How to update Google Spanner from Excel

The CData Excel Add-In for Google Spanner enables you to edit and save Google Spanner data directly from Excel. This article explains how to transfer data from Excel to Google Spanner. This technique is useful if you want to work on Google Spanner data in Excel and update changes, or if you have a whole spreadsheet you want to import into Google Spanner. 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 Google Spanner connection by clicking From Google Spanner on the ribbon.

Google Spanner uses the OAuth authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded credentials or register an app with Google.

See the Getting Started guide in the CData driver documentation for more information.

Retrieve Data from Google Spanner

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

1. Click the From Google Spanner 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 Google Spanner

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, . 👁 A local copy of a table. One row will be inserted. (QuickBooks is shown.)
   
2. After using a formula to reference the cells you want to add to Google Spanner, 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. 👁 The range of changes to update. (QuickBooks is shown.)
   
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.