Best package to make COM add-in

[RB Smissaert]

Trying to figure out what the best way is to make a COM add-in. It only will
have to work with Excel.
I understand you will need either VB6 (or one of the other types of VB) or
Office Developer for this.
I would like to make a COM add-in based on a .xla add-in that has already
been developed.

Now I am not sure if this is true, but I understand that this would be
easier to do with Office Developer.
I understand that Office Developer XP is still available and that this will
cost around £330, but there is now
also something called Visual Studio Tools for Office 2003. I work in Office
2003. Would this be the package to go for (Visual Studio Tools for Office
2003) or would Office XP Developer be fine? Then again if I would go with
Office XP Developer could I keep using Office 2003?

Quite a few confusing issues and I would be greatful for any advice.


RBS

 

[Chip Pearson]

The Visual Studio Tools For Office requires that you have Visual
Studio 2003 installed. For writing COM Add-Ins, VB6 is best (you
can do it in VBNET, but this would require that you distribute
the NET runtime -- about 20MB -- to each user), but Office XP
Developer will do the job.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

 

[RB Smissaert]

OK, thanks.
Why you think VB6 is best?
Somewhere I read that it would be easier to move user forms from an .xla
file to the COM add-in when you use Office Developer. I have a few quite
complicated user forms, so that would be a help.

RBS

 

[Howard Kaikow]

I agree that VB 6 is best.

VSTO only works with Office 2003.

 

[RB Smissaert]

OK, one more in favour of VB6.
Any arguments for this?
How about my question about the userforms and if working with Office
Developer
generally would be easier?

RBS

 

[Howard Kaikow]

Using VBA Userforms or VB Forms depends on what you want to do.
I prefer VB Forms because those can be directly import into VB .NET and
converted to Windows Forms in .NET.
It is possible/likely(?) that MSFT may provide a future tool for converting
VBA Userforms to .NET Windoze Forms, but that's just a guess.

Using VB, instead of VBA, also allows one to use some features of VB 6 that
are not available in VBA for Office 97, so one can more easily code for ALL
windows versions of Office.

For example, see
http://www.standards.com/Sorting/SortPerformanceComparison-Description.html.
which describes a VB 6 .exe that uses both Excel and Word in Office 97 and
up.

 

[RB Smissaert]

OK, I can see the advantages of VB6 now for future projects, but with a
large existing add-in to convert with several VBA userforms I presume using
Office Developer would be easier.
Is it true that the VBA userforms (from Excel) can be used directly in
Office Developer to make the COM add-in?

RBS

 

[Chip Pearson]

Yes, you can import VBA userforms from an XLA project to a VBA
Project. Just drag the form from one project to the other.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

 

[RB Smissaert]

Thanks. To make it 100% clear then:
This is something that can't be done with VB6, so Office Developer would
have the advantage there.

RBS

 

[Chip Pearson]

That is true. As far as I know, you can't import existing VBA
userforms in to VB6; therefore, Office Developer would have that
advantage for converting existing XLA projects to VBA Projects.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

 

[RB Smissaert]

Thanks.
Will probably opt for Office Developer then. I understand there is no such
thing for
Office 2003, so it will have to be Office Developer XP. I understand that
this is still
available.

RBS

 

[Howard Kaikow]

You can "import" VBA Userforms to VB, but, and that's a big BUTT, the
Userforms get imported as "Designers".
Test for your self by creating a simple VB 6 project and then importing a
VBA Userform.

 

[Keith Willshaw]

That is true. As far as I know, you can't import existing VBA
userforms in to VB6; therefore, Office Developer would have that
advantage for converting existing XLA projects to VBA Projects.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

This isnt strictly speaking true.

You can export a form from VBA and then import it
into VS6 using the Add File dialog

The form comes in as a designer . They normally
work OK but you cant edit them properly
in VB6 and they can be a little unpredictable.

Personally I avoid it and redo the form

Keith

 

[Chip Pearson]

Howard,

You're right. I had forgotten about that. I did it some years ago
and found the results less than satisfactory.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com