You can find out if the file is already open in Excel via ActiveX.
try
% Launch Excel.
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
% Try to open a workbook.
if exist(excelFullFileName, 'file')
% Open up the existing workbook named in the variable fullFileName.
Excel.Workbooks.Open(excelFullFileName);
else
message = sprintf('File does not exist:\n%s', excelFullFileName);
end
catch ME
% You get here is the file is already open in Excel.
errorMessage = sprintf('Error in function %s() at line %d.\n\nError Message:\n%s\nDo you already have the file %s open in Excel?', ...
ME.stack(1).name, ME.stack(1).line, ME.message, excelFullFileName);
fprintf(1, '%s\n', errorMessage);
uiwait(warndlg(errorMessage));
end
But here's a more general purpose chunk of code I wrote to determine if ANY process in Windows is running, and optionally to pause and wait for it to finish. Save the code below as "find_running_process.m" and run it.
% find_running_process.m
% Finds out if a process is running.
% Let's you monitor the process until it shuts down.
clc; % Clear the command window.
workspace; % Make sure the workspace panel is showing.
format long g;
format compact;
% Execute the system command
% tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq region_editor.exe"
% First define the name of the program we're looking for.
% You can run it then execute "tasklist" in a
% CMD console window if you don't know the exact name.
taskToLookFor = 'Excel.exe';
% Now make up the command line with the proper argument
% that will find only the process we are looking for.
commandLine = sprintf('tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq %s"', taskToLookFor)
% Now execute that command line and accept the result into "result".
[status result] = system(commandLine)
% Look for our program's name in the result variable.
itIsRunning = strfind(lower(result), lower(taskToLookFor))
if itIsRunning
message = sprintf('%s is running.', taskToLookFor);
uiwait(helpdlg(message));
else
message = sprintf('%s is not running.', taskToLookFor);
uiwait(helpdlg(message));
return; % Nothing else to do.
end
message = sprintf('Do you want to monitor it until it finishes?');
button = questdlg(message, 'Wait for shutdown?', 'Yes', 'No', 'Yes');
drawnow; % Refresh screen to get rid of dialog box remnants.
if strcmpi(button, 'No')
return;
end
% Go into a loop waiting for it to finish.
maxChecks = 10; % Max seconds to wait before exiting - a failsafe.
numberOfChecks = 1;
while itIsRunning && numberOfChecks < maxChecks
% Now execute that command line and accept the result into "result".
[status result] = system(commandLine);
% Look for our program's name in the result variable.
itIsRunning = strfind(lower(result), lower(taskToLookFor));
if itIsRunning
message = sprintf('%s is still running after %d seconds.\n',...
taskToLookFor, numberOfChecks);
fprintf('%s', message);
else
message = sprintf('%s is not running anymore.\n', taskToLookFor);
fprintf('%s', message);
uiwait(helpdlg(message));
break; % Exit loop.
end
pause(1); % Wait a second before checking again.
numberOfChecks = numberOfChecks + 1;
end
msgbox('Done with demo!');
