Export excel file from database table and then make few columns non-editable, hidden and few columns have drop down with pre-populated list of values

Question

We have a use case to export excel file from database table and then make few columns non-editable, hidden and few columns have drop down with pre-populated list of values. 
 It seems Appian deprecated most of the excel related plugins which used to take excel templates and achieve above mentioned functionalities. The existing OOTB Appian plugins directly deals with database as a plain excel read/write. 
 Any possibilities / work around to to make columns non-editable, hidden and drop down values after data is exported to excel.

Abhay Dalsaniya · Accepted Answer

Following are the steps to create XML based formatted excel file. Manually create excel with required formatting. Save as xml. Open xml file in text editor. Copy XML code in Appian expr rule - rule!DR_UT_XML(). Replace " with - "& char(34) &" Cover entire code in "". Create new .xls file (Template) and upload to KC. Write -> ###input### in cell A1. Create PM. Insert node -> "Text Doc from Template". Provide following configuration in template: Template: Template. New document name: NewExcelFileFromTemplate Save in folder: KC Folder. input: =rule!DR_UT_XML()

Export excel file from database table and then make few columns non-editable, hidden and few columns have drop down with pre-populated list of values

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