Extract data from Oracle in excel file

Question

Hi,
I have a requirement where in I need to extract data from Oracle in excel file and the excel worksheet name should be "Data".
for eg. excel file name "AR Data_DDMMYY" and excel worksheet name "Data"
I have used the UTL_FILE API to extract the tab delimited data which can be opened in excel but it is not exactly an excel file as the worksheet name is same as the file name.
I tried using utl_file.fcopy and frename.
Is there any way to do this using PLSQL?
select * from v$version;
Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.5.0 - 64bi
PL/SQL Release 10.2.0.5.0 - Production
"CORE     10.2.0.5.0     Production"
TNS for HPUX: Version 10.2.0.5.0 - Production
NLSRTL Version 10.2.0.5.0 - ProductionSample Code:
declare
cursor c is
select * from scott.emp;
v varchar2(100);
f utl_file.file_type;
file_name varchar2(100) := 'AR Data.xls';
dir varchar2(50) := 'CESDIR191710';
--select * from dba_directories
begin
f := utl_file.fopen(dir, file_name, 'W');
v := 'EMPNO'||chr(9)||'ENAME'||chr(9)||'JOB'||chr(9)||'SAL'||chr(9)||'HIREDATE'||chr(9)||'DEPTNO';
utl_file.put_line(f, v);
for i in c
loop
v := i.empno||chr(9)||i.ename||chr(9)||i.job||chr(9)||i.sal||chr(9)||i.hiredate||chr(9)||i.deptno;
utl_file.put_line(f, v);
end loop;
utl_file.fclose(f);
--utl_file.frename(dir, file_name, dir, replace(file_name, '.xls', '_')||to_char(sysdate, 'MMDDYY')||'.xls', false);
utl_file.fcopy(dir, file_name, dir, replace(file_name, '.xls', '_')||to_char(sysdate, 'MMDDYY')||'.xls');
end;Thanks
Imran

Answer 1

Imran Soudagar wrote:
Hi,
I was able to generate the excel 2007 file with the data using the package from below link;
http://technology.amis.nl/2011/02/19/create-an-excel-file-with-plsql/
but the requirement is to generate excel 2003 file.
I tried changing the .xlsx to .xls and it gives a note while opening the file "The file you are trying to open, abc.xls, is in a different format than specified by the file extension. Verify that the file is not corrupted and is from a trusted source before opening the file. Do you want to open the file now?"Then you have three options:
1) stop using anton's package and find another one that supports the old and deprecated version of Excel 2003
2) write your own package to produce an Excel file.
3) Upgrade your version of Excel to a recent version
I tried the programs from other links on the forum but I am still getting this message. The client does not want this message to be displayed as the excel file works as an input to another system.
Can anyone help me with the issue?
Also, is it true that the programatically generated excel file is actually an xml file which is renamed to .xls and hence it shows the message while opening such files?Yes, Excel supports several different formats for it's files. By default, if you save an XLS files from Excel, it writes it out in a Microsoft proprietary binary format, which you would be hard pushed to replicate easily from PL/SQL. Excel also has the ability to save it's files as XML format, which is more readable and easier to produce programatically, whilst still allowing you to have multiple sheets, formulas and formatting included in it. That's the format that most people who need formatting and multiple sheets opt for when programatically generating their data as excel workbooks. (There's also an SLYK format that people used to use before that, but it's not as flexible)
If you want to write your own, the easiest thing to do is to start with a blank workbook in Excel, and put in your basic requirements e.g. a couple of named sheets, and some data in different formats (number, date, text etc.) and different formatting options etc. Save that file in XML format from Excel and then open up the file using notepad/wordpad to look at the structure. There'll be a whole load of redundant rubbish Microsoft put in there, but you should be able to figure out the basic structure of XML required to give you what you want.