Article ID: 150447 - Last Review: August 18, 2005 - Revision: 4.3

FILE: How to Create a BIFF5 File

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SUMMARY

BIFF is a file in the Microsoft Download Center that demonstrates how to create a file using the Microsoft Excel Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF) version 5.
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MORE INFORMATION

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Biff.exe (http://download.microsoft.com/download/excel50win/sample/1/w95/en-us/biff.exe)
For additional information about how to download Microsoft Support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
119591  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/119591/EN-US/ ) How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help to prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

The BIFF sample is a console application that prompts the user to input a path and file name. Once the user inputs this information, it writes a BIFF5 file to the name and location specified. The BIFF5 file that is created is simply an empty spreadsheet. It contains the minimum records necessary for this task.

NOTE: You must provide a unique name for the file. BIFF does not overwrite an existing file. Also, the directory location specified must exist in advance: BIFF will not create it.

BIFF5 files are Compound Files, which means that the OLE Structured Storage interfaces must be used to write the file. The necessary steps to do this are explicitly documented in the main() function comments in BIFF.CPP.

Additionally, because we are using OLE, the following issues exist:
  • 32-bit OLE methods and functions that work with strings expect to receive UNICODE strings. One solution to this is to build this application for UNICODE. However, this is not required. The application handles the problem by converting the necessary strings to UNICODE through the use of the MultiByteToWideChar() function and the L macro (for string literals). The necessary conversion code is conditionally compiled if you choose not to build for UNICODE.
  • Because of the way that OLE interfaces are implemented, (they are identical to a C++ Vtable) it is much easier to develop in C++ than in C. If you want to re-write this in C, please refer to Chapter 7 (p. 349) in the Microsoft Excel Developer's Kit version 5 for hints on how to accomplish this.
To construct the BIFF5 records themselves, I have implemented a set of functions that convert a string of hexadecimal characters to binary data. These functions can be found in hex2byte.cpp.
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Files

BIFF.CPP / .H          Contains the console application entry point and
                       support functions, as well as the functions to
                       create the BIFF file.

HEX2BYTE.CPP / .H      Contains the functions to convert a hexadecimal
                       formatted string to binary data.

BIFF.MAK               Makefile for the project.
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To Build

This project must be built as a 32-bit application. You can build for either Unicode or ANSI. You can use NMAKE with the attached makefile to build this project.
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Excel Software Development Kit 5.0, when used with:
    • Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
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Keywords: 
kbdownload kbfile kbhowto kbnoupdate kbsample KB150447
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Retired KB ArticleRetired KB Content Disclaimer
This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.
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