EPIC BPAL Spreadsheet Thread

[Saliekat]

I wish I had seen this before I created an Access database for my BPAL collection this evening....after I discovered I had 2 imps of Vice

 

Still...my Access skills needed the dust off!

[foxroses]

I wish I could use this, but I have a mac.

 

 

I'm working on an AppleWorks database of scents. It's mainly intended to keep track of which scents I've tried and what I thought of them, so it doesn't do all the clever swap/buy/sell tracking that the Excel file does, but if anyone is interested in a copy drop me a PM!

 

 

you can get excel for macs, you know. i'm using nattie's spreadsheet right now, and it works just fine excel/office for macs is pretty cheap, or you can just grab a trial version, and then port the file over to something mac-usable

[Rhowan]

Thanks once again for your work - I am loving it!

[e_miche]

Is anyone working on a spreadsheet update after our recent updates?

[teh_daitouryou]

I'm working on it, just been busy lately. I'll try to get it out this weekend. :-)

[e_miche]

oh wow! thanks!

[aedes]

I have to say that this spreadsheet has probably been one of the best additions to my life since my boyfriend. And my boyfriend is pretty damn handy.

 

Is there any way I can download the updates while still keeping all the notes and such that I added to my previous one?

Edited January 21, 2006 by aedes

[ancilla_morte]

I wish I could use this, but I have a mac.

 

 

I'm working on an AppleWorks database of scents. It's mainly intended to keep track of which scents I've tried and what I thought of them, so it doesn't do all the clever swap/buy/sell tracking that the Excel file does, but if anyone is interested in a copy drop me a PM!

 

 

you can get excel for macs, you know. i'm using nattie's spreadsheet right now, and it works just fine excel/office for macs is pretty cheap, or you can just grab a trial version, and then port the file over to something mac-usable

really??? oh my god! *off to download*

Edited January 21, 2006 by ancilla

[teh_daitouryou]

I forgot to mention here a few days ago, but the spreadsheet has been updated:

 

http://www.nattiechan.com/bpal_spreadsheet.shtml

 

To whomever asked... updating to a new version of the spreadsheet *is* problematic, and I've tried to think of ways people can do it without losing their notes. There isn't an easy answer.

 

One thing I've done is the updates are at the very bottom of the new file. This means you can just zoom to the end and copy and paste those rows into your spreadsheet, then sort the sheet again.

 

One issue, however, is that this update includes links to a lot of different scents that previously did not have review pages on the forum. My suggestion for getting that information into your own file would be this: copy and paste the new rows into your file, sort each file using an identical setting, then go down the scent names on your file. When you see a scent that isn't linked to a review, go to the corresponding row number (they should be the same now) on the updated spreadsheet, then copy and paste the cell to your file.

 

Example: I copy and paste the new row into my personal spreadsheet. I sort the blank spreadsheet by the area column, then the name column. I sort my own spreadsheet by the area column, then the name column. I scroll down my personal spreadsheet until I see an unlinked scent, say Undertow, on row 127. (I picked a random number for the example, I don't know what number it is.) I then return to the blank spreadsheet, scroll to row 127 which should also be Undertow, copy its linked cell that says Undertow, return to my spreadsheet, and paste it over the unlinked cell. So on down the list.

 

I keep my spreadsheet with my own notes separate from the blank version, so that's what I have to do. I hope that made sense! This update has nearly every scent with a linked review page now, so while updating to the new version may seem like a lot of work, you won't have to do that with those scents again in the future.

Edited January 28, 2006 by Nattie

[good_mourning]

I wonder if either of the ladies contemplating an SQL solution have made any progress? While Nattie's spreadsheet is fabulous, I'd love some sort of PHP widget to add to my blog (or, even better, a full-on Wordpress plugin). Curse my lack of coding skills...

[Charitie]

The spreadsheet is beautiful, thank you so very much. Being a mom of a teenager, and working 60+ hours a week, I never have time to do more than sniff/slather/run...and I've so many imps I can't remember what half of them smelled like

[this machine]

I just had a heartattack over that spreadsheet. I created my own just of the ones that i have, but it was far more cumbersome and didn't have all the descrips and such. This thing is beautiful. The one thing i'll use my own spreadsheet for is being able to, for instance, sort by a particular note that i think may be causing a problem for me and see which scents i have that contain that. I have each scent i own down the left with all the notes in separate columns along the top, and i check off the box for each note each scent contains. I'm not sure i could've described it any more cumbersome-ly. In any case, i think it could be useful for me, but it is a bitch to keep updated.

 

Anyway, what i originally was saying - the spreadsheet is AMAZING! Thank you nattie.

[teh_daitouryou]

I just had a heartattack over that spreadsheet. I created my own just of the ones that i have, but it was far more cumbersome and didn't have all the descrips and such. This thing is beautiful. The one thing i'll use my own spreadsheet for is being able to, for instance, sort by a particular note that i think may be causing a problem for me and see which scents i have that contain that. I have each scent i own down the left with all the notes in separate columns along the top, and i check off the box for each note each scent contains. I'm not sure i could've described it any more cumbersome-ly. In any case, i think it could be useful for me, but it is a bitch to keep updated.

 

Anyway, what i originally was saying - the spreadsheet is AMAZING! Thank you nattie.

 

You're very welcome! I've often tried to figure out a way to make my spreadsheet able to do what you've described, but I've come up with few ideas. The only thing I can think of is in the section where I suggested you write whether or not you've tried it, or ordered, etc, is that you can come up with a new tag like "Problematic" and sort the spreadsheet by that? That way, you'll see all the problematic scents listed together and you can check out the notes.

[locuraelegantia]

oh, I need help.

 

I downloaded the spreadsheet linked a few posts above me, but it won't load onto my computer.

 

I'm using Microsoft Works Spreadsheet, which is not Excel, but should be compatible with an xls file. When I try to open, it asks me which version I want (scents, buying, swapping, etc) and then it says an illegal operation has been performed and shuts down.

 

I'm not sure where I can get a free copy of excel, if that's the problem, or if I need to open the file another way? any help would be hugely appreciated.

 

thank you!!

[this machine]

I just had a heartattack over that spreadsheet. I created my own just of the ones that i have, but it was far more cumbersome and didn't have all the descrips and such. This thing is beautiful. The one thing i'll use my own spreadsheet for is being able to, for instance, sort by a particular note that i think may be causing a problem for me and see which scents i have that contain that. I have each scent i own down the left with all the notes in separate columns along the top, and i check off the box for each note each scent contains. I'm not sure i could've described it any more cumbersome-ly. In any case, i think it could be useful for me, but it is a bitch to keep updated.

 

Anyway, what i originally was saying - the spreadsheet is AMAZING! Thank you nattie.

 

You're very welcome! I've often tried to figure out a way to make my spreadsheet able to do what you've described, but I've come up with few ideas. The only thing I can think of is in the section where I suggested you write whether or not you've tried it, or ordered, etc, is that you can come up with a new tag like "Problematic" and sort the spreadsheet by that? That way, you'll see all the problematic scents listed together and you can check out the notes.

 

That's not a bad idea. Certainly less cumbersome than having all 987982343 notes listed out in their own column. Talk about a bulky spreadsheet, yeesh.

[Babylon]

oh, I need help.

 

I downloaded the spreadsheet linked a few posts above me, but it won't load onto my computer.

 

I'm using Microsoft Works Spreadsheet, which is not Excel, but should be compatible with an xls file. When I try to open, it asks me which version I want (scents, buying, swapping, etc) and then it says an illegal operation has been performed and shuts down.

 

I'm not sure where I can get a free copy of excel, if that's the problem, or if I need to open the file another way? any help would be hugely appreciated.

 

thank you!!

 

Weird! I had that happen when I tried to open it with Works spreadsheet, but it worked fine when I opened it with Excel. No idea what's up.

[darklorelei]

Could it be because there are multiple spreadsheets in the file? (Please note, I'm unfamiliar with Works)

[Babylon]

Could it be because there are multiple spreadsheets in the file? (Please note, I'm unfamiliar with Works)

 

Well, that could be. When I got the popup window that asked what one I wanted to open, I got the error. But with the other program, it just opened the spreadsheet in multiple tabs, no popup, and that seemed to work fine.

[teh_daitouryou]

I have no idea about opening the spreadsheet in anything but Excel. From the sounds of it, it doesn't work, and I don't know that there's anything I can do to fix it anyway. :-/

 

In better news, though, the spreadsheet IS updated:

http://www.nattiechan.com/BPAL_spreadsheet.shtml

 

The rows for the new stuff are at the bottom for easy C&P into your existing file. TAKE NOTE, however, that if you want to do the C&P you need to change Ligeia from Bewitching Brews to Maelstrom on your own, and you will have to manually change all LEs except Sleepy Moon to discontinued.

 

Enjoy!

[marzstar]

wow this is amazing ! thanks for making this and even moreso, thanks for sharing !!

[tangent]

Ahhhh, thank you so much for that spreadsheet; it's a lifesaver. My table will be populated! (I'm setting this up in MySQL, one masterlist with all the official info, one table for just the ones I've tried, and one wishlist table. I've got columns for many of the notes... probably not anywhere near all of them, but ninety something... and in the table for the ones I've tried I'm going to try to put comments in the field for each note that that scent contains. So I can keep track of which ones are strong, which ones fade after a little while, that kind of thing. The theory is that I'll add more columns as I run into notes in scent descriptions that I don't have a column for, and each time I'll run a query to put 'yes' in that field in the main table for each scent that has it in the description. So in theory, when I've put all the ones I've tried in, I'll be able to do some kind of correlation to see what notes work well for me and find more scents that might work well... And with the excel I can use concatenate to cobble together queries en mass to insert rows! The only real disadvantage seems to be that it's a pain keeping track of all the columns, but I've made a text file that lists them, so I don't have to keep select * from bpal.masterlist to see what I've got.)

 

...and I think I might even be able to get a list of all the notes, thanks to your short description column. I hope, anyway. Which would be AWESOME since I wouldn't need to keep adding columns all the time.

 

...Oh! And if anyone's interested, when I finish the main table, I could find somewhere to upload it. It'd be in MySQL's native file format for tables, probably, unless I find out how to convert them.

Edited April 22, 2006 by tangentialone

[lilerthkwake]

Thanks to everyone who shared their spreadsheets! I'm a newbie and have just acquired my first few imps. I figure if I'm organized from the start, it'll go so much better... the challenge, though, as always, is whether or not I can STAY organized... *cough* we'll see.

[TrailerTrashPrincess]

hmmmm....

 

first off, thanks to all those who have put in so much work to compile these spreadsheets! i'm waiting to see if i can download (da intarveb is being funny for me today) the most recent one... i'm thinking it might be a neat thing to put in the front of my BPAL binder[1]

 

[1]which is really just a printout of the webpage, with divider tabs for each section (including the limited's that've come out since i've begun my addiction) and notes i've made beside the descriptions for oils i've been lucky enough to try so far.

[urbanruralferal]

I am in awe that this resource exists! Absolutely priceless.

thank you, Nattie.

[Eleri]

in keeping track of your collection, what bits of data do you usualy put in? I'm thinking

 

SCENT NAME: imp...bottle...like...don't...to swap...from swap...buy imp...buy bottle...comments

 

with each of those (except comments) being a checkbox. Am I missing anything?