I happend to stumbleupon a post from SAS support blog regarding the ERROR message in the LOG file when trying to output a SAS dataset in the form of Excel sheet.
Direct link:
ERROR: The MS Excel table (worksheetname) has been opened for OUTPUT.
This table already exists, or there is a name conflict with an existing object. This table will not be replaced. This engine does not support the REPLACE option.
ERROR: Export unsuccessful. See SAS Log for details.
When you use the EXPORT procedure on an Excel workbook, the workbook might be corrupted and the following error message generated:
This problem can occur if a previous EXPORT procedure attempts to export a SAS data set in the workbook that does not contain any observations. The following example illustrates an export procedure on such a data set:
%macro blowup;
data a;
a=1;
stop;
run;
%do i=1 %to 2;
proc export data=a outfile="c:\temp\test.xls"
dbms=excel2000 replace;
run;
%end;
%mend;
%blowup;
The problem occurs because the SAS data set does not contain any data to export. As a result, a corrupted structure is created.
To circumvent the problem, do one of the following:
•Use the SQL procedure with a DROP TABLE statement to drop the empty data set before replacing it, as shown in the following example:
%macro blowup;
data a;
a=1;
stop;
run;
%do i=1 %to 2;
libname test excel 'c:\sastest\test2.xls';
proc sql;
drop table test.a;
quit;
libname test clear;
proc export data=a outfile="c:\sastest\test2.xls"
dbms=excel2000 replace;
run;
%end;
%mend;
%blowup;
