Attachment in excel

Question

Hi,
I want to send an excel file as an attachment with the mail.
I am usinf SAP standard Function module SO_NEW_DOCUMENT_ATT_SEND_API1.
I am geting an excel file, but it is not coming in a proper format.
I want it in Tab delimited format.
Thanks
Regards
Neelav

Answer 1

I'm sure Neelav came to some resolution long ago, but I had a different solution and thought I might share it.
Instead of e-mailing tab-delimited spreadsheets, I e-mail .csv files.  An advantage of this format is that double-clicking in MS Outlook causes Excel to open the attachment directly, without any import conversion prompts.
Problem 1 is converting the internal table to .csv format.  I'd loop at the internal table and use this function module to convert each row:
FUNCTION z_csv_from_structure.
*"*"Local interface:
*"  IMPORTING
*"     REFERENCE(LR_STRUCT)
*"  EXPORTING
*"     REFERENCE(LW_CSV)
  FIELD-SYMBOLS: <field>.
  DATA: lw_string(1023) TYPE c,
        lw_index LIKE sy-tabix.
* Init.
  CLEAR: lw_csv.
* For each field...
  DO.
    lw_index = sy-index.
*   Capture the first field.
    ASSIGN COMPONENT lw_index OF STRUCTURE lr_struct TO <field>.
    IF sy-subrc <> 0.
      EXIT.
    ENDIF.
*   Convert to text.
    CLEAR: lw_string.
    WRITE <field> TO lw_string LEFT-JUSTIFIED.
    SHIFT lw_string LEFT DELETING LEADING space.
*   Escape any double quotes in the text.
    WHILE lw_string CS '"'.
      REPLACE '"' WITH '(~~&!!@!!&~~)' INTO lw_string.
    ENDWHILE.
    WHILE lw_string CS '(~~&!!@!!&~~)'.
      REPLACE '(~~&!!@!!&~~)' WITH '""' INTO lw_string.
    ENDWHILE.
*   Encapsulate in double quotes if needed.
    IF lw_string CS ',' OR lw_string CS '"'.
      CONCATENATE '"' lw_string '"' INTO lw_string.
    ENDIF.
*   Comma-separate the values.
    IF lw_index = 1.
      lw_csv = lw_string.
    ELSE.
      CONCATENATE lw_csv lw_string INTO lw_csv SEPARATED BY ','.
    ENDIF.
  ENDDO.                             " for each field.
ENDFUNCTION.
I send the e-mail using SAPOffice function module SO_NEW_DOCUMENT_ATT_SEND_API1.
A challenge of using this function module is that the attached spreadsheet must be passed in a table of 256-character rows.  That's rather narrow.  My work-around is to treat the spreadsheet as a character stream, embed my own end-of-line markers in the stream (hex '0D0A' in non-Unicode systems), and chop the stream into 256-character chunks.  In the e-mail API's attachment packing list, I specify document type 'CSV' and set binary transfer mode = 'X'.
(If binary transfer mode is off, SAP appends an EOL to each line of the table you pass it.  Bad.)
Here's my code for converting one table of .csv lines into another table of 256-character rows.  Note the .csv lines are already EOL-terminated.
  CLEAR: lr_attachment, lt_attachment, lw_buffer, lw_buflen, lw_index.
  IF NOT lt_spreadsheet[] IS INITIAL.
    DESCRIBE TABLE lt_spreadsheet LINES lw_tab_lines.
    WHILE lw_index < lw_tab_lines OR lw_buflen > 0.
      WHILE lw_buflen < lw_linlen AND lw_index < lw_tab_lines.
        ADD 1 TO lw_index.
        READ TABLE lt_spreadsheet INTO lr_spreadsheet INDEX lw_index.
        CONCATENATE lw_buffer lr_spreadsheet INTO lw_buffer.
        lw_buflen = strlen( lw_buffer ).
      ENDWHILE.
      CLEAR: lr_attachment.
      lr_attachment-line = lw_buffer.
      APPEND lr_attachment TO lt_attachment.
      SHIFT lw_buffer LEFT BY lw_linlen PLACES.
      lw_buflen = strlen( lw_buffer ).
    ENDWHILE.
For the rest, see the documentation of the e-mail function module.
Eric