xlswrite will no longer work on my computer

Warning: Could not start Excel server for export.
XLSWRITE will attempt to write file in CSV format.

For whatever reason, I used to be able to export to a excel file but it will no longer work and I keep getting this error message. Nothing has changed, what do I do??

[Geoff Hayes]

Connor, in your previous post can't start excel you mentioned that It used to work now that the computer has been updated i keep getting the same error and I am now using microsoft excel 2010 and matlab R2014a. So what changed in the updated computer - a new version of Excel or ..?

[Connor]

To clarify, the matlab version is the same and so is the Excel. That's why I am confused. The only thing updated was the computer itself. I have been using the xlsappend function that is available in the file exchange to export data to the excel sheet.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

Well something changed didn't it? It no longer runs.

Does Excel itself run? Did you have a trial version of Excel that expired? Do you have a starter version of Excel, which does not allow ActiveX?

Let's see your code for xlswrite.

Do you want to try it via ActiveX instead? Can you run my attached ActiveX demo?

[Connor]

I tried running your exceldemo and I received

 the error message that attached in the screenshot

[Connor]

I checked to see if I have the actxserver function by typing

which actxserver

and I received

'actxserver' not found.

Was this function somehow deleted? if so how do I recover it?

[Geoff Hayes]

Do you have a C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2014a\toolbox\matlab\winfun\ directory on your PC? The path may be slightly different, but the winfun folder is the one that has the actxserver.m file.

[Connor]

I'm in the C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2014a\toolbox\matlab folder and there is no winfun present, I will try to redownload matlab then

[Connor]

Ok I downloaded matlab again and all files are present. The computer runs windows 7 and has matlab R2014 and microsoft excel 2010. Still the actxserver will not open excel when it tries to, I keep getting the following warning, then error message. FYI, I am using xlsappend which contains xlswrite within it.

Warning: Could not start Excel server for export.
XLSWRITE will attempt to write file in CSV format. 
> In xlsappend at 178
  In multiwavelet>perform_wavelet_transform_Callback at 327
  In gui_mainfcn at 95
  In multiwavelet at 46
  In @(hObject,eventdata)multiwavelet('perform_wavelet_transform_Callback',hObject,eventdata,guidata(hObject)) 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Error using xlsappend (line 193)
An error occurred on data export in CSV format.
Error in multiwavelet>perform_wavelet_transform_Callback (line 327)
    xlsappend('Exported Data.xlsx',W,'DMEY');
Error in gui_mainfcn (line 95)
        feval(varargin{:});
Error in multiwavelet (line 46)
    gui_mainfcn(gui_State, varargin{:});
Error in
@(hObject,eventdata)multiwavelet('perform_wavelet_transform_Callback',hObject,eventdata,guidata(hObject))
Caused by:
    Error using dlmwrite (line 112)
    The input cell array cannot be converted to a matrix.
Error while evaluating uicontrol Callback

[Geoff Hayes]

What happens when you re-run the demo?

[Connor]

I ran your demo and it worked. Tried my program, and it worked. I closed out of matlab, re-opened it, tried my program, and I got the error message again. I closed out of matlab once again, tried your program and it worked like a charm. So in conclusion, your program must do something that allows the actxserver to work for my program. Could it be that you use the xlswrite1 and xlsappend uses xlswrite? Is there a way to send my code to either of you guys to take a look at it?

[Geoff Hayes]

Connor - the demo code was written by Image Analyst, so he will be able to better comment on your question. It is curious how it behaves differently. I know you have shown before that running

 Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application')

fails (same command from xlswrite). Is it still the case? Now what about when you run the line from the demo code

 Excel = actxGetRunningServer('Excel.Application');

Does it work? (I'm guessing it must since you are able to run the demo!) If it does work, what happens now when you try

 Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application')

immediately after? Is running this last statement necessary to getting the other to work?

(I can't test this out since I use a Mac, and my PC has Vista...)

[Image Analyst]

I guess I just have the magic touch. But I'm not doing anything unusual (that I know of) to "fix" the situation. If you don't run my demo, just launch MATLAB, and immediately type

>> which actxserver
C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2014a\toolbox\matlab\winfun\actxserver.m

and don't see that winfun line, then you need to first check to see if it's on your hard disk. If it is, then the search path in MATLAB is not seeing it for some reason. Perhaps your startup.m has a rmpath() call in it???? Not really sure, but you can call the Matahworks and they'll figure it out.

[Connor]

I added the line

Excel = actxGetRunningServer('Excel.Application');

before the line

Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application')

just as the demo code had it, in a try/catch manner, and it works great now! Thanks for all the help guys!

[Image Analyst]

What's the full code? Is the second line in the catch? But that still doesn't explain why you got the "'actxserver' not found." message.

[Geoff Hayes]

Maybe, for MATLAB 2014a on this updated computer (@Connor - what version of Windows was the computer updated to?) with Excel 2010, the line

 Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application')

does not work unless

 Excel = actxGetRunningServer('Excel.Application');

is called first. Given the results that Connor has outlined - the demo works, and then calling his GUI worked wrt xlswrite, but upon restart his GUI would not work wrt xlswrite unless the demo was called first - seems to suggest that there is "something" that calling actxGetRunningServer does that is "needed" to get actxserver('Excel.Application') to work.

Answer 2

[azizullah khan]

Use xlwrite Follow these steps: 1. Copy xlwrite code and save it in your current directory. 2. Then download poi-library files and save in the current library. 3. Now you can use xlwrite without any problem.........

[Geoff Hayes]

azizullah - what is the poi-library?

[Image Analyst]

And xlwrite - what is that? A File Exchange submission?

[azizullah khan]

Hoeff Hayes:

 poi-3.8-20120326.jar

 poi-ooxml-3.8-20120326.jar

 poi-ooxml-schemas-3.8-20120326.jar

xmlbeans-2.3.0.jar

   dom4j-1.6.1.jar

Download these files and save it in folder name poi_library in your current directory....

[azizullah khan]

Image Analyst: xlwrite is an alternative for xlswrite and is mainly used both for MAC/win where the activation makes problem...

[Image Analyst]

It's not in my MATLAB (I have the win version). Where does a person obtain the xlwrite() function?

[Geoff Hayes]

I have the Mac version which does not include xlwrite (only xlswrite).

[Image Analyst]

Not sure why azizullah didn't think to provide the link. I did a search of the File Exchange and found two with that name: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&term=xlwrite