Embedded Excel, Error: 3rd Party worksheet not found

[hkempeneers]

Hi,

For unclear reasons, the embedded Excel can no longer be found in our assemblies and parts.
We get the error: 'GoExcel: 3rd Party worksheet not found: "3rd Party: Embedding 2", Sheet: "Import"'.
The iLogic has not been changed, nor has the embedded Excel.
It seems that since installing Inventor service pack 2021.2 this feature has stopped working.
Does anyone know what's going on here and how we can fix it?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Do you have "UseLibXL" variable set? Please go to Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Environment Variable. Remove the variable.

Many thanks!

[hkempeneers]

@johnsonshiue 

This variable is not present in the list of systemvariables.

I have never removed this variable so the variable may never have been installed.

Funnily enough, the embedded Excel now works again.
What we have done:

(I don't really know what exactly made everything work again.)

We have undone the last installed Windows 10 update. That seems to have helped to be able to work with the Embedded Excel again in Inventor.

The update of Windows 10 that is still ready, but that I have not installed yet, is "Windows 10, version 20H2".

Could it be that Windows is interfering with the communication between Inventor and Excel?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It is possible the Windows update does "break" the association. I have seen it before. However, it could be Inventor's bug or Windows' bug. Let me work with the project team and see if this is a known issue.

Many thanks!

[hkempeneers]

@johnsonshiue 

Hi,

It would be great if it got fixed.
Since the communication between Inventor and Excel is one of the pillars of our engineering.
Thank you in advance!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Unfortunately, we are still clueless at the moment. We have heard some users being affected but we are unable to reproduce it on our machines with all the latest Windows updates installed.

Try running Inventor as Admin (right-click on Inventor icon -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Run as Admin). Does it make a difference?

I also want to double-check with you that you do have Excel.exe installed on your machine. Inventor needs it to exercise certain Excel related workflows. Is the Office 32-bit or 64-bit? Could you try uninstalling Office and reinstalling it?

Many thanks!

[hkempeneers]

@johnsonshiue 

Hi,

Unfortunately, at the moment I also cannot reproduce the problem on my PC.
I have installed the latest Windows updates, Office 365 is also fully updated.
The connection between Inventor and Embedded Excel works very well at the moment. Both on my own PC and on the PC's of my colleagues.
I can't reinstall Office because of our company policy.
Can you agree that I will contact you again when we again encounter problems with the Embedded Excel ?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Absolutely! Anytime there is an abnormal behavior in Inventor is a bug. We need to understand it. But, we need to be able to reproduce it first.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am getting the same error. I have tried using Inventor 2020 and 2021. I have tried inserting the embedded spreadsheet in the following ways, all give the same error.

Insert Object -> New -> Excel 97-2003 Worksheet

Insert Object -> New -> Excel Worksheet

Insert Object -> From File (with both .xls and .xlsx files)

When I try using an external spreadsheet it works perfectly.

The offending line of code is as follows.

MsgBox(GoExcel.CellValue("3rd Party:Embedding 1", "Sheet1", "A2"))

Software Details

Windows 10 enterprise 20H2 Build 19042.868

(Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.551.0)

Excel Version 2102 Build 13801.20294

Inventor Pro 2020 64-bit Build 373

Inventor Pro 2021 64-bit Build 289

[JaneFan]

Hi @Anonymous , 

It looks like a invalid embedding file to me. There is no embedding parameters generated if you check fx dialog. To make it work, please change your excel file like this and embed it again, there supposed to be parameters A, B, C and D listed in parameter dialog after the embed operation. By making right embedding file, you can get the cell value correctly from iLogic.

[ambrose]

Hi Jane,

thanks for taking a look.

I think we are talking about different workflows. You are talking about linking spreadsheets in the parameters (fx) window. That is not what I am doing, I do not want to add any parameters.

I am linking the spreadsheet using the insert object button on the "Manage" ribbon.

This makes the spreadsheet available in the model browser like this.

If I run my iLogic code on an external spreadsheet like this it works.

MsgBox(GoExcel.CellValue("my_spreadsheet.xls", "Sheet1", "A2"))

But if I try to use the embedded copy like this it give me the error.

MsgBox(GoExcel.CellValue("3rd Party:Embedding 1", "Sheet1", "A2"))

The code should be correct as I am getting it from here...

[A.Acheson]

@ambrose 

@Anonymous 

Check the fx parameter area for the embedded excel sheet name.The linkage may have got corrupted or the display name in the assembly area does match the code or the file reference in the fx parameter. Try and save out to windows and re embedded the excel sheet, the embedded number will change but you will return functionality. Then do a search and replace for the embedded workbook name. This has happened before on me and I think this is how I resolved the issue. Please post the full ilogic code to verify no other issues exist. 

[ambrose]

Thanks @A.Acheson

Just to be sure, I have tried embedding the spreadsheet in the way you suggest and triple checked that I have the name right. I'm still getting the same error message.

However this workflow should not involve the "fx" parameters window at all and it should not place any requirements on the layout of the spreadsheet. If I use iLogic to read an external spreadsheet I can just read from any cell I want. Nothing has to be linked or embedded anywhere.

I am almost certain that this used to work the same for embedded spreadsheets, but has stopped working at some point. I am increasingly confident this is a software regression and not user error.

That one line of iLogic is all I have at the moment. Not much point writing more code until that line works!

I have read elsewhere that the spreadsheet must be embedded using the parameters window and that any renaming will be ignored by iLogic. Well frankly, that's not good enough! I am sure this used to work and it needs to work again or some people are going to have a lot of broken files.

I like using an embedded spreadsheet in some situations so that the spreadsheet and ipt file can't accidentally get seperated.

[A.Acheson]

@ambrose 

With Inventor 2020

I just tried the insert object embedded excel sheet method and ran the snippet of code and it indeed does not work with iLogic. This is either a bug or a non functioning workflow. Described in this post. 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/need-help-to-use-embedding-spreadsheet-in-ilogic/td-p/...

What does work is to create the external excel file or save an exisiting embeded excel object add using the insert object method out to windows then use the parameter link button and choose embed. This then displays the embedding name  in the parameter dialogue in grey. Once it is there, the  iLogic code will work. 

[ambrose]

As I said, I have now tried both methods for adding the spreadsheet and neither of them is working for me. I am 99% sure I have had it working in the past without using the parameters window, but it has been a while.

I read the post you linked. As that user pointed out, there are iLogic tutorials which talk about embedding the spreadsheet using the "insert object" method. So it sounds like this definitely should work. It does also sound like it may have been broken for a while though.

[A.Acheson]

@ambrose 

If nothing works for you there is definitely a bug in the file or with go excel. This certainly needs to be clarified by Autodesk due to the amount of time people are spending going no where with a core tool of iLogic.  I know I spent multiple hours before trying to figure out the workflows.

Here is another post that talks about the lack of recognition by ilogic of the object embedded excel sheet. 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-customization/trying-to-write-to-an-embedded-excel-file-usin...

[SašoPrijatelj]

Hi,

I'm facing the same issue. Getting values from embedded Excel file with iLogic used to work but now it doesn't anymore. Same error as described by others: "GoExcel: 3rd Party worksheet not found"

It works fine using external Excel file.

Versions used: Inventor 2021.2.2, Office 365, Windows 10 Pro 20H2

Is there a solution for this?

[JaneFan]

Hello @SašoPrijatelj , 

Sorry for the inconvenience. I don't remember when this function once worked, but we can confirm that it does not work now. We have traked an issue in the system and will discuss about it with the team. 

[MjDeck]

@ambrose and cs01ab, using Insert Object to create an embedded worksheet never worked with iLogic. Here's info from the help page:
"If you use an embedded table, embed it using Link on the Parameters dialog box. Do not change the Embedded table name from the default name given to it by Inventor (for example, Embedding 1). GoExcel requires the original name."

On that same page, it mentions that you can use Insert Object for a linked file. But not embedded.

This is a limitation of iLogic. Maybe we can enable Insert Object in a future release.

If you can't get the method using Link (with the Embedding option) on the Parameters dialog to work either, please post a sample file. That should definitely work. If it doesn't, I would recommend reinstalling Office.

@SašoPrijatelj , I think reinstalling Office is your best bet. If you're using Office 365 then it probably won't take very long.

[ambrose]

@MjDeck

Thanks for confirming. It's been a while since I last tried to do this, my memory is letting me down!

I have reinstalled Office and it is now working as it should.

It would be great if both types of embedding were supported in future. If I extract* the ipt file I can see that all the embedded files are stored side by side in the same format, no matter how they were originally embedded.

This implies that getting GoExcel to work with them should just be a matter of making it look in the right place. The code required to actually read and write the embedded files should already exist.

Thanks,

Ambrose

* ipt files are basically just zip files with a load of sub-files inside (but you probably knew that already)