xlswrite error; not working entirely or throwing up an error

Hi All,

I'm getting the following error when using xlswrite:

Error using xlswrite (line 224)
Invoke Error, Dispatch Exception: 
Source: Microsoft Excel
Description: Microsoft Excel cannot access the file 'D:\CAF\ash test march 2020\Test Piece 6\'. There are several possible reasons:

• The file name or path does not exist.
• The file is being used by another program.
• The workbook you are trying to save has the same name as a currently open workbook.
Help File: xlmain11.chm
Help Context ID: 0

The code is as follows:

filename = [RawImages '\' Sample '\' Sample]; %Creating the filename to put the excel file in the appropriate folder

if isempty(TestPieceName)
    xlswrite(filename, TestPiece);
else
    xlswrite(filename, TestPiece, TestPieceName);
end

I find that if I change the filename statement to:

filename = [RawImages '\' Sample]; %Creating the filename to put the excel file in the appropriate folder

then it eliminates the error, but now xlswrite will simply run but not create the files. I've tried making "desktop" directories in system32 and 64 as per other suggestions on the site, and checked that the license for Office is working.

Any ideas how to fix this please?

Thanks

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

Your variable Sample is empty, so when you construct

filename = [RawImages '\' Sample '\' Sample]

you are getting the result

D:\CAF\ash test march 2020\Test Piece 6\

based upon RawImages being D:\CAF\ash test march 2020\Test Piece 6 to which you append \ then empty then \ then empty, leaving you with something ending in \ which is not a valid file name to write to.

If Sample were not empty, then it would appear twice in D:\CAF\ash test march 2020\Test Piece 6\ which does not happen.

[Teshan Rezel]

Hi Walter,

According to the workspace, "Sample" stores the string "Test Piece 6"

[Walter Roberson]

If so then

filename = [RawImages '\' Sample '\' Sample]

would have to give the result

D:\CAF\ash test march 2020\Test Piece 6\Test Piece 6

but Excel is saying that it cannot access file

D:\CAF\ash test march 2020\Test Piece 6\

By the way, you should be doing

rd = RawImages;
if ~isdir(rd); mkdir(rd); end
sdir = fullfile(rd, Sample);
if ~isdir(sdir); mkdir(sdir); end
filename = fullfile(sdir, Sample);

Question: are you expecting xlswrite() to default to .xls or to .xlsx or to .csv ? As you are not specifying the file extension.

[Teshan Rezel]

Thanks Walter,

I see your point but I'm uncertain why it does this. The workspace shows the variable as not being empty!

I've tried writetable and writematrix instead but they also produce no output.

Regarding extension, I think I'd be satisfied with just having an output for now!

[Walter Roberson]

Did you try the series of mkdir() I show?

[Teshan Rezel]

Hi Walter,

yeah, I've just implemented that but it stil refuses to create a file of the outputs!

[Walter Roberson]

Perhaps

rd = RawImages;
if ~isdir(rd); mkdir(rd); end
sdir = fullfile(rd, Sample);
if ~isdir(sdir); mkdir(sdir); end
filename = fullfile(sdir, [Sample '.xlsx']);

What is your current error message?

[Teshan Rezel]

that's done the trick, thank you!