Comments on: A Beginner’s Guide to calling a .NET Library from Excel http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/ Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:46:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: Mathias http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2728 Mathias Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:14:30 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2728 Thank you for a very helpful post. FYI, I have been struggling with the first section ("A Basic Walk Through"), which mysteriously refused to work for a while, for reasons which seem to be related to .Net 3.5. I finally got it to work, by explicitly targeting .Net 2.0 (I am using Visual Studio 2008 / .NET 3.5 / Office 2003) and adding the Excel.exe.config file with matching version as you describe, and it worked. Do you know if there are indeed specific issues related to .Net 3.5, or is it by sheer luck that I resolved the problem :) ? Cheers, Mathias Thank you for a very helpful post. FYI, I have been struggling with the first section (”A Basic Walk Through”), which mysteriously refused to work for a while, for reasons which seem to be related to .Net 3.5. I finally got it to work, by explicitly targeting .Net 2.0 (I am using Visual Studio 2008 / .NET 3.5 / Office 2003) and adding the Excel.exe.config file with matching version as you describe, and it worked.
Do you know if there are indeed specific issues related to .Net 3.5, or is it by sheer luck that I resolved the problem :) ?
Cheers,
Mathias

]]> By: Lior http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2673 Lior Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:04:50 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2673 Great article!!! Great article!!!

]]> By: steve_randomno http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2661 steve_randomno Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:52:42 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2661 The targeting of .net 1 is unintended behaviour for office 2003 and beyonde according to the following blog: http://mcfunley.com/cs/blogs/dan/archive/2006/02/07/947.aspx A patch is available (see blog). The targeting of .net 1 is unintended behaviour for office 2003 and beyonde according to the following blog: http://mcfunley.com/cs/blogs/dan/archive/2006/02/07/947.aspx

A patch is available (see blog).

]]> By: steve_randomno http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2658 steve_randomno Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:19:07 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2658 I have had to do this several times but infrequently enough to have to look it up each time. This is by far the best guide I have ever seen about this. You have the dubious honour of being adding you to my "Useful" folder in my favourites. Thanks for making the effort to share. I have had to do this several times but infrequently enough to have to look it up each time. This is by far the best guide I have ever seen about this. You have the dubious honour of being adding you to my “Useful” folder in my favourites. Thanks for making the effort to share.

]]> By: Alan http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2657 Alan Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:30:33 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2657 Alternative to Excel.exe.config I actually found a solution to comment 22 (my own question). To recap - Excel really should use the latest installed version of .NET by default. If its not, it's because something is telling it to use an older version. While using the Excel.exe.config is one solution, it may not be practical for many, and really only disguises the problem. The key as usual, is the registry. Specifically, check for: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\policy\AppPatch\v2.0.50727.00000\excel.exe\{2CCAA9FE-6884-4AF2-99DD-5217B94115DF} You should see a value named "Target Version" and Data = "v1.1.4322" This is why Excel is using the older Framework. Removing or renaming this key should solve the problem. Alternative to Excel.exe.config
I actually found a solution to comment 22 (my own question). To recap - Excel really should use the latest installed version of .NET by default. If its not, it’s because something is telling it to use an older version. While using the Excel.exe.config is one solution, it may not be practical for many, and really only disguises the problem. The key as usual, is the registry. Specifically, check for:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\policy\AppPatch\v2.0.50727.00000\excel.exe\{2CCAA9FE-6884-4AF2-99DD-5217B94115DF}
You should see a value named “Target Version” and Data = “v1.1.4322″
This is why Excel is using the older Framework. Removing or renaming this key should solve the problem.

]]> By: Alan http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2656 Alan Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:42:48 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2656 Excellent article - very clear. I work in an office environment where we don't have authorization to drop files into the Excel path. Is there any other way of telling Excel to use the 2.0 version of the framework? This article http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y89ktbw6.aspx says Excel should use the latest version by default, and you need a config file if you want to use an earlier version. However, this contradicts what I am seeing (and, apparently, the experience of many users on this board.) Thanks for any info you can provide. Excellent article - very clear.
I work in an office environment where we don’t have authorization to drop files into the Excel path. Is there any other way of telling Excel to use the 2.0 version of the framework? This article
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y89ktbw6.aspx
says Excel should use the latest version by default, and you need a config file if you want to use an earlier version. However, this contradicts what I am seeing (and, apparently, the experience of many users on this board.)
Thanks for any info you can provide.

]]> By: pejvan http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2475 pejvan Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:38:41 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2475 Very interesting article, many thanks!! I would recommending reading this article though: http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/heaths/archive/2005/03/09/391358.aspx since some of the recommendations made here are not recommended short cuts as it appears here. Very interesting article, many thanks!!
I would recommending reading this article though:
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/heaths/archive/2005/03/09/391358.aspx
since some of the recommendations made here are not recommended short cuts as it appears here.

]]> By: Rob Blackell http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2238 Rob Blackell Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:49:28 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2238 Rich, A nice article - its simple and dare I say elegant. Have you done this for Visual C++ I want to apply this to to a C++ library that I have written so I tried a small C++ example using a public ref class - a rework of your C# example. But the C++ library does not show up in the VBA reference pane. I can get a C# library to pass the call to C++ but cannot see the C++. An interesting symptom that I get is - I tried to use ILmerge to combine my C# small dll with my C++ dll. ILmerge complains that the C++ is not marked as managed code.Any thoughts would be very welcome. Thanks Rob Rich, A nice article - its simple and dare I say elegant.
Have you done this for Visual C++
I want to apply this to to a C++ library that I have written so I tried a small C++ example using a public ref class - a rework of your C# example.

But the C++ library does not show up in the VBA reference pane. I can get a C# library to pass the call to C++ but cannot see the C++.

An interesting symptom that I get is - I tried to use ILmerge to combine my C# small dll with my C++ dll. ILmerge complains that the C++ is not marked as managed code.Any thoughts would be very welcome.
Thanks
Rob

]]> By: Usha Ganesan http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2172 Usha Ganesan Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:24:59 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-2172 Hi , Thanks a lot for this great illustration. I followed the instructions to call the C# component from MSWORD 2003 VBA subroutine and works fantastically well.Thanks again. Hi ,
Thanks a lot for this great illustration. I followed the instructions to call the C# component from MSWORD 2003 VBA subroutine and works fantastically well.Thanks again.

]]> By: Horsti http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-1915 Horsti Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:57:19 +0000 http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/a-beginner%e2%80%99s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-excel/#comment-1915 Thanks, nice and easy tutorial. Thanks,
nice and easy tutorial.

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