How to make Python change xlsx files when Excel app is opened? - python

Sorry if I ask a question that may have been asked before but I could not really find the answer in Google and Stack Overflow forums.
Question is connected with openpyxl usage as it is the most convenient library which works with xlsx files.
import openpyxl
wb = openpyxl.load_workbook("D:/Python.xlsx")
sheet = wb.active
i = 0
sheet["A1"] = i
wb.save("D:/Python.xlsx")
However, it does not work with an opened excel file. I get an error
[Errno 13] Permission denied: 'D:/Python.xlsx'
I also found similar questions:
PermissionError [errno 13] when running openpyxl python script in Komodo
write to an open exceldocument
What can I do to solve this error and make Python work with an opened file in Excel? My current version is Python 2.7. Also, if possible, what is the solution of making the same magic in xlsm files?
UPD:
If there is no solution for the first question (except Google Docs maybe, thanks to #Alex), is it possible to write a code which makes the following algorithm perform:
1. Close an Excel app and save
2. Do staff in python, and save the results in some destination in Excel
3. Open Excel file in Excel app?
I know how to do 2. Any thoughts on 1 and 3?
UPD2:
xlwings really does awesome job! Just what I needed! Thanks!
I want to provide a code that worked for me (just other users can find in Google and use):
import xlwings as xl
import time
wb = xl.Workbook.active()
sheet = wb.active
iter = 10
i = 0
while True:
i += 1
if i <= iter:
xl.Range("A1").value = i
time.sleep(1)
print(i)
else:
break
wb.save()
print("Done!")

OpenPyXL operates directly on files; it has nothing to do with the Excel program, and has no control over the Excel program. As such, if the file it is trying to modify is locked by Excel, there is nothing OpenPyXL can do about that.
This question is tagged with excel-vba and that is certainly one appropriate way to control the Excel program (so you can modify data while it is open in Excel, or close Excel). If you want an interface to Excel using Python, the best package these days is xlwings.

Related

Python: Issue Updating Data Links In Excel After Python Dataframe Export

Situation
I'm working on a data project integrating python in Google Colab and Excel 365 on Win 8.1. My python code collects new data updates on a regimented schedule and then exports/writes (e.g. overwrites, not appends the data) like to a report on an Excel spreadsheet.
I have no issue getting this to work going to a standalone spreadsheet.
I know I could potentially do all this in Python and not use Excel at all, but I prefer not to reinvent the wheel and not spend hours hardcoding all the formulas and links already existing in Excel.
Goal
My goal is to:
1. Use new data from my python export to populate/overwrite a data table on Sheet A in an existing Excel workbook.
2. Then I have a separate Sheet B in the same Excel workbook performing calculations via pre-existing links connecting to the original data table on Sheet A. I then want the links to auto update each time my python export updates the data table on the first sheet.
Problem
The issues I am running into are that if I use the df.to_excel function to export the data and even if I use the spreadsheet name parameter, the export overrides the data table and names the tab okay, but wipes out any other pre-existing sheets within the same workbook.
So I attempted a work around by exporting to an external workbook and then trying to update the links in the second workbook automatically. Problem is the links don't appear to update without the source data file and the second workbook with the links both being manually opened and then the updated file manually saved.
I tried using openpyxl to control the excel files but it appeared to have no effect on the files and no data was updated. (See code block and result at the end of this post.)
Assistance
Does anybody know a way to use python to:
1. Overwrite a specific sheet within an Excel workbook without wiping out the other existing sheets? And then have the links on another sheet automatically update which are connected to the new data?
Or
2. Auto update external links between separate Excel workbooks while the files are unopened?
Or
3. Control an instance of excel that can open both files to allow the links to auto update and then save and close the files automatically?
I found a post from some years ago that identified a win32 package for python that appeared to be able to control instances of excel. When I try doing a pip install in Colab I got an error that the package was unrecognized or doesn't exist.
Ideally, I would prefer not to use VB if at all possible to solve this.
Any solutions are much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Sample Code that isn't producing any results:
import openpyxl
# Example code
from openpyxl import load_workbook
from openpyxl import Workbook
wb = load_workbook('/content/drive/MyDrive/Data/Series/AC5M.xlsx', keep_links=True)
ws = wb.active
Workbook.save
Workbook.close
print(ws)
Result:
"function openpyxl.workbook.workbook.Workbook.close"

How to access window SmallScroll method from Python

I am new Python user and trying to get an Excel spreadsheet to scroll automatically in a loop as a video test.
Using VBA it seems that the SmallScroll method is an easy way to scroll Excel
Example:
Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate
ActiveWindow.SmallScroll down:=3
I can create an Excel worksheet form Python( Tutorial on using VBA from Python)
import win32com.client
ExcelApp = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application")
ExcelApp.visible = True
#This creates a new workbook
ExcelWorkbook = ExcelApp.Workbooks.Add()
# Add a new sheet
Excelwkrsht = ExcelWorkbook.Worksheets.Add()
However, if I try to access method
scroll1 = Excelwkrsht.SmallScroll(3)
I get an error.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
If you google for Automate Tasks Python you will find some material.
If you are trying to automate tasks with Excel, there is a module for that.
You can install the openpyxl Module.
There is a full chapter here where you can find real nice info!
Hope that helps you!

encrypting excel workbook sheet with python

I'm currently implementing a tool to automise parts of my daily work. Therefore I need to create a python tool which creates an excel-file (workbook) with several informations and encrypts the sheets of the file.
The first part which creates the file and fills it with the data works perfectly.
But the encryption doesn't work at all.
I'm using win32com, win32com.client and openpyxl. The workbook hast two different sheets, named "1" and "2".
My Workbook:
import win32com.client
import os, sys, win32com, os.path, time
excel = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application")
excel.Visible = True
workbook = excel.Workbooks.Open(reading_path) ####this is the path where the file is stored
sheet = workbook.Worksheets(1)
So I searched through other topics and got the following:
import openpyxl
sheet.protection.set_password('test')
sheet.save(saving_path)
Unfortunately this doesn't work... My shell response an AttributeError. In Detail:
AttributeError: <unknown>.set_password
Does someone knows another way how to encrypt just the pages in excel with python?
Thanks a lot for your help!
It is not entirely clear what you mean by "encrypting the sheet" as the openpyxl code you refer to has nothing to do with encryption; see the warning in the documentation. Excel does support encryption of entire workbooks though, but that appears to be different from what you want.
In any case, your code fails because the sheet you get from win32com is a wildly different beast than what openpyxl expects. For example, sheet being based on COM requires an Excel process to run for manipulation to be possible, while openpyxl does not even require Excel to be available on the host machine.
Now in your particular case, you do not actually need openpyxl (although you might find that using it over win32com has plenty of benefits), and you could stay entirely within COM. As such, adding password protection is possible through Worksheet.Protect which in your case would boil down to simply running
sheet.Protect('test')

Update an Excel sheet in real time using Python

Is there a way to update a spreadsheet in real time while it is open in Excel? I have a workbook called Example.xlsx which is open in Excel and I have the following python code which tries to update cell B1 with the string 'ID':
import openpyxl
wb = openpyxl.load_workbook('Example.xlsx')
sheet = wb['Sheet']
sheet['B1'] = 'ID'
wb.save('Example.xlsx')
On running the script I get this error:
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'Example.xlsx'
I know its because the file is currently open in Excel, but was wondering if there is another way or module I can use to update a sheet while its open.
I have actually figured this out and its quite simple using xlwings. The following code opens an existing Excel file called Example.xlsx and updates it in real time, in this case puts in the value 45 in cell B2 instantly soon as you run the script.
import xlwings as xw
wb = xw.Book('Example.xlsx')
sht1 = wb.sheets['Sheet']
sht1.range('B2').value = 45
You've already worked out why you can't use openpyxl to write to the .xlsx file: it's locked while Excel has it open. You can't write to it directly, but you can use win32com to communicate with the copy of Excel that is running via its COM interface.
You can download win32com from https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32 .
Use it like this:
from win32com.client import Dispatch
xlApp = Dispatch("Excel.Application")
wb=xlApp.Workbooks.Item("MyExcelFile.xlsx")
ws=wb.Sheets("MyWorksheetName")
At this point, ws is a reference to a worksheet object that you can change. The objects you get back aren't Python objects but a thin Python wrapper around VBA objects that obey their own conventions, not Python's.
There is some useful if rather old Python-oriented documentation here: http://timgolden.me.uk/pywin32-docs/contents.html
There is full documentation for the object model here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wss56bz7.aspx but bear in mind that it is addressed to VBA programmers.
If you want to stream real time data into Excel from Python, you can use an RTD function. If you've ever used the Bloomberg add-in use for accessing real time market data in Excel then you'll be familiar with RTD functions.
The easiest way to write an RTD function for Excel in Python is to use PyXLL. You can read how to do it in the docs here: https://www.pyxll.com/docs/userguide/rtd.html
There's also a blog post showing how to stream live tweets into Excel using Python here: https://www.pyxll.com/blog/a-real-time-twitter-feed-in-excel/
If you wanted to write an RTD server to run outside of Excel you have to register it as a COM server. The pywin32 package includes an example that shows how to do that, however it only works for Excel prior to 2007. For 2007 and later versions you will need this code https://github.com/pyxll/exceltypes to make that example work (see the modified example from pywin32 in exceltypes/demos in that repo).
You can't change an Excel file that's being used by another application because the file format does not support concurrent access.

How to fix [Errno13] permission denied when trying to read excel file?

I tried the following code to be able to read an excel file from my personal computer.
import xlrd
book = xlrd.open_workbook('C:\\Users\eline\Documents\***\***\Python', 'Example 1.xlsx')
But I am getting the error 'Permission denied'. I am using windows and if I look at the properties of the directory and look at the 'Security' tab I have three groups/users and all three have permissions for all the authorities, except for the last option which is called 'special authorities' (as far as I know I do not need this authority to read the excel file in Python).
I have no idea how to fix this error. Furthermore, I do not have the Excel file open on my computer when running the simulation.
I really hope someone can help me to fix this error.
Sometimes, it is because you try to read the Excel file while it is opened. Close the file in Excel and you are good to go.
book = xlrd.open_workbook('C:\\Users\eline\Documents\***\***\Python', 'Example 1.xlsx')
You cannot give path like this to xlrd. path need to be single string.
If you insist you can use os module
import os
book = xlrd.open_workbook(os.path.join('C:\\Users\eline\Documents\***\***\Python', 'Example 1.xlsx'))
[Errno13] permission denied in your case is happening because you want to read folder like a file which is not allowed.
I ran into this situation also while reading an Excel file into a data frame. To me it appears that it is a Python and/or Excel bug which we should probably not hide by using os.path.join even if that solves the problem. My situation involved an excel spreadsheet that links cells to another CSV file. If this excel file is freshly opened and open when I try to read it in python, it fails.
Python reads it correctly if I do an unnecessary save of the open Excel file.

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