Reload data

[Ted Manasa]

Evan,

I think I saw a thread on this earlier, but I couldn't find it so I thought I'd post another.

As I build my models, I find myself reloading data frequently because I re-code values, or add new columns or lookup tables in the source Excel spreadsheet.

I make the changes in Excel because it has all the formulas and drop-downs that make it easy to input data.

So I end up doing a lot of reimporting the spreadsheet tables and building the models again.

Could you add a "Data Refresh" function to the new-features list? I think that would be the HUGEST time saver and workflow enhancer this awesome app could implement right now. I recognize that importing a new column would a tricky business, but perhaps determining what columns are new and old could be done on a simple name-only basis.

You're awesome, Evan. I've had Wizard for just over 12 hours and I am SUCH a FAN of the app and of you and your ridiculously good support.

Thanks.

Ted

[Evan Miller]

Hi Ted,

There was some discussion earlier about this, but it's always helpful to understand the different customer use-cases that motivate feature requests.

I think a name-matching procedure would work. There would probably need to be a sheet or dialog letting you override the default choices, e.g. exclude some columns from import or manually match new to old if the column names have changed. One snag is that you'd have to manually select the source file each time Wizard was restarted due to Apple's sandboxing policies. This of course isn't fatal.

Do you find yourself needing to re-import one table at a time, or do you work with large documents where a massive "Refresh All" button would be desirable? I know you've only had 12 hours with the program, so I guess just try to imagine :-)

Evan

Ted

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[Ted Manasa]

An override dialogue would be slick. I think reselecting the file would be fine, especially if Wizard defaults to the Open dialogue the directory in which the file lives and then we can just click on the file.

For me, a Refresh All would be best because it's a no-brainer operation and my data sets aren't large. I would say that selective refresh would be more useful when data sets are large. Perhaps Wizard could keep an internal threshold on total bytes (rows * column widths) above which it would recommend that a user refresh individual tables, but still allow him to to Refresh All if he wants to use that as a reason to grab a latte.

[Evan Miller]

Interesting. I'll think about this some more. Thanks for the feedback.

Evan

[do...@retrofitme.com]

I'd am also looking for a feature like this.  My workflow has been

+ Write some scala code that exports data from MongoDB to Excel

+ Load data in Wizard Pro

+ Add some filters, calculated columns, etc.

+ Analyze data, realize I need some new column to make analysis easier

+ Repeat

At a minimum, I'd like to not have to re-create calculated columns and filters when I re-create the Excel.  In my case, the data is substantially the same, but sometimes data in a column is tweaked or a new column is added.  I suspect you'd need some rule if a new column happened to match a calculated column.

In answer to the "Refresh All" question, I guess if I had multiple sheets linked to the same source file, I want to refresh all related ones.

Come to think of it, it seems like the capability to 'refresh from source' would be useful for database users as well.  For example, if I periodically export data from a database to do analysis and answer what-if questions, it would be helpful to not have to re-define a bunch of filters, pivot tables, models, custom-columns, etc.

By the way, this program is awesome - very well done. 

-Doug Donohoe

[Evan Miller]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for the additional perspective. Data refresh will be a top priority for the Next Major Version for the reasons you mentioned. With the DB connectivity in place, it also opens up some interesting possibilities for creating simple dashboards / reports.

If you're enjoying the program, be sure to leave a review! Those are my bread and butter.

Evan

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