Interactively Import the Selected Excel Range into R

End-to-end, dialog-driven transfer of the currently selected Excel range(s) into R. The function reads the selection via xlGetRange, asks the user how to organize and deliver the data via xlDataTransferDialog, and then either returns / assigns the resulting object or inserts constructive R code at the editor cursor.

Usage

xlImport(xl = NULL)

Arguments

xl: optional Excel application handle (as returned by getXl()). If NULL, the running instance is used.

Value

Invisibly (or visibly, when no variable is given and nothing is inserted) the organized object: a data.frame, matrix, list or table-like matrix. Returns invisible(NULL) if the dialog is cancelled.

Details

The dialog offers the following target structures (single range):

data.frame (colnames): first row becomes the column names.
data.frame (no colnames): base-R default names V1, V2, ....
matrix: whole range as a matrix, no dim names, default type choice.
table (dimnames): first column becomes row names, first row becomes column names, the top-left corner cell is discarded.
list: one component per column.

When several disjoint areas are selected, only data.frame variants and list are offered (see xlParseRange for how areas are combined), and list is preselected.

Delivery is controlled by two dialog inputs, giving four combinations:

insert	variable	action
FALSE	set	`assign(variable, out, parent.frame())`
FALSE	empty	return the object (printed at the console)
TRUE	set	insert `variable <- <code>` at the cursor
TRUE	empty	insert `<code>` at the cursor

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
xl <- getXl()
# select a range in Excel, then:
xlImport(xl)
} # }