When working with Two Minute Reports and running queries, you might find yourself needing to tweak your queries regularly. Whether itās adjusting the date range in the WHERE clause or applying a status filter, manually changing the SQL query each time can be time-consuming.
Fortunately, thereās a solution: Using cell references in your SQL query you can dynamically update your queries based on values from the Spreadsheetās cell value. Letās see how to use them:
Steps
1. Connect to your data source and set up your query as you normally would. If you havenāt done this yet, follow this guide.
2. Letās say you have a SQL query pulling data from a table with a filter condition on the date column (e.g., created_at > ā2023-10-01ā).
Original SQL query:
![](https://twominutereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-2023-11-27-143637.png)
3. Instead of specifying the date in the query, you can put the desired date in any of your Google Sheets and reference that cell in your SQL query.
![](https://twominutereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-from-2023-11-11-13-21-30.png)
The cell references should be in the format ā+++SHEET_NAME!CELL+++ā. This informs Two Minute Reports that thereās a cell reference in your SQL query.
For this example, letās say your sheet name is āOrders Reportā and your cell is āB1ā. For this, your cell reference will be in the format ā+++āOrder Reportā!B1+++ā.
Modified SQL Query:
![](https://twominutereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-2023-11-27-184843.png)
Now, whenever the query runs, Two Minute Reports will fetch the date from cell āB1ā in the āOrders Reportā sheet and substitute the cell reference in your SQL query with that date.
Important Notes:
- Be sure to enclose the cell reference with +++ on both sides to signal Two Minute Reports that itās a dynamic value.
- If your sheet name has spaces like āOrders Reportā, enclose it in single quotes (ā).
- You canāt specify a range of cells, such as ā+++āOrders Reportā!A2:A5+++ā.
By using this feature, you can dynamically adjust values in your SQL query, fetching specific rows with an āactiveā status or changing the sorting column from ācreated_atā to āupdated_atā.
We hope this feature and guide are helpful. If you have any more questions or need help, donāt hesitate to reach out by creating a support ticket here.