How To Load Footnotes From External Files : Beyond 20/20

Loading footnotes from external files

If you are adding a lot of footnotes to an IVT you should use the Define Footnote Source option in the Source menu, which enables you to load footnote data from external files either during the build or as a table update.

Notes:

In previous releases of the Builder, the Footnote Loader was provided as a separate application. It has now been integrated with the Builder so that footnotes can be added during the build process.
Unlike the standalone Footnote Loader, loading footnotes from the Source menu modifies files in place. It may overwrite existing files.

To load footnotes:

Notes:

Before you can load footnotes using Source> Define Footnote Source, you must prepare the footnote source files. See Source files for loading footnotes.
Footnotes must be loaded after you have defined the dimensions for a table and before the table is built.

Click Source menu> Define Footnote Source.
The Define Footnote Source dialog box appears.
In Footnote data, browse to the location of the footnote definition file. It can be a comma-separated values file (.CSV). If it is an Access file, you must also identify the source table.
If the footnote table contains fields that have the standard field names as shown in this example, the fields are populated automatically. If you wish to select source fields to define any of the advanced features -- Show reference mark, Show text, Text color, and Background color -- you can do so now.
In Cell position source, browse to the location of your cell position file. Like the footnote data file, it can be a comma-separated values file (.CSV).
Note: The footnote and cell position data can be in the same or different files.
If the cell position file has fields named with the default field names showing the footnote ID and the dimension positions, the remaining fields will be populated automatically.
To prepare the Builder to load the footnote information during the build, click OK.

To Load Footnotes Into Sample File

Sample files can be found in article, Source files for loading footnotes. Before starting this tutorial, download the files to a folder.

To Load Footnotes Into Products.ivt

Backup Products.ivt
When you load footnotes they are loaded directly into the data table and there is no way to undo the changes. For this reason you should backup or make a copy of the file into which you will load footnotes
Using the Builder, open Products.ivt
When you first open it you will see that it is Read-only

This is a setting in the Builder so that you can ensure that Browser users cannot change data in a table.
Before you can add footnotes you must unlock the table
From the File menu select Lock

Read-only should no longer appear in the window title and more menu options should become available
To use the Footnote Loader you must indicate that you are updating the file
From the File menu select Update:
Menu items in the Data and Source menus will become available so that footnotes can be loaded
You will also notice empty space on the right side. This is for source fields when you are updating the cells of a table with data from another file.
For this exercise you can ignore this part of the screen.
You are now ready to specify the source files from which to load the footnotes.
From the Source menu select Define Footnote Source
The Define Footnote Source box appears:
Browse to the sample CSV file containing the Footnote Dictionary, ProductsFootnotes.csv
Browse to the sample CSV file containing the Cell positions, ProductsPosition.csv
For this tutorial, the column names in the sample files are set so that the proper columns are properly selected for each field:
Click OK.
From the Data menu, select Load Footnotes.
You will be prompted asking if you want to save the Update Definition.
Click Yes.
This will allow you to start over without having to specify everything again.
Enter LoadFootnotes.ivu and click Save