Web API in Excel

Hi all DHIS2 developer,
Do you know can i use Microsoft Excel to get json data from DHIS2 web API?

thank you

channara

You can't use excel to get json data from dhis2 web api. At least not directly.

You could possibly write an excel macro to "get" the data through the
web api (I am really not sure - it is far too many years since i wrote
an excel macro), but you are still left with the problem of consuming
what you have got (json) into cells in a spreadsheet.

I believe all (or certainly almost all) of the data which is available
as json is also available as csv. If you are looking at getting dhsi2
data into excel in general, I would look at csv rather than json if
you want to minimize the processing/transformation that would
otherwise have to happen in between getting the data and consuming it.

https://www.dhis2.org/doc/snapshot/en/developer/html/dhis2_developer_manual.html

···

On 23 June 2015 at 07:47, channara rin <rin.channara@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all DHIS2 developer,
Do you know can i use Microsoft Excel to get json data from DHIS2 web API?

thank you
channara

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Hi Channara and Bob

I have been using macros to POST and PUT data to the API, and GET requests should work just as well.

I added your question and put my macro code here:

https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/79521/can-i-use-excel-to-get-json-from-the-dhis-api/79522#79522

See the comment at the end, seems it is possible to parse the JSON in a macro also.

Thank you,

Markus

···
  1. jun. 2015 kl. 12.13 skrev Bob Jolliffe bobjolliffe@gmail.com:

You can’t use excel to get json data from dhis2 web api. At least not directly.

You could possibly write an excel macro to “get” the data through the
web api (I am really not sure - it is far too many years since i wrote
an excel macro), but you are still left with the problem of consuming
what you have got (json) into cells in a spreadsheet.

I believe all (or certainly almost all) of the data which is available
as json is also available as csv. If you are looking at getting dhsi2
data into excel in general, I would look at csv rather than json if
you want to minimize the processing/transformation that would
otherwise have to happen in between getting the data and consuming it.

https://www.dhis2.org/doc/snapshot/en/developer/html/dhis2_developer_manual.html

On 23 June 2015 at 07:47, channara rin rin.channara@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all DHIS2 developer,
Do you know can i use Microsoft Excel to get json data from DHIS2 web API?

thank you
channara


Mailing list: DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
Post to : dhis2-devs@lists.launchpad.net
Unsubscribe : DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
More help : ListHelp - Launchpad Help


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1 Like

Hi Markus

Thanks for this information. That's a really useful snippet for
anyone to get started who might want to do this. I have a quick
question and a comment/suggestion:

1. I can see from the link that you can indeed parse/serialize json
from VBA - I guess it would have been surprising if you couldn't :slight_smile:
Would you do this in preference to CSV?

2. On a a more general point, there has been interest in (and a long
historical relationship) between DHIS and Excel. Ranging from its
early origins in DHIS1.4 through to primitive efforts to populate
spreadsheet data using mydatamart. But the use cases from excel as
data collection instrument, through to excel for analysis (pivot
tables) and simple metadata management are very varied. It strikes me
that a library of DHIS2-web-api macros similar to those you presented
in your link would be hugely interesting to a lot of people. Have you
considered collecting/publishing such a thing?

Cheers
Bob

···

On 23 June 2015 at 12:06, Markus Bekken <markus.bekken@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Channara and Bob

I have been using macros to POST and PUT data to the API, and GET requests
should work just as well.

I added your question and put my macro code here:
https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/79521/can-i-use-excel-to-get-json-from-the-dhis-api/79522#79522

See the comment at the end, seems it is possible to parse the JSON in a
macro also.

Thank you,
Markus

23. jun. 2015 kl. 12.13 skrev Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@gmail.com>:

You can't use excel to get json data from dhis2 web api. At least not
directly.

You could possibly write an excel macro to "get" the data through the
web api (I am really not sure - it is far too many years since i wrote
an excel macro), but you are still left with the problem of consuming
what you have got (json) into cells in a spreadsheet.

I believe all (or certainly almost all) of the data which is available
as json is also available as csv. If you are looking at getting dhsi2
data into excel in general, I would look at csv rather than json if
you want to minimize the processing/transformation that would
otherwise have to happen in between getting the data and consuming it.

https://www.dhis2.org/doc/snapshot/en/developer/html/dhis2_developer_manual.html

On 23 June 2015 at 07:47, channara rin <rin.channara@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all DHIS2 developer,
Do you know can i use Microsoft Excel to get json data from DHIS2 web API?

thank you
channara

_______________________________________________
Mailing list: DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
Post to : dhis2-devs@lists.launchpad.net
Unsubscribe : DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
More help : ListHelp - Launchpad Help

_______________________________________________
Mailing list: DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
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Unsubscribe : DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
More help : ListHelp - Launchpad Help

Thanks Bob,

  1. I have not established a preference here - your point on using CSV is a good one. CSV will probably be easier to “deserialize” in most cases. JSON or XML on the other hand, will probably be a little more robust to changes in the WebAPI output.

  2. I like it. Excel is a good tool accessible to many people. I have been using an excel sheet to manage some data through the API, but the sheet I made contains some “hardcodings” that is made for my specific case. I have been thinking about making a generic version of my Excel, that can be used by anyone to post, put and maybe also get data through the API.

Best regards

Markus

p.s. I deleted the stackexchange question again, as the question and answer was generic Excel, and not so DHIS related. The link still works, but here is the code snippet.

It is possible to use Excel Macros to call the Web API. Posting to the API can be done like this:

    Public Function postData(ByVal address As String, ByVal json As String, ByVal mode As String) If (mode = "Yes" Or mode = "Debug") Then On Error GoTo Errorhandler Dim objHTTP As New WinHttpRequest URL = address objHTTP.Open "POST", URL, False objHTTP.Option(WinHttpRequestOption_SslErrorIgnoreFlags) = 13056 objHTTP.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "application/json" objHTTP.setRequestHeader "Authorization", "Basic " & EncodeBase64("admin:district") objHTTP.send json If (mode = "Debug") Then postData = objHTTP.ResponseText Else postData = objHTTP.statusText End If Else postData = mode End If Exit Function Errorhandler: postData = Err.Description End Function

For doing a GET, you should be able to just replace the “POST” with a “GET”, and send the request without the json.

···
  1. jun. 2015 kl. 13.40 skrev Bob Jolliffe bobjolliffe@gmail.com:

Hi Markus

Thanks for this information. That’s a really useful snippet for
anyone to get started who might want to do this. I have a quick
question and a comment/suggestion:

  1. I can see from the link that you can indeed parse/serialize json
    from VBA - I guess it would have been surprising if you couldn’t :slight_smile:
    Would you do this in preference to CSV?

  2. On a a more general point, there has been interest in (and a long
    historical relationship) between DHIS and Excel. Ranging from its
    early origins in DHIS1.4 through to primitive efforts to populate
    spreadsheet data using mydatamart. But the use cases from excel as
    data collection instrument, through to excel for analysis (pivot
    tables) and simple metadata management are very varied. It strikes me
    that a library of DHIS2-web-api macros similar to those you presented
    in your link would be hugely interesting to a lot of people. Have you
    considered collecting/publishing such a thing?

Cheers
Bob

On 23 June 2015 at 12:06, Markus Bekken markus.bekken@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Channara and Bob

I have been using macros to POST and PUT data to the API, and GET requests
should work just as well.

I added your question and put my macro code here:
https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/79521/can-i-use-excel-to-get-json-from-the-dhis-api/79522#79522

See the comment at the end, seems it is possible to parse the JSON in a
macro also.

Thank you,
Markus

  1. jun. 2015 kl. 12.13 skrev Bob Jolliffe bobjolliffe@gmail.com:

You can’t use excel to get json data from dhis2 web api. At least not
directly.

You could possibly write an excel macro to “get” the data through the
web api (I am really not sure - it is far too many years since i wrote
an excel macro), but you are still left with the problem of consuming
what you have got (json) into cells in a spreadsheet.

I believe all (or certainly almost all) of the data which is available
as json is also available as csv. If you are looking at getting dhsi2
data into excel in general, I would look at csv rather than json if
you want to minimize the processing/transformation that would
otherwise have to happen in between getting the data and consuming it.

https://www.dhis2.org/doc/snapshot/en/developer/html/dhis2_developer_manual.html

On 23 June 2015 at 07:47, channara rin rin.channara@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all DHIS2 developer,
Do you know can i use Microsoft Excel to get json data from DHIS2 web API?

thank you
channara


Mailing list: DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
Post to : dhis2-devs@lists.launchpad.net
Unsubscribe : DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
More help : ListHelp - Launchpad Help


Mailing list: DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
Post to : dhis2-devs@lists.launchpad.net
Unsubscribe : DHIS 2 developers in Launchpad
More help : ListHelp - Launchpad Help

Agree very much with Bob’s point 2 - most of the existing legacy data in the world is either on paper or in Excel. And if it is in some other format, people will typically use Excel to rearrange it into DHIS2 format (CSV or JSON or XML)

···

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:40 PM, Bob Jolliffe bobjolliffe@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Markus

Thanks for this information. That’s a really useful snippet for

anyone to get started who might want to do this. I have a quick

question and a comment/suggestion:

  1. I can see from the link that you can indeed parse/serialize json

from VBA - I guess it would have been surprising if you couldn’t :slight_smile:

Would you do this in preference to CSV?

  1. On a a more general point, there has been interest in (and a long

historical relationship) between DHIS and Excel. Ranging from its

early origins in DHIS1.4 through to primitive efforts to populate

spreadsheet data using mydatamart. But the use cases from excel as

data collection instrument, through to excel for analysis (pivot

tables) and simple metadata management are very varied. It strikes me

that a library of DHIS2-web-api macros similar to those you presented

in your link would be hugely interesting to a lot of people. Have you

considered collecting/publishing such a thing?

Cheers

Bob

On 23 June 2015 at 12:06, Markus Bekken markus.bekken@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Channara and Bob

I have been using macros to POST and PUT data to the API, and GET requests

should work just as well.

I added your question and put my macro code here:

https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/79521/can-i-use-excel-to-get-json-from-the-dhis-api/79522#79522

See the comment at the end, seems it is possible to parse the JSON in a

macro also.

Thank you,

Markus

  1. jun. 2015 kl. 12.13 skrev Bob Jolliffe bobjolliffe@gmail.com:

You can’t use excel to get json data from dhis2 web api. At least not

directly.

You could possibly write an excel macro to “get” the data through the

web api (I am really not sure - it is far too many years since i wrote

an excel macro), but you are still left with the problem of consuming

what you have got (json) into cells in a spreadsheet.

I believe all (or certainly almost all) of the data which is available

as json is also available as csv. If you are looking at getting dhsi2

data into excel in general, I would look at csv rather than json if

you want to minimize the processing/transformation that would

otherwise have to happen in between getting the data and consuming it.

https://www.dhis2.org/doc/snapshot/en/developer/html/dhis2_developer_manual.html

On 23 June 2015 at 07:47, channara rin rin.channara@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all DHIS2 developer,

Do you know can i use Microsoft Excel to get json data from DHIS2 web API?

thank you

channara


Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs

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–

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Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo

Norway: +4791880522

Skype: knutstar

http://dhis2.org