Cum Grano Salis : CompatibilityChecker

Latest ESCC build (914) - also fixes Invalid Chars in workbooks... Sometimes..

Shahar — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:34:17 GMT

Got this question from somebody who just installed the new version.. Previous builds did not know how to auto-fix invalid characters - with this version you can turn on auto-fix - but it will only work in some cases...

When click on the Invalid Character Analysis, you get a widget at the bottom allowing you to tell ESCC how to fix invalid characters. When an invalid character is encountered, it will be replaced by the setting in the "Replace invalid chars with..." text box.

The only caveat is that this only works on cells that contains values rather than formulas. So, if A1 contains the value Char(1), it will be auto-fixed and the value will change to whatever the replace text-box says. However, if A1 contains the formula "=Char(1)", ESCC will not automatically fix the problem but instead bring up the manual fix pane.

Excel Services Compatibility Checker: Build 914 - AutoFix external references + finer control over available checks

Shahar — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:00:15 GMT

I uploaded version 914 onto the download page. This build adds two new features: Finer control over which features are available (and which are autofixed) as well as adding the ability to "fix" external references/RTD functions.

The ribbon changed a bit, it now has a "Settings" button (notice that I removed the checkbox I added in build 731):

When clicked, the user is presented with a dialog box for modifying the settings for the compatibility checker:

Each available feature-check the compatibility check can do is listed here, with two checkboxes. Only the features that have the left checkbox checked will actually run when analyzing a workbook. Of those executed, only the ones that have "Allow autofix" checked will actually attempt to autofix the problem.

To keep functionality the same, when you run the new version, the "Invalid Formulas" analysis (that's the thing that finds External References) does not have AutoFix turned on. Similarly, Invalid Character check is completely turned off.

Autofixing external references/RTD

Due to popular demand, the tool also knows how to fix External References and RTD functions. The way it does that is by checking what the value that resulted from the incompatible formula would have been and then just shoving that value into the cell/named range.

New Compatibility Checker build (904): Fixing External References that were not found.

Shahar — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 01:23:35 GMT

You can download the newest version from the download page.

I posted an entry about ESCC being unable to find some cases of External Reference (also called Linked workbooks). This caused workbooks to be marked as compatible with Excel Services even though they were not.

Sherman Der and I have been able to isolate the reason for this in a sample workbook we were sent and then, with some help from Andrew Keeler about some of the internals of the Workbook.LinkSources() method, I was able to figure out a way of finding the missing references.

Please let me know if this version of the checker has any other issues.

Excel Services Compatibility Checker sometimes does not find External Links

Shahar — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:04:10 GMT

There have been a few internal queries about this and I think I have finally found the problem. The Excel Services Compat Checker will sometimes say that a workbook is compatible with Excel Services, and when that workbook is loaded on the server, it will fail to load due to "External references (links to other workbooks)". Sherman Der and I have traced this back to an inconsistency with the Excel OM. It seems like there can be External Workbook References which do not appear in the Excel OM call of Workbook.LinkSources method.

For now, if you are seeing this issue (taking the workbook through the compat checker and then having it not load for the External References reason), please go over the names defined in the workbook (by using the Formulas/Name Manager button) and see if any there translate to a #REF error and seem to contain an External Reference.

Update for the compatibility checker - now also finds protected chart-sheets (Ver 0.1.816)

Shahar — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:00:03 GMT

Sherman (one of our funkied-hair testers) found this issue with the compatibility checker - it ignored chart-sheets that are protected. These would cause the workbook to be un-loadable by Excel Services, but is not detected by the compatibility checker.

I uploaded a new version to the download page.

New Release for the Excel Services Compatibility Checker (Build 731)

Shahar — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 03:39:00 GMT

I added a new check to the compatibility checker - it now knows how to look for illegal characters - such as those returned by calling the =CHAR() function with values lower than 32.

Because this test can be time consuming and is very rare, I also added a checkbox (called "Complete Analysis") to the ribbon that is turned off by default. Only when it's turned on will the new test become operational.

The download is available at the download-page.

Edit: Forgot to mention that this improvement was suggested by Andy Santos. Thanks Andy.

Excel Services Compatibility Checker Addin - Beta

Shahar — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:27:26 GMT

One of the feedback I hear most often is about just how hard it is to check and see if a file can load on Excel Services. On my most recent transatlantic flight (Israel->Washington) I decided to start writing an Addin that will allow people to both figure out what's wrong with their workbooks and fix them so that they work with Excel Services. You can download the setup from here.

Note: This tool is still in beta - I make no guarantees that it behaves as documented. Before messing around with your important files, I highly suggest you back them up to prevent any data loss.

Issues that the compatiblity checker knows how to find/fix

The following is a list of the issues that can be found:

AutoFix available (all of these will be removed from the workbook when auto-fixed):

Comments
DialogSheets
Display Formulas
Macro Sheet
OleObjects
Query Tables
Shapes
Validation
XML Maps

AutoFix sometimes available (will be removed if possible):

IRM - AutoFix will work if there's no password.
Protection - AutoFix will work if there's no password.
VBA - AutoFix will work if the trust-cente enables Automation to interact with the VBA project.

AutoFix will not work for these:

Unsupported formulas such as External Workbooks and RTD()
FileFormatResult

Once installed, the software gives you three options of processing files:

Excel 2007 Addin

After installing, Excel 2007 will have a Ribbon tab called "Excel Services". This tab contains three buttons that can be used to analyze and fix workbooks.

The first option (Server Compatibility Check) brings up a wizard that allows you to analyze the currently active workbook (the one that has the focus). The second option brings up a wizard that lets you fix multiple files with one fell swoop. The third button (Quick Fix) is a two-click automatic fix option for the workbook.

Server Compatibility Check

The "Server Compatibility Check" wizard presents you with a wizard that walks you through the process. After clicking "Next" on the Welcome screen, the workbook will get analyzed:

Once the analysis is complete, and if any issues were found, you will be presented with the list describing them:

As you can see, this workbook contains a slew of issues (it's my test workbook - it contains every possible issue Excel Services does not handle).

The user now has the option of viewing a full report (which will contain details about the problematic issues with the workbook) or continuing to the next stage:

The options presented are "AutoFix", "Manually fix the workbook" or "Don't do anything". There's also an option for creating a backup of the file.

Choosing AutoFix will attempt to fix all the found issues. Because some issues cannot be fixed automatically, it may end up landing you in the Manual Fix mode anyway. However, if all features were fixed, the wizard will notify you that the workbook should now be compatible with Excel Services and that you can start working with it.

The Manual Fix option brings up a Task Pane that helps you navigate the issues in the workbook:

As you can see, the manual fix task pane shows at the top a list of all the incompatible issues. Selecting comments, for example, will bring you to the first comment in the workbook, showing it to you. You now have the option of manually deleting it and moving to the next one or, instead, clicking the "Fix" button that will automatically fix it and move to the next one.

For some of the items, the system will also show you a short blurb about what the issue is and how to fix it manually.

Batch Check

You can also check multiple files instead of one by one. The "Batch Check" buttons brings up a wizard that allows you to select files (or a folder) and analyze/fix all the issues found there.

The first step is to choose if you want to AutoFix all the issues. If you choose to do that, you can also choose to create backups of the files before they are fixed. You can also choose to keep files that had problems with them opened. Next, you can choose where the files are brought from:

Entire folder will take a local folder and let you analyze/fix all Excel files in it. The second opton (Pick and Choose) lets you add files from various sources and process them.

Once a folder (or files) have been selected, the system will analyze and fix them.

Quick Check

The quick check button shows you a message box warning you that the workbook is about to be modified. It then processes the workbook and either lands you in Manual fix mode or tells you that the workbook is compatible with Excel services.

Excel Services Compatibility Checker - UI

Another executable that gets installed is the UI for the compaitiblity checker. When executing, it gives you the Batch Check wizard and lets you run it outside of Excel.

Excel Services Compatibility Checker - Command line

The last tool installed into the Program Files\ESCC directory is called "ESCC" and allows you to batch-convert files from the command line. Run ESCC /? for more information.

Known Issues

In some cases, Excel will not exit properly when you are done with it because of the Addin. If you have simple reproes, I would like to know about them.

Summary

Hopefuly, this tool will make life easier for people wanting to adopt Excel Services.

Download Link