Comments (4)

By nick, September 16, 2009 5:48 pm

I recently got the following error message whilst trying to write to an excel file using the openXML library in ASP.Net and C#:

System.ApplicationException: Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))
at System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageFile.nGetRootDir(IsolatedStorageScope scope)
at System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageFile.InitGlobalsNonRoamingUser(IsolatedStorageScope scope)
at System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageFile.GetRootDir(IsolatedStorageScope scope)
at System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageFile.GetGlobalFileIOPerm(IsolatedStorageScope scope)
at System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageFile.Init(IsolatedStorageScope scope)
at System.IO.IsolatedStorage.IsolatedStorageFile.GetStore(IsolatedStorageScope scope, Type domainEvidenceType, Type assemblyEvidenceType)
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.PackagingUtilities.ReliableIsolatedStorageFileFolder..ctor()
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.PackagingUtilities.GetDefaultIsolatedStorageFile()
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.PackagingUtilities.CreateUserScopedIsolatedStorageFileStreamWithRandomName(Int32 retryCount, String& fileName)
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.SparseMemoryStream.EnsureIsolatedStoreStream()
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.SparseMemoryStream.SwitchModeIfNecessary()
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.CompressEmulationStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
at MS.Internal.IO.Packaging.CompressStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
at MS.Internal.IO.Zip.ProgressiveCrcCalculatingStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
at MS.Internal.IO.Zip.ZipIOModeEnforcingStream.Write(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
at System.IO.StreamWriter.Flush(Boolean flushStream, Boolean flushEncoder)
at System.IO.StreamWriter.Write(String value)
at System.Xml.XmlTextEncoder.Write(String text)
at System.Xml.XmlTextWriter.WriteString(String text)
at System.Xml.XmlAttribute.WriteContentTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlAttribute.WriteTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteContentTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteContentTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteContentTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlElement.WriteTo(XmlWriter w)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.WriteContentTo(XmlWriter xw)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Save(Stream outStream)
at OfficeOpenXml.ExcelWorksheet.Save()
at OfficeOpenXml.ExcelWorkbook.Save()
at xxx.addDataSetToExcel(DataSet DataSetSource, String fileName, String title, String subject, String category, String comments, String fileType)

Turns out that this is in no way a common problem (google was not my friend on this occasion). After nearly an entire day trying to figure this one out I finally came accross the solution and intend to share it here:

The openXML library uses a MemoryStream object when creating the spreadsheet – When the amount of data your putting into your spreadsheet gets too large to be held in memory, it starts to offload the data to disk. This is where the problem arises.

For whatever reason, ASP.NET decides it’s going to try to put the data into an obscure directory that doesn’t always exist – C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Application Data\IsolatedStorage. I’m not entirely sure why it comes up with Access is Denied, presumabley because the user in the application pool doesn’t have permission to create a directory?

In any case, if you get this problem, just create the above directory and make sure that the user in your application pool (or Everyone) has read and write access to it.

Comments (0)

By nick, April 29, 2009 10:16 am

Most of the time this is a relatively trivial exercise. In the majority of cases, simply setting ‘Workbook Calculation’ to ‘Automatic’ in the Excel options will give the desired effect.

However, I recently stumbled across a situation where this doesn’t work. If you find yourself entering data into an Excel workbook through some other means – in my case, using the OpenXML libraries in C# – then you may need to force excel to update any formulas you had.

The solution is simple, using a small VB macro. To get it to happen when the workbook is opened, use the following code:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
 
 Application.CalculateFullRebuild
 
End Sub

If you put that in the code for the main workbook (as opposed to one of the sheets) then it should happen when the spraedsheet is opened.

Comments (0)

By nick, October 31, 2008 11:49 am

Ok, so i’ve just been working on outputting data from an ASP.NET based web app into an Excel Spreadsheet. I’m not going to go into the details of how to do that, but only how to avoid one little problem i encountered.
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