How to keep a Google Doc spreadsheet updated 'real time' (constantly) from an Excel sheet

3
votes

I have a fairly complex (for me anyway) excel spreadsheet which keeps track of team time(s) for a multi-stage sled-dog race http://copperdog150.com/.

the excel spread-sheet calculates time per leg for each team, over all time, mph, order of finish, overall winner, etc, etc. the excel spreadsheet is in a laptop which travels with the race.

i hope to keep using the excel spreadsheet (is it worth trying to 'convert' it into a google spreadsheet? I am afraid I will be limited; I have macros for one) but was hoping I could have google docs constantly 'import' my data (e.g., times, overall winner) so HQ, race directors, and the like can just look on the web (phone/computer/tablet) to see the results... or maybe its having excel constantly 'export' the data.

i will be in the woods but my laptop has wireless and my phone (assuming I have signal) works great as a hotspot. data in the excel spreadsheet changes constantly so I would like the google spreadsheet to be 'real time'.

is this possible? if so, how? I am not an expert...

thanks in advance, kiko

2
excelgoogle-sheetsgoogle-docs-apigoogle-spreadsheet-api
You should add the Google-Spreadsheets-API tag – D_Bester

2 Answers

0
votes

There's importxml function in Google sheet to import xml data and you can also parse the data. It's fairly complicated. (more doc on importxml https://support.google.com/docs/answer/3093342)

Another alternative is to use Script Editor (Select Tools -> Script editor). Essentially, you write your own script (Google App script, similar to JavaScript) to fetch and parse the data (JSON, etc).

Sometime, it's necessary to create a custom script if the dataset is complicated. But, some other time, importxml will just do.

This is a good start (importxml or Script Editor): http://www.computerworld.com/article/2469616/business-intelligence/business-intelligence-79661-how-to-create-an-automatically-updating-spreadsheet.html

And Google Developer doc: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/services/external?hl=en

-3
votes

Check out the Google API: Google Spreadsheets API