Question

I want to run a Perl script at the click of a button inside an Excel spreadsheet.

As the button is assigned to execute a VB macro, the macro should effectively execute the program.

As my first ever VB script, this is what I came up with, which throws up an irritating Run-time error '424': Object required error.

Sub RunPerlScript()
    System.Diagnostics.process.Start ("perlscript.pl")
End Sub

How can I get this script to do what I want it to do?

Answer 1

You cannot use .NET classes in a VBA macro.

Use the VBA Shell function.

Shell "p:\ath\to\perlscript.pl"

The documentation:

Shell Function

Runs an executable program and returns
a Variant (Double) representing the
program’s task ID if successful,
otherwise it returns zero.

Syntax

Shell(pathname[,windowstyle])

The Shell function syntax has these
named arguments:

Part Description pathname Required;
Variant (String). Name of the program
to execute and any required arguments
or command-line switches; may include
directory or folder and drive. On the
Macintosh, you can use the MacID
function to specify an application’s
signature instead of its name. The
following example uses the signature
for Microsoft Word: Shell
MacID(“MSWD”) windowstyle Optional.
Variant (Integer) corresponding to the
style of the window in which the
program is to be run. If windowstyle
is omitted, the program is started
minimized with focus. On the Macintosh
(System 7.0 or later), windowstyle
only determines whether or not the
application gets the focus when it is
run.

The windowstyle named argument has
these values:

Constant Value Description vbHide 0
Window is hidden and focus is passed
to the hidden window. The vbHide
constant is not applicable on
Macintosh platforms. vbNormalFocus 1
Window has focus and is restored to
its original size and position.
vbMinimizedFocus 2 Window is displayed
as an icon with focus.
vbMaximizedFocus 3 Window is maximized
with focus. vbNormalNoFocus 4 Window
is restored to its most recent size
and position. The currently active
window remains active.
vbMinimizedNoFocus 6 Window is
displayed as an icon. The currently
active window remains active.