Adding data from Microsoft Excel .xlsx file fails in Spotfire Analyst with the error "Unexpected xml tag"

Products	Versions
Spotfire Analyst	12.2.0 HF-002 and lower, 12.0.2 LTS HF-010 and lower, 11.4.5 LTS HF-026 and lower.

Description

When adding data in the Spotfire Analyst client from a Microsft Excel .xlsx file which contains a link to an external workbook, the operation may fail with the following error:

Error message: Could not read the selected data.

AggregateException at :
One or more errors occurred. (HRESULT: 80131500)

Stack Trace:

Aggregated exception:

ImportException at Spotfire.Dxp.Data:
Failed to execute data source query for data source "MyDataFile". (HRESULT: 80131500)

Stack Trace:
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataSourceConnection.<GetPromptModels>d__47.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Access.AddData.DataSourceAddDataFlow.ConfigureDataSourcesStep.<GetPromptRequests>d__7.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Internal.EnumerableExtensions.<EnumerateWithExceptionHandling>d__6`2.MoveNext()

ImportException at Spotfire.Dxp.Data:
Unexpected xml tag. (HRESULT: 80131500)

Stack Trace:
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.OutOfProcessDataSourceConnection.TryExecute(Action f)
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.OutOfProcessDataSourceConnection.TryExecute[T](Func`1 f)
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.OutOfProcessDataSourceConnection.<GetPromptModelsCore>d__14.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.DataSourceConnection.<GetPromptModels>d__47.MoveNext()

XmlException at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base:
Unexpected xml tag. (HRESULT: 80131940)

Stack Trace:
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.XmlReaders.Excel2007Parser.ParseExternalWorkbook(XmlReader reader, RelationCollection relations)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.XmlSerialization.FileDataHolder.ParseExternalLink(String relationId)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.XmlReaders.Excel2007Parser.ParseExternalLinksWorkbookPart(XmlReader reader)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.XmlReaders.Excel2007Parser.ParseWorkbook(XmlReader reader, RelationCollection relations, FileDataHolder holder, String bookPath, Stream streamStart, Stream streamEnd, List`1& lstBookViews, Stream functionGroups)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.XmlSerialization.FileDataHolder.ParseWorkbook(List`1& themeColors)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.XmlSerialization.FileDataHolder.ParseDocument(List`1& themeColors)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.ApplicationImpl.CreateWorkbook(Object parent, Stream stream, ExcelVersion version, ExcelParseOptions options)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.Collections.WorkbooksCollection.Open(Stream stream, ExcelVersion version, ExcelParseOptions options)
at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Implementation.Collections.WorkbooksCollection.Open(Stream stream, ExcelOpenType openType)
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.Excel2DataSourceSettings.<OpenWorkbook>d__63`1.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.Excel2DataSourceSettings.<ApplyHeuristics>d__60`1.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.Excel2FileDataSource.<GetPromptModels>d__19`1.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.DataSourceOutOfProcessConnection.CallbackConnection.<GetPromptModelsCore>d__4.MoveNext()
at Spotfire.Dxp.Data.Import.OutOfProcessDataSourceConnection.SubprocessImpl..ctor(String[] args)

Environment

All

Resolution

This issue is seen with Excel files which contain external links. The error "XmlException at Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base: Unexpected xml tag" comes from Syncfusion which is the third-party component that Spotfire uses to work with Excel files. This is a known defect that has been fixed.

To resolve this issue, upgrade your Spotfire client to the latest hotfix for your installed version: