Convert .xlsm to .xlsx in R - r

Question

I would like to convert an Excel file (say it's name is "Jimmy") that is saved as a macro enabled workbook (Jimmy.xlsm) to Jimmy.xlsx.
I need this to be done in a coding environment. I cannot simply change this by opening the file in Excel and assigning a different file-type. I am currently programming in R. If I use the function
file.rename("Jimmy.xlsm", "Jimmy.xlsx")
the file becomes corrupted.

Answer 1

In your framework you have to read in the sheet and write it back out. Suppose you have an XLSM file (with macros, I presume) called "testXLSM2X.xlsm" containing one sheet with tabular columns of data. This will do the trick:
library(xlsx)
r <- read.xlsx("testXLSMtoX.xlsm", 1) # read the first sheet
# provides a data frame
# use the first column in the spreadsheet to create row names then delete that column from the data frame
# otherwise you will get an extra column of row index numbers in the first column
r2w<-data.frame(r[-1],row.names=r[,1])
w <- write.xlsx(r2w,"testXLSMtoX.xlsx") # write the sheet
The macros will be stripped out, of course.
That's an answer but I would question what you are trying to accomplish. In general it is easier to control R from Excel than Excel from R. I use REXCEL from http://rcom.univie.ac.at/, which is not open source but pretty robust.

Answer 2

Here is a function that converts XLSM files to XLSX files with the R package RDCOMClient :
convert_XLSM_File_To_XLSX <- function(path_XLSM_File, path_XLSX_File)
{
xlApp <- COMCreate("Excel.Application")
xlApp[['Visible']] <- FALSE
xlApp[["DisplayAlerts"]] <- FALSE
xlWbk <- xlApp$Workbooks()$Open(path_XLSM_File)
xlWbk$SaveAs(path_XLSX_File, 51)
xlWbk$Close()
xlApp$Quit()
}
library(RDCOMClient)
convert_XLSM_File_To_XLSX(path_XLSM_File, path_XLSX_File)