How to use the WEBSERVICE function

The WEBSERVICE function gets data from a web service on the Internet or Intranet based on a given URL.

1. Introduction

What is a URL?

A URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator which is used to navigate to a specific website or asset on the Internet. A DNS server which stands for Domain Name System translates a URL to a numeric IP address that servers use to communicate.
URL - wikipedia

What is a web service?

A web service is a software system that provides a functionality or a resource over the internet by other applications (like Excel) or systems.
Web service - Wikipedia

Many websites uses RSS which stands for (Really Simple Syndication that lets you read for example news without having to go to the news web site. RSS - wikipedia

A RSS reader lets you subscribe to RSS feeds, however, you can use Excel to import RSS feeds. A RSS feed consists of XML data.

What is XML?

XML is an abbreviation for eXtensible Markup Language, it is a text format for storing and transporting data.
Introduction to XML - w3schools

Excel has a function named FILTERXML that lets you extract data from a RSS feed containing XML data.

The function returns a #VALUE error if the returned value is above the cell limit of 32767 characters.

Formula in cell B2:

2. Syntax

The WEBSERVICE function has only one argument named url.

WEBSERVICE(url)

url	Required.  An URL (Uniform Resource allocator) to a webpage on the internet or the intranet.

3. Example

The WEBSERVICE function gets data from a web service on the Internet specified in the url argument.

Formula in cell B2:

The basic example above demonstrates how to get the contents of a webpage located at www.google.com (url) with the WEBSERVICE function from a web server.

What is a web server? A web server is a web service that distributes html pages to web browsers on the Internet. You can use Excel to get the html code to a worksheet with the WEBSERVICE function.

4. Function not working

HTTP:// and HTTPS:// are supported.

• What is HTTPS://? The HTTPS protocol is a secure version of HTTP. HTTPS uses encryption (typically TLS or SSL) to protect data transmitted between the client and server, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. HTTPS is commonly used for secure web browsing, online transactions, and sensitive data exchange.
• What is HTTP://? The HTTP protocol is an insecure version of HTTPS. HTTP does not use encryption making it vulnerable to eavesdropping, tampering, and man-in-the-middle attacks. HTTP is still widely used for non-sensitive data exchange such as accessing public websites, but it's being gradually replaced by HTTPS.

An URL larger than 2048 returns #VALUE error.

Protocols like ftp:// and file:// are not supported, the WEBSERVICE function returns #VALUE error if these protocols are used.

• What is ftp://? ftp:// indicates that the resource is being accessed using the FTP protocol which is used for transferring files over the internet. FTP is a stateful protocol meaning it establishes a connection with the server and maintains it throughout the file transfer process. FTP is commonly used for uploading and geting files to/from servers, but it's being replaced by more secure alternatives like SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS.
• What is file://? file:// indicates that the resource is a local file on the client's system. The file:// scheme is used to access files on the local file system,such as documents, images, or executables. When a file:// URL is used the client's operating system or browser will attempt to open the file using the associated application or handler.

4.1 Troubleshooting the error value

When you encounter an error value in a cell a warning symbol appears, displayed in the image above. Press with mouse on it to see a pop-up menu that lets you get more information about the error.

1. The first line describes the error if you press with left mouse button on it.
2. The second line opens a pane that explains the error in greater detail.
3. The third line takes you to the "Evaluate Formula" tool, a dialog box appears allowing you to examine the formula in greater detail.
4. This line lets you ignore the error value meaning the warning icon disappears, however, the error is still in the cell.
5. The fifth line lets you edit the formula in the Formula bar.
6. The sixth line opens the Excel settings so you can adjust the Error Checking Options.

Here are a few of the most common Excel errors you may encounter.

#NULL error - This error occurs most often if you by mistake use a space character in a formula where it shouldn't be. Excel interprets a space character as an intersection operator. If the ranges don't intersect an #NULL error is returned. The #NULL! error occurs when a formula attempts to calculate the intersection of two ranges that do not actually intersect. This can happen when the wrong range operator is used in the formula, or when the intersection operator (represented by a space character) is used between two ranges that do not overlap. To fix this error double check that the ranges referenced in the formula that use the intersection operator actually have cells in common.

#SPILL error - The #SPILL! error occurs only in version Excel 365 and is caused by a dynamic array being to large, meaning there are cells below and/or to the right that are not empty. This prevents the dynamic array formula expanding into new empty cells.

#DIV/0 error - This error happens if you try to divide a number by 0 (zero) or a value that equates to zero which is not possible mathematically.

#VALUE error - The #VALUE error occurs when a formula has a value that is of the wrong data type. Such as text where a number is expected or when dates are evaluated as text.

#REF error - The #REF error happens when a cell reference is invalid. This can happen if a cell is deleted that is referenced by a formula.

#NAME error - The #NAME error happens if you misspelled a function or a named range.

#NUM error - The #NUM error shows up when you try to use invalid numeric values in formulas, like square root of a negative number.

#N/A error - The #N/A error happens when a value is not available for a formula or found in a given cell range, for example in the VLOOKUP or MATCH functions.

#GETTING_DATA error - The #GETTING_DATA error shows while external sources are loading, this can indicate a delay in fetching the data or that the external source is unavailable right now.

4.2 The formula returns an unexpected value

To understand why a formula returns an unexpected value we need to examine the calculations steps in detail. Luckily, Excel has a tool that is really handy in these situations. Here is how to troubleshoot a formula:

1. Select the cell containing the formula you want to examine in detail.
2. Go to tab “Formulas” on the ribbon.
3. Press with left mouse button on "Evaluate Formula" button. A dialog box appears.
   The formula appears in a white field inside the dialog box. Underlined expressions are calculations being processed in the next step. The italicized expression is the most recent result. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog box allows you to evaluate the formula in smaller calculations which you control.
4. Press with left mouse button on the "Evaluate" button located at the bottom of the dialog box to process the underlined expression.
5. Repeat pressing the "Evaluate" button until you have seen all calculations step by step. This allows you to examine the formula in greater detail and hopefully find the culprit.
6. Press "Close" button to dismiss the dialog box.

There is also another way to debug formulas using the function key F9. F9 is especially useful if you have a feeling that a specific part of the formula is the issue, this makes it faster than the "Evaluate Formula" tool since you don't need to go through all calculations to find the issue..

1. Enter Edit mode: Double-press with left mouse button on the cell or press F2 to enter Edit mode for the formula.
2. Select part of the formula: Highlight the specific part of the formula you want to evaluate. You can select and evaluate any part of the formula that could work as a standalone formula.
3. Press F9: This will calculate and display the result of just that selected portion.
4. Evaluate step-by-step: You can select and evaluate different parts of the formula to see intermediate results.
5. Check for errors: This allows you to pinpoint which part of a complex formula may be causing an error.

The image above shows REPT("A",9999) converted to hard-coded value using the F9 key. The WEBSERVICE function requires a string smaller than 2048 characterswhich is not the case in this example. We have found what is wrong with the formula.

Tips!

• View actual values: Selecting a cell reference and pressing F9 will show the actual values in those cells.
• Exit safely: Press Esc to exit Edit mode without changing the formula. Don't press Enter, as that would replace the formula part with the calculated value.
• Full recalculation: Pressing F9 outside of Edit mode will recalculate all formulas in the workbook.

Remember to be careful not to accidentally overwrite parts of your formula when using F9. Always exit with Esc rather than Enter to preserve the original formula. However, if you make a mistake overwriting the formula it is not the end of the world. You can “undo” the action by pressing keyboard shortcut keys CTRL + z or pressing the “Undo” button

4.3 Other errors

Floating-point arithmetic may give inaccurate results in Excel - Article

Floating-point errors are usually very small, often beyond the 15th decimal place, and in most cases don't affect calculations significantly.

5. WEBSERVICE function and ENCODEURL function

The WEBSERVICE function requires a valid url to work properly, the ENCODEURL function lets you replace certain characters to a percentage and a hexadecimal code.

You can then use the url in the WEBSERVICE function to get the data you want.

Formula in cell C3:

The file name Budget 2025.xlsx contains a character that needs to be replaced with the corresponding hexadecimal code in order for the url to function properly. This formula is constructing a URL by combining a fixed base URL with an encoded version of the contents of cell C2.

1. "https://www.example.com/":
   • This is a fixed string representing the base URL.
2. & (ampersand):
   • This is the concatenation operator in Excel. It's used to join text strings together.
3. ENCODEURL(C2):
   • ENCODEURL is a function that encodes text to be used in a URL.
   • It takes the content of cell C2 as its argument.
   • In this case, C2 contains "Budget 2025.xlsx"
4. The ENCODEURL function will convert "Budget 2025.xlsx" to a URL-safe format:
   • Spaces are replaced with "%20"
   • Special characters are converted to their URL-encoded equivalents

So, if C2 contains "Budget 2025.xlsx", the ENCODEURL function will convert it to: "Budget%202025.xlsx"
The final result of the entire formula would be: "https://www.example.com/Budget%202025.xlsx"

This creates a full URL that could be used to link to the "Budget 2025.xlsx" file on the example.com website. The encoding ensures that the filename is properly formatted for use in a URL preventing issues that could arise from spaces or special characters in the filename.

Explaining formula in cell C3

Step 1 - Create a text string in the formula

The double quotes lets you use strings in a Excel formula, the string must start and end with a double quote.

"https://www.example.com/"

Step 2 - Encode url

The ENCODEURL function returns a URL-encoded string.

Function syntax: ENCODEURL(text)

ENCODEURL(C2)

becomes

ENCODEURL("Budget 2025.xlsx")

and returns

"Budget%202025.xlsx"

Step 3 - Concatenate website and file name

The ampersand lets you concatenate text strings in a Excel formula.

"https://www.example.com/"&ENCODEURL(C2)

becomes

"https://www.example.com/"&"Budget%202025.xlsx"

and returns

"https://www.example.com/Budget%202025.xlsx"

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Functions in 'Web' category

The WEBSERVICE function function is one of 4 functions in the 'Web' category.

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