Is an xla still rqd to call the COM add-in?

I am (still) considering my options wrt converting my vba xl add-in to
a COM add-in (c/- Office Developer). As I have never actually seen a
COM add-in I am curious to know how this would work. For example, do I
still need an xla module to add my commandbar to xl and then call the
subs/functions in the COM add-in or can I directly compile the entire
xla as it is?

Thanks a lot,
Andrew

To make a COM add-in ,
refer to this page:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q285337

wrote in message
oups.com...
Is an xla still rqd to call the COM add-in?

I am (still) considering my options wrt converting my vba xl add-in to
a COM add-in (c/- Office Developer). As I have never actually seen a
COM add-in I am curious to know how this would work. For example, do I
still need an xla module to add my commandbar to xl and then call the
subs/functions in the COM add-in or can I directly compile the entire
xla as it is?

Thanks a lot,
Andrew

I had a look at that link but it is specifically talking about calling
a function from the COM addin. It was interesting but isn't what I'm
trying to do. My current xl addin just displays a number of forms,
interacts with a third party software and reads values from/ writes
values to the workbook.

Thanks,
Andrew

What you said about the forms is true.
You have to remake a nurmber of forms,since Excel forms are not compatible
with VB.
But what you said about reading/writing value from workbooks is not true.

In that link, there's the function below:
Private Sub AddinInstance_OnConnection(ByVal Application As Object, ByVal
ConnectMode As AddInDesignerObjects.ext_ConnectMode, ByVal AddInInst As
Object, custom() As Variant)
Set oApp = Application
End Sub

This oApp variable is Application object of Excel.
You can access the values to workbooks through oApp object.
i.e. oApp.Workbooks("xxxx").Worksheets("yyyy").Cells ....
(That is equivalent to
Application.Workbooks("xxxx").Worksheets("yyyy").C ells .... in VBA)


wrote in message
oups.com...
I had a look at that link but it is specifically talking about calling
a function from the COM addin. It was interesting but isn't what I'm
trying to do. My current xl addin just displays a number of forms,
interacts with a third party software and reads values from/ writes
values to the workbook.

Thanks,
Andrew

Thanks for sticking with this. I still have a couple of questions:

1) From the oApp object can I access all the xl application properties?
ie. can I simply replace
Application.CommandBars("Worksheet Menu Bar").Controls.Add...
with
oApp.CommandBars("Worksheet Menu Bar").Controls.Add...

2) It seems based on the above that I only need the COM addin - I don't
need any additional vba addin (for xl2002+). However, the article
states that a vba wrapper is required for xl2000. What does this
wrapper have to do? Is it relatively simple - just calling the COM
add-in, or does it also have to handle interfaces like the above
commanbar?

2) The article example uses late binding. Is it possible to declare
oApp as Excel so that I can still see the intellisence dropdowns when
writing any additional code? If not then I guess I can just write my
code in xl vba and then copy it over. (I am hoping to use MS Office
Developer Ed. which supposedly allows me to create COM add-ins rather
than vb6. That way I won't have to re-write my forms either).

3) Apparently when designing the add-in I need to select which version
of xl it is for (eg. xl2002, xl2003...). Does this mean I have to
distribute a different version of the add-in for each xl version? If I
use an xla it can in principle work accross any xl version.

Thanks a lot,
Andrew

zoo wrote:
What you said about the forms is true.
You have to remake a nurmber of forms,since Excel forms are not compatible
with VB.
But what you said about reading/writing value from workbooks is not true.

In that link, there's the function below:
Private Sub AddinInstance_OnConnection(ByVal Application As Object, ByVal
ConnectMode As AddInDesignerObjects.ext_ConnectMode, ByVal AddInInst As
Object, custom() As Variant)
Set oApp = Application
End Sub

This oApp variable is Application object of Excel.
You can access the values to workbooks through oApp object.
i.e. oApp.Workbooks("xxxx").Worksheets("yyyy").Cells ....
(That is equivalent to
Application.Workbooks("xxxx").Worksheets("yyyy").C ells .... in VBA)


wrote in message
oups.com...
I had a look at that link but it is specifically talking about calling
a function from the COM addin. It was interesting but isn't what I'm
trying to do. My current xl addin just displays a number of forms,
interacts with a third party software and reads values from/ writes
values to the workbook.

Thanks,
Andrew

1) Yes.

2). I'm not familiar with this but I assume that you need a macro in
the file and the macro creates an instance of the COM object to make
the function calls. So I guess you'd need an xla that calls the COM
add-in.

2) [sic: you have two 2)'s] I create a controller class that I pass a
reference to oApp. In the controller class I declare a variable oXLApp
As Excel.Application and set it equal to oApp. Similarly, if I want to
cpature workbook or worksheet events I create variables for those using
WithEvents.

3) Develop the application with the object library from the oldest
version you need to support. Typically this would be Excel 2000 (aka
9.0). I recently had to buy a copy of it just for this reason (~$200).

Alternately, you can use late binding. If you do, use early binding in
development to get the intellisense, then switch it before release.
Also, check the Excel XP & 2003 documentation "What's New" sections to
ensure you're not calling any objects that weren't available in Excel
2000. Then test, test, test. Lastly, Excel 97 doesn't support COM
add-ins as far as I know.

Buy Professional Excel Development by Bullen et al. for further
details.

HTH,

Nick Hebb
BreezeTree Software
http://www.breezetree.com

Hi Nick,

Thanks for that. It looks like I should be able to achieve what I want
without too much hassle. I've just ordered Stephen Bullens' book for
good measure as well though.

Andrew