Hello,

I simply couldn't find any information specific to my problem.
And it seems like such a simple thing...

I have created a simple 'data results' page,
pulling info from an excel spreadsheet.

It works great...
Pulls Names (text) from a column.
Pulls Numbers from another column.
But when I have Text & Numbers in the same column,
it only pulls the numbers.

What can I do to pull both Text & Numbers from the same column?

I've tried setting the cells in the spreadsheet to 'text' & 'general'.

I just don't get it.

--Matt

Matt
One of the problems with using Excel as any sort of datasource is
the driver wills can the first few rows to determine what the datatype is
( believe this magic number was between 8 and 12). That's the big problem,
it decides that the majority of data is one type so it decides that field in
every row should also be that type. I've had luck sometimes setting it to
text, but if it's too much text, the driver will sometimes decide the number
is should be a real datatype as in many data systems, a text datatype ends
up being stored at the end of the record or in a special place and all
that's in the cell is an address pointer to help find the text data.

--

Hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006

"Matt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news882C85E-C6B7-44BB-9AB2-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> I simply couldn't find any information specific to my problem.
> And it seems like such a simple thing...
>
> I have created a simple 'data results' page,
> pulling info from an excel spreadsheet.
>
> It works great...
> Pulls Names (text) from a column.
> Pulls Numbers from another column.
> But when I have Text & Numbers in the same column,
> it only pulls the numbers.
>
> What can I do to pull both Text & Numbers from the same column?
>
> I've tried setting the cells in the spreadsheet to 'text' & 'general'.
>
> I just don't get it.
>
> --Matt
>

Thanks for the reply Mark,

At least I'm not just missing something stupid.
Makes me feel better.

I figured the driver was deciding the datatype.
So I tried to fool it, by placing a letter in the first row
of the column. Then I reset the page, and boom,
I see my letter. Then I add a few numbers rows below
in the same column, and of course, the driver changed
the datatype back to numerical, and ignored my letter.

So like you said, the driver actually examines several rows
in the column, each time the page loads, to decide datatype.

I'm gathering by your reply that there is no easy way
to force the page to display a datatype that you specify.
(when using excel as your database...that is)

To give this problem a face....
I have a sports league, and I post scores
on a schedule. But occasionally, we have a Forfeit.
Thus 99% of the time, the column holds a number (score),
but sometimes I post a "W" & "FL" instead.
(since there is no score, for those forfeited games)

I know I could use something other than excel.
But I already have a really nice excel sheet
to track all my stats for the league...etc...
And everything else about my site works well off that sheet.

Any suggestions for a work around?
Can I write a script into my site to change a 'specific number' to appear as
a letter?
(ie. 100=W 99=FL)

Do you know any links specific to working with excel as your datasource?
(its hard to find info on using excel, as I realize it's not the
preferred method)

I may be a noivce, but I'm not afraid to do the research.
I'm just having trouble finding info on excel as datasource,
in a sea of database search results.

If all of this is just too hard for excel, I understand.

Thanks again for your reply.
If anyone has anything to add to this problem,
it's greatly appreciated. Thanks.

--Matt

I actually came up with the simple solution...
I can enter my scores with addition of a letter.
Home - Away
11 W - 7 L
9 T - 9 T
10 OT - 9 OTL
0 W - 0 FL
....etc...

Then the data type is set to text.

Not every solution is high-tech.

--Matt