[LON-CAPA-users] Saving Excel file from IE

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:01:03 -0700

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Yes this sounds weird. I am also concerned to understand an explanation of
this behavior.   I suspect this only happens when one chooses "Save", as
opposed to "Save as"?  I'm not sure what happens in the former case, but the
opened file appears to have a version number [1] added to its name and when
one tries to "Save", it says there is a "sharing violation".   It is not
clear to me exactly where it is trying to save this file, nor why it adds
the version number, nor the reason for the sharing vilolation.  However
there is no such file to be found by searching on the local drive.

On the other hand, choosing to "Save as" allows one to specify the directory
and filename, and this works fine.

It might seem that until "Save as" has been used, there exists no local file
associated with the name, and so "Save" is pointing to some virtual location
which is  tied up with the open xls process?

I would guess that this behaviour and semantics are peculiar to IE7 and that
other browser downloads might behave in a more apparently straight-forward
fashion.

For example, clicking on the link in Firefox I get an option to Open the
file but must specify which application to use.  If I choose to open with
Excel, then the file opens "Read only".  Editing that and trying to save,
results in excel presenting the opportunity to rename the file about to be
saved.  I suppose this is because saving to the same file name results in
the conflict with the "Read only" status of the opened file.  I suppose the
"Read only" status is the browsers way of ensuring that the initially
downloaded file remains an authentic copy.

Presumably something similar is going on with IE, but microsoft messages
always seem to have been composed by mystics.

That's my 2-cents worth for tonight.  Maybe somebody more knowledgable can
shed some light as to how this can be made more transparent for students.

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 7:04 PM, <Robert_Brewington@er.monroe.edu> wrote:

> I am having a strange problem, and my IT department isn't having any
> success tracking this down. I'm hoping someone out there may have some
> suggestions...
>
> I have uploaded an Excel spreadsheet (97-2003 .xls format) to LonCapa
> (actually, about 50 of them). Within a LonCapa problem, I have a link that
> allows the student to download the spreadsheet.
>
> The students are running IE7. The spreadsheet downloads into IE; the
> student then modifies the spreadsheet just fine.
>
> The problem: when the student tries to save the spreadsheet to a local
> disk, he gets an error that the file cannot be saved; they do not have
> sufficient permission to save. This occurs regardless of whether they save
> to the local C: drive, a network drive, or a local removable USB thumb
> drive.
>
> As a workaround, the student is able to download the file to disk, then
> open it directly in Excel and save it. Unfortunately, it seems that high
> school students cannot learn to do this. They click on the link about 85% of
> the time, ignoring the Bold, RED font directions not to do that. :(
>
> Some of them have found another way to mess it up - they successfully
> download the file to disk, but then open it directly in IE instead of
> opening it in Excel - apparently they expect all things to work within the
> browser. In this case, the same behavior occurs - the file cannot be saved.
>
> This sounds to me like some sort of security setting within IE, to try and
> avoid malicious hacks by not letting Office files be saved when opened
> directly in IE. But, I can't find a setting in the IE options that sounds
> like it controls this....
>
> Hopefully someone can suggest a direction to try - this is weird.
>
> Thanks,
> brew
>
>
> _______________________________________________ LON-CAPA-users mailing list
> LON-CAPA-users@mail.lon-capa.org
> http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-users

-- 
Raymond J. Batchelor, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
Canada
V5A 1S8

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<div dir="ltr">Yes this sounds weird. I am also concerned to understand an explanation of this behavior. &nbsp; I suspect this only happens when one chooses &quot;Save&quot;, as opposed to &quot;Save as&quot;?&nbsp; I&#39;m not sure what happens in the former case, but the opened file appears to have a version number [1] added to its name and when one tries to &quot;Save&quot;, it says there is a &quot;sharing violation&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; It is not clear to me exactly where it is trying to save this file, nor why it adds the version number, nor the reason for the sharing vilolation.&nbsp; However there is no such file to be found by searching on the local drive. 
 On the other hand, choosing to &quot;Save as&quot; allows one to specify the directory and filename, and this works fine.&nbsp; It might seem that until &quot;Save as&quot; has been used, there exists no local file associated with the name, and so &quot;Save&quot; is pointing to some virtual location which is&nbsp; tied up with the open xls process? 
 I would guess that this behaviour and semantics are peculiar to IE7 and that other browser downloads might behave in a more apparently straight-forward fashion. For example, clicking on the link in Firefox I get an option to Open the file but must specify which application to use.&nbsp; If I choose to open with Excel, then the file opens &quot;Read only&quot;.&nbsp; Editing that and trying to save, results in excel presenting the opportunity to rename the file about to be saved.&nbsp; I suppose this is because saving to the same file name results in the conflict with the &quot;Read only&quot; status of the opened file.&nbsp; I suppose the &quot;Read only&quot; status is the browsers way of ensuring that the initially downloaded file remains an authentic copy. 
 Presumably something similar is going on with IE, but microsoft messages always seem to have been composed by mystics. That&#39;s my 2-cents worth for tonight.&nbsp; Maybe somebody more knowledgable can shed some light as to how this can be made more transparent for students. 
 <div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 7:04 PM, &lt;<a href="mailto:Robert_Brewington@er.monroe.edu">Robert_Brewington@er.monroe.edu</a>&gt; wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I am having a strange problem, and my IT department isn&#39;t having any success tracking this down. I&#39;m hoping someone out there may have some suggestions... I have uploaded an Excel spreadsheet (97-2003 .xls format) to LonCapa (actually, about 50 of them). Within a LonCapa problem, I have a link that allows the student to download the spreadsheet. 
 The students are running IE7. The spreadsheet downloads into IE; the student then modifies the spreadsheet just fine. The problem: when the student tries to save the spreadsheet to a local disk, he gets an error that the file cannot be saved; they do not have sufficient permission to save. This occurs regardless of whether they save to the local C: drive, a network drive, or a local removable USB thumb drive. 
 As a workaround, the student is able to download the file to disk, then open it directly in Excel and save it. Unfortunately, it seems that high school students cannot learn to do this. They click on the link about 85% of the time, ignoring the Bold, RED font directions not to do that. :( 
 Some of them have found another way to mess it up - they successfully download the file to disk, but then open it directly in IE instead of opening it in Excel - apparently they expect all things to work within the browser. In this case, the same behavior occurs - the file cannot be saved. 
 This sounds to me like some sort of security setting within IE, to try and avoid malicious hacks by not letting Office files be saved when opened directly in IE. But, I can&#39;t find a setting in the IE options that sounds like it controls this.... 
 Hopefully someone can suggest a direction to try - this is weird. Thanks, brew 
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</blockquote></div> -- Raymond J. Batchelor, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC Canada V5A 1S8 
</div>

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