Hi Andrea,

Firstly, I would like to sincerely apologize for the delayed response as we have been experiencing an unusually high number of tickets. I am sorry that it has taken longer than usual to respond to your concern and your patience is highly appreciated.

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1. We will first write about possibilities when using Excel or CSV Spreadsheet files as data source for our Tables.

There are two ways to create wpDataTables from Excel/CSV,  first we will comment about Excel :

1. Create a table linked to an existing Excel file,

if you choose to Create a wpDataTable and upload the Excel file :

 in which case you get to select the file (upload it) that'll be used to pull the data.

 This file will be stored in ../wp-content/uploads/YEAR/MONTH/ folder. 

The file on that location can be changed/edited, but the column structure can't. 

So, if you have the file with the same name,

 the same number of columns, same headers, and the same order of columns - you'd be able to replace the original file with the new file, and wpDataTables would pick that up.

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Alternatively, if you select "URL from any domain"

Creating a table linked to an Excel file by providing its URL is pretty much the same as it is for creating a table by uploading an Excel file. 

The only difference is that you would choose the URL from any domain option instead of the WordPress Media Library option under File location when creating the table,

and when you want to edit the source file,   you don't have to edit the one that is now in your Media Library folder,

but you can edit on the original source file.

Please note:  For the option of “URL from any domain”, this source file needs to be accessible online in order to create a table from it, and the path to the file has to end with the file extention, for example with “.XLSX” or other Excel format. If the URL path to the source file does not end with a dot and its extension, it will not work.

( It will be the same logic for using a CSV file as a linked/synchronized Data source, please check more about CSV tables here)

2. 

Or,  If you import the file, ( from CSV/Excel/or Google Sheet),

 the plugin reads the source file and creates a manual table in the SQL Database. 

Once this table type is created, it is no longer linked to the source file, so changing data in the table will not show up in Excel/CSV or Google Spreadsheet, and vice-versa. 

But this table now becomes editable in our Plugin.

For quicker editing, you can either switch to the Excel-like view, 

and then select and copy the range of cells you want to paste from the source file, and paste it in the Excel-like view, 

or you can import a new/edited CSV/Excel or Google Sheet to update the table, as well, in the following ways :

• Replace data within an existing table.
• Add data to an existing table.
•   Replace the entire table with new data.

You can see more details on Updating manual tables from source files (CSV, Excel or Google sheet) here.

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2. Now, about importing data via  a Cron, or via API, from your software.

Can you elaborate a bit more how would that work,

is your software going to store the same source Excel / or CSV file in the same location, with the same filename,

and same number of Columns/ same Header Names?

If that is the case, then you could use our "URL from any domain" option if you wish the table to output the editing of the data from the connected file.

Please note: Once you link a table from an Excel / or CSV/ or Google Sheet file, changes in this file, like:

• Changing the column’s name,
• Changing the column’s order,
• Deleting the column, and
• Adding a new column.

are highly not recommended, because the table in the wpDataTable plugin will not work, at the moment. If you make any of these changes, please recreate the table again.

3. If you plan to use an API for a data source, we can advise :

If you link the table to a JSON file, this file has to have structure as we pointed out on this documentation. I will copy the important part here :

 Currently, wpDataTables accepts this, and only this format of JSON (see example on the docs page): 

a one-level array of same-structured objects where each object will be parsed as a row, and each field inside of the object as a cell.

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 If your software does not return this format, you would need to prepare, for example, some PHP adapter to return one of the formats that wpDataTables would accept.

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2. If your JSON file has multiple levels, then you will have to try our NESTED JSON method.

3. If you wish to use API, and to pull data from it,  then you will have to adapt it to PHP Array, and make a table linked to PHP Array.

4. When importing, are computational functions also imported?

Sorry to disappoint you, but that is not currently possible with our Plugin.

If you link a table or import data for a Manual Table, in both cases it is not possible to pass any formulas/or scripts from Excel or CSV file,

the Plugin will only take the values without any formula/script or formatting.

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The only way if you wish to try to have a source Sheet with Formulas - is with a Google spreadsheet.

Please check this Guide on how you can link a Google Sheet with Formulas to our Table.

5. different colors, green and red , if the value is negative or positive :

It is not possible to pass that from your source data,

but we have Conditional Formatting in our Plugin, which you can use to set up various Conditional rules,

such as 'set up the color of any row to red ,  if the value is negative', and so on.

Please check more about that here.

6. Is it possible to make a chart by importing percentage calculation data from an excell table?

No, unfortunately, as mentioned above - it is not possible to use Formulas with Excel, for our Tables.

You can check out our Formula Column features, though.

https://wpdatatables.com/documentation/column-features/formula-calculated-columns/

It can provide only basic math operations, and please note the limitations.

1. One formula column cannot be used in another. This limitation can be avoided by using nested calculations.
2. In tables with server-side processing formulas, columns cannot be used for grouping, filtering, and sorting. Basically, formulas are calculated only for the rows that are immediately visible; Therefore, it’s not possible to “know” the values for currently invisible rows. Please note that this also applies to the “Manual” tables, as they also use server-side processing by default. Also, of course, it is not possible to edit the cells generated by formulas in the editable tables.

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And i just wanted to point out that you can try wpDataTables before purchasing

 on our sandbox Demo sites ( you can find links for the main plugin Demo,  

as well as add-on Demos, in my signature),

and there is a 15-day money-back guarantee period, 

so if you purchase the plugin, you can safely fully test it out, and if it doesn't fit your needs you can request and receive a refund in that period. ( same goes for all plugins and add-ons)

Let me know if you have any additional questions.