Hi All,
In BO 4.1 it is possible to refresh the and create queries based on Excel,Text files etc. and it is working fine as expected.However once I create the report based on excel and saved it and reopen the same and try to edit the source path of the file it is not allowing to browse.
My excel is uploaded in the repository itself.
Is it a bug that I cannot change the source path of the file once saved.
dip_anj (BOB member since 2007-02-26)
Does sound like a bug…the functionality to based the query off a file in the repository itself hasn’t been round that long…
Nick Daniels 
(BOB member since 2002-08-15)
Yes, I noticed the issue.
Other issue is, if you delete the xls from repository (on which you have created WEBI report) and reload the xls with more data, WEBI report fails to refresh erroring out.
So we can’t upload xls with latest data. WEBI created on xls will be showing old data, and if you need it to show latest data, then you have to create new WEBI report.
This is not the case with WEBI report based on xls stored in LAN folder.
shekar25 (BOB member since 2004-05-11)
Just logoff your webi browser and try to login and open the webi report which you have created using excel, I think it will work. Or try to open from rich client or try to open from other system
surya_sudheer 
(BOB member since 2006-11-01)
But “excel in LAN folder” means you used the “rich client” / “desktop webi” to create it.
Is it possible to “replace” the excel you uploaded to the repository folder ?
I saw that menu (though in Dutch: bestand vervangen — should be under “organize” … next to paste or delete.
Select the doc, then open organize-menu, “replace” it with your newer version …
Does that work ?
(sorry, stumbled on this question, while searching for the RIGHT I have to give to use the excel query in 4.1-sp5 … users get “cannot be edited” when they select excel as data provider … or is the excel currupt ? )
RensH 
(BOB member since 2007-06-18)
Hi,
I have the same issue, i moved a excel file to another folder in the CMC. But now i cannot change the source path in my Webi report for this Excel file.
Is there a way to change this without to redo the report? Because I have to move this report to another environment and then have to redo it again…
thanks
hvdbunte 
(BOB member since 2010-05-03)
I’m afraid that when you have a report created on a “non managed excel file” (somewhere on disk, not in repository), and you MOVE the excel file, the report becomes unlinked.
It’s quite the same thing if you “have to move the universe” : if it’s really a NEW universe, but objects have the same names, you can try “relinking the query to the new universe”, which ONLY works if the OLD universe can still be found by your report (you did not “move” that one out of sight, or threw it away)
Same for excel: another excel equals to “a new data source”, even if the “same” excel file only has been moved to anoher (visible) folder.
BUT
IF you put the excel in the repository, then create a query on it ( in BI 4.1 you need either rich client or java applet for that, maybe not in 4.2) you can MOVE the excel within the repository later.
Of course, in the new folder, your user / query needs to have ACCESS to it. But “move” ( or cut - paste from one repository folder to another one) will preserve its “CUID” (or GUID ? Always forget which one is necessary) , and as your “BI 4.1 webi docs” link to that ID, the only need for the data (excel) is that the user has ‘view data access’ to it.
Standard access level “View” on the folder (and to folders above it) is more than enough. Our custom access levels are much more restricted and it works.
If you COPY-paste , the report will still be linked to the old excel, and if you delete it, the report will have a “broken data provider”
If you need to update the excel in the repository, there’s a function “replace” or “update”, that will reuse the “ID” for the newer version of your excel …
P.S. :
we weren’t able to make reports refreshable, if they are built on an excel “on the LAN” . Something with the BI server not accessing the right disk/folder through the LAN security. It would certainly work if LABN weren’t secured but that is no option.
Besides: it’s better that an excel be “created and reworked” from MS Excel, then saved to disk, then “updated in the repository”. That way there’s a backup copy already.
RensH 
(BOB member since 2007-06-18)
Hi Rens,
Thank you for your quick reply.
In 4.1 SP5, i don’t see a move option, only a cut and copy option for reports or other files. But if I cut and paste the file into another location the link with the webi document is lost.
So I cannot MOVE the file as you have described, any other solution I can use?
Thank you
hvdbunte (BOB member since 2010-05-03)
Normally, if the excel file is IN the repository, and you MOVE it to another folder ( in CMC : “move to” , in BI Launchpad : “cut and paste” )
the ID should be preserved. AND your report SHOULD FIND IT … if (and only if) your user / report creator has view access on the new place where the doc resides.
If you “copy-paste” that will create a new excel doc, unknown to your report. The report will still use the old one.
Moving the report (and its “dependecy”, the excel file) to another environments should be possible using the Promotion Tool.
That is: if you already “have” the necessary target folders and security in both environments, just “promote” the report with its dependent data provider.
Test it, but “it should work”
Within the BI Launchpad, you can also “update” the excel (in place) without breaking the report.
RensH (BOB member since 2007-06-18)