Seeking Advice on Excel File Import in Mendix App

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Hello fellow Mendix enthusiasts, I’m embarking on my first full Mendix app project for my company, and I’d appreciate your insights on a specific area. We’re using Mendix version 9.6. Context: As part of our process, business users need to import customer data from Excel files into our CRM system. However, these files may have different column headings than our system, and they can contain up to 80 columns and 5000 rows. Challenge: I’ve explored the existing Excel importer with MX reflections, but I find it more suited for administrators rather than non-technical business users. I’m seeking recommendations for a more user-friendly approach. Desired Outcome: Ideally, I’d like to create a straightforward solution that doesn’t require building a custom pluggable widget (given my current skill level) and aligns with our business users’ needs. Questions: Are there alternative approaches or best practices for handling Excel file imports in Mendix apps? Can I achieve this without diving into custom widget development? Has anyone successfully used libraries like SheetJS for a similar purpose? I appreciate any guidance you can provide!
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Hi Drew,

 

I would still recommend using the Excel Import for this purpose. However do not let the end-users define the templates for upload, but let an admin define that.

Then the user can only upload their excels based on 1 or maybe 2 templates, but that means they first need to structure their excel according to that template. The most important thing is that the data is always in the same column.

 

If your challenge is in that all excel files are different then that is a process problem, that is hard to solve for to match all data based on the headers dynamically. That is why I would then suggest to move it around and make sure users are uploading the same kind of excel templates all the time, that Mendix can process. 

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