How to update MarkLogic from Excel

The CData Excel Add-In for MarkLogic enables you to edit and save MarkLogic data directly from Excel. This article explains how to transfer data from Excel to MarkLogic. This technique is useful if you want to work on MarkLogic data in Excel and update changes, or if you have a whole spreadsheet you want to import into MarkLogic. In this example, you will use the Customer table; however, the same process will work for any table that can be retrieved by the CData Excel Add-In.

Establish a Connection

If you have not already done so, create a new MarkLogic connection by clicking From MarkLogic on the ribbon.

Set User, Password, and Server to the credentials for the MarkLogic account and the address of the server you want to connect to. You should also specify the REST API Port if you want to use a specific instance of a REST Server.

Retrieve Data from MarkLogic

To insert data into MarkLogic, you will first need to retrieve data from the MarkLogic table you want to add to. This links the Excel spreadsheet to the MarkLogic table selected: After you retrieve data, any changes you make to the data are highlighted in red.

1. Click the From MarkLogic button on the CData ribbon. The Data Selection wizard is displayed.
2. In the Table or View menu, select the Customer table.
3. In the Maximum Rows menu, select the number of rows you want to retrieve. If you want to insert rows, you need to retrieve only one row. The Query box will then display the SQL query that corresponds to your request.
4. In the Sheet Name box, enter the name for the sheet that will be populated. By default the add-in will create a new sheet with the name of the table.

Insert Rows to MarkLogic

After retrieving data, you can add data from an existing spreadsheet in Excel.

1. In a cell after the last row, enter a formula referencing the corresponding cell from the other spreadsheet; for example, =MyCustomerSheetInExcel!A1.
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to MarkLogic, select the cells that you are inserting data into and drag the formula down as far as needed. The referenced values you want to add will be displayed on the Customer sheet.
3. Highlight the rows you want to insert and click the Update Rows button.

As each row is inserted, the Id value will appear in the Id column and the row's text will change to black, indicating that the record has been inserted.