XLL addin not loaded!

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Guest

Hi all,

I am curious to know why a XLL addin is NOT loaded. In other words, although
I can see my file in Tools|Add-ins... on Excel I don't see the file loaded in
VBE Project Explorer.

Why is this? What's going on?

Cheers,
 
Tetsuya Oguma said:
I am curious to know why a XLL addin is NOT loaded. In other words,
although
I can see my file in Tools|Add-ins... on Excel I don't see the file loaded
in
VBE Project Explorer.

Why is this? What's going on?

Hi Tetsuya,

The VBE is only designed to display and work with VBA applications based
in Excel workbooks. XLLs, COM add-ins, and Automation Add-ins are not
programmed in VBA, so they do not appear in the VBE.

--
Rob Bovey, MCSE, MCSD, Excel MVP
Application Professionals
http://www.appspro.com/

* Please post all replies to this newsgroup *
* I delete all unsolicited e-mail responses *
 
G'day,

Thanks Rob.
XLLs, COM add-ins, and Automation Add-ins are not programmed in VBA, so they do not appear in the VBE.
Mmmm, if I want to look into the internals i.e., the defined functions in
the XLL file, how can I do that? Is this possible?

I tried to have the XLL file referenced in VBE (even doesn't show up as a
recognisable file type...) and it says "Can't add a reference to the
specified file."

Cheers from Singapore.
 
Tetsuya Oguma said:
G'day,

Thanks Rob.

Mmmm, if I want to look into the internals i.e., the defined functions in
the XLL file, how can I do that? Is this possible?

Hi Tetsuya,

If the functions in the XLL were designed to be worksheet functions (the
most common use of XLLs these days), you can use the Excel function wizard.
The only problem is that depending on how the author of the XLL decided to
classify the functions it may or may not be obvious which ones they are.

If the author chose to create a new custom category to contain the
functions in the XLL then it will be pretty obvious. When the XLL is open
you will see a category in the function wizard that did not appear when the
XLL was not open. Within this category will be the functions contained in
the XLL. However, the author of the XLL can also choose to add the XLL
functions to Excel's built-in function categories, in which case you have to
look through each of them for functions you don't recognize as built-in
Excel functions.

It's also possible that an XLL isn't designed to add worksheet functions
at all. An experienced C/C++ programmer can use an XLL to do anything a VBA
add-in can do and more. If this is the case you'll have to look for menus or
toolbar buttons the XLL might have added and if you find them, experiment
with them to see what they do. But in the end, it's possible you just won't
be able to find out anything significant about an XLL unless you have some
documentation that goes with it.

--
Rob Bovey, MCSE, MCSD, Excel MVP
Application Professionals
http://www.appspro.com/

* Please post all replies to this newsgroup *
* I delete all unsolicited e-mail responses *
 
I don't know know why you would want to reference the XLL. If it is for
calling a worksheet function exported by the XLL, use
Application.Run("function", args). As Rob mentioned in his post, it may not
be obvious what the XLL does. If you want to have a look behind the scenes,
you can download my free TraceXLL program here:

http://www.managedxll.net/excel/trace/xll/en

From the log file, it should be obvious which functions are exported: simple
watch for "Register" callbacks. You can also see how arguments are converted
from VBA variants to XLL-specific types.

Best regards,

Jens Thiel
 

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