Dynamic input of multiple sheets from list box

[Albina16851]

Hi all, 

I started to create a chained analytic app, where I want to allow the end-user to first select the file to input and then select sheets to be used in the workflow. The file that users can select is the specific report that has the same structure among all users, but it has a different content, and different sheet names.

As a first step I prepared a List of sheet names database,  because a couple of sheets need to be excluded from the main report. 

Now that I have a list, I use it as a configuration for the List box tool. That database has two columns : 1) Sheet name; 2) File path+sheet name.

And then I'm stuck as I don't know what tool to use to have the value to be updated. I tried to add a Text Input to have the list of file paths to be used to further dynamically input sheets, but I think I don't have enough knowledge to configure the tool as there is no output.  

Thank you in advance! 

[danilang · Accepted solution]

Hi @Albina16851 

The List Box is tricky to use unless you're using it to configure a tool with a Select interface.  The default output(when Select Tool Mode is checked) is something similar to "Option1=True,Option2=False,Option3=True" with the values determined by user selections.  When you use this with a Select tool, the mapping is automatic since you have the option names and the values.

If you're using it for almost any other purpose, such as updating a filter or returning only the selected list of sheets, change the mode to Generate Custom List.  

When its in Custom List mode, it only outputs the values that user selects and that list is formatted according the options in the Start Text and following boxes.  In the attached example, I use a simple comma delimited list 

The text input contains a single cell with "File1.xlsx|||sheet1".  That action tool replaces this value with the custom output of the List box and the Text To Columns tool splits to rows on the comma.

The output looks like this 

From there, you can pass the paths to a Dynamic Input tool if the schema of the sheets is identical.  If not you'll have to use a batch macro to import the data.

Dan