There are two ways to control an Automation server: by
using either late binding or early binding. With late binding, methods are not
bound until run-time and the Automation server is declared as Object. With
early binding, your application knows at design-time the exact type of object
it will be communicating with, and can declare its objects as a specific type.
This sample uses early binding, which is considered better in most cases
because it affords greater performance and better type safety.
To
early bind to an Automation server, you need to set a reference to that
server's type library. In Visual Basic, this is done through the References
dialog box found under the Project | References menu. For this sample, you will
need to add a reference to the type library for Excel before you can run the
code. See the steps below on how to add the reference.
Start Visual Basic and create a new Standard EXE project.
Form1 is created by default.
2.
ClickProject and then click References. The References
dialog box appears. Scroll down the list until you find Microsoft Excel object
library, and then select the item to add a reference to Excel. If the correct object library for your version of Excel does
not appear in the list, make sure that you have your version of Excel properly
installed.
Notes
•
If you are automating Microsoft Office Excel 2007, the type
library appears as Microsoft Excel 12.0 Object Library in the References
list.
•
If you are automating Microsoft Office Excel 2003, the type
library appears as Microsoft Excel 11.0 Object Library in the References
list.
•
If you are automating Microsoft Excel 2002, the type library appears as
Microsoft Excel 10.0 Object Library in the References list
•
If you are automating Microsoft Excel 2000, the type library appears as
Microsoft Excel 9.0 Object Library in the References list.
•
If you are automating Microsoft Excel 97, the type library appears as
Microsoft Excel 8.0 Object Library in the References list
3.
Click OK to close the References dialog box.
4.
Add a CommandButton to Form1.
5.
In the code window for Form1, insert the following
code:
Option Explicit
Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim oXL As Excel.Application
Dim oWB As Excel.Workbook
Dim oSheet As Excel.Worksheet
Dim oRng As Excel.Range
'On Error GoTo Err_Handler
' Start Excel and get Application object.
Set oXL = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
oXL.Visible = True
' Get a new workbook.
Set oWB = oXL.Workbooks.Add
Set oSheet = oWB.ActiveSheet
' Add table headers going cell by cell.
oSheet.Cells(1, 1).Value = "First Name"
oSheet.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Last Name"
oSheet.Cells(1, 3).Value = "Full Name"
oSheet.Cells(1, 4).Value = "Salary"
' Format A1:D1 as bold, vertical alignment = center.
With oSheet.Range("A1", "D1")
.Font.Bold = True
.VerticalAlignment = xlVAlignCenter
End With
' Create an array to set multiple values at once.
Dim saNames(5, 2) As String
saNames(0, 0) = "John"
saNames(0, 1) = "Smith"
saNames(1, 0) = "Tom"
saNames(1, 1) = "Brown"
saNames(2, 0) = "Sue"
saNames(2, 1) = "Thomas"
saNames(3, 0) = "Jane"
saNames(3, 1) = "Jones"
saNames(4, 0) = "Adam"
saNames(4, 1) = "Johnson"
' Fill A2:B6 with an array of values (First and Last Names).
oSheet.Range("A2", "B6").Value = saNames
' Fill C2:C6 with a relative formula (=A2 & " " & B2).
Set oRng = oSheet.Range("C2", "C6")
oRng.Formula = "=A2 & "" "" & B2"
' Fill D2:D6 with a formula(=RAND()*100000) and apply format.
Set oRng = oSheet.Range("D2", "D6")
oRng.Formula = "=RAND()*100000"
oRng.NumberFormat = "$0.00"
' AutoFit columns A:D.
Set oRng = oSheet.Range("A1", "D1")
oRng.EntireColumn.AutoFit
' Manipulate a variable number of columns for Quarterly Sales Data.
Call DisplayQuarterlySales(oSheet)
' Make sure Excel is visible and give the user control
' of Microsoft Excel's lifetime.
oXL.Visible = True
oXL.UserControl = True
' Make sure you release object references.
Set oRng = Nothing
Set oSheet = Nothing
Set oWB = Nothing
Set oXL = Nothing
Exit Sub
Err_Handler:
MsgBox Err.Description, vbCritical, "Error: " & Err.Number
End Sub
Private Sub DisplayQuarterlySales(oWS As Excel.Worksheet)
Dim oResizeRange As Excel.Range
Dim oChart As Excel.Chart
Dim iNumQtrs As Integer
Dim sMsg As String
Dim iRet As Integer
' Determine how many quarters to display data for.
For iNumQtrs = 4 To 2 Step -1
sMsg = "Enter sales data for" & Str(iNumQtrs) & " quarter(s)?"
iRet = MsgBox(sMsg, vbYesNo Or vbQuestion _
Or vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Quarterly Sales")
If iRet = vbYes Then Exit For
Next iNumQtrs
sMsg = "Displaying data for" & Str(iNumQtrs) & " quarter(s)."
MsgBox sMsg, vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Quarterly Sales"
' Starting at E1, fill headers for the number of columns selected.
Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E1", "E1").Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)
oResizeRange.Formula = "=""Q"" & COLUMN()-4 & CHAR(10) & ""Sales"""
' Change the Orientation and WrapText properties for the headers.
oResizeRange.Orientation = 38
oResizeRange.WrapText = True
' Fill the interior color of the headers.
oResizeRange.Interior.ColorIndex = 36
' Fill the columns with a formula and apply a number format.
Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E2", "E6").Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)
oResizeRange.Formula = "=RAND()*100"
oResizeRange.NumberFormat = "$0.00"
' Apply borders to the Sales data and headers.
Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E1", "E6").Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)
oResizeRange.Borders.Weight = xlThin
' Add a Totals formula for the sales data and apply a border.
Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E8", "E8").Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)
oResizeRange.Formula = "=SUM(E2:E6)"
With oResizeRange.Borders(xlEdgeBottom)
.LineStyle = xlDouble
.Weight = xlThick
End With
' Add a Chart for the selected data
Set oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E2:E6").Resize(ColumnSize:=iNumQtrs)
Set oChart = oWS.Parent.Charts.Add
With oChart
.ChartWizard oResizeRange, xl3DColumn, , xlColumns
.SeriesCollection(1).XValues = oWS.Range("A2", "A6")
For iRet = 1 To iNumQtrs
.SeriesCollection(iRet).Name = "=""Q" & Str(iRet) & """"
Next iRet
.Location xlLocationAsObject, oWS.Name
End With
' Move the chart so as not to cover your data.
With oWS.Shapes("Chart 1")
.Top = oWS.Rows(10).Top
.Left = oWS.Columns(2).Left
End With
' Free any references.
Set oChart = Nothing
Set oResizeRange = Nothing
End Sub
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