Re: MS Excel 2004 XLL addin in xcode
Re: MS Excel 2004 XLL addin in xcode
- Subject: Re: MS Excel 2004 XLL addin in xcode
- From: Paul Berkowitz <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:20:37 -0700
- Thread-topic: MS Excel 2004 XLL addin in xcode
Title: Re: MS Excel 2004 XLL addin in xcode
Not quite sure what you mean by "calling" AppleScript from excel. Yes, you can't "embed" an Applescript inside the file as you could with a VBA macro. And, so far, there's no substitute for Startup templates either. So am Applescript would have to be run from the script menu (could be from within an Excel folder there), or from a standalone script application, or even an AppleScript Studio app of you want a UI. I think MS are probably working on making Excel and the other Office apps "attachable" in the next version - from its own script menu, from a a Startup folder, maybe even triggered by clicking on a particular cell. But for now you have to run a script by selecting a menu item in the script menu or by launching an applet or studio app. That's actually not so terrible.
Virtually everything else that you could do in VBA can be done in AppleScript - the object model mirrors it, wit just a few things made more AS-like along the way (including, say, 'whose' classes which are every powerful filters).
AppleScript, in turn, can launch any other app, can call any other scriptable app, and can run things at the Unix level via the 'do shell script' scripting addition, It can actually be a lot more powerful on the Mac, for those reason, and especially interacting with other apps, than VBA ever could.
--
Paul Berkowitz
From: Jim McKinnon <email@hidden>
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:32:15 -0700
To: Kirk Stork <email@hidden>
Cc: Xcode List <email@hidden>
Subject: Re: MS Excel 2004 XLL addin in xcode
Kirk,
As far as I know, MS wants to end VBA, but they are having litle success in convincing users to use .Net in windows. There is just too much momentum. I noticed tech notes in 2003 saying to use .NET on PC and they still are adding VBA to Office 2007. The 64-bit version of Office, if there really is such an animal, might not get it due to 32 bit asm code. I think they would have to have a near perfect migration path to get businesses to buy an "upgrade" without it. MS is seeing that now with the Mac announcement.
I just got off the phone with MS and there is no Excel SDK for Mac. The guy could not even get me a developer support number. So I am trying the MS newsgroup now. I also contacted a local company who specializes in excel consulting. They used VBA-Applescript->Perl-> "c library" for a project. Ouch. They are checking some more.
Some companies like Adobe create plugins for Excel so it must be possible. I hope an Xcode solution is found.
I will let you all know my results.
Jim
On Aug 11, 2006, at 3:26 PM, Kirk Stork wrote:
Jim,
I did a little more research after posting my reply. I don't see any obvious way of calling applescript from within excel. You could make a script available from the applescript menu, but I doubt that's what you were trying to achieve. Perhaps with the removal of VBA from the next Excel, the ability to call OSA scripts from within Excel will be made available -- if not, then there will really be no way to extend Excel.
Suddenly I'm wondering if there is a .NET thing going on. Do you know if VBA is being removed from Office on the windows side too? Perhaps migrating to VB.NET?
In any event, I think you are right. If Microsoft is abandoning interoperability between mac and windows versions of office, then they are abandoning a viable mac product line. They're probably thinking that now that Apple hardware can run windows, there isn't much need to support OSX any more.
On Aug 11, 2006, at 10:16 AM, Jim McKinnon wrote:
Kirk - Thank you for the info.
This sounds interesting. I did not think Applescript + Excel could tie into a library created in xcode. I will look into this. If I can create custom functions in Excel calling the code, that would be a good interim solution. I am hoping a cross-platform solution is possible.
Unfortunately I sense the death of Office for Mac coming. Just as I was getting enthusiastic about the Mac again, Microsoft stopped that quick enough. If there is a "Charts" programmer on this list, allow it to convert Excel VBA (both ways) and use xcode plugins. =)
Jim
On Aug 11, 2006, at 6:43 AM, Kirk Stork wrote:
Jim,
You probably found this in your search, but I'll mention it anyway just in case.
MS recommends using AppleScript for future Excel extension (http://www.microsoft.com/mac/resources/resources.aspx?pid=asforoffice). There is a guide to AppleScripting Excel there.
I haven't tried it, but the current AppleScript suites for Excel and office appear to expose the whole VBA API to applescript. That, along with AppleScript's ability to make calls out to your own C or maybe even FORTRAN code might provide a path for you. In this idea I suppose you would create a compiled tool of some kind that does the computationally expensive stuff, and then use Applescript to provide an interface in Excel to that tool.
Has anyone one the list done anything like this? (maybe this thread should be cross-posted to the apple script list)
Kirk
On Aug 10, 2006, at 11:44 PM, Jim McKinnon wrote:
I have done tremendous searching on the net and have not found anything like a tech note on how to create .xll add-ins for MS excel (2004) on OS X. What I did find stated you needed Codewarrior to create the CFM/PEF library that Excel "needs". However, Codewarrior is dead. I learned VBA is slated for death as well on Office 12 due to the intel transition (hope something revives this as this is a major reason to use the windows version of office and obviously the OS).
Apple folks hoping to get switchers in the scientific/engineering/financial institutions need to provide an option here. Is there any way to get Xcode to create the library? Old links to files to Codewarrior projects will not help me or others as that environment is no longer an option. There is nothing in links or forums on the Microsoft support site that helps.
I have a project in the aerospace field that needs to port old fortran code into add-in files for users. I can't be alone in this need.
Thanks for any help!
Jim
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Xcode-users mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden
Jim McKinnon
Research Engineer
Frontier Engineering
Phone: 805-577-8771
Fax: 805-577-1192
Email: email@hidden
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Xcode-users mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden
Jim McKinnon
Research Engineer
Frontier Engineering
Phone: 805-577-8771
Fax: 805-577-1192
Email: email@hidden
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Xcode-users mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden
_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
Xcode-users mailing list (email@hidden)
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden