Excel Export Feature Request

Started by mattski, January 02, 2012, 06:52:11 PM

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mattski

January 02, 2012, 06:52:11 PM Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by Guest
Just started using shmax, and i have to start off by saying i cannot believe how absolutely detailed things are.  I can't imagine the amount of work going into this, and i have to say that i absolutely appreciate this easy way to try and catalogue/manage my collection.

Just a few questions (possible feature requests) on the Excel exporting...
a) would it be easy/possible to include original release date as a column/field?
b) would it be easy/possible to include faction as a column/field?
c) rather than having the line/subline (Armada, Beast Machines, etc) as separate rows/titles, could this information be included as separate fields/columns?

I think these few modifications would allow for more robust sorting in Excel after exporting.

Just a few thoughts.  thanks again for an incredible interface!

shmax

#1
January 02, 2012, 09:44:39 PM Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by Guest
Quote from: "mattski"
a) would it be easy/possible to include original release date as a column/field?
Yes, I just added it.

Quote from: "mattski"
b) would it be easy/possible to include faction as a column/field?
A little more complicated, because some products bundle more than one figure together, and thus more than one faction. This is information we consider to be at the "figure" level, whereas all the other info currently related to the collection system is at the "product" level. So, we can try to think about ways to make it work, but in the meantime can you explain a little more about why you would find this useful?

Quote from: "mattski"
c) rather than having the line/subline (Armada, Beast Machines, etc) as separate rows/titles, could this information be included as separate fields/columns?
I assume you want this so that you can sort the rows and still be able to make sense of the information. We'll have to think about this one a bit more, as well. Data-wise, we don't necessarily have a hard "line" and "subline" for every toy--some toys don't have a subline, and some toys have a toyline, a subline, a sub-subline, and beyond. If what you're after is the ability to sort, there are two possible solutions I can think of: a) we can cram the entire path as it now exists into a single cell on each row or b) I can add a sort setting to the download page, and keep the formatting as-is. Any thoughts?

mattski

#2
January 03, 2012, 01:24:37 PM Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by Guest
Quote from: "shmax"
Quote from: "mattski"
a) would it be easy/possible to include original release date as a column/field?
Yes, I just added it.
awesomesauce

Quote from: "shmax"
Quote from: "mattski"
b) would it be easy/possible to include faction as a column/field?
A little more complicated, because some products bundle more than one figure together, and thus more than one faction. This is information we consider to be at the "figure" level, whereas all the other info currently related to the collection system is at the "product" level. So, we can try to think about ways to make it work, but in the meantime can you explain a little more about why you would find this useful?

Quote from: "mattski"
c) rather than having the line/subline (Armada, Beast Machines, etc) as separate rows/titles, could this information be included as separate fields/columns?
I assume you want this so that you can sort the rows and still be able to make sense of the information. We'll have to think about this one a bit more, as well. Data-wise, we don't necessarily have a hard "line" and "subline" for every toy--some toys don't have a subline, and some toys have a toyline, a subline, a sub-subline, and beyond. If what you're after is the ability to sort, there are two possible solutions I can think of: a) we can cram the entire path as it now exists into a single cell on each row or b) I can add a sort setting to the download page, and keep the formatting as-is. Any thoughts?
both of these would just be mainly for sorting reasons.  i had an interesting idea to try and take your export and import it into MSaccess for some quick query abilities, and maybe combining the table with some other data to have some relationships that might have interesting results...

However, i didn't think about the combo packs and how they'd affect the faction designation, but you're absolutely right on that.  Always sounds easier in my head, but i guess that's why i'm using your interface, and not creating my own. :)
anyway, cramming the entire path into one column might be easier for you to accomplish, and i could easily parse the path from there to separate as needed for sorting.  i guess what i think i'd really be looking for more than anything would just be the main line and size designations.  such as "Armada" and "Max-Con", or "Classics" and "Deluxe".  Subline information such as "The Unicron Battles" would be a level of detail that i think wouldn't be useful in the type of sorting i'm thinking about.

hope this helps...

KidTDragon

#3
January 05, 2012, 05:27:16 PM Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by Guest
If I may add on to this request: would it be possible to add the option to import the "notes" section into an Excel sheet as well? I've taken to using that field to notate which bin a figure is stored in, and being able to import that into an Excel sheet would be most handy (for me, at least).
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shmax

#4
January 05, 2012, 05:39:09 PM Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by Guest
Isn't that already there? I think it's called "Comments"...

KidTDragon

#5
January 06, 2012, 07:31:39 PM Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 04:00:00 PM by Guest
Quote from: "shmax"
Isn't that already there? I think it's called "Comments"...
Oh, my bad. I was thinking it was called "notes", so "comments" must not have clicked with me when I saw it.
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