如何使用相对路径指向我希望将数据导入数据模型的文件？

Question

What I'm really trying to achieve

We have an Excel dashboard which is built to be used in tandem with an Export from our in-house application. The generation of the data Excel file is done with EPPlus and we were convinced that we could use the Excel Dashboard as the "base" file for the generation, so that the exported file contained the dashboard in one worksheet and the dataset in another worksheet.

So the user would receive everything they needed in one single file.

We sort of got going with this thanks to named ranges which dynamically adapt to the size of the dataset, covered here

However, we've found, that since the DataModel in the Excel dashboard file is an OLAP Cube, we can't update the underlying dataset and save it with EPPlus and receive an error about "the cache source is not a worksheet" when trying to save the sheet.

So while we worked on that, we sought out a temporary solution... where we've also hit a snag.

The new problem

The temporary solution we thought of is to distribute the Excel dashboard and the data as two separate Excel files. The Dashboard is distributed to those who need it and the data exports can then be generated from our application.

We thought that the only downside of this would be that it would require the user to rename and place the data file side by side with the Excel Dashboard manually.

However, we are running into an issue where Excel is insisting on using the absolute path to the data file instead of a relative path.

This results in requiring the user to point the source to the data export manually. Which is, apparently, done this way:

Now, I'm showing the entire process to also give some insight into the way we've set it up, since I'm not sure I'm using the right words about the technical details - and perhaps I'm grossly mistaken in the approach.

Overall, the way it works

File A contains the dashboard, some sheets with pivot tables used by the dashboard. The pivot tables are all working off of the aforementioned Data Model in the sheet which is a Cube (we need it to be a cube for some of the functions we use in the pivot tables). The Data Model is based on a named range including all the data in one of the worksheets.

File B is the one generated by our application. The two files were placed side by side when designing the dashboard and mapping the data since I was of the impression that Excel attempted to keep relative file paths when possible. The file consists of a single worksheet containing the exported data.

At this point, the challenge was to automatically pull in data from File B into the worksheet in File A . I did this by going to the Data tab and using the Get Data function to point it to File B and telling Excel to load the data from the specified sheet.

This worked like a charm although the "solution" seems overly complicated. All was well until we tried to use sheet from another machine/directory. Then we found that the path to File B seemed to be absolute and that the data file could no longer be found.

So, the short question after this long-winded explanation is: " How can I possibly have Excel use a relative path to another file, when importing data from an external file with the "Get Data" function? "

Answer 1

By getting more familiar with Power Query I've been able to come up with a solution to this.

My setup is still as described above.

First, I have a sheet with some "system" values I use various places in the Workbook. I added a field there with the following Excel formula:

=LEFT(CELL("filename");FIND("[";CELL("filename");1)-1)

This provides me with the absolute path to the folder where my File A resides. I use this value, and concatenate the expected filename of File B which holds the data. The result is an absolute path, pointing to where I expect the data file to be located.

I then added a name range pointing to the exact cell where this value is contained.

Next, I added a new Power Query function like this:

= (rangeName) => Excel.CurrentWorkbook(){[Name=rangeName]}[Content]{0}[Column1]

The function takes the name of a named range as a parameter and spits back the value. I my case I called the function GetValue . This function can now be used in other Power Query scripts.

Finally, I loaded up the Power Query scripts which is responsible for loading the data from the other Excel sheet. In that script, I changed the path of the file to this:

Source = Excel.Workbook(File.Contents(GetValue("FilePath")), null, true),

The single thing to notice here is the call of GetValue("FilePath") for the path parameter of File.Contents . FilePath is the name I gave the range pointing to the cell. All it does, is load the path from my sheet and use that as the path for the Excel sheet holding the data.

A quite convoluted solution, but it works.