Geek Corner: Importing using Excel API Tool

Method_Danny — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:11:00 GMT

So you’re all excited to use Method. Perhaps you’ve added a couple of new fields, edited some of the existing screens and maybe even added a few new tables of your own. Fantastic! Your sales team gets their hands on Method and what’s the first thing they say to you? How can I enter in this list of potential customers? You could ask them to type each of the leads in, but that might not go over too well if we are talking about 100 leads. Your first instinct might be to browse around in Method and try and look for a way to do this, but I’ll save you some time and tell you there isn’t an easy way to do this. Fear not though. There is hope!

One of the very first things the Method Team released for the developer community was an API for Method. This enables us and 3rd party developers to create tools that work with Method, outside of Method’s world. To help developers get started, the developer geeks at Method created sample applications to assist with using the Method API. One of these sample apps is an Excel import tool. This tool uses the Method API to import records right into Method using Excel. The video below was recorded by our very own Ryan Bell and covers how to use this sample tool, basic troubleshooting and some pretty import recommendations for using the tool.

To watch the video, click here.

What to expect from this tool now?

The Method API Sample Excel Import tool serves its intended purpose of being a great example for developers to build on. It’s important to remember this was never intended for end users to use and isn’t the most user friendly experience. It does however, provide a way for users to get the information they need into Method rather than typing it in or creating their own import tool for Method.

What to expect from Method in the future?

We have full intentions to release a tool for end users and not for developer geeks. When? I don’t have an exact date for you, but it is in the developer queue and we do listen to feedback, so this is coming.

Enjoy the video and hope it helps to save everyone some time.

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Search results matching tags 'Method API' and 'Webinars'

Geek Corner: Importing using Excel API Tool