Difference between a spreadsheet and an Add-in

[Schizoid Man]

Hi,

Suppose I've defined a few UDFs in my Excel workbook. What's the
difference between saving the workbook as a regular Excel vs an Excel
Add-in?

In both cases I can still use the UDFs, so what's the difference?

Thanks,
Anuj

 

[Dave Peterson]

Addins are hidden. Workbooks can be visible (or hidden).

If you have an addin named myAddin.xla with a function named myFunction, you can
type this in a cell:

=myfunction(whateveryouneedhere)

If you have a workbook named myWorkbook.xls and the function name is myFunction,
you'd use:
=myworkbook.xls!myfunction(whateveryouneedhere)

(Unless you have a reference to that workbook in the other workbook's project).

(And in both cases, the workbook/addin with the UDF needs to be open.)

If, by chance, you also have subroutines in that workbook or addin, you'll may
be able to see those subroutines via Tools|macro|macros... (unless they're
hidden someway).

With an addin, they won't ever appear in that tools|macro|macros... dialog.