I have a Workbook that uses an Add-In for all its code, Buttons in this
Workbook just call procedures from the Add-In to do their things.. Now I
want to change some of the code in the add in... I have the new add in, and
I know that to overwrite the old one I first:

Open Excel, create a new workbook
Uncheck the box in the Tools... Add-Ins Menu for the Add-In
Open the .xla file
Then re-check the Checkbox in Tools.... Add-Ins

But, opening the new .xla file doesn't seem to overwrite the old one!

I would very, very much like to not have to have the user have to Save the
e-mail attachment (how I will distribute the new add-in) as the /Application
Data/ folder is hidden and it takes about 20 steps and 15 minutes to save it
to the proper directory (most of the people that get this new add-in know how
to send e-mails and very little else), and then I have to do that times 21
users...


Thanks for the help!

Hi Kaisies,

There's several ways you can handle this.

I typically keep the add-in xla on a file server. Whe a user starts Excel it
grabs a copy of the xla (not the original) and loads this into memory. When I
need to update the add-in I need simply to copy the new xla over the old
using windows explorer. I then send an email to each of the users advising
that they need to re-start Excel.

Having the xla on the C: drive makes ongoing updates more difficult (as you
are probably dicovering). To work around this situation you can develop an
Excel workbook which you can email to the users each time the add-in changes.
This workbook should:

1) display a message to the user as soon as it is opened to confirm it can
perform the update (it's always nice to ask),

2) via VBA code, unregister the existing add-in.

3) Delete the old, now unregistered add-in and copy the updated version from
a file server to the appropriate location

4) Register the newly copied xla with Excel

The only thing the user has to do is open the spreadsheet you email to them
and when the message box appears click either Yes or No as to whether they
wish to upgrade the add-in.

Good luck

I figured thats what it might come to.. I've never seen any VBA code (I'm
just learning from books :( ) to delete files and copy files, also to make
matters worse, everyones user name is different (the Windows XP user name)
and since the .xla is stored in /documents and settings/username/ etc I'd
need to grab the user name somehow....

Guess I'll go digging some more :D

"OfficeHacker" wrote:

Hi Kaisies,

There's several ways you can handle this.

I typically keep the add-in xla on a file server. Whe a user starts Excel it
grabs a copy of the xla (not the original) and loads this into memory. When I
need to update the add-in I need simply to copy the new xla over the old
using windows explorer. I then send an email to each of the users advising
that they need to re-start Excel.

Having the xla on the C: drive makes ongoing updates more difficult (as you
are probably dicovering). To work around this situation you can develop an
Excel workbook which you can email to the users each time the add-in changes.
This workbook should:

1) display a message to the user as soon as it is opened to confirm it can
perform the update (it's always nice to ask),

2) via VBA code, unregister the existing add-in.

3) Delete the old, now unregistered add-in and copy the updated version from
a file server to the appropriate location

4) Register the newly copied xla with Excel

The only thing the user has to do is open the spreadsheet you email to them
and when the message box appears click either Yes or No as to whether they
wish to upgrade the add-in.

Good luck

Kaisies

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but if you've never dealt with any
VBA code before than you've got a bit of work in front of you. Might I
suggest that you grab a good book or two, work through them with some sample
projects and learn from the mistakes that we all make. Only then attack this
project you are working on.
Good Luck

"Kaisies" wrote:

I figured thats what it might come to.. I've never seen any VBA code (I'm
just learning from books :( ) to delete files and copy files, also to make
matters worse, everyones user name is different (the Windows XP user name)
and since the .xla is stored in /documents and settings/username/ etc I'd
need to grab the user name somehow....

Guess I'll go digging some more :D

"OfficeHacker" wrote:

Hi Kaisies,

There's several ways you can handle this.

I typically keep the add-in xla on a file server. Whe a user starts Excel it
grabs a copy of the xla (not the original) and loads this into memory. When I
need to update the add-in I need simply to copy the new xla over the old
using windows explorer. I then send an email to each of the users advising
that they need to re-start Excel.

Having the xla on the C: drive makes ongoing updates more difficult (as you
are probably dicovering). To work around this situation you can develop an
Excel workbook which you can email to the users each time the add-in changes.
This workbook should:

1) display a message to the user as soon as it is opened to confirm it can
perform the update (it's always nice to ask),

2) via VBA code, unregister the existing add-in.

3) Delete the old, now unregistered add-in and copy the updated version from
a file server to the appropriate location

4) Register the newly copied xla with Excel

The only thing the user has to do is open the spreadsheet you email to them
and when the message box appears click either Yes or No as to whether they
wish to upgrade the add-in.

Good luck