hi there,

i'm new to writing custom things for excel, and what i wanted to know
is: is it possible to write some kind of 'import' plugin, that would
allow me to open my own file format and put it into an excel
spreadsheet?

what i want to be able to do is have a standard .xls file, add some
extra 'header' information to it, store the .xls + some header info in
a custom file of my own, and then be able to run excel, open my custom
file, dispose of the extra header info and then load the embedded .xls
file.

is this possible?

could someone point me in the right direction in terms of where to
start?

many thanks in advance,
dug.

Using the built in Open and Save commands - No.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy


"dug" wrote in message
oups.com...
hi there,

i'm new to writing custom things for excel, and what i wanted to know
is: is it possible to write some kind of 'import' plugin, that would
allow me to open my own file format and put it into an excel
spreadsheet?

what i want to be able to do is have a standard .xls file, add some
extra 'header' information to it, store the .xls + some header info in
a custom file of my own, and then be able to run excel, open my custom
file, dispose of the extra header info and then load the embedded .xls
file.

is this possible?

could someone point me in the right direction in terms of where to
start?

many thanks in advance,
dug.

OK, sorry, should have been clear, i don't want to use the built in
Open and Save commands, i want to 'import' a data file, perhaps by
using 'Data-Import Data-Import External Data'? or something similar?

If you know how to build an ODBC or OLEDB driver and install it then I think
you can do that.

this article may be slightly dated, but should give you some pertinent
information on such drivers - especially near the bottom in talking of the
Data Access SDK.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;190463
INFO: What are MDAC, DA SDK, ODBC, OLE DB, ADO, RDS, and ADO/MD?

This isn't something I have done, but I believe this is where you are
headed.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy




"dug" wrote in message
oups.com...
OK, sorry, should have been clear, i don't want to use the built in
Open and Save commands, i want to 'import' a data file, perhaps by
using 'Data-Import Data-Import External Data'? or something similar?

thanks tom,

i guess really the problem is this, i want to encrypt the file, so i
can distribute it to someone, and then i want to give them a plugin [or
something] that will allow them to decrypt and load the file into
Excel.

i can't see a way of doing this in the documentation, i was hoping that
excel would support some sort of import plugin... unfortunately i don't
see anything obvious, any thoughts would be helpful.

thanks.

Why not just put the data in Excel and encrypt it. Then send the workbook
to the user.

Separately send a macro that will run against the data and decrypt it.

If you will be sending periodic data files, then perhaps put the data in a
text file and encrypt the text file.

Have a macro that will open the text file (encrypted) decrypt the data and
place it in the appropriate locations in Excel.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy


"dug" wrote in message
ups.com...
thanks tom,

i guess really the problem is this, i want to encrypt the file, so i
can distribute it to someone, and then i want to give them a plugin [or
something] that will allow them to decrypt and load the file into
Excel.

i can't see a way of doing this in the documentation, i was hoping that
excel would support some sort of import plugin... unfortunately i don't
see anything obvious, any thoughts would be helpful.

thanks.

when you say 'write a macro and decrypt it' do you mean that i can
write a macro [or xll] in C++ and implement my own
encryption/decryption? or do you mean using Excel's
encryption/decryption?

i need to be able to implement my own encryption so we can limit the
time for using the file, via some sort of license information that will
be stored in the file and USB dongle.

I mean outside Excel.
--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

"dug" wrote in message
ups.com...
when you say 'write a macro and decrypt it' do you mean that i can
write a macro [or xll] in C++ and implement my own
encryption/decryption? or do you mean using Excel's
encryption/decryption?

i need to be able to implement my own encryption so we can limit the
time for using the file, via some sort of license information that will
be stored in the file and USB dongle.