LyX ⇒ How do I use the data of a spreadsheet to make a dictionary?

[clemens]

Hello,

I have a spreadsheet with many columns containing the data I would like to use in order to make a "dictionary".
In column 1 I have the original word, in column 2 the pronunciation, in column 3 the meanings, in column 4 a compound word containing the original word, in clumn 5 the pronunciation of the compound, in column 7 another compound and so on.
I was wondering if there was a way, perhaps resembling mail-merge, to import the data in a Lyx file (I use it with XeTex due to font needs), following a specific pattern (lets say word, pronunciation on the left, meanings on the right
then underneath the compounds etc, then a separation line and then the following word).
Cheers,

Clemens

[bev]

I've never used Lyx, but this sounds like a job for a scripting language like perl, python, ruby, etc. That's the way I would do it.

Now that I think about it, you could write a script to make your column conform to a bibtex entry type, or create your own entry type, and then run bibtex on it. Dictionary entries are not that different than citations.