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How to inject VBA code into Excel .xlsm without using Interop?
(2 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
Scope:
I am generating automated reports using excel, but since we have restrictions on our server, we can't install Excel.Interop or use any COM object to perform such action.
We have been using EPPLUS as our main helper on this task but it has some serious restrictions when it comes to more intricated things such as PivotCharts and Macros.
We have just finished the project, missing only the PivotCharts since EPPLUS has no support for them.
Question:
How can we :
A) Write Macros to a .xlsm file? (We could write one named "Auto_Open" so that excel would run it uppon opening, creating the charts and stuff)
OR
B) Run a macro within our code to generate those charts after putting all the needed data there?
Not using Excel.Interop is a must at this moment. We are open for some suggestions such as
SpreadsheetGear and EasyXLS, but we can't find any sample or piece of code that actually shows how to Write or Run macros.
Thanks in advance
I realise this question is a bit old, but in the interest of helping future visitors I'll add that the current version of EPPlus (4.0.4 at time of writing) supports the inclusion of VBA.
Where excelDoc is your ExcelPackage, you can drop it in using something along the lines of:
excelDoc.Workbook.CreateVBAProject();
StringBuilder vbaCode = new StringBuilder();
vbaCode.AppendLine("Private Sub Workbook_Open()");
vbaCode.AppendLine(" Application.DisplayFormulaBar = False");
vbaCode.AppendLine("End Sub");
excelDoc.Workbook.CodeModule.Code = vbaCode.ToString();
Hope this helps.
Open Excel
Press Alt+F11
You will now be in the VBA IDE.
To run something on Auto Open:
Select ThisWorkbook From the VBAProject in Project Explorer on the Left of your screen
There are Two drop downs near the top of the window one will say (General) and The other (Declarations) click on (General) and select workbook
Excel should automatically bring you to the Open declaration.
Anything written in this sub will execute on open.
Rather than attempting to programatically write macros to an xlsm file, why don't you create a template that already contains the macros you want. Then generate your reports from this template.
When a user opens the report (and allows macros to run), then your macro will run and do the manipultations you want (your option A). Your Auto_Open macro could check some suitable condition (e.g. presence of a value in a specific location, perhaps on a VeryHidden sheet so the user can't easily interfere with it) before doing any work, so that it doesn't run when you open an "empty" template.
As for your option B (run the macro before providing the report to the user): this isn't feasible without Excel Automation.
Related
I have a C# ExcelDna XLL function library that I register during startup from a VSTO add-in.
this.Application.RegisterXLL(xllPath);
When I shell execute an Excel file (Process.Start the .xlsx file) then most of the time everything works and the functions evaluate when the workbook opens.
When opening the workbook in this manner Excel reuses a currently running EXCEL.EXE process if one exists. Most of the time this is fine, but under certain conditions, for example if Excel was opened through COM and then closed, then when the Excel instance is closed, it doesn't really close, but instead shuts down all of its add-ins and unregisters all XLLs but remains alive. When process invoking into one of these zombie processes the functions, obviously, no longer evaluate.
To attempt to get around this I have tried to open Excel directly, using the .xlsx file as a command line parameter, but in this case there seems to be some kind of race condition and the workbook opens before the XLL has finished registering and the functions always evaluate as #NAME. If the cell is modified and reevaluated then the function correctly evaluates. Calling Application.CalculateFull() and all possible variations has no effect.
If I open a file via Explorer (i.e. double clicking on it) then strangely it now returns #N\A rather than #NAME but still it is the same problem.
I've even tried registering the XLL so it loads on start-up (see here) and it still doesn't work.
Has anyone else encountered this and found a reliable way to get XLL functions to evaluate when opening an Excel instance?
We've found that, if the Add-In isn't loaded properly and the functions don't calculate, performing a global search and replace (e.g. search for = replace with =) forces a recalc when the regular recalc doesn't work. You could potentially automate this with VBA Application.OnTime
I have a C# console application that runs many Excel macros.
Each macro makes use of a shared read-only xlsm file that contains many helper functions "helperroutinesnetwork.xlsm". It is effectively a factory for lots of shared vba functionality.
If the C# console crashes irretrievably, when a workbook plus helperroutinesnetwork are open we are finding that the helper workbook gets effectively blacklisted and added to Excel's disabled books.
What this means is that any subsequent macros that need the helper book cannot find or use it until we manually move it out of the Disable list like so:
Is it possible to either:
Write a script that detects if it has been added to the disabled list and even to enable it?
Ensure it is always protected and never allowed to be added to the Disabled add-ins list?
I have an application that uses Excel 2013. I need a way to disable all macros. I can not do it on workbook open because I do not have access to the open methods, the workbook is opened by another COM application then passed to me. It needs to happen prior to opening the document. What I am ultimately trying to do is set the setting found in the image below.
The best solution I found was to edit the registry. Shout out to Tim Williams for pointing me in the right direction
The key that needs to be edited is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Excel\Security\VBAWarnings
In my case I was to disable all macros by setting the value to 4
More info can be found Here
My Excel addin is written in C#, but the installer makes a call to Excel through a VBA macro. I want to get rid of VBA.
I wonder what the following VBA does to the registry. From what I see, it adds a value in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel\Options. Is that it?
Dim MyXLL As AddIn
Set MyXLL = Application.AddIns.Add(addinFile)
If (Not MyXLL Is Nothing) Then
MyXLL.Installed = True
Else
MsgBox "Failed to add XLL"
End If
You should try using excel interop from c#, instead of modifying the registry directly, which could lead to a nightmare (seriously). Also you would have to deal with different versions of office, etc.
Adding a addin via interop:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.interop.excel.addins.add(v=office.11).aspx
Installing the addin after added:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.interop.excel.addin.installed(v=office.11).aspx
Using the Addins method from VBA or automation/interop is probably the easiest method but makes it difficult to handle the situation of more than one version of Excel installed on a PC. A more comprehensive solution involves an install script writing OPENn keys (where n is 1 greater that highest current OPENn key) for each Excel version you want to install for, and reversing these actions in the uninstall script (you would also need to rewrite other OPENn keys that are higher than the OPENn key of your XLL).You can find an example script using LUA for Setup Factory here http://www.jkp-ads.com/articles/AddinsAndSetupFactory.asp
I am currently hosting an IE Browser control in a .NET (2.0) Form and using it to load Office files such as Excel and Word thusly:
_ieCtrl.Navigate("C:\\test.xls", False);
The hosting and loading works well except whenever I navigate to a file I am presented with a dialog that asks whether I want to save or open the file. (This is standard IE file-download behavior.) I always want to open it of course and I do not want the dialog to show.
Another issue is that when I close the window that hosts the IE control and the Office doc the document does not close and remains open on disk. This means that subsequent attempts to open the same file via my app or the native office app will fail because of the sharing violation.
Is there a programmatic way of avoiding this dialog and cleaning up resources afterward? I am asking for a programmatic answer because web research has only yielded solutions that entail modifying OS-level settings.
Bounty NOTE:
I am open to any solution to this issue that will allow me to:
Host an Excel spreadsheet inside my application
Work rather transparently (avoid usability issues like the one described above)
Avoid having to make any OS-specific changes that may affect other applications (especially icluding IE)
Is zero additional cost (no licensed 3rd party libs please) Code Project and other open source resources are OK
Not mess around with the DSO Framer ActiveX control, unless a stable version is developed/discovered
Is your intention for the user to be able to work with the Excel file in an Excel-ish way (i.e. columns, rows, formulas, etc.), possibly saving it back? If this is the case, I can't see how you can solve this problem well without relying on COM Interop with the Excel object model or by integrating third-party libraries to work with the Excel sheet. I know you said no paid solutions, but there are some feature-rich 3rd-party controls out there just for working with Excel files within applications.
I noticed in your comment to SLaks that the final product is a "dashboard of sorts". If your intention is to design a a custom dashboard application, have you considered parsing the Excel file(s) to extract the data and then presenting it in a logical manner within your application. This removes the need to directly display and work with the Excel file while still allowing you to work with the data inside that file. If you are trying to get the data outside of the file, here are two approaches among many:
You might consider using the Excel object model and COM interop to read the data from the Excel file into your application. Granted, this includes a dependency on Excel being installed, but it is a possibility. This article has some great code for getting started with reading Excel files in this way.
A better way might be to use a library that doesn't have a dependency on Excel being installed on the local system. This answer suggests using the Excel Data Reader library, available on CodePlex.
I know this answer side-steps your original answer of "hosting MS Office documents in [a] custom app," but in case what you're really interested in is the data inside those Excel files, hopefully this answer will prove helpful.
This is a horrible hack and should only be considered as a last resort: SendKeys.Send("{O}");
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.sendkeys%28VS.71%29.aspx
Something similar to
_ieCtrl.Navigate("C:\\test.xls", False);
(code to sleep or wait may be needed here)
SendKeys.Send("{O}");
Basically, you send the "o" key to the dialog so it presses the "open" option. You are simulating a keyboard presses to click the "open" button. It is hackey because
1) you may need to wait in between
calls. If you send the o key before
the dialog is up it will be missed.
Hopefully the navigate call is finished when the dialog pops (dont know behavior of control in c#). You may need to experiment with the time since different computers will open faster\slower
2) If the dialog is not shown on a
computer, you will be inserting "o"s
into it. This may cause problems when
exiting because it may popup another dialog to try and save
the changes. May be able to prevent this by opening it in read-only mode
3) Different versions or windows may need different sendkeys commands. For example, you may need to send "o" and them the "{enter}" key
4) Probably more :)
If you want to open the file in a separate Excel instance (not embedded in the WebBrowser control), you can simply call
Process.Start(#"C:\Test.xls");
Office was never meant to run in embedded mode, not in a web page or in an ActiveX Document host. Microsoft had time and time again given us the warning. From pulling dsoframer from the knowledge base to skipping the BrowserFlags registry key in Office 2007.
Move to Office add-ins, Excel Web Access or Office Web Apps as quickly as you can.