Is there a way to have Google spreadsheet as data source for a Mash-app? Unlike Excel, a Google Spreadsheet could be easily shared and has stable location. I assume if treated as XML source there is a way, but the real benefit would be if a Spreadsheet structure is interpreted in the same way ARIS MashZone interprets and Excel file.
Regards
Ivo
Personally, I have not used Google Spreadsheet, but I expect that it can make available the data as CSV file. You can easily import such a file into MashZone. You can also point the datafeed at a URL so that it updates automatically each time the CSV file changes.
Can you check if Google Spreadsheet is able to provide the content as CSV file with a fixed URL?
Data from Google Spreadsheet can be included via the Share functionality of Google Spreadsheets.
Open your spreadsheet with Google Spreadsheets and click on the button "Share" in the top of the browser window. Then click on "Publish as a web page".
In the next dialog you click on "Start publishing".
And finally, choose then in the bottom of the dialog "CSV" or "Text file" in the combo box and copy the URL into the clipboard. In the feed editor of ARIS Mashzone place a CSV data source and paste the URL by pressing Ctrl-V.
I haven't used this share option so far but what I actually need is to always have the latest data in the MashApp. I mean if some collaborators make updates after publishing the spreadsheet I want to get them in the MashApp. The only reason I'm interested in GoogleSpreadsheet is because of its collaboration capabilities. I hope this option "automatically republish when changes are made" will ensure that.
Regards
Ivo
As the option "Automatically republish when changes are made" indicates updates will be propagated whenever they occur.