Question

I’m trying to create a build script for my current project, which includes an Excel Add-in. The Add-in contains a VBProject with a file modGlobal with a variable version_Number. This number needs to be changed for every build. The exact steps:

1. Open XLA document with Excel.
2. Switch to VBEditor mode. (Alt+F11)
3. Open VBProject, entering a password.
4. Open modGlobal file.
5. Change variable’s default value to the current date.
6. Close & save the project.

I’m at a loss for how to automate the process. The best I can come up with is an excel macro or Auto-IT script. I could also write a custom MSBuild task, but that might get… tricky. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Answer 1

An alternative way of handling versioning of an XLA file is to use a custom property in Document Properties. You can access and manipulate using COM as described here: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=224351.

Advantages of this are:

• You can examine the version number without opening the XLA file

• You don’t need Excel on your build machine – only the DsoFile.dll component

Another alternative would be to store the version number (possibly other configuration data too) on a worksheet in the XLA file. The worksheet would not be visible to users of the XLA. One technique I have used in the past is to store the add-in as an XLS file in source control, then as part of the build process (e.g. in a Post-Build event) run the script below to convert it to an XLA in the output directory. This script could be easily extended to update a version number in a worksheet before saving. In my case I did this because my Excel Add-in used VSTO, and Visual Studio doesn’t support XLA files directly.

' '   ConvertToXla.vbs ' '   VBScript to convert an Excel spreadsheet (.xls) into an Excel Add-In (.xla) ' '   The script takes two arguments: ' '   - the name of the input XLS file. ' '   - the name of the output XLA file. ' Option Explicit Dim nResult On Error Resume Next nResult = DoAction If Err.Number <> 0 Then      Wscript.Echo Err.Description     Wscript.Quit 1 End If Wscript.Quit nResult  Private Function DoAction()      Dim sInputFile, sOutputFile      Dim argNum, argCount: argCount = Wscript.Arguments.Count      If argCount < 2 Then         Err.Raise 1, 'ConvertToXla.vbs', 'Missing argument'     End If      sInputFile = WScript.Arguments(0)     sOutputFile = WScript.Arguments(1)      Dim xlApplication      Set xlApplication = WScript.CreateObject('Excel.Application')     On Error Resume Next      ConvertFileToXla xlApplication, sInputFile, sOutputFile     If Err.Number <> 0 Then          Dim nErrNumber         Dim sErrSource         Dim sErrDescription         nErrNumber = Err.Number         sErrSource = Err.Source         sErrDescription = Err.Description         xlApplication.Quit         Err.Raise nErrNumber, sErrSource, sErrDescription     Else         xlApplication.Quit     End If  End Function  Public Sub ConvertFileToXla(xlApplication, sInputFile, sOutputFile)      Dim xlAddIn     xlAddIn = 18 ' XlFileFormat.xlAddIn      Dim w     Set w = xlApplication.Workbooks.Open(sInputFile,,,,,,,,,True)     w.IsAddIn = True     w.SaveAs sOutputFile, xlAddIn     w.Close False End Sub