Column width problem writing to spreadsheet

[Kunsheng Chen]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know how to adjust the width of column when using that 'write to spreadsheet' vi in Labview?

I always have some long string as title and the excel file would only show part of it after I dump them to it.

I am not sure that width setting is by Microsoft Excel or Labview itself.

Any help is well appreciated,

Thanks a lot,

+Kunsheng

[MikeS81 · Accepted solution]

Hi Kunsheng,

if you use the "Write to Spreadsheet File" function, then you can't set the width. You create only a txt file with this function, not a real excel file. For a real Excel File you have to use ActiveX.

Mike

[Kunsheng Chen]

Thanks, Mike. Yet what do you mean by 'not an excel file' ? I did got an excel file with that function so far. 

Seems we are bundled for that with Labview. 🙂

[Dennis_Knutson]

The file that Write to Spreadsheet File creates is not even close to being a native Excel file. Giving a file the .xls extension does not make it an Excel file. Excel will automatically convert a text file with tab separated values and .xls extension. The file is still a text file that you can view with Notepad, for example. A plain text file does not contain any of the formatting that is in a native Excel file. As mentioned, in order to create a real Excel file, you need to use the Excel properties and methods - ActiveX.

[RavensFan]

In light of how often these questions come up where the spreadsheet file functions get confused with Excel (several times per day), I propose that NI make changes to the Read from Spreadsheet File and Write to Spreadsheet File icons.

Message Edited by Ravens Fan on 03-11-2009 10:49 PM