8 outputs of 8 containers into 1 excel in 8 tabs

[Isha_Gupta]

Hey,

I have 8 containers with 8 workflows for 1 grand process with 1 output each which needs to be output to single excel file in 8 tabs with certain names.

I tried using table, formula, union, layout and render.

Worked for other small data, but giving file open error here, maybe because simultaneously writing.

Any ideas to bypass this? Maybe using BUD tool or any other...

Would be good if you can provide the sequence of tools to use....

[Christina_H]

First things first - you can't use multiple Render tools to output into the same Excel workbook.  The whole file will be overwritten by each different render tool.

If you're just outputting the simple data you can use multiple Output tools, each directed to a different sheet in the workbook.  Output can be set to overwrite the target sheet only.  You might still have problems with them trying to write data simultaneously, which you could resolve with Block Until Done to make sure the outputs happen in sequence.

If you're outputting something more complex than simple data tables, you need to union it all together for output in a single Render tool.  You need a field containing the name of the target tab for each of your 8 processes.  Union the output of each process, Layout Vertical with Section Breaks, using the name you want for the tab as the Section Name, then Render.

[willemb · Accepted solution]

You're getting the error because one of the outputs are still busy writing to the file (locking it for editing) when a subsequent write is attempted. 

Use a Block Until Done in combination with Record Count and Append to stagger the write attempts:

The Block Until Done doesn't send data from output #2 until the tool directly after #1 has finished. The Record Count thus only has a result after the first Output to Excel is done. No data can get past the Append in line 2 until the Record Count result has been appended, so the second output can't possibly attempt to write while the first is still in progress. Repeat for each subsequent Output.