Question

After my program creates an Excel file, I let the user see that file.

Excel.Application xlApp = new Excel.Application();
xlApp.Visible = true;
Excel.Workbook excelWorkbook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(xlsx.saveLocation + "\\" + xlsx.fileName,
    0, false, 5, "", "", false, Excel.XlPlatform.xlWindows, "",
    true, false, 0, true, false, false);

Whenever I close the Excel window, the process (EXCEL.EXE) remains (I’m hitting the red X in the top right). Am I missing a setting or something? I want the Excel window to be independent of the C# program, so that if I end the latter the former will still be visible.

Answer 1

If you want true independence, then you should use Process.Start to start Excel.

The simplest version you’d need would be:

Process.Start(Path.Combine(xlsx.saveLocation, xlsx.fileName));

though I’d recommend using the proper Path methods for combining the directory and filename into a complete path. Path.Combine

Source

If your path or filename has spaces then you need to wrap the whole thing in quotes:

var arguments = new StringBuilder("\"");
arguments.Append(Path.Combine(xlsx.saveLocation, xlsx.fileName));
arguments.Append("\"");
Process.Start(arguments.ToString());

(Though a StringBuilder may be overkill in this scenario)