How to use the Automation object model of Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel, etc.) in "plain" COM/ActiveX

tags:

views:

192

answers:

1

Q:

How to use the Automation object model of Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel, etc.) in "plain" COM/ActiveX

I finally found the object model documentation for Microsoft Office.

However it talks about interop assemblies and stuff that sounds like .NET. I don't use .NET directly, and I don't really want to learn much about it. Is there a way to just use plain COM/ActiveX classes/interfaces to automate MS Word/Excel?

+1 A:

Here's a KB article that can help you get started: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216686/

...and this one: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307473/EN-US/

Ron Pihlgren 2009-10-10 03:44:09

Thanks. I guess this gives you the Necromancer badge. enjoy! :-) I'm no longer really trying to solve this problem (moved on to other things), but the first link you posted (kb216686) is fairly readable for someone like me who's familiar with plain COM. Most of the article is just baggage you need working in a language that is not high-level enough to take care of this stuff for you. The key feature appears to be CoCreateInstance() using the ProgID "Excel.Application". From there it should be easy to call methods. You'd think Microsoft would do a better job explaining this entry point.

Jason S 2009-10-10 21:39:10

re: Necromancer -- well, not yet. (somebody else vote this guy's answer up! :-)

Jason S 2009-10-10 21:40:17

>>You'd think Microsoft would do a better job explaining this entry pointI think they'd prefer that folks use VSTO and managed code - lots of resources around that approach...

Ron Pihlgren 2009-10-12 14:50:09

ansaurus

tags:

views:

answers:

How to use the Automation object model of Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel, etc.) in "plain" COM/ActiveX

related questions