When you are developing an application in FoxPro for Macintosh, you may
sometimes need to tap into the functionality of another application. This
article demonstrates how to execute a macro written in Microsoft Excel
version 4.0 for Macintosh and return a result.
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To run a Microsoft Excel macro, three components are necessary: the
Microsoft Excel macro, the AppleScript script, and the FoxPro Command
window.
To create a simple Microsoft Excel macro that fills in the first 50 cells
of the first column of a worksheet, do the following:
| 1. | In Microsoft Excel, open a new worksheet.
|
| 2. | Open a new macro sheet.
|
| 3. | Beginning in cell A1 of the macro sheet, enter the following commands:
=FOR("counter",1,50)
=FORMULA(counter)
=SELECT(,"R[1]C")
=NEXT()
=SELECT(,"R[-1]C")
=RETURN(CELL("contents"))
Microsoft Excel got an error:
"RUN(\"FILLCOL!FILLCOL\")" doesn't
understand the do script message. |
| 4. | Define the name FILLCOL for the macro. To define a name for a macro,
select the first cell of the macro, in this case A1, and choose Define
Name from the Formula menu. In the Define Name dialog box, type the name
FILLCOL and select the Command option button at the bottom of the dialog
box.
|
| 5. | Save the macro sheet with the name FILLCOL.
|
To create the AppleScript, do the following:
| 1. | Open the AppleScript Script Editor.
|
| 2. | Enter the following code for the script:
tell application "Macintosh HD:Excel:Microsoft Excel"
make new document
set retVal to Evaluate "RUN(\"FILLCOL!FILLCOL\")"
return (retVal as string)
end tell |
| 3. | Save the script with the name RunXLMacro and close it.
|
In the FoxPro Command window, execute the following commands:
RUNSCRIPT RunXLMacro TO ret
WAIT WINDOW ret
The macro is executed synchronously. This means that control is not
returned to the user until after the macro has completed execution. If the
FoxPro desktop and Command windows are not maximized, you should see the
macro execute in the background, filling in the first fifty cells of a new
worksheet with the numbers 1 through 50. If you can't see the macro
executing, switch to Microsoft Excel once control returns to FoxPro and
look at the new worksheet.
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Microsoft Excel "Function Reference"
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