ActiveX -- Saving Excel File

I'm trying to open an existing Excel file, add data, then save the file. I've tried several different variations on saving the file, but I'm not having any luck. Code chunk:

    %%Open Existing File & Activate / Re-name Sheet 3
    hExcel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
    hWorkbook = hExcel.Workbooks;
    invoke(hWorkbook,'Open',filename_ext);    %%filename_ext -- existing file
    Sheets = hExcel.ActiveWorkBook.Sheets;
    hSheet = get(Sheets,'item',3);
    hSheet.Activate;
    hSheet.Name = 'CYCLE';

    %%Add Data & Formatting
    %%<etc>

    %%Save File & Close
    % hWorkbook.SaveAs(filename_ext);        %%V1
    % hWorkbook.Saved = 1;
    % hWorkbook.Save                         %%V2
    % invoke(hWorkbook,'Save',filename_ext); %%V3

    hWorkbook.Close
    hExcel.Quit
    hExcel.delete

The differet save methods above give a variety of different error outputs.

     * hWorkbook.SaveAs(filename_ext); 
         Cannot find an exact (case-sensitive) match for 'SaveAs'

         The closest match is: saveas
         in C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2012a\toolbox\matlab\general\saveas.m  

     * hWorkbook.Save
         No appropriate method, property, or field Save for class 
         Interface.000208DB_0000_0000_C000_000000000046.
     * invoke(hWorkbook,'Save',filename_ext); 
         Error using Interface.000208D8_0000_0000_C000_000000000046/invoke
         Invoke Error: Unknown name or named argument

In another code section I've used the above SaveAs format (when I'm creating a new file--not adding data to an existing file)without issue, so I'm uncertain on how to correct the issue.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

hWorkbook = hExcel.Workbooks is collection of all the workbooks that you have open. To save one, you need the handle to one particular single workbook. Try using hWorkbook = hExcel.ActiveWorkbook instead. This will get the handle to just one workbook - the currently active one - instead of the whole collection of them. I know you may have only one open, but it's the hierarchy that's important. It's not going to automatically make hExcel.Workbooks equal to hExcel.ActiveWorkbook just because you have only one open.

[Katie R]

Many thanks for the help. Making use of ActiveWorkbook solved the problem. I'm doing code development without any other workbooks open, but realisitically there isn't a guarantee that that will be the case when the application is in use. I never really thought about the potential hierarchy problems since it worked ok when adding a new workbook (but thinking about it logically, creation of a new workbook likely automatically makes it the active one without doing so explicitly).

This is my first foray into using ActiveX vs. xlswrite for data output, and it definately seems to take some working with it to discover all the tricks.

[Eric]

One caveat about using ActiveWorkbook: If you ever make the Excel application visible, the user may change the active workbook.

I believe you are better off using something like

hWB = hExcel.Workbooks.Open(filename_ext);

to get the workbook object of interest. This isn't a problem for the code you've shown since you don't make Excel visible, but this has bitten me in the past.

-Eric

[Image Analyst]

Yes, excellent point Eric. You can set via the Excel.visible property.

Excel.visible = false;  % or true;

There is also another useful property called Excel.DisplayAlerts which is useful. You can set it to false to get it to blow by obvious warnings:

Excel.DisplayAlerts = false; % Suppress Excel warning popups, like for overwriting a file.

[Katie R]

I actually tried using

hWB = hExcel.Workbooks.Open(filename_ext);

but had some trouble with it originally, which is why I went to the invoke statement.

I'm actually currently using hExcel.visible = true at the moment for debugging purposes, but the intention is that it will be set to false before I actually compile up the end results for distribution. Thanks for the DisplayAlerts tip...I'll probably end up making use of that one.

Answer 2

[Tom]

Does this give any errors or warnings?

FileName='Test.xlsx';

%open Excel
e = actxserver('Excel.Application');

% Workbook
eWorkbook = e.Workbooks.Add;

% Make the first sheet active
eSheets = e.ActiveWorkbook.Sheets;
eSheet1 = eSheets.get('Item', 1);

%test data
Range = eSheet1.get('Range','A1:A1');
Range.Value='TEST';

% Save the workbook
eWorkbook.SaveAs(FileName);

%open:
e.Visible = 1;

[Katie R]

Nope, no errors with that. I'm actually already using basically that code under another condition in conjuction with the code I'm having issues with.

    hExcel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
    hWorkbook = hExcel.Workbooks.Add;
    hSheet = hWorkbook.Sheets.get('Item',3);
    hSheet.Activate;
    hSheet.Name = 'CYCLE';

    %%Add Data & Formatting
    %%<etc>

    DrivingSim_DataSave(handles,1,hExcel,hWorkbook);
    hWorkbook.SaveAs(filename_ext);
    hWorkbook.Saved = 1;

    hWorkbook.Close
    hExcel.Quit
    hExcel.delete

This works as I expect it to when I'm creating a new file, instead of trying to add to an existing one.

[Image Analyst]

Katie, please see my answer. Note that here (above) your handle is to just one workbook, not the whole collection of workbooks, that's why it works.