Can you refresh datasets in Chains?
Con rispostaI have three related questions:
- In Wdesk, if I have several spreadsheets each with several sheets, each with several Wdata Connections, is there a way using Chains to enumerate all these Wdata connections and auto refresh them?
- In Wdata, if I have linked DataSets pointing to Spreadsheets in WDesk, is there a way to have a Chain refresh these datasets?
- In Wdata, it is possible to create a View. I can also export this view to a sheet in a Spreadsheet. However there does not appear to be any link between these two. Is it possible using chains to export a view to a spreadsheet? If one can automate this using chains then there is no need for a persistent link / refresh.
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Hi Waldo, it might be easier to think of connected Sheets and Chains as two different ways of updating Sheets with data from Wdata. This means that a connected Sheet can be linked to a Wdata Query and the connection can be manually refreshed as needed. Similarly a Chain can be built to retrieve the output from a Wdata Query and then written to a Sheet automatically and/or manually. A Chain cannot automatically refreshed a connected Sheet or vice versa.
- In Wdesk, if I have several spreadsheets each with several sheets, each with several Wdata Connections, is there a way using Chains to enumerate all these Wdata connections and auto refresh them?
Chains can't automatically refresh the connected Sheet. However, you could use Chains to run the Wdata Query, get the Query results, and overwrite a Sheet with the results which would eliminate the need for a connected sheet. The Chain could then be scheduled to run automatically and/or executed manually. Take a look at the Run Query and Export Query Result commands to add this functionality into your Chain.- In Wdata, if I have linked DataSets pointing to Spreadsheets in WDesk, is there a way to have a Chain refresh these datasets?
Chains could read the data from the Sheet, then create a new dataset in a Wdata Table with that data. The Import Spreadsheet into Table command will give you this functionality in your Chain.- In Wdata, it is possible to create a View. I can also export this view to a sheet in a Spreadsheet. However there does not appear to be any link between these two. Is it possible using chains to export a view to a spreadsheet? If one can automate this using chains then there is no need for a persistent link / refresh.
Chains does have the ability to both Create Pivot View and ̶G̶e̶t̶ ̶P̶i̶v̶o̶t̶ ̶V̶i̶e̶w̶ "Download Pivot View".1
Thank you for the detailed explanation. On the last topic - I figured one cannot get the results of the Pivot View as the API doc states:
"Get Pivot View
To retrieve the metadata of a Wdata view, use a Get Pivot View command."
And I want the data, not the metadata. Is this a typo?
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You are correct, that was my oversight. The correct command is actually "Download Pivot View". This command is currently not documented, but you will find it in Chain Builder in the Workiva BizApp. The documentation should be updated soon to include this command.
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The documentation has been updated and includes Download Pivot View. You can find it at https://support.workiva.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036005471-Workiva-Commands#section18
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So I guess I am still missing something. I have an Input Spreadsheet, a Query pulling data from that sheet, a View made from that query, and a chain with two commands: Download Pivot View and Overwrite Sheet Data which writes to a second output spreadsheet. However, updating numbers in the input spreadsheet then running the chain does not update the output spreadsheet.
I have to manually go to the view, click "Refresh", then click "Save", and then run the chain - only then does the output spreadsheet update. How can I implement this "Refresh" and "Save" in the View in WData, in Chains?
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If you make changes to the source Sheet, you will need to first Run Query so the Query can select the new values, then Update Pivot View so the view uses the updated query results. You can then Download Pivot View results after it has been updated and send the results off to the second output Spreadsheet.
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Fantastic - that worked. Thank you!
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Good afternoon I am trying to replicate the following: "If you make changes to the source Sheet, you will need to first Run Query so the Query can select the new values, then Update Pivot View so the view uses the updated query results. You can then Download Pivot View results after it has been updated and send the results off to the second output Spreadsheet." but the block Download Pivot View is disabled. How can I update the data in a table (w-data) automatically in one single step?
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Jeff Hickey - I stumbled upon this today and think a lot of these answers are now out of date, stemming from this statement:
A Chain cannot automatically [refresh] a connected Sheet or vice versa.
I believe the Refresh connections / Refresh batch of connections commands now do just that, thus obviating the need to follow the original guidance here.
Just flagging it in case someone else comes along with this same question.
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Hi Andrew. Yes, some of the information above is now out of date as the platform has grown. For example, The Download Pivot View Command has been deprecated and is not longer available as Pablo noted above. An approach now is to use the Tabular Transformation Pivot Command. Chains now can refresh connected Sheets via the Refresh Connection and/or Refresh Batch of Connection Commands.
Thanks for flagging this Andrew!
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