Read file excel version 4 from Java

Question

I want to read an Excel file (version 4 of Office) that has been generated by a Power Builder app. This is the code:

File xls = new File("D:/excel.xls");
InputStream fis = new FileInputStream(xls);
HSSFWorkbook book = new HSSFWorkbook(fis);

When I try to read the Excel file with the POI library v3.17, it throws this exception:

org.apache.poi.poifs.filesystem.NotOLE2FileException: Invalid header signature; read 0x0010000200040009, expected 0xE11AB1A1E011CFD0 - Your file appears not to be a valid OLE2 document
        at org.apache.poi.poifs.storage.HeaderBlock.<init>(HeaderBlock.java:144)

As the Excel file is a very old version I try to read it with the POI v3.0-FINAL (I cannot find an older version) and throws this exception:

java.io.IOException: Invalid header signature; read 4503608217567241, expected -2226271756974174256
    at org.apache.poi.poifs.storage.HeaderBlockReader.<init>(HeaderBlockReader.java:100)

I tried to read the Excel file with ODBC

String myDB = "jdbc: odbc: Driver = {Microsoft Excel Driver (*.xls)}; DBQ = d: /excel.xls;" + "DriverID = 22; READONLY = false";
Connection with = DriverManager.getConnection (myDB, "", "");

But it throws the exception:

java.sql.SQLException: [Microsoft] [ODBC Driver Manager] The name of
the data source is not found and no default drivers were specified

I have also tried to read the Excel file with the jxl library

Workbook workbook = Workbook.getWorkbook (new File ("d:/excel.xls"));

But throw this exception:

jxl.read.biff.BiffException: Unable to recognize OLE stream

Can anyone help me read an Excel file version 4 (1994) with any Java library?

I'm using JDK 1.7

Answer 1

The Apache POI HSSF format is for the .xls files. The file you attempted to read is an .xml. Try using the XSSF classes.

XSSFWorkbook book = new XSSFWorkbook(fis);