Speed up Excel automation

[coox]

Hi, I'm using VB6, creating reports using Excel object, eg:

 Set xlOut = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
 With xlOut
      .DisplayAlerts = False
      .Workbooks.Open "C:\Data\T1L.xls"
      .Worksheets(1).Name = "SUN101_" & BatchNo
      For ColLoop = 0 To 13
       .Columns(ColLoop + 2).ColumnWidth = ColWidths(ColLoop)
      Next ColLoop

etc. etc.

But it's so dreadfully slow - anyone know:

1. Why?

2. How can I speed things up withough dumping Excel.

And before anyone says "Yes, but why are you using Excel", it's so easy to populate, save, view, print and all that jazz. And I suppose you'll say, well, speed is the price you pay for all that convenience. And I'll go and cry in a corner or something. And I'm not even a girl...

[ttingen]

coox,

I agree with you. Excel is much easier to manipulate than Crystal or the Data Report.

But I think the only way you'll make it run faster would be to add more memory to your pc. Excel takes forever to launch even on a fast pc.

[damonous]

Just a thought, but how about having Excel load and format itself while the user is doing something else, like filling in a form or something. Or create a template that has all of the formatting done already. Also, what part of the code seems to be consuming the most time?