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Clearwater, Florida, USA —
With the release of MicroStation XM, the time has come to compare
XM’s ability to import Excel spreadsheet data against Microsoft
Office Importer’s ability to do the same. If this sounds familiar
to you, a similar comparison was done a few years ago where Axiom’s
Vice President of Marketing compared MicroStation 8.1 to Microsoft
Office Importer.
For this comparison, I used two different kinds of Excel spreadsheets
to asses the quality of the paste that resulted from using MicroStation
XM’s pasting feature and then from using Microsoft Office Importer.
Excel spreadsheet #1 was full of various types of formatting, including
several different fonts, various justification, filled cells and
rotated text. Excel spreadsheet #1 was designed to test how well
MicroStation XM and Microsoft Office Importer each handled massive
amounts of data. At 119 columns and 111 rows, the one I used is
huge, but actually not an uncommon size for many CAD shops.
These spreadsheets were imported into a design file using MicroStation
XM’s Edit | Paste Special feature by selecting the “Linked
Microsoft Excel Worksheet” option. Then, I compared this option
to Microsoft Office Importer’s default paste functionality.
The comparison was made using the following categories: 1) the handling
of complex spreadsheet formatting, 2) the handling of large spreadsheets
and 3) overall flexibility. “Overall flexibility” refers
to the ability to alter the data once it has been brought into MicroStation.
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| Excel spreadsheet #1, "Advanced _formatting.xls", contains an
array of formatting, complete with bold, italic and underlined text,
meged cells, filled cells and rotated cells. |
Excel spreadsheet #1: “Advanced_formatting.xls”
I opened “Advanced_Formatting.xls”, highlighted the contents
and copied it to my clipboard with a <Control-C>. Using MicroStation
XM, I selected the “Paste special” option from the Edit
menu and selected the “Linked Microsoft Excel Worksheet”
option. While the formatting, justification, fonts, alignments and
rotations were maintained, the spreadsheet was truncated just below
the row containing the “Vertically merged cells” cell.
I conducted the initial test with Excel 97, and after testing with
Excel 2000 and Excel 2003, I discovered I was only able to import
the entire spreadsheet using Excel 2003. Further, and even more
importantly, the resulting element in the design file was a single
shape that was not editable in MicroStation. It was, in effect,
just a picture of the preadsheet pasted into the design file.
Using Microsoft Office Importer, I pasted the spreadsheet
data in the design file without any problems. The truncation issue
that appeared with the XM paste was absent in the ipaste. All formatting
was maintained and the entire spreadsheet was editable in MicroStation.
Excel spreadsheet #1 demonstrated that while both programs maintained
formatting well, Microsoft Office Importer provides the user
with editable text elements in MicroStation while XM gives users
only an uneditable shape. Not only is the text and line work editable
in MicroStation, but Microsoft Office Importer’s settings
can be adjusted so the imported data complies with CAD standards.
For example, if your CAD standards call for all text to be Engineering
font, on level three, color three and weight two, Microsoft Office
Importer’s settings can be adjusted so that your CAD standards
are maintained when the spreadsheet is imported into MicroStation.
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| Using XM's "Linked Microsoft Excel Worksheet" option, Excel spreadsheet #1 was truncated. |
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| XM's "Linked Microsoft Excel Worksheet" option pastes Excel spreadsheet #1 as a single, uneditable shape. |
Excel spreadsheet #2: “Huge_Example.xls”
Pasting “Huge_Example.xls” into a design file using only
the built-in commands of MicroStation XM also caused problems. The
formatting of the text appeared to be altered after being imported
into the design file. Specifically, as soon as the spreadsheet was
closed, the text was compressed and the text width was no longer
proportional to the text height.
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| Excel spreadsheet #2, “Huge_Example.xls”,
is a behemoth of 119 columns by 111 rows. |
As with “Advanced_Formatting.xls”,
I attempted to import this spreadsheet using Excel 97, Excel 2000
and Excel 2003. Once again, with Excel 97 and Excel 2000, the data
was truncated, resulting in part of the spreadsheet not being pasted
into the design file. It was only possible to import the entire
spreadsheet by using Excel 2003.
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| The first spreadsheet was pasted using
XM’s “Linked Microsoft Excel Worksheet” option.
Notice that this paste is truncated and much of the formatting
is altered. The second spreadsheet was pasted using Microsoft
Office Importer. Notice that this paste retains the correct
scale and formatting. |
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| A close-up of both spreadsheets as they
appeared after being imported into MicroStation. The first spreadsheet
was pasted using XM’s “Linked Microsoft Excel Worksheet”
option and the second using Microsoft Office Importer. Notice
that the text imported by Microsoft Office Importer is
not distorted! |
Microsoft Office Importer, on
the other hand, handled all of the data in the spreadsheet regardless
of the Excel version used. Microsoft Office Importer users
who import from Excel 97, 2000 and 2003 can all expect the same
results!
Excel spreadsheet #2 proved that size of the imported spreadsheet
is not a problem for the Microsoft Office Importer user.
On the other hand, MicroStation XM’s problems are not limited
to the formatting of spreadsheets, but also extends to actual file
size limitations. It appears that without Excel 2003, XM is limited
with regard to the size of the spreadsheets it can import.
A Unanimous
Decision
After two tests, Microsoft Office Importer emerged as the
better solution for CAD users who need to import spreadsheets into
MicroStation. With its ability to import any size spreadsheet, flawless
formatting and ability to offer users a flexible format for imported
data, Office Importer emerges on top, once again.
Call
now!
For more information on Microsoft
Office Importer contact an Axiom MicroStation Consultant
today! Call 727-442-7774 extension 9694 or e-mail 9694@AxiomInt.com.
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