How to open and close an excel workbook in a python for loop using xlwings

Question

I need to open and close the same workbook in a python for loop without necessarily saving the workbook. I tried the following in xlwings :

import xlwings as xw

for i in range(5):
    print(i)
    book = xw.Book()
    book.app.quit()

However this will only run for the first iteration. At the second iteration I get an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "D:/TEMP/SE/python/ref.py", line 5, in <module>
    book = xw.Book('tree_template.xlsx')
  File "C:\Users\aboufira\AppData\Local\Continuum\miniconda3\envs\SE\lib\site-packages\xlwings\main.py", line 533, in __init__
    for wb in app.books:
  File "C:\Users\aboufira\AppData\Local\Continuum\miniconda3\envs\SE\lib\site-packages\xlwings\main.py", line 374, in books
    return Books(impl=self.impl.books)
  File "C:\Users\aboufira\AppData\Local\Continuum\miniconda3\envs\SE\lib\site-packages\xlwings\_xlwindows.py", line 397, in books
    return Books(xl=self.xl.Workbooks)
  File "C:\Users\aboufira\AppData\Local\Continuum\miniconda3\envs\SE\lib\site-packages\xlwings\_xlwindows.py", line 313, in xl
    self._xl = get_xl_app_from_hwnd(self._hwnd)
  File "C:\Users\aboufira\AppData\Local\Continuum\miniconda3\envs\SE\lib\site-packages\xlwings\_xlwindows.py", line 222, in get_xl_app_from_hwnd
    ptr = accessible_object_from_window(child_hwnd)
  File "C:\Users\aboufira\AppData\Local\Continuum\miniconda3\envs\SE\lib\site-packages\xlwings\_xlwindows.py", line 190, in accessible_object_from_window
    res = oledll.oleacc.AccessibleObjectFromWindow(
  File "_ctypes/callproc.c", line 948, in GetResult
OSError: [WinError -2147467259] Unspecified error

Why does this occur? How can I get xlwings to exit out of the application without causing any problems?

Answer 1

Your code was almost correct, use:

import xlwings as xw

for i in range(5):
    print(i)
    app = xw.App(visible=True)
    book = xw.Book()
    app.quit()

You can also use app = xw.App(visible=False) if you want to open a workbook without showing it.

Answer 2

Use this to suffice the pop-ups

app.display_alerts=False