VBA script ActiveX .ocx embedded

[Guest]

Hi,
I am having a lot of trouble trying to allow my client to open up a
spreadsheet with an embedded winsoc.ocx component within.
Because my client doesn't have the component installed on their PC, I am
trying to come up with a way of embedded the file in the spreadsheet so that
as soon as the spreadsheet opens, it will allow the file to be moved (or
copied) to the right directory and then register the component automatically.
Can someone give me some idea as to whether this would be possible.

Thanks heaps!
Regards,
Mary

 

[Robin Hammond]

Mary,

I think you will have to work on a more reliable approach. In theory it
would be possible to have the winsock file on a server, use late binding
with an error trap, and if the file doesn't exist download it to the target
then register it with a shell call to regsvr. This is not trivial and is
likely to run into permissioning problems trying to register the ocx file.

I'd have a look at a very simple installation package that will register the
ocx on the target machine as part of your original distribution. Your best
option is probably the Visual Studio Installer. Just add the ocx to the
install package and it should self-register. Again, you will have to ensure
that you have adequate rights to install the ocx, but you can tell the
client that they need to run the installer with admin priviliges.

An alternative thought? Do you have to use a winsock control. Could you
achieve the same thing using IE or an api call like URLDownloadToFile? If so
you might be less likely to have a registration problem.

Robin Hammond
www.enhanceddatasystems.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Robin,
Thank you very much for your suggestions.
Unfortunaely it is a must that I use WinSOCK control. That is why I thought
that maybe if I can attach that component to my spreadsheet or include that
component in the zip package, when I either open the spreadsheet or the zip
package it would automatically include this file into the window folder and
then trigger a registration to occur...
So I guess that this method is impossible?
Could you tell me where I can find more information about this Visual Studio
Installer?
Thanks for all your help!
Cheers,
Mary

 

[Robin Hammond]

Mary,

I didn't say it was impossible, but it is impractical. If you really want to
try it, you will have to create an Object to hold the winsock reference, use
late binding with an error trap if you can't create the winsock object, have
a server somewhere to access to get the file, download the file, register
the file,....

The VS Installer is here

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/vsi11/download.aspx

However, having looked at the licensing, it looks like you need at least
part of VS first or it won't run, which may count this out as an option for
you. There may be other installers that you can use given how simple your
installation is. Have a look on Tucows or something similar.

If you don't have VS and therefore can't use the VSI, and can't find an
alternative installer, you will need to figure out how to get the winsock
ocx on to the client machine, then use a command like this to register it,
but once again you may run into rights problems.

strSystemFolder = 'path to system folder on target machine
lRegSvrReturn = Shell("regsvr32.exe /s " & strSystemFolder & "Winsock.ocx")

Robin Hammond
www.enhanceddatasystems.com

 

[Guest]

Hi Robin,
Yeah I can see that it is going to be a bit of trouble, I don't think I have
a problem moving the .ocx file into the right folder and registering, but my
biggest headache is putting the file into the client's PC, because the client
isn't very PC literate, that is why I need to make it as simple as possible
for the user, and not needing the user to download the file themselves. I
thought about zipping up the spread sheet with the .ocx file inside the same
zip file, so that when the person unzip then it would automatically move the
component from the unzipped directory into the window folder when the Excel
sheet open (guess I will have to do this with VBA)...
But I wasn't sure if it is possible to embedded the file into the Excel
sheet so that I can save myself the trouble having to zip up the files, the
client having to unzip the files, and any other implications that might lurk
in this method...

Thanks,
Mary

 

[Robin Hammond]

Mary,

If you want to try it, the code for a download might look something like
this but there are plenty of perils in this approach. n.b. I have not tested
this.

'API file download call
Private Declare Function URLDownloadToFile Lib "urlmon" Alias _
"URLDownloadToFileA" (ByVal pCaller As Long, ByVal strURL As String, _
ByVal strFileName As String, ByVal dwReserved As Long, _
ByVal lpfnCB As Long) As Long

Sub TestForWinsock()
Dim WS As Object
Dim lReturn As Long
Dim lRegSvrReturn As Long
Dim strFullURL As String
Dim strLocation As String

'run this before you do anything else then try and use late binding for the
winsock
'there might be a problem with a withevents statement but I can't test it

On Error Resume Next
Set WS = CreateObject("MSWinsock.Winsock")
On Error GoTo 0

If WS Is Nothing Then

'uncomment the next two lines and set these two variables
'strfullurl = path to the winsock.ocx file on the net
'strLocation = path to save the file, presumably the system folder

'this assumes you can write a file to the system folder!
lReturn = URLDownloadToFile(0, strFullURL, strLocation, 0, 0)

'this ignores permissioning problems with registration!
If lReturn = 0 Then _
lRegSvrReturn = Shell("regsvr32.exe /s " & strLocation)

End If

Set WS = Nothing

End Sub

Robin Hammond
www.enhanceddatasystems.com

 

[Guest]

Thanks heaps Robin!
I will definitely test this and get back to you!
One important question I forgot to ask you in the last message, what is late
binding???
Thanks heaps for all your help!
= )
Mary

 

[Robin Hammond]

Non-exhaustive answer:

Early binding: setting a reference to the object using Tools References.
Late binding: using CreateObject as in the code below.

There's usually little difference, but if a class identifier might change -
e.g. I sometime unregister then re-register a couple of dlls I use as
libraries within VBA - then you are better off using the late binding since
it will find the more recently registered class.

Robin Hammond
www.enhanceddatasystems.com