Some ideas to dream...it's almost XMAS

[msaiz]

1. collapsable meta transforms (a way to show/hide a lot of details)
2. parameters (variable that contains values/strings/dates/logical…)
3. calculation operations in IFs
4. to define sets | IN transforms
5. a CASE transform
6. string operations (I know there are some in REPLACE, but a MID or a RIGHT could be useful)
7. multi level PIVOT
8. a way to save transforms for later reuse in a different file
9. to open two sessions at same time

[Admin]

@msaiz

collapsable meta transforms (a way to show/hide a lot of details)

A grouping box is high on the wishlist. We will look into making this collapsible.

@msaiz

parameters (variable that contains values/strings/dates/logical…)

We’ve been thinking about how best to do this.

@msaiz

calculation operations in IFs

I don’t think that is likely any time soon.

@msaiz

to define sets | IN transforms

I’m not sure what you mean.

@msaiz

a CASE transform

We already have a Case transform.

Or do you mean like the C/C++ programming construct switch/case? That is functionally equivalent to If.

@msaiz

string operations (I know there are some in REPLACE, but a MID or a RIGHT could be useful)

Have you tried the Extract transform?

@msaiz

multi level PIVOT

On the wish list.

@msaiz

a way to save transforms for later reuse in a different file

Copy and paste items is high on the wishlist.

Further down the line we might add a way to create a library to store commonly used groups of transforms.

@msaiz

to open two sessions at same time

Have you tried File>New Window?

[prashant]

@Admin

Have you tried File>New Window?

I discovered this few months back ! It’s EDT on steroids , I now have 3-4 EDT window open all the times

[oliv_reg]

I vote for point number 7. Mr Andy knows that already
For info, here is the pivot table feature of ModernCSV:
https://www.moderncsv.com/documentation/file-analysis/#pivot-table

[N8AKTIV]

adding to wishlist:
output/passing the final data directly to an external command
to avoid the annoying scripting/scheduling on system-level.

The parameter of this target-command could be a simple/unspecific variable in EDT that has to be filled correctly by the user and that will be passed blindly (without being checked within EDT) to the command-line. Only “header” and “data”-variable will be filled by EDT (and/or “filename” if the previous step was “output to file”).

So the data could easily be further processed with other great tools,
e.g. with the great PowerShell-module “ImportExcel” by Doug Finke

[Admin]

@N8AKTIV

output/passing the final data directly to an external command
to avoid the annoying scripting/scheduling on system-level.

The parameter of this target-command could be a simple/unspecific variable in EDT that has to be filled correctly by the user and that will be passed blindly (without being checked within EDT) to the command-line. Only “header” and “data”-variable will be filled by EDT (and/or “filename” if the previous step was “output to file”).

Can you give a real-world example of how you would use this?

Note that we have to be careful about calling external programs, otherwise people could send you a malicious .transform file.

[N8AKTIV]

I can think about something like calling PowerShell directly or from Windows-CMD
with passing a command to get the data and pipeline that to a Excel-file
with help of the ImportExcel-Module

e.g.
“C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe” -Command “ConvertFrom-Csv "Header1, Header2 'nRow1,Value1 'nRow2, Value2" | Export-Excel C:\temp\TestData.xlsx”

Or the data can also be directly read from a csv-file and passed to the ImportExcel-Module
e.g.
“C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe” -Command “Import-csv -path C:\temp\TestData.csv -Delimiter ‘;’ | Export-Excel C:\temp\TestData.xlsx”

This enables us to use all the additional possibilities of the ImportExcel-Module of Doug Finke
(GitHub - dfinke/ImportExcel: PowerShell module to import/export Excel spreadsheets, without Excel)
with formatting tables, inserting pivot-tables and charts, etc.

If executing an external-command with this details is a security-risk,
it would be helpful to have at least the ability of running my own external .bat or .ps-file
AFTER the output-file has been written by EDT
and still have access to a filename-variable to pass that as a batch script parameter

[Admin]

I think the ability to call out to an external program would be a useful additional transform. But it’s not straightforward, because you would have to specify:

• the path, format and format options of the file output from Easy Data Transform
• the path, format anf format options of the file input back to Easy Data Transform
• any command line arguments
• the location of the external program

Also we would have to deal with various security implications.

What is it you want to do in Powershell that you can’t do in Easy Data Transform?

[N8AKTIV]

The weakness of all reporting-tools is that when exporting data to xlsx they will create only simple Excel-sheets with the final/fixed data.

There is a pivot-like table with totals in rows and colums BUT not a real Excel-pivot-table where the user can continue to work with
… or … there is a sum of values in a column BUT it is not an Excel-formula that sums these values, so you cannot insert/remove lines without adjusting the sum manually
… or … there is a conditional-colour-formatting BUT you cannot edit these conditions
… or … there are fixed-filtered data BUT you cannot edit these filters
… or … there is a chart based on data in the sheet BUT it is just an image and not a real Excel-chart
…

I am trying to find a way to process the complex data within our reporting-landscape (e.g. with EDT) but sending the user a real Excel-sheet that they can continue to work with as usual.
(and NO it is not possible to replace the existing Excel-world with other reporting-tools )

The PowerShell-module ImportExcel is our first attempt to insert some of the useful Excel-features directly into our generated xlsx-reports.

[Admin]

Thanks for the explanation.