Sharing issue with GoldSim and Microsoft Excel files on OneDrive

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Hoekstra, David

• November 30, 2021 22:40

Hi GoldSim team,

We have recently switched to using Sharepoint synced with OneDrive.  This means that if I am working on files that reside on my hard drive, they are constantly being autosaved and sync'd with the sharepoint folder in the cloud.  GoldSim has no issues with using GoldSim in this situation, although it can allow multiple users to access the file which can result in multiple versions.

However, there is a major issue with using Microsoft Excel files for input/output.  If the Excel Data File is open when you start a simulation, there are major sharing violations and the Excel file has to be shut down, sometimes requiring Task Manager, and occasionally leaving Zombie instances.

Obviously, the solution is to always close the Spreadsheet before starting the simulation.  Realistically, that gets forgotten occasionally and makes a mess.

Is there a way for GoldSim to check for the sharing violation and provide a gentler way to let the user know to shut down Excel? 

Thanks

DaveH

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  Jason

  • December 02, 2021 18:50

  Dave,

  This is a good question as I have also run into similar issues since we have migrated all of our files to OneDrive as well. In my case, I found that there are files in OneDrive that get moved off my computer and pushed to the cloud while only the name of the file is saved on my computer. This is indicated with a little cloud symbol:

  I found that if I right click on the file in File Explorer, I have the option to keep the file on my system permanently:

  Doing this has helped reduce the chance of causing issues when reading/writing Excel files during a GoldSim model simulation.

  However, this doesn't really address the biggest problem, which is that others might open the same model file and modify it while you also have the model open. To address this, another customer has built a little workaround that you can read about here: GoldSim Model File Check-Out/Check-In – GoldSim Help Center 

  Will this work for you?

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  Hoekstra, David

  • December 02, 2021 19:00

  Hi Jason,

  The problem is when the spreadsheet is open at the same time, so I know it is local.  I have a number of workarounds that take care of this.  The easiest is to pause the onedrive syncing while running the model and restarting it when done. This prevents onedrive from accessing the spreadsheet at the same time as GoldSim, so there are no issues.  Of course, there is always the problem of falling out of sync with some other files.  The question is more if the error handling of this problem can be improved and make it a little less catastrophic when we don't have the workarounds in place.

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  Paul Haby

  • December 02, 2021 19:47

  Assuming the input file isn't modified by another user while running the model, I am able to run models off local OneDrive-synced, SharePoint folders with the input spreadsheet remaining open.  In addition to making the file always available on the local drive as Jason described above, for me the key to getting this to work was to uncheck the "Use Office applications to sync Office files that I open" box in the OneDrive app settings:

  

  I can reproduce the problem Dave described by checking this box, so for at least my setup this change appears to be the key.  It would seem that unchecking this box would have implications for simultaneous editing of Office documents, but I do not seem to have  problems doing so with it unchecked.

  Paul

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  Jason

  • December 02, 2021 22:27

  Thanks for the clarification, Dave and thank you Paul for the idea to uncheck the sync option, which I've never considered before. I'll have to play around with that a little.

  I did just notice that I can work on an Excel file using an Internet Browser while running GoldSim models that interact with Excel without causing conflicts. At least, I haven't noticed any conflicts yet. Have you tried opening the online version of the Excel file instead of the desktop version?

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  Hoekstra, David

  • December 02, 2021 23:05

  That sounds like a good workaround.  I try to avoid the online version but for simple updates that might be a good option.  I need to put a internal guideline for working with OneDrive out to the SRK GoldSim users as we develop them as we are finishing up our Sharepoint rollout.

  Cheers,

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