Export Data Store Entity to Excel Smart Service

Question

Hi All, 
 
 I'm using for the first time the Export Data Store Entity to Excel Smart Service to add data to an existing excel template (saved as a doc in appian) (Exporting data to a formatted Excel sheet). 
 Once I add the data to the excel it seems it adds it in the same row and erases anything on the same row that was there before, I'm trying to add the new data only in one column, different rows instead in one whole row. 
 Does someone know if this is possible or how I should be configuring the parameters.

customCellPositions

List of Text String

(Optional) Array of cell positions where custom cell values should be added.

customCellValues

List of Text String

(Optional) Array of values to be added on the specified custom cell position.

Or if you could recommend a different smart service to achieve this? 
 
 Thanks in advance

EREN_YEAGER · Answer

Hi, 
 You can use the parameters by passing customCellPositions (e.g., A1,A2,A3,...) and customCellValues (e.g., 1,2,3,...). This will place the data in the specified cell positions within the Excel file. 
 However, I'm not entirely sure whether this approach will override any existing content in those cells. It should insert the data as defined, but please test it to confirm the behavior in your specific case. customCellPositions: {"B2", "B3", "B4"}
customCellValues: {"Apple", "Banana", "Orange"}

Mike Schmitt · Answer

My suggestion is to use a different smart service, one that accepts a Base Template, because even after years of complaining , they have not seen fit to update the Export DSE to Excel smart service with this most basic of functionalities. 
 I used to recommend installing the Excel Tools plug-in and using one of the (deprecated-but-still-working-perfectly-fine) original smart services, usually Export CDT to Excel . However there is now a more recent plug-in, " JSON to Excel" , which also takes a base template, and (unlike "Export CDT...") doesn't even require you to use a specific CDT to handle your export (meaning you're free to do data transforms as you wish prior to feeding the JSON array to the smart service).

Mike Schmitt · Answer

Then definitely try out the "CDT to Excel" node - it's marked as "deprecated" but as i mentioned, has continued to work anyway. It works perfectly with pre-formatted templates.

`customCellPositions`	List of Text String	(Optional) Array of cell positions where custom cell values should be added.
`customCellValues`	List of Text String	(Optional) Array of values to be added on the specified custom cell position.