laundry 2019.0.4

Folding spreadsheets into neat shapes.

Laundry: Folding spreadsheets into neat shapes

Spreadsheets are easy to record and manipulate data with but do a poor job of displaying the data in an easy to read way. Laundry provides a simple way of converting spread data into word by by specifying the output document's format within the spreadsheet itself.

While spreadsheets are, in manner aspects, similar to database tables, Laundry is only a formatting tool and not a database.

Overview

Laundry operates by:

1. Having a spreadsheet containing some organised data stored in the data_worksheet.

2. Defining the output structure within a separate worksheet contained within the spreadsheet. This is known as the structure_worksheet.

3. The structure_worksheet references data to be formatted by using the the data's column names, the styles contained within the template_file, and how the data will be arranged, for example, as a table, paragraph or photo. The structure_worksheet does have a specific format that must be used to ensure that the conversion process takes place.

4. A template_file Word document (.docx file) is used as the basis of the output file. This file will contain the styles that will be used to format the output file.

5. The app is run using the command line interface (CLI).

Manual

Input File

The input_file is the spreadsheet that contains the data to be formatted and exported to the output_file.

The input_file must contain a worksheet that contains the structure or output formatting requirements of the output file: this is the structure_worksheet.

The input_file's data is stored in the data_worksheet. This worksheet can be given any name provided it doesn't clash with the structure_worksheet name.

Structure Worksheet

The following column names must implemented in the structure_worksheet. If they are not used the app will not work.

sectiontype

This defines the type of section that will be inserted with the output document. The top-to-bottom order will determine the order of the types in the output_file. The options that are currently supported are:

• para: This will insert a paragraph with the column header being the paragraph title styled using the style defined in sectionstyle.

• table: Will insert a table that contains the data contained in sectioncontains cell with the table column containing the same column heading as the original data (with any underscores removed).

• heading: Will use the data contained within the cell as a section heading made up of a title (column heading) and a paragraph (cell contents).

• photo: Inserts one or more photos (images) into the paragraph. Multiple images can be added by including them in the sectioncontains column. The photo column heading is used to provide a file path to the directory containing the files.

  • New in 2019.0.4: Including the photo's file extension is not required. The app will sequence through a number of popular formats before providing an error message to the standard output and adding the error message to the output document.

sectioncontains

This contains one or more of the column names used in the data worksheet. Multiple column names can be used with table using sectiontypes provided the are separated by new lines (alt + enter) in the cell, or commas. new lines are the preferred method.

sectionstyle

This Word style contained within the template_file's .docx file. If this style is not in the template_file then Word's default styles will be used. This is a limitation of Word.

titlestyle

The Word formatting style to be used for titles within the document. This column does not apply to tables.

sectionbreak

Must be either True or False. If True it will insert an empty paragraph provide a visual break between it and the following paragraph.

pagebreak

Must be either True or False. If True it will insert a page break (that is, start a new page) after the paragraph. This is useful for clearly separating information that is related to different data_worksheet rows.

path

This defines the relative file path to the directory (folder) containing the photos. All photos referenced in the cell must be stored in the same directory.

sectiontype Limits

Each of the sectiontypes have some limit regarding their operation.

• Where heading is used it should be a single column heading per paragraph.

• Where paragraph is used it should be a single column heading per paragraph.

• table can use any number of columns headings. Each column heading should be separated by a newline (preferred option) or by a comma (,).

• sectionstyles can only be a single value. This is a string (text) that can contain spaces. Make sure that the spelling and capitalisation is correct.

• titlestyles can only be a single value. This is a string (text) that can contain spaces. Make sure that the spelling and capitalisation is correct.

• pagebreak is a True/False value.

Arranging Spreadsheet Data

data_worksheet

The data_worksheet contains the data that will be formatted into the output_file.

1. The column headers should be in row 0 (that is, the first row) in the worksheet. If not, the --data-head option must to be used, and the row number specified. For example if the column headers start on row 5:

   Laundry -df=5 -t <template-file> <input-file> <output-file>

2. Do not use numbers for column header names. This will cause problems.

3. Column header names should avoid spaces, and either use underscores (_) or use camel case (ThisIsAnExampleOfCamelCase). Stick numbers at the end of the names if you need numbers in the name.

4. If you want multiple paragraphs or bullet points, or more than one image, then use alt-enter in an Excel cell to allow this to take place.

5. Include the file extension (for example .jpg, .png) when entering including images in the cell. File extensions are part of the file name and the app expects them to be included.

structure_worksheet

1. The column headers must be in row 0 (that is, the first row) in the worksheet. If not, the app will not work.

2. The sectiontype must be one of the following:

   • photo
   • para
   • table
   • heading

3. table sections do not require a value for titlestyle.

4. photo sections do not require a value for titlestyle or sectionstyle, however they do require path to be completed.

5. sectionbreak and pagebreak must be TRUE or FALSE.

FAQs

The following is a list of commonly experienced issues.

I get something containing KeyError and what looks like a column header

The likely culprit is an incorrectly spealt column header in the structure_worksheet or you haven't allowed for the conversion of underscores (_) replacing spaces within the column headers.

Something like No sheet named <[some_worksheet_name]>

Check the data_worksheet and structure_worksheet names that you've used when running the app from the CLI. Check for spelling mistakes.

Error: Invalid value for "input_file" appears

Check the spelling of the input_file's name and that the file path is correct. The app will check that the input_file exists before attempting to run the app.

AttributeError: 'int' object has no attribute 'lower'

The likely issue here is the column headers are not contained in the first row of the data_worksheet. Also check that none of the column headers are numbers.

Error: Invalid value for "--template" / "-t": Path "[some_path_&_filename].docx" does not exist.

The template_file filename is incorrect. This could also be the path to the file. Check both.

I have a heap of formatted empty pages at the bottom of my converted_file.

For each row of your data_worksheet that contains some data the app will produce a formatted section. By removing all the rows that you don't want at the bottom of the data_worksheet you can prevent this from occurring. There is a way to drop rows that are missing data, however this requires some work to enable this feature.

KeyError: "no style with name '[some_Word_style]'"

The Word formatting style is not present in the template_file. Check that the style name matches exactly its name in Word.

How do I use a specific Word style?

Due to limitations with Word user specific styles need to be saved to the template_file for them to be available. If the specified name is not present in the template_file then the app will not function.