Skip to main content
Creates a readable handle for an existing Excel workbook.

​
Required Parameters

  • file: The full path on disk, including the filename, of the Excel workbook.

​
Optional Parameters

  • version: The Excel version of the target workbook. The allowed values are AUTO, 95, 97-2003, 2007. The default is AUTO.

​
Output Attributes

  • handle: A readable handle reference to the Excel data. This handle can be used by subsequent operations, as shown in the following example.

​
Example

This example opens an existing Excel workbook on disk, reads data from specific cells using the excelGet operation, closes the Excel workbook, and pushes that data as a new output file. 
<!-- Creating the input item for the operation and passing it in -->
<arc:set attr="excel.file" value="C:\Temp\movies.xlsx" />
<arc:call op="excelOpen" in="excel" out="result" >
  <!-- Resolving the handle from excelOpen to use in excelGet -->
  <arc:set attr="get.handle" value="[result.handle]" />
  <arc:set attr="get.sheet" value="film" />
  <arc:set attr="get.version" value="2007" />
  <arc:set attr="get.map:favoritemovie" value="A2" />
  <arc:set attr="get.map:favoritemovieyear" value="B2" />
  <!-- Calling excelGet inside excelOpen to use the handle -->
  <arc:call op="excelGet" in="get" out="out">
    <!-- Creating some output data and file from the data read from the excel sheet -->
    <arc:set attr="output.data" value="My favorite movie is [out.favoritemovie] and it came out in [out.favoritemovieyear]." />
    <arc:set attr="output.filename" value="results.txt" />
    <!-- Using the arc:finally keyword to execute the closing of the handle last -->
    <arc:finally>
      <!-- Calling excelClose to close the handle -->
      <arc:call op="excelClose" in="excel" out="close">
        <!-- Check to ensure the handle was closed and throw an error if it was not -->
        <arc:exists attr="close.success" >
          <arc:else>
            <arc:throw code="CloseFailed" desc="The handle was not closed successfully." />
          </arc:else>
        </arc:exists>
      </arc:call>
    </arc:finally>
  </arc:call>
</arc:call>
<!-- Push the output item out as a file -->
<arc:push item="output" />
When you use excelOpen, be sure to use the excelClose operation to close the handle at the end of the script to avoid leaking memory through open handles.