System spreadsheets

System spreadsheets are globally-accessible resources, and are administered from the Home dashboard.

Accessing System spreadsheets

To access the System Spreadsheets Administration, expand the Resources button group, and click the Sheets button.

This launches the System Spreadsheets applet. The default view displays all existing system spreadsheets. 

These spreadsheets can be sorted by Name, Description, Version, Created, and Author.

• Name refers to the actual name or ID of the spreadsheet.
• Description is a user-defined description of the spreadsheet defined when the spreadsheet was created.
• Version refers to the iteration of the spreadsheet (e.g., version 1, version 2, etc.).
• Created is the date on which the file was uploaded.
• Author is the user that uploaded or created the spreadsheet.

View individual versions or compare multiple versions of a spreadsheet in the Version History window. You can also upload new versions, view each version, download existing versions, or designate a version as the "primary" version in this window.

Formatting and creating spreadsheets

Any spreadsheet or text editing software can be used to create a spreadsheet, provided that it is formatted such that the first row defines columns, and the first column defines the row ID. The first column must be labeled ‘id’. The second column can be labeled arbitrarily, but if the sheet is to be used as a survey data source, then it is highly recommended to label it as 'text'. The default text for a sheet reference is defined by the 'text' column. Omitting it means that no default text will show when the list is referenced, and text decorators must be used to define the data column to use as text.

It is essential that these standards are observed. Although the system may load your spreadsheet, it may disregard data which is improperly formatted and does not follow these conventions. As such, it is a good idea after creating your spreadsheet to use the View button to look at the spreadsheet's contents, so you may ensure it has been loaded as expected. 

The system accepts three file formats: Microsoft Office XLS or XLSX Excel files, Open Document ODS spreadsheets, and CSV files (comma separated value). Be sure your document is saved in one of these formats before attempting to create a new spreadsheet.

Formatting examples

Given the formatting restrictions mentioned in the previous paragraph, a properly formatted XLS or ODS file looks something like this.

Adding spreadsheets to IntelliSurvey

After creating a properly formatted sheet, it can be uploaded. Begin by clicking the New button.

The system prompts for the following information:

• Name (ID) is the static reference used to call the spreadsheet in survey code. Names should not include any spaces or special characters.
• Description is a short description of the contents of the spreadsheet. The description appears only within the Browse Sheets applet and is used to help search and sort spreadsheets.

When the name and description are completed, click the Browse button to display the file open dialog box and select the locally-created document. When the file is selected, click the Next button. The system will load and parse the document and create the spreadsheet. If there are any errors, adjust the document, being sure to follow the formatting guidelines above.

The sheet is now ready to be used in a survey.