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Mac Forum / Applications / Excel / August 2007How to create web queries?
Hi, I'm using Excel/Office 2004 to manage a small DVD database. Does anyone here ever succeeded in creating a web query to import data from the web (IMDB, AllMovie, Wikipedia, Amazon...you name it)? I'm trying to do it for several days now but it fails (I fail). Any help is more than welcome. Thanks Larry On 7/31/07 2:51 AM, in article 1185864710.285289.86150@i38g2000prf.googlegroups.com, "Larry" <Laurent.Courtin@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Thanks > Larry What fails? Did you look at Web Queries in help, and then look at the examples? A little more help about your problem is necessary in order to provide you with the assistance you request.  SignatureBob Greenblatt [MVP], Macintosh bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom > What fails? Did you look at Web Queries in help, and then look at the > examples? A little more help about your problem is necessary in order to > provide you with the assistance you request. I used the examples as base, just as explained in Excel's help section. When I did it with IMDB, it retrives all the infos from the page while I'd like to import selected datas -- I used to used excel 2003 on a windows platform and it was piece of cake to do it. But on Mac, I confess that I'm more than lost without the web-browser window and the small arrow box. Larry On 8/1/07 2:40 AM, in article 1185950419.070068.223880@z24g2000prh.googlegroups.com, "Larry" <Laurent.Courtin@gmail.com> wrote: >> What fails? Did you look at Web Queries in help, and then look at the >> examples? A little more help about your problem is necessary in order to [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Larry What I have done in cases like this is to use a small macro to parse 9if necessary) the returned data page and extract the data that is need. Usually only a small (and invisible) intermediate step. SignatureBob Greenblatt [MVP], Macintosh bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom > What I have done in cases like this is to use a small macro to parse 9if > necessary) the returned data page and extract the data that is need. Usually > only a small (and invisible) intermediate step. Way too difficult for me I'm afraid :( I'll have to turn to alternative solution if I find any (freeware collection managers are not that many for OS X) Larry Hi Larry, Have you tried the suggestions in this article? http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;274787 -Jim Quoting from "Larry" <Laurent.Courtin@gmail.com>, in article 1186010708.416752.322140@i13g2000prf.googlegroups.com, on [DATE: >> What I have done in cases like this is to use a small macro to parse 9if >> necessary) the returned data page and extract the data that is need. Usually [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Larry SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are not Microsoft Employees MVP info http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ When I did it with IMDB, it retrives all the infos from the > page while I'd like to import selected datas -- I used to used excel > 2003 on a windows platform and it was piece of cake to do it. But on > Mac, I confess that I'm more than lost without the web-browser window > and the small arrow box. > > Larry One of the biggest complaints I have about the Mac version of Excel, is that Microsoft doesn't seem to have much interest in improving the web query functionality. It's 1000% better on the Windows platform, and keeps getting better. For the Mac... no improvements since the first version that supported the one-line file approach (only the URL is necessary... the other 3 lines are unnecessary, since they don't do anything). Having said that, I've used them successfully if and only if the web page has perfectly formed tables that keep a fixed format. Having columns or rows shift from one use to the next is a problem. Passwords are also a problem, if required to access the page. I use Yahoo! Finance, and even if I'm logged on already, my web query shows me a log in page instead of my data table. With the Mac version that's a barrier you can't get over. On Windows, you can actually login and get the data as part of the web query. I've even gone to the extreme of keeping a Windows box networked to my Macs, where I'll do more sophisticated web queries on Windows, then read the files into my Mac Excel worksheets. My biggest fear is that the next Mac release this fall/winter(?) will also be disappointing in that regard. If that's the case I probably won't upgrade. I couldn't survive without Excel, but most of the development effort since Excel 4 for Mac has been on prettier charts and tables and not on improving the functionality. ...Charles Hi, Your comments are excellent. May I suggest that you tell them to Microsoft? You can do that by using the Feedback option on Excel's help menu. They are well stated just as they are. The problem is that while you and I can grouse all day about it here in the newsgroups, Microsoft doesn't get to see our words or hear our thoughts in this forum. Anyone else who has an opinion about this topic or any other topic relating to Office 2008 should send their ideas to Microsoft RIGHT NOW (shouting intentional) using Help > Feedback. They're building Office 2008 and if you wait till it's done then you waited too long. Thanks. -Jim Quoting from "cwhaley" <cpwhaley@gmail.com>, in article 1186145177.261504.133620@q3g2000prf.googlegroups.com, on [DATE: > When I did it with IMDB, it retrives all the infos from the >> page while I'd like to import selected datas -- I used to used excel [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > ...Charles SignatureJim Gordon Mac MVP MVPs are not Microsoft Employees MVP info http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ |
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