Access - open Excel file, do some coding with It and close - excel

Question

I'm trying to open an Excel file from Access and do some stuff with It, but code is not stable. Sometimes It works, other times not. Here's how I do this:
Dim FilePath As String
Dim ExcelApp As Excel.Application
FilePath = "C:\Users\Lucky\Desktop\Test.xls"
Set ExcelApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
ExcelApp.Workbooks.Open (FilePath)
With ExcelApp
'do some stuff here
End With
ExcelApp.Workbooks.Close
Set ExcelApp = Nothing
I've also noticed that once I run code, Excel starts proccess under Task Manager, that has to be killed manually in order to get code working again. Otherwise I get two types of error with Excel file:
one is that If I click Excel file, It doesn't open, It just flashes for a second and dissapears
and other is that Excel file opens in "read-only" mode...
So I reckon there is some flaw when file is closed in my code. How can I fix this ?

Answer 1

I can't see what's wrong with your code - maybe the path to the desktop?
This is the code I usually use - I've added another function to help choose the file. It uses late binding, so no need to set a reference to Excel - you don't get the IntelliSense and can't use Excel constants such as xlUp - you have to use the numerical equivalent.
Public Sub Test()
Dim oXLApp As Object
Dim oXLWrkBk As Object
Dim oXLWrkSht As Object
Dim vFile As Variant
Dim lLastRow As Long
vFile = GetFile()
Set oXLApp = CreateXL
Set oXLWrkBk = oXLApp.WorkBooks.Open(vFile, False)
Set oXLWrkSht = oXLWrkBk.WorkSheets(1) 'First sheet. Can also use "Sheet1", etc...
lLastRow = oXLWrkSht.Cells(oXLWrkSht.Rows.Count, "A").End(-4162).Row '-4162 = xlUp
MsgBox "Last row in column A is " & lLastRow
oXLWrkBk.Close False
oXLApp.Quit
Set oXLWrkBk = Nothing
Set oXLApp = Nothing
End Sub
Public Function CreateXL(Optional bVisible As Boolean = True) As Object
Dim oTmpXL As Object
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'Defer error trapping in case Excel is not running. '
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
On Error Resume Next
Set oTmpXL = GetObject(, "Excel.Application")
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'If an error occurs then create an instance of Excel. '
'Reinstate error handling. '
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
Err.Clear
On Error GoTo ERROR_HANDLER
Set oTmpXL = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
End If
oTmpXL.Visible = bVisible
Set CreateXL = oTmpXL
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Function
ERROR_HANDLER:
Select Case Err.Number
Case Else
MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & vbCr & _
" (" & Err.Description & ") in procedure CreateXL."
Err.Clear
End Select
End Function
Function GetFile(Optional startFolder As Variant = -1, Optional sFilterName As String = "") As Variant
Dim fle As Object
Dim vItem As Variant
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'Clear the file filter and add a new one. '
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Application.FileDialog(3).Filters.Clear
Application.FileDialog(3).Filters.Add "'Some File Description' Excel Files", "*.xls, *.xlsx, *.xlsm"
Set fle = Application.FileDialog(3)
With fle
.Title = "Select a file"
.AllowMultiSelect = False
If startFolder = -1 Then
.InitialFileName = CurrentProject.Path
Else
If Right(startFolder, 1) <> "\" Then
.InitialFileName = startFolder & "\"
Else
.InitialFileName = startFolder
End If
End If
If .Show <> -1 Then GoTo NextCode
vItem = .SelectedItems(1)
End With
NextCode:
GetFile = vItem
Set fle = Nothing
End Function

Answer 2

I have managed to solve my problem. There is nothing wrong with code in my question, except that instead of declaring
Dim ExcelApp As Excel.Application
It's better to use
Dim ExcelApp As Object
But much bigger problem is with code that does changes in Excel, such as this line:
x = Range(Cells(1, i), Cells(Rows.Count, i).End(xlUp)).Value
And correct synthax is:
x = ExcelApp.Range(ExcelApp.Cells(1, i), ExcelApp.Cells(ExcelApp.Rows.Count, i).End(xlUp)).Value 'maybe also better to replace xlUp with -4162
So, whenever you use some code for Excel file from Access, DON'T FORGET to reference everything to Excel object. And ofcourse, before everything, a proper reference must be set in VBA console, in my case Microsoft Office 15.0 library.