title: Read Excel file into R with XLConnect package from URL
body: <p>There are lots of good examples out there on how to read Microsoft Excel files into R with the XLConnect package, but I can't find any examples of how to read in an Excel file directly from a URL.  The reproducible example below returns a "<code>FileNotFoundException (Java)</code>". But, I know the file exists because I can pull it up directly by pasting the URL into a browser.</p>
  
  <pre><code>fname &lt;- "https://www.misoenergy.org/Library/Repository/Market%20Reports/20140610_sr_nd_is.xls"
  sheet &lt;- c("Sheet1")
  data  &lt;- readWorksheetFromFile(fname, sheet, header=TRUE, startRow=11, startCol=2, endCol=13)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Although, the URL is prefixed with "<code>https:</code>" it is a public file that does not require a username or password.</p>
  
  <p>I have tried to download the file first using <code>download.file(fname, destfile="test.xls")</code>  and got a message that says it was downloaded but when I try to open it in Excel to check to see if it was successful i get a Excel popup box that says "..found unreadable content in 'test.xls'.   </p>
  
  <p>Below are the specifics of my system:</p>
  
  <p>Computer:         64-bit Dell running 
    Operating System: Windows 7 Professional
    R version:        R-3.1.0</p>
  
  <p>Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.</p>