If the Export to Excel function does not work, either at all or properly, perhaps understanding the sequence of events will help you find and fix the problem.

Requirements: Perl has been installed on the host computer or PC, as appropriate. The report has been displayed with the A-Shell print preview function.

1. The Export to Excel button is enabled if and only if the A-Shell subroutine PRTXLS.SBX is present and available. It should be located in the directory [7.6]. If the Export to Excel button is inactive (grayed out), it is because this file is missing.

   ATE only: the preview session of ATE (which itself is a second ATE session) launches another session of ATE to handle the export process. This job runs in the background and remains hidden except for the progress window.

2. PRTXLS.SBR creates a temporary working/debugging file called <sourcefilename>.XLX.

3. PRTXLS.SBR generates Perl script with the name <sourcefile>.PL.

4. PRTXLX.SBR executes PERL script. If the process breaks at this point, it is probably because the required Perl function "\spreadsheet\WriteExcel.pm" is not being found. This in turn may be because Perl is not installed, or because "\spreadsheet\WriteExcel.pm" is in the wrong location.

5. The Perl script runs and creates a spreadsheet file called <sourcefile>.XLS, which is placed in the xxx folder.

6. The temporary files (.XLX and .PL) are erased, and extra ATE session is shut down,

To assist in troubleshooting, you may want to use the debug function. To turn it on, check the "Debug" option on ATE's Connection Properties | Printer | General Options. If you are using A-Shell rather than ATE, get to the prompt and enter SET DEBUG.