OLE / On-Screen Converter (zcl_excel_ole)

zcl_excel_ole is a non-cloud class (located in src/not_cloud/) that drives a local Microsoft Excel installation via OLE Automation (ActiveX). It converts an xlsx binary produced by abap2xlsx into other formats that Excel itself supports — most commonly PDF — by opening the file in Excel and calling SaveAs or ExportAsFixedFormat programmatically.

On-screen / frontend only

zcl_excel_ole runs entirely on the SAP GUI frontend machine. It requires a licensed copy of Microsoft Excel to be installed on that machine and cannot be used on application servers, background jobs, or SAP BTP. For cloud-safe PDF generation consider the ALV Converter or a third-party PDF library.

When to Use It

Scenario	Recommended approach
GUI frontend, Excel installed, need PDF	zcl_excel_ole
Background job / batch	Not possible — use a server-side PDF tool
SAP BTP / steampunk	Not possible — src/not_cloud excluded
Need xlsx only	Use standard zcl_excel_writer_2007

Package Location

zcl_excel_ole lives in the sub-package src/not_cloud/. Install this package only if your system is a classic on-premise ABAP stack and you need OLE features. Cloud-ready deployments should exclude the not_cloud folder entirely (it is deliberately separated for this reason).

Basic Usage Pattern

" 1. Build an excel object and produce the xstring as usual
DATA lo_excel  TYPE REF TO zcl_excel.
DATA lo_writer TYPE REF TO zcl_excel_writer_2007.
DATA lv_xstring TYPE xstring.

lo_excel  = NEW zcl_excel( ).
" ... populate worksheets ...
lo_writer = NEW zcl_excel_writer_2007( ).
lv_xstring = lo_writer->write_file( lo_excel ).

" 2. Save the xstring to a local temp file (frontend)
DATA lv_path TYPE string VALUE 'C:\Temp\myreport.xlsx'.
" ... use GUI_DOWNLOAD or cl_gui_frontend_services to write the binary ...

" 3. Open in Excel via OLE and convert
DATA lo_ole TYPE REF TO zcl_excel_ole.
lo_ole = NEW zcl_excel_ole( ).
lo_ole->convert(
  iv_source_path = lv_path
  iv_target_path = 'C:\Temp\myreport.pdf'
  iv_format      = zcl_excel_ole=>c_format_pdf
).

Error handling

PR bug fix (2025) corrected an unhandled exception in LOOP_NORMAL inside zcl_excel_converter. Ensure you are on a commit after 3bdf779 to benefit from this fix, and always wrap OLE calls in a TRY ... CATCH cx_sy_native_type_conflict cx_root. block because Excel OLE automation can raise a wide variety of exceptions depending on the Excel version installed.

Converter Class Hierarchy (not_cloud)

The not_cloud package contains a small converter framework:

Class	Purpose
zif_excel_converter	Interface — convert() method signature
zcl_excel_converter	Base implementation — drives OLE, handles normal/special loop
zcl_excel_converter_alv	Subclass — converts from an ALV model
zcl_excel_converter_alv_grid	Subclass — converts from a live cl_gui_alv_grid
zcl_excel_converter_salv_table	Subclass — converts from cl_salv_table
zcl_excel_converter_result	Result descriptor (path, format, success flag)
zcl_excel_converter_result_ex	Extended result with error details
zcl_excel_converter_result_wd	Result adapter for Web Dynpro scenarios
zcl_excel_ole	Low-level OLE driver — opens Excel, calls SaveAs

Format Constants

Check zcl_excel_ole for the latest set; typical constants include:

zcl_excel_ole=>c_format_pdf    " PDF via ExportAsFixedFormat
zcl_excel_ole=>c_format_xlsx   " re-save as xlsx (normalises file)
zcl_excel_ole=>c_format_csv    " active sheet as CSV

ALV-to-Excel via OLE

zcl_excel_converter_alv wraps the classic ALV-to-Excel path where the data is written to an ALV grid first and then the live OLE-controlled Excel instance is used to capture it:

DATA lo_alv_converter TYPE REF TO zcl_excel_converter_alv.
lo_alv_converter = NEW zcl_excel_converter_alv( ).
lo_alv_converter->convert(
  io_alv_model    = lo_salv_model
  iv_target_path  = 'C:\Temp\alv_output.xlsx'
).

This is the legacy approach predating zcl_excel_converter_salv_table. For new development, prefer the non-OLE path documented in ALV Integration.

Helper Program: zexcel_template_get_types

The not_cloud package also ships zexcel_template_get_types — a standalone ABAP report that introspects a running Excel instance via OLE to discover the available XlFileFormat constant values on the current Excel installation. Run it once on the target frontend machine to verify which format codes are available before hard-coding constants in production code.