In my winforms app interacting with Excel through the com interop,
I'm trying to attach to an existing Excel process if there is one. Getting the object seems to work well, but if the Excel application is minimized (which is quite likely in my use case), I don't manage to restore the window and bring it to the front.
I've tried the following statements:
try
app = (Excel.Application)Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application");
catch (Exception) { /* ignore */ }
if (app == null)
{
app = new Excel.Application();
app.Visible = true;
}
if (app.ActiveWindow.WindowState == Excel.XlWindowState.xlMinimized)
app.ActiveWindow.WindowState = Excel.XlWindowState.xlNormal;
wb = ...
wb.Activate();
None of these had any effect. How can I achieve that?
(Please Note: My problem relates to the case when there is an existing instance, so the "Visible = true" is not necessary and this thread does not apply.)
You want app.WindowState = xlNormal as app.ActiveWindow is the current sheet not the application instances main window.
Related
I am trying to create a new instance of Excel using VBA using:
Set XlApp = New Excel.Application
The problem is that this new instance of Excel doesn't load all the addins that load when I open Excel normally...Is there anything in the Excel Application object for loading in all the user-specified addins?
I'm not trying to load a specific add-in, but rather make the new Excel application behave as though the user opened it themself, so I'm really looking for a list of all the user-selected add-ins that usually load when opening Excel.
I looked into this problem again, and the Application.Addins collection seems to have all the addins listed in the Tools->Addins menu, with a boolean value stating whether or not an addin is installed. So what seems to work for me now is to loop through all addins and if .Installed = true then I set .Installed to False and back to True, and that seems to properly load my addins.
Function ReloadXLAddins(TheXLApp As Excel.Application) As Boolean
Dim CurrAddin As Excel.AddIn
For Each CurrAddin In TheXLApp.AddIns
If CurrAddin.Installed Then
CurrAddin.Installed = False
CurrAddin.Installed = True
End If
Next CurrAddin
End Function
Using CreateObject("Excel.Application") would have the same result as using New Excel.Application, unfortunately.
You will have to load the Addins that you need individually by file path & name using the Application.Addins.Add(string fileName) method.
I'm leaving this answer here for anyone else who ran into this problem, but using JavaScript.
A little background... In my company we have a 3rd party web app that used JavaScript to launch Excel and generate a spreadsheet on the fly. We also have an Excel add-in that overrides the behavior of the Save button. The add-in gives you the option of saving the file locally or in our online document management system.
After we upgraded to Windows 7 and Office 2010, we noticed a problem with our spreadsheet-generating web app. When JavaScript generated a spreadsheet in Excel, suddenly the Save button no longer worked. You would click save and nothing happened.
Using the other answers here I was able to construct a solution in JavaScript. Essentially we would create the Excel Application object in memory, then reload a specific add-in to get our save button behavior back. Here's a simplified version of our fix:
function GenerateSpreadsheet()
{
var ExcelApp = getExcel();
if (ExcelApp == null){ return; }
reloadAddIn(ExcelApp);
ExcelApp.WorkBooks.Add;
ExcelApp.Visible = true;
sheet = ExcelApp.ActiveSheet;
var now = new Date();
ExcelApp.Cells(1,1).value = 'This is an auto-generated spreadsheet, created using Javascript and ActiveX in Internet Explorer';
ExcelApp.ActiveSheet.Columns("A:IV").EntireColumn.AutoFit;
ExcelApp.ActiveSheet.Rows("1:65536").EntireRow.AutoFit;
ExcelApp.ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Select;
ExcelApp = null;
}
function getExcel() {
try {
return new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application");
} catch(e) {
alert("Unable to open Excel. Please check your security settings.");
return null;
}
}
function reloadAddIn(ExcelApp) {
// Fixes problem with save button not working in Excel,
// by reloading the add-in responsible for the custom save button behavior
try {
ExcelApp.AddIns2.Item("AddInName").Installed = false;
ExcelApp.AddIns2.Item("AddInName").Installed = true;
} catch (e) { }
}
I have created an Excel VSTO Addin which will show a message box with yes, no and cancel as button options on the close event of Current document.
I have opened 2 excel documents to edit. After I complete my edit I try to close one of them, when I click on document close button my message box will appear.
If I click on "No" then all the changes should be discarded and the document should be closed. Other documents should not be closed.
This is the code I used on Don't save action
private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
this.Application.WorkbookBeforeClose += Application_WorkbookBeforeClose;
}
private void Application_WorkbookBeforeClose(Excel.Workbook Wb, ref bool Cancel)
{
DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show("Do you want to save changes to " + Wb.Name + "?", "Microsoft Excel ", MessageBoxButtons.YesNoCancel, MessageBoxIcon.Warning, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1);
switch (result)
{
case DialogResult.Yes:
Wb.Save();
break;
case DialogResult.No:
int count = this.Application.Workbooks.Count;
if(count > 0)
{
if (count == 1)
{
Excel.Application excel =Globals.ThisAddIn.Application;
Workbooks workbooks = excel.Workbooks;
foreach (Workbook wb in workbooks)
{
wb.Close(false, missing, missing);
}
workbooks = null;
excel.Quit();
excel = null;
}
else
{
Wb.Close(false, missing, missing);
}
}
break;
case DialogResult.Cancel:
Cancel = true;
break;
}
}
If morethan one excel document is opened for edit, then Excel vsto addin should close the particular excel docuemnent in which the close actions is performed and other documents should remain opened. My method closes the document but not closing the application.
How to close the Excel Application completely? my excel appear like this
The following code works for me, but it's important to keep in mind that the add-in technology wasn't really created with quitting the host application from within the add-in. So, "your mileage may vary".
Unlike the code in the question, this does not use Marshal.ReleaseComObject. This method is a "last resort" and forces an immediate release of the object. Once an object has been force-released the code can no longer work with it - but VSTO needs to do its internal clean-up. The method should only be used if the standard methods of releasing COM objects aren't doing the job. VSTO, in any case, as part of its "service" to the developer, takes care of standard releasing of COM objects properly declared and instantiated in the project. So it's enough, really, to set objects to null when they're no longer needed, which releases them for standard garbage collection. When VSTO goes out-of-process the objects will be released at the COM level, at the very latest.
private void btnQuitExcel_Click(object sender, RibbonControlEventArgs e)
{
Excel.Application xlApp = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application;
Excel.Workbooks wbs = xlApp.Workbooks;
int nrWbs = wbs.Count;
if (nrWbs > 0)
{
foreach (Excel.Workbook wb in wbs)
{
wb.Close(false, missing, missing);
}
}
wbs = null;
xlApp.Quit();
xlApp = null;
}
Already answered on Stack Overflow, see if it helps you
As outlined above, quitting Excel requires invoking the Quit method from within VBA code.
I need to automatize the following operation:
Open a Excel file at a scheduled time
(I configured its data connection so that the data automatically gets
updated)
Save a Copy of that file, WITHOUT including the data connection.
That report is sent to the customer and therefore can't possible include the query code.
The opening, updating and saving as a copy is not a problem and I will do it with a scripting tool that creates a Windows exe-file that then can be launched at the time I schedule it in Windows TaskScheduler.
But how can I manage to eliminate the data connection?
Regard,
Martin
Use a Workbook_Open event, which runs when the file is opened. Then use the scripting tool to open the file and the VBA should run automatically.
If you are using Excel Interop, you can use this code
using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
Excel.Application app = new Excel.Application();
app.DisplayAlerts = false;
Excel.Workbook wb = app.Workbooks.Open(filepath);
int count_conn = wb.Connections.Count;
if (count_conn > 0)
{
for (int i = 1; i <= wb.Connections.Count; i++)
{
wb.Connections[i].Delete();
i = i - 1;
}
count_conn = wb.Connections.Count;
wb.Save(); // Save workbook
}
wb.Save();
wb.Close();
app.Quit();
if (RuntimeInformation.IsOSPlatform(OSPlatform.Windows))
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wb);
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(app);
}
I am creating Excel Sheet using Devexpress Exporter and then saving the file at a particular location.
After the creation of file, I have to open it, to add dropdownlist of items and then save it again in same location.
After all the operations, the file has to be emailed automatically to the email address from database.
Now if I have 1000 email addresses, and to automate this process, it is creating more than 10 instances of Excel.
How can I stop creation of those instance and how can I use excel operations without using more memory.
Code is as below:
protected string CreateExcelFile(string FilterName)
{
Random ranNumber = new Random();
int number = ranNumber.Next(0, 10000000);
string FileName = "TestDoc"+DateTime.Now.Year.ToString()+number.ToString()+DateTime.Now.Second.ToString()+".xls";
string path = #"c:\TestDocuments\"+FileName;
Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(path));
FileStream fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.OpenOrCreate);
XlsExportOptions options = new XlsExportOptions();
options.ExportHyperlinks = false;
ASPxExporter.WriteXls(fs, options);
fs.Close();
AddDropDownToExcel(path);
return path;
}
//Adding The Dropdownlist Of Items TO Generated Excel Sheet
protected void AddDropDownToExcel(string path)
{
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application application = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application();
string fileName = path.Replace("\\", "\\\\");
string RowCount = "F" + (testgrid.VisibleRowCount + 1).ToString();
// Open Excel and get first worksheet.
var workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileName);
var worksheet = workbook.Worksheets[1] as Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Worksheet;
// Set range for dropdownlist
var rangeNewStatus = worksheet.get_Range("F2", RowCount);
rangeNewStatus.ColumnWidth = 20;
rangeNewStatus.Validation.Add(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlDVType.xlValidateList, Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlDVAlertStyle.xlValidAlertStop,
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFormatConditionOperator.xlBetween, "Item1,Item2,Item3,Item4");
// Save.
workbook.Save();
workbook.Close(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlSaveAction.xlSaveChanges, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);
application.Quit();
}
First, I sincerely hope this isn't running on a server.
Then, if your problem is that too many instances of Excel are created, a thought is "don't create an instance every single time". Instead of starting Excel every time AddDropDownToExcel is called, can you reuse the same instance?
The problem you are having shows up regularly in Excel interop scenario; even though you are done and tell Excel to close, it "stays alive". It's usually caused by your app still holding a reference to a COM object that hasn't been disposed, preventing Excel from closing. This StackOverflow answer provides some pointers: https://stackoverflow.com/a/158752/114519
In general, to avoid that problem, you want to follow the "one-dot" rule. For instance, in your code:
var workbook = application.Workbooks.Open(fileName);
will be a problem, because an "anonymous" wrapper for Workbooks is created, and will likely not be disposed properly. The "one-dot" rule would say "don't use more than one dot when working with Excel interop", in this case:
var workbooks = application.Workbooks;
var workbook = workbooks.Open(fileName);
A totally different thought - instead of using Interop, can't you use OpenXML to generate your Excel file? I have never tried it to create drop downs, but if it supports it, it will be massively faster than Interop, and the type of problems you have won't happen.
Hope this helps.
As I know the grow of number of runnig excel.exe processes is 'normal' situation to excel :)
The dumbest advice is just kill sometimes it's processes. BUT, this way will be absolutely unhelpful if you use excel during your app is working because of you rather don't get which one excel.exe is yours.
I am trying to create a new instance of Excel using VBA using:
Set XlApp = New Excel.Application
The problem is that this new instance of Excel doesn't load all the addins that load when I open Excel normally...Is there anything in the Excel Application object for loading in all the user-specified addins?
I'm not trying to load a specific add-in, but rather make the new Excel application behave as though the user opened it themself, so I'm really looking for a list of all the user-selected add-ins that usually load when opening Excel.
I looked into this problem again, and the Application.Addins collection seems to have all the addins listed in the Tools->Addins menu, with a boolean value stating whether or not an addin is installed. So what seems to work for me now is to loop through all addins and if .Installed = true then I set .Installed to False and back to True, and that seems to properly load my addins.
Function ReloadXLAddins(TheXLApp As Excel.Application) As Boolean
Dim CurrAddin As Excel.AddIn
For Each CurrAddin In TheXLApp.AddIns
If CurrAddin.Installed Then
CurrAddin.Installed = False
CurrAddin.Installed = True
End If
Next CurrAddin
End Function
Using CreateObject("Excel.Application") would have the same result as using New Excel.Application, unfortunately.
You will have to load the Addins that you need individually by file path & name using the Application.Addins.Add(string fileName) method.
I'm leaving this answer here for anyone else who ran into this problem, but using JavaScript.
A little background... In my company we have a 3rd party web app that used JavaScript to launch Excel and generate a spreadsheet on the fly. We also have an Excel add-in that overrides the behavior of the Save button. The add-in gives you the option of saving the file locally or in our online document management system.
After we upgraded to Windows 7 and Office 2010, we noticed a problem with our spreadsheet-generating web app. When JavaScript generated a spreadsheet in Excel, suddenly the Save button no longer worked. You would click save and nothing happened.
Using the other answers here I was able to construct a solution in JavaScript. Essentially we would create the Excel Application object in memory, then reload a specific add-in to get our save button behavior back. Here's a simplified version of our fix:
function GenerateSpreadsheet()
{
var ExcelApp = getExcel();
if (ExcelApp == null){ return; }
reloadAddIn(ExcelApp);
ExcelApp.WorkBooks.Add;
ExcelApp.Visible = true;
sheet = ExcelApp.ActiveSheet;
var now = new Date();
ExcelApp.Cells(1,1).value = 'This is an auto-generated spreadsheet, created using Javascript and ActiveX in Internet Explorer';
ExcelApp.ActiveSheet.Columns("A:IV").EntireColumn.AutoFit;
ExcelApp.ActiveSheet.Rows("1:65536").EntireRow.AutoFit;
ExcelApp.ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Select;
ExcelApp = null;
}
function getExcel() {
try {
return new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application");
} catch(e) {
alert("Unable to open Excel. Please check your security settings.");
return null;
}
}
function reloadAddIn(ExcelApp) {
// Fixes problem with save button not working in Excel,
// by reloading the add-in responsible for the custom save button behavior
try {
ExcelApp.AddIns2.Item("AddInName").Installed = false;
ExcelApp.AddIns2.Item("AddInName").Installed = true;
} catch (e) { }
}