed the prerequisite step above to set the proper Macro Security level.

When you see the Coghead menu appear on the menu bar, the installation is complete. You are ready to start accessing Coghead from Microsoft Excel.


Configuration

  1. To configure the Excel Connector to connect to your Coghead account:
  2. Click Coghead from the Menu bar and select Config.
  3. Enter your Username and Password.
  4. In Server and Query Configuration, choose My Coghead.
    The Advanced button allows configuration of the maximum number of rows to return by default when querying. If the number of matching rows returned by a query is greater than this number, a prompt will appear asking for confirmation before retrieving all the remaining matching rows.

Coghead View Query Wizard

To get started, launch Excel and make sure a blank workbook is open. Launch the Coghead view query wizard by clicking Create Query from the Coghead menu. This wizard will guide you through the steps required to query an existing view in one of your applications. The wizard contains the following steps:

  1. Select an Account.
  2. Select an Application associated with the selected account.
  3. Select a Collection from the selected application.
  4. Select a View of the selected collection.
  5. Execute the Query. Optionally, enter a name for the query to save it as a favorite for quick access later.

Upon completion of the wizard, the data filtered by the selected view will be retrieved from Coghead and inserted into your Excel worksheet starting at the upper left corner.

If you choose to save the query as a favorite, it can be re-run later by selecting it from the "favorites" menu. Coghead > Favorites.

Excel Connector Actions

After you have executed a query and returned records to an Excel worksheet, you can make changes to the data in Excel and use commands to update the data in the Coghead Application. There are two commands available on the Coghead menu in Excel:

  • Update Checked Records - This command will update changes or add new records with a check mark in the far left column. The Excel Connector uses the value in the ID column to identify the correct record in the Coghead application, so DO NOT edit this value. Keep in mind only the columns available in the current view will be available to edit or add new records.
  • Delete Checked Records - This command will delete any records with a check mark in the far left column, also using the value in the ID column to identify the correct record for deletion in the Coghead application.

You can Add New Records to your collection by typing data in the first blank row in Excel, placing a check mark in the far left column, and executing the Update Checked Records action as described above. This will insert the new record into your Coghead collection and assign a unique ID. You can now edit this record as you would any of the other records in your collection.

IMPORTANT: To place a check mark in the left column, you can copy and paste the check mark from the header row.

Upgrading the Excel Connector

To install the latest version of the Excel Connector:

  1. Locate the current copy of the Excel Connector on your machine. To do this, you can execute a search for "Coghead_Connector.xla".
  2. Close any open Excel windows.
  4. Click the Download link and save the file "Coghead_Connector.xla" to the location you identified in step one. When prompted, click Yes to replace the existing file.
  5. Launch Microsoft Excel. The current version of the Excel Connector should be loaded.
  6. To verify, click Coghead from the Menu bar and select About. The current version of the Excel Connector is 2.3.2

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