Yep. Exactly that! 
There’s a “grid” component that does nothing fancy to complicate things but will show you just what’s in the range you point it it. If it shows data then your problem is with displaying the data. If it doesn’t then your problem is connectivity - getting the data in.
If you seach this forum way back, I linked to an excellent blog post that showed you exactly how to set up a spreadsheet to generate an XML map that xcelsius can read via an XML MAP connection. You are using an XML MAPS and not just plain XML connection, aren’t you?
If you set up your spreadsheet correctly, you can save once (to save excel XLS file as normal) and the do a SAVE AS to update the XML MAP you have created. Then xcelsius will automatically read the map file via the map connection.
But you say it is creating new rows and not new columns? How do you know this? Is there something coming through? And |I’m not really sure what you mean by append/overwrite. You essentially have a “new” data block each time (albeit with an extra column) and you need to make sure your component will always have enough space to accommodate the max number of columns you will need. Not ideal as you have less columns thatn rows to play with (personally I’d transpose the columns to rows in your original spreadasheet on another tab and maybe aggregate too).
Sorry. Does that make sense? It’s barely 8 am and I haven’t had enough coffee yet. Post some sample data if you like. I’ll try to fin dthat link but I’m stuck in meetings most of today…
Debbie
ETA: Here you go:
The Mr Excel link is the one I used. Although you’ve probably got all this working anyway.
Debbie 
(BOB member since 2005-03-01)