I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

I can't thank you enough for your quick response! I am not using any pivot
tables in my workbook, so there is no issue there. The part that I'm worried
about is the VB code that I am using.

So I will want to use late binding? Because, early binding would
automatically update to newer versions of a referance and thus cause that
saved file to stop working on earlier versions, correct?

So this would solve compatibility issues:

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appExcel As Object

Set appExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appExcel.Visible = True
End Sub

When would I have LateBinding() exexute? Also, How do I remove Early
Binding references? I can't simply uncheck thier box... I recieve an error.
Im guessing this is done through code.

One last thing... I would like to use User Forms, do I need to reference a
library for this as well or is that taken care of in the above code?

Sorry about all of the questions! I'm so used to programming robots...
thier easy! Just compile the code with the libraries you need and voila,
working robot

Thanks again Jim for all your help!

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

Early binding is tied to the exact reference that you select in the
references list. If the end user does not have that EXACT reference then the
code crashes (as you have seen). I choose Word because that reference is
neither backwards nor forwards compatible (ain't that just a kick in the
shorts). If you have Excel 10 then your reference will (in all likelyhood) be
Word 10. If you send that to your boss who is on Word 9 or Word 11 then...
Boom... In this case Late Binding is really the only good option. Late
binding creates an instance of the Word application. It does not care about
versions.

Right now I assume you have choosen some references from the Tools -
References list. What you want to do is un-select the references you have
choosen. Now if you try to compile your code it should crash because you are
trying to create things that the compiler no longer understand. Where it has
those issues you want to change to a generic object and then use createobject
to instantiate the object you require...

What references do you have that are causing you trouble???
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I can't thank you enough for your quick response! I am not using any pivot
tables in my workbook, so there is no issue there. The part that I'm worried
about is the VB code that I am using.

So I will want to use late binding? Because, early binding would
automatically update to newer versions of a referance and thus cause that
saved file to stop working on earlier versions, correct?

So this would solve compatibility issues:

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appExcel As Object

Set appExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appExcel.Visible = True
End Sub

When would I have LateBinding() exexute? Also, How do I remove Early
Binding references? I can't simply uncheck thier box... I recieve an error.
Im guessing this is done through code.

One last thing... I would like to use User Forms, do I need to reference a
library for this as well or is that taken care of in the above code?

Sorry about all of the questions! I'm so used to programming robots...
thier easy! Just compile the code with the libraries you need and voila,
working robot

Thanks again Jim for all your help!

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

I'm not sure which one is blowing up but I am using the following.... or at
least I can't uncheck them because it says that they are in use

Visual Basic for Applications
Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library
Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library

So I would need to unreference these and then initaite them in my code?

Thanks again! This is all starting to make some sense!

~Josh


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Early binding is tied to the exact reference that you select in the
references list. If the end user does not have that EXACT reference then the
code crashes (as you have seen). I choose Word because that reference is
neither backwards nor forwards compatible (ain't that just a kick in the
shorts). If you have Excel 10 then your reference will (in all likelyhood) be
Word 10. If you send that to your boss who is on Word 9 or Word 11 then...
Boom... In this case Late Binding is really the only good option. Late
binding creates an instance of the Word application. It does not care about
versions.

Right now I assume you have choosen some references from the Tools -
References list. What you want to do is un-select the references you have
choosen. Now if you try to compile your code it should crash because you are
trying to create things that the compiler no longer understand. Where it has
those issues you want to change to a generic object and then use createobject
to instantiate the object you require...

What references do you have that are causing you trouble???
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I can't thank you enough for your quick response! I am not using any pivot
tables in my workbook, so there is no issue there. The part that I'm worried
about is the VB code that I am using.

So I will want to use late binding? Because, early binding would
automatically update to newer versions of a referance and thus cause that
saved file to stop working on earlier versions, correct?

So this would solve compatibility issues:

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appExcel As Object

Set appExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appExcel.Visible = True
End Sub

When would I have LateBinding() exexute? Also, How do I remove Early
Binding references? I can't simply uncheck thier box... I recieve an error.
Im guessing this is done through code.

One last thing... I would like to use User Forms, do I need to reference a
library for this as well or is that taken care of in the above code?

Sorry about all of the questions! I'm so used to programming robots...
thier easy! Just compile the code with the libraries you need and voila,
working robot

Thanks again Jim for all your help!

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

If you are programming in Excel then you will have those two references by
default. You do not need to uncheck either of those. If those are the only
references in your project then I would suggest that your problem is not one
of a missing reference. What error do you get when you try to run this on
various machines? The missing reference error will show up when the code is
run on a machine without the specific library reference and you will see in
the list of reference something checked with the work missing beside it,
something like...

Missing: Microsoft Word 9.0
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I'm not sure which one is blowing up but I am using the following.... or at
least I can't uncheck them because it says that they are in use

Visual Basic for Applications
Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library
Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library

So I would need to unreference these and then initaite them in my code?

Thanks again! This is all starting to make some sense!

~Josh


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Early binding is tied to the exact reference that you select in the
references list. If the end user does not have that EXACT reference then the
code crashes (as you have seen). I choose Word because that reference is
neither backwards nor forwards compatible (ain't that just a kick in the
shorts). If you have Excel 10 then your reference will (in all likelyhood) be
Word 10. If you send that to your boss who is on Word 9 or Word 11 then...
Boom... In this case Late Binding is really the only good option. Late
binding creates an instance of the Word application. It does not care about
versions.

Right now I assume you have choosen some references from the Tools -
References list. What you want to do is un-select the references you have
choosen. Now if you try to compile your code it should crash because you are
trying to create things that the compiler no longer understand. Where it has
those issues you want to change to a generic object and then use createobject
to instantiate the object you require...

What references do you have that are causing you trouble???
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I can't thank you enough for your quick response! I am not using any pivot
tables in my workbook, so there is no issue there. The part that I'm worried
about is the VB code that I am using.

So I will want to use late binding? Because, early binding would
automatically update to newer versions of a referance and thus cause that
saved file to stop working on earlier versions, correct?

So this would solve compatibility issues:

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appExcel As Object

Set appExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appExcel.Visible = True
End Sub

When would I have LateBinding() exexute? Also, How do I remove Early
Binding references? I can't simply uncheck thier box... I recieve an error.
Im guessing this is done through code.

One last thing... I would like to use User Forms, do I need to reference a
library for this as well or is that taken care of in the above code?

Sorry about all of the questions! I'm so used to programming robots...
thier easy! Just compile the code with the libraries you need and voila,
working robot

Thanks again Jim for all your help!

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

I checked my code on the machine it crashed on before and... it now works...
So now I'm confused. I have't deleted any code. I have addes alot more code
infact! Well I will try it on some other machines to verify that it does
indeed work, and post again with the findings.

So with thoes references there should be any compatibility problems? If
that is the case and now it works... I guess I don't need to worry about it?
I'm a little uneasy about my code starting to work.

Thanks again!

~Josh

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

If you are programming in Excel then you will have those two references by
default. You do not need to uncheck either of those. If those are the only
references in your project then I would suggest that your problem is not one
of a missing reference. What error do you get when you try to run this on
various machines? The missing reference error will show up when the code is
run on a machine without the specific library reference and you will see in
the list of reference something checked with the work missing beside it,
something like...

Missing: Microsoft Word 9.0
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I'm not sure which one is blowing up but I am using the following.... or at
least I can't uncheck them because it says that they are in use

Visual Basic for Applications
Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library
Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library

So I would need to unreference these and then initaite them in my code?

Thanks again! This is all starting to make some sense!

~Josh


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Early binding is tied to the exact reference that you select in the
references list. If the end user does not have that EXACT reference then the
code crashes (as you have seen). I choose Word because that reference is
neither backwards nor forwards compatible (ain't that just a kick in the
shorts). If you have Excel 10 then your reference will (in all likelyhood) be
Word 10. If you send that to your boss who is on Word 9 or Word 11 then...
Boom... In this case Late Binding is really the only good option. Late
binding creates an instance of the Word application. It does not care about
versions.

Right now I assume you have choosen some references from the Tools -
References list. What you want to do is un-select the references you have
choosen. Now if you try to compile your code it should crash because you are
trying to create things that the compiler no longer understand. Where it has
those issues you want to change to a generic object and then use createobject
to instantiate the object you require...

What references do you have that are causing you trouble???
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I can't thank you enough for your quick response! I am not using any pivot
tables in my workbook, so there is no issue there. The part that I'm worried
about is the VB code that I am using.

So I will want to use late binding? Because, early binding would
automatically update to newer versions of a referance and thus cause that
saved file to stop working on earlier versions, correct?

So this would solve compatibility issues:

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appExcel As Object

Set appExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appExcel.Visible = True
End Sub

When would I have LateBinding() exexute? Also, How do I remove Early
Binding references? I can't simply uncheck thier box... I recieve an error.
Im guessing this is done through code.

One last thing... I would like to use User Forms, do I need to reference a
library for this as well or is that taken care of in the above code?

Sorry about all of the questions! I'm so used to programming robots...
thier easy! Just compile the code with the libraries you need and voila,
working robot

Thanks again Jim for all your help!

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh

I just verified the code on several different computers... including boss
man's. It worked perfectly on all. So unless the reference problem returns
I am not going to worry about it. I still can't figure out what has
changed....

Thanks a ton for helping me out! I really appreciate it!

~Josh

"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I checked my code on the machine it crashed on before and... it now works...
So now I'm confused. I have't deleted any code. I have addes alot more code
infact! Well I will try it on some other machines to verify that it does
indeed work, and post again with the findings.

So with thoes references there should be any compatibility problems? If
that is the case and now it works... I guess I don't need to worry about it?
I'm a little uneasy about my code starting to work.

Thanks again!

~Josh

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

If you are programming in Excel then you will have those two references by
default. You do not need to uncheck either of those. If those are the only
references in your project then I would suggest that your problem is not one
of a missing reference. What error do you get when you try to run this on
various machines? The missing reference error will show up when the code is
run on a machine without the specific library reference and you will see in
the list of reference something checked with the work missing beside it,
something like...

Missing: Microsoft Word 9.0
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I'm not sure which one is blowing up but I am using the following.... or at
least I can't uncheck them because it says that they are in use

Visual Basic for Applications
Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library
Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library

So I would need to unreference these and then initaite them in my code?

Thanks again! This is all starting to make some sense!

~Josh


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Early binding is tied to the exact reference that you select in the
references list. If the end user does not have that EXACT reference then the
code crashes (as you have seen). I choose Word because that reference is
neither backwards nor forwards compatible (ain't that just a kick in the
shorts). If you have Excel 10 then your reference will (in all likelyhood) be
Word 10. If you send that to your boss who is on Word 9 or Word 11 then...
Boom... In this case Late Binding is really the only good option. Late
binding creates an instance of the Word application. It does not care about
versions.

Right now I assume you have choosen some references from the Tools -
References list. What you want to do is un-select the references you have
choosen. Now if you try to compile your code it should crash because you are
trying to create things that the compiler no longer understand. Where it has
those issues you want to change to a generic object and then use createobject
to instantiate the object you require...

What references do you have that are causing you trouble???
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I can't thank you enough for your quick response! I am not using any pivot
tables in my workbook, so there is no issue there. The part that I'm worried
about is the VB code that I am using.

So I will want to use late binding? Because, early binding would
automatically update to newer versions of a referance and thus cause that
saved file to stop working on earlier versions, correct?

So this would solve compatibility issues:

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appExcel As Object

Set appExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appExcel.Visible = True
End Sub

When would I have LateBinding() exexute? Also, How do I remove Early
Binding references? I can't simply uncheck thier box... I recieve an error.
Im guessing this is done through code.

One last thing... I would like to use User Forms, do I need to reference a
library for this as well or is that taken care of in the above code?

Sorry about all of the questions! I'm so used to programming robots...
thier easy! Just compile the code with the libraries you need and voila,
working robot

Thanks again Jim for all your help!

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

There are two aspects to compatibility. One is that Excel has changed over
the years and new features have been added. This means that code writen for
the current version of Excel may not work on older versions. You are best off
to write to the lowest version of Excel possible. The one are that can cuase
difficulty is code for Pivot Tables as teh Pivot Table Engine changed in
xl2002 and the code is different for the different versions.

The other issue (that I thing you are alluding to) is the compatibility of
references. This gets into early or late binding. Early binding is Selecting
Tools - References and binding a reference to your project at design time.
The other method is late binding where you create your reference to the
library at run time. Early binding makes the code run a tad faster and it
allows you to use the intellisence while coding (a very handy feature). Late
binding has the advantage of not being tied to a specific instance of a
reference. Check out these two examples...

Sub EarlyBinding()
'Must Reference Word Lilbrary (9.0, 10.1, 11.0, ...)
Dim appWord As Word.Application

Set appWord = New Word.Application
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub LateBinding()
Dim appWord As Object

Set appWord = CreateObject("Word.Application")
appWord.Visible = True
End Sub

If you can not guranatee which references an end user system will have then
late binding is great. Speed is not usually too big of an issue with late
binding. I find the loss of intellisence to be a bit of an issue. I will
normally reference the project to the library right up front and write my
code assuming early binding. When the code is up and running I will then
switch it to late binding (a little bit of rewrite but usually not too bad).
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"Bob the Kart Racing fool" wrote:

I am just learning about all the issues associated with maintaining
compatibility between different software years, discovered when I sent the
completed file to my boss for approval€¦ low and behold, a reference error.
So now, trying desperately to gather my pride from the floor, I come to you
because this forum has helped me so much in the past two weeks.

I need to maintain compatibility of my excel 2003 document that I have
created. I need it to work on Office 2000 and up. I have read all the posts
that I can find about €œbinding€� but, I still dont understand how to use this
to automatically maintain my files compatibility. How is this code written
and implemented? If the file is saved, and opened again on an earlier
version of excel€¦ will it still work?

I desperately need guidance€¦

Thank you for your help in advance!

~Josh