‘Add-in Express for Office and .net’ category archive
How to find the last used cell (row or column) in Excel
Ty Anderson | December 6th, 2013
VB.NET code samples explain some reliable methods for finding the last used cell in an Excel worksheet or a range.... Read the rest of this entry →
Loading a .NET 2.0 Office add-in on a machine with .NET 4.0
Andrei Smolin | December 4th, 2013
The fact is: almost all Office add-ins will load correctly in this situation. Yes, you don't need to modify anything in the add-in unless your add-in is affected by the issues described in .NET Framework 4 Migration Issues... Read the rest of this entry →
Populating Excel workbooks and ranges with arrays
Ty Anderson | November 29th, 2013
Microsoft Excel, with its almost endless supply of rows and columns, is data DisneyLand. It's fun to work with data and make it easy to consume. Part of the fun, at least for developers, is populating Excel with data. Today, I want to take another look at how to use arrays to populate Excel with data... Read the rest of this entry →
How to use Excel VBA macros and COM add-ins in one solution
Pieter van der Westhuizen | November 27th, 2013
The Microsoft Excel Office Object model is a varied and very mature framework and allows you to not only create VBA macros and functions but also COM add-ins. Of course creating these add-ins is made even simpler with the help of Add-in Express... Read the rest of this entry →
Please, don’t let us make your favorite IDE unsupported!
Eugene Starostin | November 19th, 2013
Currently we are working on new major releases and minor updates of our frameworks and tools. Just yesterday, an intense debate sparked among our team over whether we should continue to support some aged IDEs, e.g. Visual Studio 2005 and Delphi 5... Read the rest of this entry →
Convert an Excel column number to a column name or letter: C# and VB.NET examples
Pieter van der Westhuizen | November 13th, 2013
There are a lot of examples floating around on the internet on how to convert Excel column numbers to alphabetical characters. There are a few ways to get the column letter, using either vanilla C# or VB.NET, Excel formulas or the Excel object model. Let's take a look at some of the solutions... Read the rest of this entry →
How to properly release Excel COM objects
Pieter van der Westhuizen | November 5th, 2013
You'll see a lot of complaints on the internet about Excel and other Microsoft Office applications not quitting properly after using the object model to perform certain actions, or showing sporadic and unpredictable behavior in COM add-ins. In the end most of these issues boil down to developers not properly disposing of COM objects... Read the rest of this entry →
Working with Excel pivot tables: VB.NET code examples
Ty Anderson | October 31st, 2013
Today, I'll show-off some code that shows how to automate pivot tables. It's quite likely your user base is 100% comprised of uber-serious spreadsheet jockeys. These people need your help. This code will help you relate to them and make their life easier... Read the rest of this entry →
Importing data from SQL databases and other sources to Microsoft Excel
Pieter van der Westhuizen | October 30th, 2013
A number of people I've met had no idea about one of Microsoft Excel's most powerful features. I'm talking about the ability to add data from external sources to your Excel sheet and manipulate it from there. Of course as a developer this can come in very handy when you want to provide your users with an intuitive and flexible way to access your data and empower them to create their own reports... Read the rest of this entry →
Working with Excel tables & ranges: VB.NET code samples
Ty Anderson | October 24th, 2013
Microsoft Excel, being a spreadsheet application, automatically brings structure to your thinking. You can build models to help you think through just about anything. You can organize your data and create lists of any imaginable type. In fact, most apps in the mobile app stores these days can easily be replaced by Excel files. Even games... Read the rest of this entry →
Working with Excel charts: how to change a chart style, color or type programmatically
Pieter van der Westhuizen | October 22nd, 2013
Adding charts in your Excel add-ins using the Excel object model is easier than you might think. In this article we'll take a look at how to insert charts programmatically, format their style and colors as well as how to change the chart's display by filtering its data... Read the rest of this entry →
Working with Excel cell values, formulas and formatting: C# code samples
Pieter van der Westhuizen | October 15th, 2013
If you look at the title of this article, it almost sums up what Microsoft Excel is. Without cells, values and formulas, you just cannot get much done in Excel. Of course everything is contained within worksheets and workbooks and you can do so much more with Excel, but at the heart of it all lies cells... Read the rest of this entry →
Working with Excel workbooks and worksheets: VB.NET examples
Ty Anderson | October 9th, 2013
We've covered how to write code that automates Excel base objects. Today, I want to focus on the Excel workbook file and its worksheets. Let's take a look at how to perform some useful tasks with these two objects... Read the rest of this entry →
Creating custom task panes for Excel 2013 – 2003
Pieter van der Westhuizen | October 8th, 2013
When building task panes for Microsoft Excel, Add-in Express provides developers with two options; using the standard Microsoft Office task pane or the more flexible Add-in Express advanced Office task panes... Read the rest of this entry →
Customizing Excel main menu, context menus, and Backstage view
Ty Anderson | October 2nd, 2013
Today we will tackle the issue of customizing Excel menus and back stage view. As you know, there are multiple versions of Excel "in-play" and it is wise to architect your solutions to work seamlessly with them. Add-in Express provides the tools, but it helps to know how to use them... Read the rest of this entry →
Customizing Microsoft Excel ribbons and toolbars
Ty Anderson | September 30th, 2013
I think Excel's ribbon UI and toolbars are like a workbench, or set of tools. They are neatly arranged and reasonably grouped by task (although I know this is debatable). Today, we'll cover how to create custom ribbons and toolbars for Excel using Add-in Express for Office and .net... Read the rest of this entry →