Add data to Project Siena

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In Project Siena, you can add data from these sources:

For a general overview of Project Siena and links to resources such as sample apps, video tutorials, and forums, see Project Siena.

Prerequisites

Add data from Excel

  1. Open a worksheet that contains data formatted as a table.

    If you don't already have such a worksheet, perform these steps:

    1. Open Excel, and add the following data to a worksheet:

      Product

      Revenue

      Violins

      $21,000

      Trombones

      $15,000

      Bongos

      $14,000

    2. Highlight the cells to which you added data, click Format as Table on the ribbon, and then click a table format.

      "Format as Table" icon in Excel

    3. In the Format As Table dialog box, ensure that the My table has headers check box is selected, and then click OK.

      "Format As Table" dialog box in Excel

    4. In the Table Name box, give the table a name, and then save and close the workbook.

      Naming a table in Excel

  2. Open Project Siena, press Alt+D to open the list of data sources, and then click Excel in that list.

  3. Browse for the workbook from which you want to import data, and then click Open.

  4. Ensure that the check box for each table that you want to import is selected, and then click Import Data.

    UI for importing data from an Excel table

  5. Press Esc, or click the Back button to return to the design workspace.

  6. (optional) Show the data in a gallery.

Add data from SharePoint

  1. In the address bar of your browser, open a list in a SharePoint site, and then copy its URL.

    If you don't already have such a list, create one that contains the following data:

    Product

    Revenue

    Violins

    $21,000

    Trombones

    $15,000

    Bongos

    $14,000

  2. Open Project Siena, press Alt+D to show the list of data sources, and then click SharePoint.

  3. Choose the kind of SharePoint site, paste the URL in the box, and then click Connect.

    Specify the URL for a SharePoint site (on-premises or Office 365 Preview)

  4. Ensure that the check box for each list you want to import is selected, and then click Import data.

  5. Press Esc or click the Back button to return to the design workspace.

  6. (optional) Show the data in a gallery.

  7. (optional) Add rows to the list, and then update the source list:

    1. Add a SharePoint Update control, and set its Items property to the list you added.

    2. Press F5, and then click the SharePoint Update control.

    3. (optional) On the SharePoint site, verify that the source list was updated.

Add data from Office 365 Preview

  1. Open Project Siena, press Alt+D to open the list of data sources, and then click Office 365 Preview in the list.

  2. Click Connect, and then sign in.

  3. After your app is registered, press Esc to return the design workspace.

  4. (optional) Show your Inbox in a gallery:

    1. Press Alt-V to show the list of controls, click Galleries in that list, and then click Text Gallery.

      The Items dialog box opens automatically but closes if you click anywhere outside of it. To reopen it, click the gallery, click Data if it appears in the lower-left corner, and then click Items.

    2. In the Items dialog box, type this function:

      Office365!Emails("Inbox")!items

    3. Set the Text property of the Heading1 label to ThisItem!Subject.

      Learn how to find a control by its name and set its properties.

    4. Set the Text property of the Body1 label to ThisItem!BodyPreview, and set the Text property of the Subtitle1 label to this function:

      Text(DateTimeValue(ThisItem!DateTimeCreated), "mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm a/p")

      You can specify a different format for the date, such as dd/mm/yyyy, or skip a/p to show the time as a 24-hour clock.

  5. (optional) Add a label, click Data if it appears in the lower-left corner, and then set the Text property of the label to this function:

    CountIf(Office365!Emails("Inbox")!items, DateTimeValue(DateTimeCreated) > DateAdd(Now(), -7))

    The label shows the number of email messages in your Inbox that were created in the last week.

Add data from an Azure mobile service

  1. In an Azure mobile service, create a table named zz_config with two columns, a header row, and a row for each table that you want to import.

    If you don't own the service, work with its administrator to ensure that this table exists.

  2. In the left column, put Key in the header row and "table" (including the quotation marks) in all subsequent rows.

  3. In the right column, put Value in the header row and the name of each table, enclosed in quotation marks, in each subsequent row.

    Key

    Value

    "table"

    "TableName1"

    "table"

    "TableName1"

  4. In the Azure management portal, click the Dashboard tab, and then note the URL for the service in the lower-left corner under Quick Glance.

    Mgmt. portal, Dashboard tab, Quick Glance

    If you don't own the service, work with its administrator to get this information.

  5. Near the bottom of the portal, click Manage Keys, and then note the application key for the service.

  6. Open Project Siena, press Alt+D to open the list of data source, and then click Azure Mobile Services in that list.

  7. Type or paste the URL and the app key for the service you want, and then click Connect.

  8. Select the check box for each table that you want to import (or click Select All), and then click Import data.

  9. Press Esc or click the Back button to return to the design workspace.

  10. (optional) Show the data in a gallery.

Add data from an RSS feed

  1. In your web browser, copy the URL for an RSS feed.

    As an example, you can open the blog page for Project Siena, click RSS for posts in the upper-right corner, and then copy the URL of the page that appears.

  2. Open Project Siena, press Alt+D to open the list of data sources, and then click RSS Feed.

  3. Paste the URL for the feed in the box that appears, and then click Import data.

    UI for importing an RSS feed

  4. Press Esc or click the Back button to return to the design workspace.

  5. (optional) Show the RSS feed in a gallery:

    1. Press Alt-V to open a list of controls, click Galleries, and then click the horizontal Text Gallery.

    2. In the Items dialog box, click the RSS feed you just added.

      The Items dialog box opens automatically but closes if you click anywhere outside of it. To reopen it, click the gallery, click Data if it appears in the lower-left corner, and then click Items.

    3. Set the Text property of Heading1 to ThisItem!title and its OnSelect property to Launch(ThisItem!link).

      Learn how to find a control by its name and set its properties.

    4. Set the Text property of SubTitle1 to ThisItem!pubDate, and set the Text property of Body1 to ThisItem!description.

      The gallery shows the title, publication date, and first few sentences of each item in the feed. If you press F5 and then click the title of an item, the original source opens in a browser.

Add data from Coursera

  1. Open Project Siena, and then press Alt-V to open a list of controls.

  2. In that list, click Education, and then click Coursera Search or Coursera Lessons.

    Icons to add the Coursera data source

    If you click Coursera Search, you can search for courses by keyword. If you click Coursera Lessons, you can search for courses by category. In either case, you can, for example, create a list of courses that interest you or that you would like your team to take.