Opening .xlsm file sin SharePoint site landing page

Question

I'll begin by saying Hello to the forum. I have only very recently started using MS SharePoint within our company, having had no previous experience of it, so please expect quite a few 'beginners' questions coming this way over the coming months.
To manage our data maintenance processes, I have developed a set of form applications within Excel, using VBA to provide a user-friendly interface to the data requestor/providers within our business. Of course it is very difficult to provide any kind
of manageable/visible workflow solution using only Excel and so the business has made the decision to utilise SharePoint as the host.
We currently have a split between data objects where a workflow solution has been created for customer/vendor, using my form applications as the data entry tool. Materials however currently sit within a document library on a department SharePoint site.
The site was created by A.N.Other who has now left the business and I have therefore been tasked with managing it. Initially, this is as simple as updating and loading the .xls/.xlsm form applications to the document library.
And so, to my first problem. Where a visitor to the site navigated directly to the document library and clicked on an .xlsm file, they were presented with an error message that states:-
<v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe"
stroked="f"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"><v:f
eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2">The workbook cannot be opened because it contains the following features that
are not supported by Excel in the browser:</v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas></v:stroke></v:shapetype>
Data Validation
Sheet Protection
Would you like to try and open this file in Excel?
<v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe"
stroked="f"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"><v:f
eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2">I was able to change this so that the file automaticaly opened
in the client application by changing the settings for the documents library.</v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas></v:stroke></v:shapetype>
The problem is that on the landing page of our department site, we have a side navigation menu that links to some of the most frequently used files. If the visitor clicks on any of these files (which of course point to the same source
document) they again see the error message, and no matter how hard I look, I am unable to find the option to make the file open in the client application from here.
I was hoping that the experts here may be able to advise on where I may find this option, if available?
Many thanks in advance.
Danny

Answer 1

Excel Services is clearly out due to the VBA and Macro elements you've added.
Just to present an alternative point of view for this.  If you want to surface just ONE spreadsheet on a homepage, this can be done but it involves a slightly different route about it.
The Page Viewer Web Part might present an alternative for you.  I don't know if it'll disable the warning dialog boxes but it might be worth a try.  More info can be seen here
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint-server-help/page-viewer-web-part-HA010024045.aspx
If that one doesn't work, there is another trick in which we can try importing an earlier version of this tool from SharePoint 2003 (which oddly enough was actually better!) to see if that'll help.
Steven Andrews
SharePoint Business Analyst: LiveNation Entertainment
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