Trying to close an excel workbook with client_ole2 leaves an excel process

Question

Hello ,
I 'm trying to import data from forms (10g) to an excel workbook and i use client_ole2.
Everything seems to work fine except the last part of my code. The excel application is closing but it leaves a process open ( Windows Task Manager).The procedure I'm using
is the following
PROCEDURE fill_excel
IS
v_ole_excel client_ole2.obj_type;
v_ole_workbooks client_ole2.obj_type;
v_ole_workbook client_ole2.obj_type;
v_ole_worksheets client_ole2.obj_type;
v_ole_worksheet client_ole2.obj_type;
cell client_ole2.obj_type;
v_file_name VARCHAR2 (2000) := 'C:\F101.xls';
obj_hnd client_ole2.obj_type;
v_ole_range client_ole2.obj_type;
arglist client_ole2.list_type;
v_date_from DATE;
v_date_to_xr DATE;
v_date_to_chr VARCHAR2(20);
v_date_to DATE;
BEGIN
     -- INITIALIZATION OF DATES
     GET_XRISI('GEL',v_date_from,v_date_to_xr);
     select iso_lib.Get_ISO_CONFIG_Value('DATEE')
     into v_date_to_chr
     from dual;
     v_date_to:=to_date(v_date_to_chr,'DD/MM/YYYY');
-- OPEN EXCEL
v_ole_excel := client_ole2.create_obj ('Excel.Application');
client_ole2.set_property (v_ole_excel, 'visible', 0);
-- OPEN WORKBOOKS - WORKBOOK
v_ole_workbooks := client_ole2.get_obj_property (v_ole_excel, 'Workbooks');
arglist := client_ole2.create_arglist;
client_ole2.add_arg (arglist, v_file_name);
v_ole_workbook :=client_ole2.invoke_obj (v_ole_workbooks, 'open', arglist);
client_ole2.destroy_arglist (arglist);
--OPEN WORKSHEETS - WORKSHEET (1)
v_ole_worksheets := client_ole2.get_obj_property (v_ole_workbook, 'Worksheets');
arglist := client_ole2.create_arglist;
client_ole2.add_arg (arglist, 1);
v_ole_worksheet :=client_ole2.get_obj_property (v_ole_worksheets, 'Item', arglist);
client_OLE2.invoke(v_ole_worksheet,'activate');
client_ole2.destroy_arglist (arglist);
fill_cell (v_ole_worksheet, 'H6', value);
-- OPEN WORKSHEET (2)
arglist := client_ole2.create_arglist;
client_ole2.add_arg (arglist, 2);
v_ole_worksheet :=client_ole2.get_obj_property (v_ole_worksheets, 'Item', arglist);
client_OLE2.invoke(v_ole_worksheet,'activate');
client_ole2.destroy_arglist (arglist);
FILL_CELL(v_ole_worksheet,'AY2',value);      
-- save document as c:\F101_xxxx.xls
arglist := client_ole2.create_arglist;
client_ole2.add_arg (arglist, 'c:\F101_'||REPLACE(v_date_to_chr,'/' ,NULL)||'.xls');
client_ole2.invoke (v_ole_workbook, 'SaveAs', arglist);
client_ole2.destroy_arglist (arglist);
-- close C:\F101.xls
arglist := client_ole2.create_arglist;
client_ole2.add_arg (arglist, v_file_name);
client_ole2.invoke (v_ole_workbook, 'Close', arglist);
client_ole2.destroy_arglist (arglist);
-- exit Excel
client_ole2.invoke (v_ole_excel, 'Quit');
--To release all the memory object
client_ole2.RELEASE_OBJ (v_ole_worksheet);
client_ole2.RELEASE_OBJ (v_ole_workbook);
client_ole2.RELEASE_OBJ (v_ole_workbooks);
client_ole2.RELEASE_OBJ (v_ole_excel);
END;
Any suggestions will be appreciated...
Thanks Marina

Answer 1

The slowness you are experiencing is largely owing to the fact that the WebUtil package is running on the middle tier -- but the Jacob bean is running on the client. Loading a spreadsheet requires a lot of network I/O. To speed things up, implement your operation within a custom Java bean, in such a way that communication between the tiers is minimized. For example, write a Java class that receives all the data in one call, and understands how to write it to an Excel document. Deploy this class as a Java bean, and call it from your form as needed using FBEAN.INVOKE( ).
The catch: passing data through PL/SQL imposes the 32K-character limit for VARCHAR2. If you cannot be certain that the data to be written can be expressed as a string of this size, you must consider introducing compression, passing the data over multiple calls, or possibly both.
I've been working with this, using Java's GZIP libraries for compression, and Apache Axis' BASE64 function for binary-to-String conversion. Since I'm passing a complex data structure, I use open-source XStream to serialize this structure to XML, GZIP the XML string, Base64-encode and pass it along. Sounds awkward and cumbersome, but has worked fairly well so far.
The XML step may not be needed for simple tabular data, but because GZIP minimizes the cost of wrapping every value in tags, the incredible convenience offered by XStream makes it worth at least trying. (One call to marshall, one call to unmarshall.)
Sorry, but this is all I have time to write, at the moment -- hopefully it at least gives you an idea regarding the problem and possible solutions.
Regards,
Eric Adamson
Lansing, Michigan