Challenge #118: Think Like a CSE - A not-so-wild-wildcard input!

[RolandSchubert]

My solution - using a batch macro

[JoshuaGostick]

My solution :)

Spoiler

[RichoBsJ]

Cool challenge, it took some time and some google searches :)

[ipeng]

Solution attached

[TonyA]

If I think of this as a CSE, I would see this as a troubleshooting problem. I probably wouldn't want to give them a macro that purports to pull in any kind of Excel file and reconcile mismatching schemas because then I would wind up having to support the macro (and answer questions like why column 23 is a string instead of a double). So my solution is a workflow that fixes the specific issues with the files. The CREW macro might also be an option as long as the CSE explains what the problem is and points out that the CREW macro does change all the data types to strings.

With that said, I'm still having trouble getting my head around batch macros and reviewing these solutions was very helpful.

[Kenda]

Spoiler

Have done this many times



I like the way @patrick_digan puts the control parameter constant right in the input file path!

[JamesMA]

Went down the macro route as I already had a similar example which will unpack any number of excels with any number of sheets of different schema. 

Worked well:

[RWvanLeeuwen]

Really?

Spoiler

[jyotijyoti_dup_475]

The use of macros make every work really easy. I edited my macro to get different excels with different tabs and schema.

Hope it helps

[cgoodman3]

Spoiler

The issue is with wildcard inputs when the schema of the Excel file varies compared to the first file read in. I always solve this using a batch macro.