Open Excel file externally?

[dademurphy]

Hi,

I am trying to open up an excel file after a "while loop" completes.  The file has data written to it from the "write to measurement file", and when it completes, I need Labview to open it up for viewing in Excel.  

I have tried to set this file as a template, but when I use the examples from the excel toolkit, I only view a blank Excel document upon opening.

[GerdW]

Hi murphy,

you could try to open the file by calling it via SystemExec. When the file extension is connected with Excel it should open automatically with Excel...

[GovBob]

Are you using the express vi 'write to measurement file .vi'? I beleive this will create a .lvm, tdm. or tdms. file. I'm not sure that excel can understand these formats.

Hope this helps.

[OliviaC]

Hi,

You're right, Write To Measurement File only  creates .lvm, .tdm or tdms files. Excel cannot read any of these formats but if you wish to have your data accessible to Excel, use the Write to Spreadsheet File.vi.  

[GovBob]

Olivia,

 I see there is a plug in for Excel.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/2944

Do you have to have Diadem to use it?

[Caroline Bright]

Hi,

TDM and TDMS file are both openeable in Excel using the Excel TDM Add-in. Using TDM/TDMS, all the properties you wrote will apper in Excel and groups of data will be broken into multiple sheets. Also, if you have more data in your file than Excel can handle (Excel still has data limitations), then the add-in will allow you to open subsets of the data. And, you do not need to have DIAdem or anything NI products to use the add-in.

Also, LVM files can also be opened in Excel since they are simple text files. If you try and open them in Excel, Excel will walk you through the Text Import Wizard to open the file.

Thanks 

[mzaleski]

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GerdW wrote:

Hi murphy,

you could try to open the file by calling it via SystemExec. When the file extension is connected with Excel it should open automatically with Excel...

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Aye.  The full command string would be 'start full_path_and_file_name.xls'