Getting Excel data in.....

[CheM]

Say you have a database with

100 schools.....

Currently for each one of these schools we have 4 reports (in excel)...

how can i somehow put this into file maker?...

i would like to make calculations later if possible.

[John Mark Osborne]

FileMaker will import Excel files using the Import Records menu item under the File menu. If you don't have an existing FileMaker database, you can use the Open item under the File menu to import and create a new database at the same time. FileMaker also has a very sophisticated calculation engine with hundreds of functions so you should be able to accomplish what you want. However, for reporting I would look into subsummaries.

[CheM]

This makes sense to me.....

but say i import a record... i could only do that for a specific field ... i would need different fields for every "school"?

if i create a new database well i wouldnt be able to easily link it to the database, would i?

[John Mark Osborne]

I'm not sure I understand your question but I think what you need to do is actually try importing your Excel file into FileMaker and see what happens. Then ask more questions.

[Søren Dyhr]

Since you're on windows could any document, provided you have excel on the workstation be shown in the web-viewer as a live document, however does it require extensive knowledge to html and css, to pluck data from a relevant cell to use it in the frontmost records fields via:

http://www.filemaker.com/help/FunctionsRef-38.html

Mac users can do the same by utilizing:

http://www.goffice.com/ ....'s

Spreadsheet-dept. So if you should posses skills with XSTL/XML might it be a path for you?

--sd

[Fenton]

CheM, FileMaker is a relational database. You would normally have a separate table for "Schools", with a single record (row) for each school, the name of each school in a field (column), and an ID field to uniquely identify that school. The ID makes it much easier to tie the school to other data for that school, which will be in multiple records in other tables. (You can think of tables as separate worksheets, which may or may not be linked to a parent worksheet, but they are more than that.)

The ID will normally be an auto-entered incrementing serial number in its parent table: 1, 2, 3, .... It will also be a regular field in child tables, where it can be called a "foreign key." You then create a relationship (link) between the parent ID and the child ID, in the Relationship Graph.

That's the basics of relational design. In your case it is likely that you have no IDs in your Excel data. You may just have the school name, and only have it once. You may have separate files for the schools. You didn't tell us what your data was, so we can only guess. But what you need is either the school name, or its ID in every row of school data. Then there is no problem importing to FileMaker table(s).

I would go ahead and assign the correct ID to each school now, before import: 1, 2, 3, ....* Use Fill Down to populate. It could also be done using the school name in every row. That is a bit clunky. But acceptable in this case, because school names almost never change.

* You would then want to check the Define Database, Fields, field definition of the ID after, to see that its "next" value is the next ID needed, in case you add another school later.