Article ID: 132535 - Last Review: June 6, 2003 - Revision: 2.1

PRB: Releasing Object Variable Does Not Close Microsoft Excel

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This article was previously published under Q132535

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SYMPTOMS

The CREATEOBJECT function can be used to create a reference to an instance of Microsoft Excel and assign that reference to a variable. However, releasing that variable does not cause the instance of Excel to quit.

Inadvertently creating multiple instances of Excel can cause a variety of error messages, depending on the machine configuration and Windows version. These error messages include:
"Insufficient Memory"
"Not enough memory"
"Page Fault"
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RESOLUTION

If you are running Microsoft Excel 5.0, use the following code to close all instances of Microsoft Excel: 
   PROCEDURE xlquit
   local llFlag
   ON ERROR  llFlag = .F. && Exit loop
   llFlag = .T.
   DO  WHILE  llFlag
      y=GETOBJECT (,"Excel.Application")
      y.QUIT
   ENDDO
   ON ERROR   && Set back to default
If you are using Microsoft Excel 7.0, use the following code: 
   PROCEDURE xlquit
   DECLARE LONG FindWindowA IN USER32 AS FindA STRING,STRING
   DECLARE LONG SendMessageA IN USER32 AS SendA LONG, LONG, LONG, LONG
   WM_USER = 1024
   hwnd = FindA("XLMAIN", 0)
     DO  WHILE  hwnd > 0
       WhatD= SendA(hwnd, WM_USER + 18, 0, 0)
       y=GETOBJECT (,"Excel.Application")
       y.QUIT
       hwnd = FindA("XLMAIN", 0)
     ENDDO
The code is different because Microsoft Excel 95 contains a bug that was corrected in later versions.

If you are using Microsoft Office 2000 or Microsoft Office XP change the following code:
WhatD= SendA(hwnd, WM_USER + 18, 0, 0)
to the following: 
WhatD= SendA(hwnd, WM_ACTIVATEAPP, 0, 0)


For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
153025  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/153025/EN-US/ ) FIX: Microsoft Excel 95 Doesn't Respond Correctly toGetObject
NOTE: The DECLARE statements in the above example are case-sensitive and the functions must be called just as in the example.
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STATUS

This behavior is by design.
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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Run the following code to create five instances of Microsoft Excel, none of which are visible: 
   FOR i = 1 to 5
     x = CREATEOBJECT("Excel.Application")
     RELEASE x
   ENDFOR
Releasing the variable x does not terminate the instance of Microsoft Excel. To ensure that each instance is terminated, add the following command immediately before the RELEASE x command: 
   x.Quit
To test if an instance of Microsoft Excel exists use this function: 
   x=GETOBJECT(,"Excel.Application")  && The first argument is empty
This returns an OLE error if no instance of Microsoft Excel is in memory.
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro 3.0 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro 5.0 Standard Edition
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro 5.0a
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro 6.0 Professional Edition
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Keywords: 
kbprb KB132535
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