[RESOLVED] Office Automation.. where is intellisense hiding?

[josephine]

howzit guys..

the following sub creates an Excel object, manipulates it,
then saves it to disc.

Private Sub Expo(ByVal t As String, ByVal name As String)
        Dim tmp As String
        tmp = "c:\Done Reports\" & Date.Today.ToString("MMM,dd") & "\" & Me.Name.ToString
        If Directory.Exists(tmp) = False Then Directory.CreateDirectory(tmp)
        Dim oExcel As Object
        Dim oBook As Object
        oExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
        oBook = oExcel.Workbooks.Add
        oBook.worksheets(1).range("A1").select()
        oBook.worksheets(1).paste()
        System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard.Clear()
        System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard.SetDataObject(t)
        oBook.worksheets(1).range("A44").select()
        oBook.worksheets(1).paste()
        oBook.SaveAs(tmp & "\" & name & ".xls")
        oExcel.Quit()
        oExcel = Nothing
        GC.Collect()
    End Sub

the "Intellisence" feature of oExcel and oBook doesnt jump.
i.e. for oExcel Intellisence options are 5 methods (tostring, gettype etc..)
maybe is a declaration issue.. here are the declarations:

Imports system
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports GraphicsServer.GSNet.Charting
Imports GraphicsServer.GSNet.SeriesData
Imports System.Drawing
Imports Microsoft.Office
Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop

any idea why intellisence doesnt pop???

thanks in advance for suggestions

regards,
-j

[lingsn]

How about using :

Dim oExcel As Excel.Application = New Excel.Application
        Dim oBook As Excel.Workbook

Normally the object created with CreateObject function didn't give intellisense.

[Half]

It'll still lack the explanation tooltips, just the members will be listed at least in 2003. Frustrating in a way.

[josephine]

How about using :

Dim oExcel As Excel.Application = New Excel.Application
        Dim oBook As Excel.Workbook

Normally the object created with CreateObject function didn't give intellisense.

hey Lingsn,
your suggestion works very well. didnt know that CreateOBject doesnt include intellisence..
thanks so much.

[penagate]

hey Lingsn,
your suggestion works very well. didnt know that CreateOBject doesnt include intellisence..
thanks so much.

It's not that you've used CreateObject, it's because you've typed the variables as Object. Object is the absolute generic type in .NET, it only has about 4 methods, that are common to all types as they all inherit from Object. Intellisense thus can only show those methods as it knows nothing more about the actual type, the interface binding is done at run time. This is known as late-binding and it's BAD. Avoid it wherever possible.

[RobDog888]

Late binding is not bad at all. Take into account when you need to support multiple versions of Office or a different one then that what was used to create the app.

Only via Early Binding can you get the intellisense popups.

[penagate]

It's still bad, just occasionally unavoidable.

[RobDog888]

But you havent presented a valid reason to avoid it.