[RESOLVED] Detecting Excel version

[colleen.boye]

My application allows data to be exported to Excel. I wrote it on a computer with Excel 2007 so it exported files as *.xlsx by default; now I'm opening it on a computer with Excel 2003 and of course that doesn't work and I need to export as *.xls.

My question is: Can I detect the Excel version so that I can automatically have the export form default to the correct filetype?

(Side question: When I originally wrote it on the other computer using Visual Basic.NET, I needed to import Microsoft.Office.Interop. Now, working on it from a different computer using Visual Studio 2012, I don't need to anymore and it yields a warning. Why is that?)

[dday9]

Why not take a different approach, when you say export, I'm assuming you mean that you're using a SaveFileDialog. If so, then set your filter to:

.Filter = "Excel 2003(*.xls)|Excel 2007(*.xlsx)|*.xlsx"

Then use a try/catch to see if an exception gets thrown. If it does throw an exception, then try it again in 2003:

Dim sfd As New SaveFileDialog
sfd.Filter = "Excel 2003(*.xls)|Excel 2007(*.xlsx)|*.xlsx"

If sfd.ShowDialog = OK Then
   If sfd.FilterIndex = 1 Then '2007
      Try
         'Try running '07 code
      Catch ex As Exception
         'Try running '03 code
         Try

         Catch new_ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(String.Format("2003:{0}{1}{0}2007:{2}", Environment.NewLine(), new_ex, ex))
         End Try
      End Try
End If

I'm sure there's a better way of doing it, but there's one way :]

[dunfiddlin]

yields a warning. Why is that?

The exact wording of the warning would help in determining this.

[colleen.boye]

Figured this out; in case anyone's wondering, here's how:

        Dim saveFileDialog1 As New SaveFileDialog()
        'checks the Excel version
        Dim XLApplication As Excel.Application
        XLApplication = DirectCast(CreateObject("Excel.Application"), Excel.Application)
        If CInt(XLApplication.Version) >= 12 Then '2007: defaults to .xlsx
            saveFileDialog1.Filter = "Excel files (*.xlsx)|*.xlsx|Excel 2003 files (*.xls)|*.xls|All files (*.*)|*.*"
        Else 'earlier version: defaults to .xls
            saveFileDialog1.Filter = "Excel 2003 files (*.xls)|*.xls|All files (*.*)|*.*"
        End If