Unable to read in all raw xml from an excel file

[ReubenEdels]

Hi,

I am trying to use the raw xml of an excel file in a workflow, however I am unable to select '[Content_Types].xml'. 

Selecting just this file results in the error 'You must pick a file from the zip archive', whereas selecting this along with other parts of the excel file results in it being automatically deselected.

This happens with all excel files I have tested, as well as when I convert the excel to a .zip before importing.

I have attached a sample workflow with my input configurations.

Thanks

[jrlindem]

While we know that Excel is just a kind of "zip" file containing xml files that represent metadata and the individual sheets (tabs), the xml from an Excel file can not be directly utilized in Alteryx.  You can, of course, read the sheets of the excel file, but if you want to use the raw xml, you'll need to extract that using a separate software that can handle the excel file's xml first.  Then you can bring that xml directly in.

Hope that helps.  Seems like a very niche use-case, and will require some creativity to make it work assuming there's enough value/reason to do so.  Cheers, -Jay

[ReubenEdels]

Hi Jay,

The workflow I'm building requires handling excel formulas and requires changing the raw xml of a file. I have managed to do this using an input tool with the attached configuration, however the problem I am having is with reading one specific metadata file.

Every excel file I have tested has a '[Content_Types].xml' file in the root of the excel file, but I can never seem to read in this file and only this file.

I believe this may be due to the file being in the root directory – every other file which can be read in successfully is located inside of another file in the zipped excel.

Also, agree that this is a very niche use-case, which is part of the problem, I can’t find any documentation online relevant to this issue.

Thanks

(Despite the file format being selected as zip, the input file is a normal excel file)

[jrlindem]

Interesting.  Thanks for sharing.  Ya, from what I could remember (my previous post) and what I could (not) find in researching; I think we're in the same boat.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help.  If you figure it out, circle back to here and post your findings!

Cheers, -Jay

[NeoInfiniTech]

To utilize the contents of the Excel file, I would recommend that you first unzip the Excel file using PowerShell (Expand-Archive and if necessary, Compress-Archive). You can see an example of this use case in an Analytic App I previously published, Alteryx Runner Standalone Macro Installation. While it doesn't unzip an Excel file, it unzips a YXZP file, changing the extension first from YXZP to ZIP. After the operation is complete, the Analytic App renames the extension from ZIP to YXZP again.

Looking at the YXZP file you shared, the XML says your Alteryx Designer version is 2023.2 (which supports Control Containers), which was the same version I developed the Analytic App with, which utilizes Control Containers, so feel free to run the Analytic App in debug mode and adapt the logic found in Formula (31) tool, which contains the unzip command written in PowerShell and adapt it to your use case.