User:Gloverepp/Using Excel for Wiki
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Please put your suggestions or comments on the Discussion page. thanks, enjoy GloverEpp (talk) 13:58, 22 April 2010 (UTC)
Here's how I use Excel to create wiki pages. The bottom line is that I use html instead of the wiki technique of using |- to separate each line. This way, I can sort within Excel and not have to worry about all those |- empty lines.
Steps.
- Build whatever you want in Excel. BUT, use <tr> instead of |-in the first column and <td> or <th> instead of || to separate the fields. I think the example will help show this.
- Copy your Excel cells into your clipboard.
- Paste them into the input box here to remove extra whitespace. Click the Replace Whitespaces button.
- Copy results into Notepad from the above step for further cleansing, if need be. In my case, I had tons of empty [[]], so I removed them in Notepad.
- Copy the results from Notepad into a wiki page. This all sounds like such a cluge, but it works really well.
Sample
Looks like this as copied out of Excel
There are tons of white space that you can see if you edit this. I chose to remove it instead of passing it on to wiki. Also, in Excel, each line is begun with the html <tr> which is not obvious when you look at this presentation.
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" |- <tr><th> Simple name <th> Waterway (Canal or River)<br>Ref.<br> <th> Also Known As<br> <th> Connected to body of water at one end<br> <th> Near City<br> <th> Connected to body of water at other end<br> <th> Near City<br> <tr><td> Aa <td> [[Aa (France)|Aa River]] <td>[[ ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Watten, Nord|Watten ]]<td>[[ North Sea ]]<td>[[ Gravelines ]] <tr><td> Adour <td> [[Adour River]] <td>[[ ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Dax, Landes|Dax ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Anglet ]] <tr><td> Aff <td> [[Aff River|Aff River]] <td>[[ L'Aff ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Glenac ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ La Gacilly ]] <tr><td> Aire <td> [[Canal d'Aire]] <td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Canal de la Deûle ]]<td>[[ Bauvin ]]<td>[[ Canal de Neufossé ]]<td>[[ Aire-sur-la-Lys ]] <tr><td> Aisne <td> [[Aisne_(river)|Aisne River]] <td>[[ ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Compiègne ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Vailly-sur-Aisne ]] <tr><td> Aisne <td> [[Canal latéral à l'Aisne]] <td>[[ Aisne Canal ]]<td>[[ Aisne (river)|Aisne ]]<td>[[ Celles-sur-Aisne ]]<td>[[ Canal des Ardennes ]]<td>[[ Vieux-lès-Asfeld ]] <tr><td> Aisne <td> [[Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne]] <td>[[ Aisne-Marne Canal ]]<td>[[ Canal latéral à l'Aisne ]]<td>[[ Berry-au-Bac ]]<td>[[ Canal latéral à la Marne ]]<td>[[ Condé-sur-Marne ]] <tr><td> Alsace <td> [[Grand Canal d'Alsace]] <td>[[ Grand Canal of Alsace ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Huningue ]]<td>[[ ]]<td>[[ Lauterbourg ]] |}
Looks like this after processing with this and removing any [[]] with notepad
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" |- <tr><th>Simple name<th>Waterway (Canal or River)<br>Ref.<br><th>Also Known As<br><th>Connected to body of water at one end<br><th>Near City<br><th>Connected to body of water at other end<br><th>Near City<br> <tr><td>Aa<td>[[Aa (France)|Aa River]]<td><td><td>[[Watten, Nord|Watten]]<td>[[North Sea]]<td>[[Gravelines]] <tr><td>Adour<td>[[Adour River]]<td><td><td>[[Dax, Landes|Dax]]<td><td>[[Anglet]] <tr><td>Aff<td>[[Aff River|Aff River]]<td>[[L'Aff]]<td><td>[[Glenac]]<td><td>[[La Gacilly]] <tr><td>Aire<td>[[Canal d'Aire]]<td><td>[[Canal de la Deûle]]<td>[[Bauvin]]<td>[[Canal de Neufossé]]<td>[[Aire-sur-la-Lys]] <tr><td>Aisne<td>[[Aisne_(river)|Aisne River]]<td><td><td>[[Compiègne]]<td><td>[[Vailly-sur-Aisne]] <tr><td>Aisne<td>[[Canal latéral à l'Aisne]]<td>[[Aisne Canal]]<td>[[Aisne (river)|Aisne ]]<td>[[Celles-sur-Aisne]]<td>[[Canal des Ardennes]]<td>[[Vieux-lès-Asfeld]] <tr><td>Aisne<td>[[Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne]]<td>[[Aisne-Marne Canal]]<td>[[Canal latéral à l'Aisne ]]<td>[[Berry-au-Bac]]<td>[[Canal latéral à la Marne]]<td>[[Condé-sur-Marne]] <tr><td>Alsace<td>[[Grand Canal d'Alsace]]<td>[[Grand Canal of Alsace]]<td><td>[[Huningue]]<td><td>[[Lauterbourg]] |}
Looks like this in Wiki
| Simple name | Waterway (Canal or River) Ref. | Also Known As | Connected to body of water at one end | Near City | Connected to body of water at other end | Near City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | Aa River | Watten | North Sea | Gravelines | ||
| Adour | Adour River | Dax | Anglet | |||
| Aff | Aff River | L'Aff | Glenac | La Gacilly | ||
| Aire | Canal d'Aire | Canal de la Deûle | Bauvin | Canal de Neufossé | Aire-sur-la-Lys | |
| Aisne | Aisne River | Compiègne | Vailly-sur-Aisne | |||
| Aisne | Canal latéral à l'Aisne | Aisne Canal | Aisne | Celles-sur-Aisne | Canal des Ardennes | Vieux-lès-Asfeld |
| Aisne | Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne | Aisne-Marne Canal | Canal latéral à l'Aisne | Berry-au-Bac | Canal latéral à la Marne | Condé-sur-Marne |
| Alsace | Grand Canal d'Alsace | Grand Canal of Alsace | Huningue | Lauterbourg |