Excel 2000 v. 2003

[Lord Bodak]

I have recently received a new version of software we run in-house; the developer has upgraded from Office 2000 to Office 2003. The app is written in VB6 and generates an Excel spreadsheet. It is crashing at some point in the process-- I do not have access to the source code, but I suspect it is at the time of saving the workbook. The developer no longer has access to Office 2000.

I've decuded that the object libraries are not backwards compatible, but the 9.0 library is no longer available to the developer.

Is there any way to work around this without us upgrading all our machines to Office 2003?

[RhinoBull]

Welcome to VBF, Lord Bodak!

Most common functionality in any of MS Office products is backword compatible so that shouldn't be an issue. However, if developer usetilized what so called early bindings (he used references to Excel library during development wich was distributed along with application) then since it's not installed on the destination machine it may (but not necessary) cause some problems such "ActiveX component cannot create object...". If that's the case then suggest him to use late bindings instead using CreateObject VB's native function to instanciate what's installed on the machine.

Also, this is like shooting in the dark - it would be nice to see some code...

[RhinoBull]

Just in case you need quick sample:

Dim exl As Object
Dim wkb As Object
 
Set exl = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Set wkb = exl.Workbooks.Add
 
'and so on ...

[Lord Bodak]

The developer is going to try changing:
Dim xlApp As Excel.Application
Set xlApp = New Excel.Application

To:
Dim xlApp As Object
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

And removing the reference. Seems like that should work, from some things I've found in the archives here.

[RhinoBull]

That's exactly what I've suggested, though. That is very common trap many get into ...

[Static]

u are correct.. there is probably a function being used that works for 2003 & is not in 2000

not sure.. can u just put the OLB file back in?? (EXCEL9.OLB) never tried it..

It sounds like it would be better for the Developer to install Excel2000 than to have everyone upgrade.. If u are the "customer" than the Developer should comply

[RhinoBull]

...It sounds like it would be better for the Developer to install Excel2000 than to have everyone upgrade.. If u are the "customer" than the Developer should comply

Indeed and I would second that opinion.

[RobDog888]

Correct Geoff. When developing for multiple versions you should always make sure you either handle different versions in the code or you only utilize functions, methods, and properties that are available in the earliest version that your supporting.

Moved from Classic VB forum.

[Lord Bodak]

That's exactly what I've suggested, though. That is very common trap many get into ...

Now, removing the reference will break any uses of Excel constants though, won't it? That could be a problem.

[Lord Bodak]

Correct Geoff. When developing for multiple versions you should always make sure you either handle different versions in the code or you only utilize functions, methods, and properties that are available in the earliest version that your supporting.

I agree but, as far as I was told, no code actually changed. Office 2000 was removed, Office 2003 was installed, the Excel 11.0 reference was added, and the program was recompiled. So there aren't any 2003-specific functions in the code.

[RhinoBull]

Now, removing the reference will break any uses of Excel constants though, won't it? That could be a problem.

Oh yes it will, indeed. What he has to do is either use NUMERIC representation fo each Excel's const or declare them individually or some sort of Enum but he MUST determine values before in debug. Here is a sample that I use in some of my apps to outline specific cell(s):

Private Enum ExlBorder
    xlEdgeLeft = 7
    xlEdgeTop = 8
    xlEdgeBottom = 9
    xlEdgeRight = 10
End Enum

[RobDog888]

I agree but, as far as I was told, no code actually changed. Office 2000 was removed, Office 2003 was installed, the Excel 11.0 reference was added, and the program was recompiled. So there aren't any 2003-specific functions in the code.

If your changing the Reference in your VB 6 project from 2000 to 2003 then there is something that has changed in your app. It will now require Excel 2003 as the reference is to different dependancy files. You must use late binding to support multiple versions.