Opening excel only once at the beginning of the optimization proces in Matlab and not each time Matlab sends a new set of decision values to excel

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Hello,
I'm optimizing two objectives in matlab. For calculating each objective, matlab has to write each time a set of 6 decision values to Excel (xlswrite), where excel calculates the objective en gives them back to Matlab (xlsread). This proces has to be repeated untill the objectives are optimized.
Now, because of the implemented macro's in Excel, the proces to open and close excel is very slow. Because of this, opening en closing excel each time Matlab writes a set of values to Excel is not an option.
Is there a posibility in Matlab to open excel only once (at the beginnning of the optimalisation proces), write and read values in and out excel, f.e. 1 000 000 times, and close excel after the optimization proces is finished?
You would be a great help to me!
Thank you in advance,
Niels Ringoot Research University of Ghent Belgium

Accepted Answer

Image Analyst
Image Analyst on 11 Apr 2013
Yes but you need to use ActiveX programming. See this demo:
% Demo macro to write numerical arrays and cell arrays
% to two different worksheets in an Excel workbook file.
% Uses xlswrite1, available from the File Exchange
% http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/10465-xlswrite1
function ExcelDemo
clc;
close all;
clear all;
fullFileName = GetXLFileName();
if isempty(fullFileName)
% User clicked Cancel.
return;
end
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
% Prepare proper filename extension.
% Get the Excel version because if it's version 11 (Excel 2003) the file extension should be .xls,
% but if it's 12.0 (Excel 2007) then we'll need to use an extension of .xlsx to avoid nag messages.
excelVersion = str2double(Excel.Version);
if excelVersion < 12
excelExtension = '.xls';
else
excelExtension = '.xlsx';
end
% Determine the proper format to save the files in. It depends on the extension (Excel version).
switch excelExtension
case '.xls' %xlExcel8 or xlWorkbookNormal
xlFormat = -4143;
case '.xlsb' %xlExcel12
xlFormat = 50;
case '.xlsx' %xlOpenXMLWorkbook
xlFormat = 51;
case '.xlsm' %xlOpenXMLWorkbookMacroEnabled
xlFormat = 52;
otherwise
xlFormat = -4143;
end
if ~exist(fullFileName, 'file')
message = sprintf('I am going to create Excel workbook:\n\n%s\n\nClick OK to continue.\nClick Exit to exit this function', fullFileName);
button = questdlg(message, 'Creating new workbook', 'OK', 'Exit', 'OK');
drawnow; % Refresh screen to get rid of dialog box remnants.
if strcmpi(button, 'Exit')
return;
end
% Add a new workbook.
ExcelWorkbook = Excel.workbooks.Add;
% Save this workbook we just created.
ExcelWorkbook.SaveAs(fullFileName, xlFormat);
ExcelWorkbook.Close(false);
else
% Delete the existing file.
delete(fullFileName);
end
% Open up the workbook named in the variable fullFileName.
invoke(Excel.Workbooks,'Open', fullFileName);
Excel.visible = true;
% Create some sample data.
myData = magic(20);
myOtherData = rand(10);
% Then run the new xlswrite1 function as many times as needed or in a loop
% (for example xlswrite1(fullFileName, yourArrayName, XL_CellLocation).
% IMPORTANT NOTE: the Excel object variable MUST exist in the routine that calls xlswrite1()
% and it MUST be named "Excel" EXACTLY because xlswrite1() has this line it it:
% Excel = evalin('caller', 'Excel');
xlswrite1(fullFileName, myData, 'mySheetName', 'B2');
ca = {'Column Header 1', 'Column Header 2'};
xlswrite1(fullFileName, ca, 'mySheetName', 'B1');
ca = {'Row Header 1'; 'Row Header 2'};
xlswrite1(fullFileName, ca, 'mySheetName', 'A2');
xlswrite1(fullFileName, myOtherData, 'myOtherSheetName', 'B2');
% Delete all empty sheets in the active workbook.
DeleteEmptyExcelSheets(Excel);
% For fun, add comments to cells A1:A12 on sheet #1.
worksheets = Excel.sheets;
thisSheet = get(worksheets, 'Item', 1);
for k = 1 : 12
myComment = sprintf('Comment for cell A%d', k);
cellReference = sprintf('A%d', k);
theCell = thisSheet.Range(cellReference);
theCell.AddComment(myComment);
end
% Then run the following code to close the activex server:
invoke(Excel.ActiveWorkbook,'Save');
Excel.Quit;
Excel.delete;
clear Excel;
message = sprintf('Done!\nThis Excel workbook has been created:\n%s', fullFileName);
msgbox(message);
% End of main function: ExcelDemo.m -----------------------------
%--------------------------------------------------------------------
% Gets the name of the workbook from the user.
function fullExcelFileName = GetXLFileName()
fullExcelFileName = []; % Default.
% Ask user for a filename.
FilterSpec = {'*.xls', 'Excel workbooks (*.xls)'; '*.*', 'All Files (*.*)'};
DialogTitle = 'Save workbook file name';
% Get the default filename. Make sure it's in the folder where this m-file lives.
% (If they run this file but the cd is another folder then pwd will show that folder, not this one.
thisFile = mfilename('fullpath');
[thisFolder, baseFileName, ext] = fileparts(thisFile);
DefaultName = sprintf('%s/%s.xls', thisFolder, baseFileName);
[fileName, specifiedFolder] = uiputfile(FilterSpec, DialogTitle, DefaultName);
if fileName == 0
% User clicked Cancel.
return;
end
% Parse what they actually specified.
[folder, baseFileName, ext] = fileparts(fileName);
% Create the full filename, making sure it has a xls filename.
fullExcelFileName = fullfile(specifiedFolder, [baseFileName '.xls']);
% --------------------------------------------------------------------
% DeleteEmptyExcelSheets: deletes all empty sheets in the active workbook.
% This function looped through all sheets and deletes those sheets that are
% empty. Can be used to clean a newly created xls-file after all results
% have been saved in it.
function DeleteEmptyExcelSheets(excelObject)
% excelObject = actxserver('Excel.Application');
% excelWorkbook = excelObject.workbooks.Open(fileName);
worksheets = excelObject.sheets;
sheetIdx = 1;
sheetIdx2 = 1;
numSheets = worksheets.Count;
% Prevent beeps from sounding if we try to delete a non-empty worksheet.
excelObject.EnableSound = false;
% Loop over all sheets
while sheetIdx2 <= numSheets
% Saves the current number of sheets in the workbook
temp = worksheets.count;
% Check whether the current worksheet is the last one. As there always
% need to be at least one worksheet in an xls-file the last sheet must
% not be deleted.
if or(sheetIdx>1,numSheets-sheetIdx2>0)
% worksheets.Item(sheetIdx).UsedRange.Count is the number of used cells.
% This will be 1 for an empty sheet. It may also be one for certain other
% cases but in those cases, it will beep and not actually delete the sheet.
if worksheets.Item(sheetIdx).UsedRange.Count == 1
worksheets.Item(sheetIdx).Delete;
end
end
% Check whether the number of sheets has changed. If this is not the
% case the counter "sheetIdx" is increased by one.
if temp == worksheets.count;
sheetIdx = sheetIdx + 1;
end
sheetIdx2 = sheetIdx2 + 1; % prevent endless loop...
end
excelObject.EnableSound = true;
return;

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