Powershell to refresh Excel with OLAP Query. Credential issues - excel

I'm rather new with PowerShell scripting so please be patient with me :)
I have multiple excel file with OLAP Query connections connecting to Power BI Datasets, following are the script;
$libraryPath = "C:\Repos\AUSD\3.0\Test"
$excel = new-object -comobject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $false
# Give delay to open
Start-Sleep -s 3
$allExcelfiles = Get-ChildItem $libraryPath -recurse -include “*.xls*”
foreach ($file in $allExcelfiles)
{
$workbookpath = $file.fullname
Write-Host "Updating " $workbookpath
# Open the Excel file
$excelworkbook = $excel.workbooks.Open($workbookpath)
$connections = $excelworkbook.Connections
# This will Refresh All the pivot tables data.
$excelworkbook.RefreshAll()
# The following script lines will Save the file.
$excelworkbook.Save()
$excelworkbook.Close()
Write-Host "Update Complete " $workbookpath
}
$excel.quit()
It is working fine if following options;
$excel.Visible is true
However this is going to be scheduled in the server and hopefully this could be done in the background, hence the $excel.Visible = $false
This causing the following error;
I suspect this is due to the Automatic sign in which happen when the Excel are open, due to its not being open, its failing the sign in process.
How do I bypass or rather set the credentials/permission right?

Related

PowerShell opens excel while running script and crashes

I have made some code to run a Macro on 560 Excel files.
There is a small issue with the code, it seems it doesn't save excel file, and opens every excel file, cause excel to crash.
is there a way to have the macro be ran on these 560 files in the backround, and to automatically save once macro is ran, rather than saving it manually?
Thanks
Here is my Code:
# start excel
$excel = New-Object -comobject Excel.Application
# get files
$files = Get-ChildItem 'C:\Users\ME\Desktop\TEST'
# loop through all files in the directory
ForEach ($file in $files){
# open the file
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Open($file.FullName)
# make file visible
$excel.Visible = $true
# run macro
$app = $excel.Application
$app.run("PERSONAL.xlsb!Module6.MyMacro")
}
By setting $excel.Visible = $true, the code will become much slower because of all the screen updates involved.
Also, you do not save the workbook after running the code, and because you never quit Excel and remove the COM objects from memory, eventually it will crash because of running out of resources.
Try:
# start excel
$excel = New-Object -comobject Excel.Application
$excel.Visible = $false
$excel.DisplayAlerts = $false
# get files and loop through the list
# the usual extension for macro-enabled Excel files is `*.xlsm`.
# if your files have this extension, add -Filter '*.xlsm' to the
# Get-ChildItem command below.
Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Users\ME\Desktop\TEST' -File | ForEach-Object {
# open the file
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Open($_.FullName)
# run macro
$app = $excel.Application
$app.run("PERSONAL.xlsb!Module6.MyMacro")
$workbook.Close($true) # $true --> save changes
}
$excel.Quit()
# cleanup COM objects
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($workbook)
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($excel)
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()

PowerShell script to open excel, wait for power query to refresh, and then save the file

I have an Excel that is using Power Query to get data from a API. What I would like to do is have this data update every day without having to open the excel myself. So I enabled the setting within excel to Refresh data when opening the file.
So I am trying to create a PowerShell script which open the excel, waits for the query to refresh, and then saves the excel. However I cant get it to wait update the query has refreshed before saving and closing.
code:
$Excel = New-Object -COM "Excel.Application"
$Excel.Visible = $true
$Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open("G:\...\jmp-main-2020-07-17.xlsx")
While (($Workbook.Sheets | ForEach-Object {$_.QueryTables | ForEach-Object {if($_.QueryTable.Refreshing){$true}}}))
{
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
$Excel.Save()
$Excel.Close()
I think your while loop is wrong. You should probably loop over the worksheets in the workbook and for each of them loop over the QueryTables. Then enter a while loop to wait until the Refreshing property turns $false
foreach ($sheet in $Workbook.Sheets) {
$sheet.QueryTables | ForEach-Object {
while ($_.QueryTable.Refreshing) {
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
}
}
As aside: you should clear the COM object you have created after finishing with them to free memory:
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($Workbook)
$null = [System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($Excel)
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
I am using Windows Task Scheduler to open Excel file and VBA inside that Excel file to close it after data is refreshed.
No PowerShell script needed.
I was able to get #Theo's example working with some small tweaks. Not sure why but the QueryTables property did not have my collection of queries for the sheet however using the ListObjects property did.
$file = "path\to\file.xlsx"
$Excel = New-Object -COM "Excel.Application"
$Excel.Visible = $false
$Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($file)
foreach ($sheet in ($Workbook.Sheets)) {
$sheet.ListObjects | ForEach-Object{$_.QueryTable.Refresh() | out-null}
$sheet.ListObjects | ForEach-Object{
while ($_.QueryTable.Refreshing) {
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
}
}
And to properly save and exit out of the excel you would use
$Workbook.Save()
$Workbook.Close()
$Excel.Quit()

Use PowerShell to get Excel Data Connection's SQL command text

I have a bunch of Excel files each of which has a number of Workbook Connections. Each of these workbook connections has a properties with a Definition, which contains a "Connection String" and also a "Command text"
I would like to retrieve the connection string and command text values through PowerShell but cannot see the function to do this
I have got as far as the following snippet, any advice appreciated...
$excelObj = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excelObj.Visible = $false
$workbook = $excelObj.Workbooks.Open($xlsxLocation)
foreach ($connect in $workbook.Connections)
{
Write-Host $connect.Name
# This is where I need the connection string and the command text, for this connection.
}
I ran a search for "vba connections command text" which returned Extracting Excel Data Connection Command Text. Then I was able to adapt your code to:
$xlsxLocation="C:\Temp\MyFile.xlsx"
$excelObj = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excelObj.Visible = $False
$excelObj.DisplayAlerts = $False
$workbook = $excelObj.Workbooks.Open($xlsxLocation)
foreach ($worksheet in $workbook.Worksheets){
foreach ($listobject in $worksheet.ListObjects) {
$commandtext = $listobject.QueryTable.CommandText
if (-not ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($commandtext))) {
Write-Host $commandtext
}
}
}
$workbook.Close($False) # closed do not save
$excelObj.DisplayAlerts = $True
$excelObj.Quit()
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($excelObj) | Out-Null
Remove-Variable excelObj | Out-Null
The last two lines of code will dispose the Excel resourse when you terminate the script.

Open, save and close Excel

I have an issue opening a spreadsheet via PowerShell, renaming a worksheet, saving and closing Excel. The issue is when run the first time the $WorkBook variable is null. If I run it a second time the script works fine. Also if I add $ExcelDoc.Visible = $true the script works fine. Does anyone have an idea why the script fails on it first run in the form it is below?
$Path = "C:\ScriptRepository\CQC\DataToLoad\"
$FileName = (Get-ChildItem $Path).FullName
$FileName2 = (Get-ChildItem $Path).Name
Start-Sleep 2
$ExcelDoc = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$WorkBook = $ExcelDoc.Workbooks.Open($FileName)
$WorkSheet = $WorkBook.Worksheets.Item(2)
$WorkSheet.Name = "CQCProviders"
$WorkBook.Save()
$WorkBook.Close()
$ExcelDoc.Quit()
While([System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($ExcelDoc)) {}

Powershell COM Excel visible not working

I have written a short Powershell script to copy some Excel data. The script works fine, but it opens Excel every time I run it, even thought the visible property is set to $false. Anyone have any ideas why? I have searched for answers, but can't find any solutions. I have also displayed the property and it is set correctly.
Excel opens when the workbook is opened.
Thanks,
Chris J.
Code:
## function to close all com objects
function Release-Ref ($ref{
([System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject([System.__ComObject]$ref) -gt 0)
[System.GC]::Collect()
[System.GC]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()
}
#Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to exit"
#####################################################################
## Load excel com objects attach to file
#####################################################################
$ExcelPath = 'C:\Chris_Test.xls'
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$Excel.Visible = $False
write-host "Visible 1"
write-host $Excel.Visible
$ExcelWorkBook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($ExcelPath)
$Excel.Visible = $False
write-host "Visible 2"
write-host $Excel.Visible
$ExcelWorkSheet = $Excel.WorkSheets.item("Sheet1")
$Excel.Visible = $False
write-host "Visible 3"
write-host $Excel.Visible
$row = 2
$South_HX_Avg = "This"
$Middle_HX_Avg = " is a "
$North_HX_Avg = "test."
##
## Cells.Item(Row,Column)
#$ExcelWorkSheet.Cells.Item($row,1).Value2 = $South_HX_Avg
#$ExcelWorkSheet.Cells.Item(2,2).Value2 = $Middle_HX_Avg
#$ExcelWorkSheet.Cells.Item(2,3).Value2 = $North_HX_Avg
#####################################################################
# Close connections to Excel
# set interactive to false so no save buttons are shown
#####################################################################
$Excel.DisplayAlerts = $false
$Excel.ScreenUpdating = $false
$Excel.Visible = $False
write-host "Visible 4"
write-host $Excel.Visible
$Excel.Visible = $false
$Excel.Visible = $False
write-host "Visible 5"
write-host $Excel.Visible
$Excel.UserControl = $false
$Excel.Interactive = $false
## save the workbook
$ExcelWorkBook.Save()
## quit the workbook
$Excel.Quit()
## close all object references
Release-Ref($ExcelWorkSheet)
Release-Ref($ExcelWorkBook)
Release-Ref($Excel)
# Move-Item c:\scripts\test.zip c:\test -force
Read-Host -Prompt "Press Enter to exit"
When I uncommented the lines 30,31 and 32, it worked ok, but I had to comment out your calls to Release-Ref (including the definition) for it to parse.
Also, when you create a new Excel object using:
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
the visibility of the window is set by default to false in the object's constructor, so there's no need to set it explicitly...
Yes I did try rebooting and also tried it on a different computer with the same results. Good catch Steve Rathbone, my procedure was missing a parenthesis. After I fixed it, it still opens Excel.
I also tried commenting out the calls to Release-Ref with the same results.
I am doing something similar in a script I've been working with lately. MS Com objects have tons of options in several places.
This works for me.
$xlsFile = "\\your\file.xls"
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$excel.DisplayAlerts = $false;
$excel.AskToUpdateLinks = $false;
$Workbook = $Excel.Workbooks.Open($xlsFile, 0, 0, 5, "password")
#do some stuff in excel
$Excel.Quit()
PS, you can also set some of the parameters using the workbooks.open() function.
Here's just a few:
Workbooks.Open(FileName, UpdateLinks, ReadOnly, Format, Password)
You can read more about com object parameters here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/excel.workbooks.open

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