How to upload a converted calculator or form
There are several ways to upload files to web servers. One of the most common is the File Transfer Protocol, FTP. In this tutorial we will use FTP to publish a converted spreadsheet on a web server.
When you convert a spreadsheet with SpreadsheetConverter, the converted web page and all support files are placed in a folder on your hard disk. This tutorial shows you how to publish a converted spreadsheet as a live calculator or smart web form on a web server so that it becomes available for your users.
What you need
Here's what you need to upload a converted spreadsheet to your website:
- A server, either on your intranet or on the Internet. This is usually the same server on which the rest of your website already resides. Example: spreadsheetconverter.com.
- A full path to the folder on the web server, to which you are going to upload your calculator. Example: /calculate/flash/financial/.
- An FTP user ID and password that allows you to upload files to that folder on that web server. You get these credentials from the person that manages the website (unless that's you, of course).
- An FTP client, a program that lets you upload files to servers via FTP. If you don't already have an FTP program, you should select, download and install one now. Example: FileZilla.
- A complete folder created by SpreadsheetConverter from one of your spreadsheets. You must upload the entire contents of the folder. If you don't know the exact location of this folder, please read the instructions below. Example: C:\User\[user name]\Documents\SpreadsheetConverter\Sales_tax_calculator\
Finding the converted web page
If you don't know where the conversion results are stored, follow these instructions. Otherwise proceed to the next section.
Your SpreadsheetConverter Preferences determine where the results of your conversions are stored.
Switch to the SpreadsheetConverter ribbon
In Excel, look for the SpreadsheetConverter tab at the right end of the menu ribbon. Click the tab to switch to the SpreadsheetConverter ribbon.
Preferences > Browsers and Conversion Path Options
Your SpreadsheetConverter Preferences determine where the results of your conversions are stored. Open the Preferences menu.
Select "Browsers and Conversion Path Option".
Click on the button to the right under "Choose folder to store webpage" and navigate to where you want SpreadsheetConverter to store the web pages it creates.
Select what browsers you wish to verify the result in - click once to activate a browser, click once again to deactivate.
The converted web page and its folder structure
After each conversion, a folder with the same name as the spreadsheet is created in the designated folder. This folder contains the skeleton HTML required to render the spreadsheet, plus the support files required for automatic recalculation.
This folder typically has the following contents:
Connecting to the server
Start the FTP client program, e.g. FileZilla. Enter the Host (server name), Username and Password.
Click on the connect button (it actually says "Quickconnect" in FileZilla). The FTP progam should now connect to the server and show the contents of one of its folders. If this operation fails, correct any errors reported in the status pane.
Most FTP programs show two "sites" side-by-side, the "local" site and a folder on your hard disk, and a "remote" site and a folder on the server.
Uploading the converted web page
Go to the "local" site and navigate to the folder where SpreadsheetConverter stores the conversion results, as designated by the setting we showed you above. Example: C:\User\[user name]\Documents\SpreadsheetConverter\. Click on this folder to see its contents in the lower half of the "Local site" pane. Locate the folder that has the same name as the converted spreadsheet, e.g. Sales_tax_calculator.
Move over to the right-hand "remote" site pane and navigate to the folder where you want to place the converted web page, e.g. /calculate/flash/financial/. If the folder structure you have planned for is not already in place, you may need to create additional folders on the server according to the instructions for your specific FTP client. Click on the folder to see its contents in the lower half of the "Remote site" pane. In our example, the folder is currently empty.
Using the left mouse button, drag the entire folder (e.g. Sales_tax_calculator) from the hard disk folder in the "local" pane into the server folder in the "remote" pane. This instructs the FTP program to upload the file to the server. (If your FTP client does this in a different way, please consult the documentation.)
Uploading the folder takes a few seconds. The FTP client makes one or more connections to the server and uploads files and folders as required to copy the folder structure correctly. When the upload is complete, the remote folder should look like this:
That's it, your're done! You can now access the file in your web browser by pointing it to the server, using the full path to the converted web page, e.g. http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com/calculate/flash/financial/Sales_tax_calculator/Sales_tax_calculator.htm.
Integrating the calculator in your own website
If you make changes to the generated calculator, e.g. integrate it with an existing page in your own website, it's always best to retain the page within the outer folder (i.e. Sales_tax_calculator in the example above) to protect the machine-generated file structure. You may rename the outer folder if you like.
If you have a strong reason to omit the extra folder, you can copy just the folder's contents to the server. All the contents in the calculator's folder must still be placed in the same folder as the web page, or the calculations from your spreadsheet won't work.
Without the protection of the extra folder you run a much greater risk of conflicts with existing files. We therefore recommend that you always keep the pages generated by SpreadsheetConverter in their own folders.