create a component for Excel

rod riggs

Hi everybody,

I'm a c++ developer experimented on linux, thus I don't know well windows, neither C#. And I want to create a .net component, for windows, with C#, that will be made of:
1.a) a very simple HMI made up of only one button
1.b) a function F that take 2 parameters (of integer type), and do something (this function is already done). This function will be called when the button is clicked.

This component must:
2.a) Appear in the list of objets that can be inserted in Excel (in Excel: menu -> insert -> object)
2.b) Once inserted in an Excel sheet, we can link 2 cells to the parameters of the functions.

The final result will be:
we got a button in a Excel sheet, and when we click it, the function F is called with two parameters, wich parameters are the content of 2 cells of the sheet.

I have tried some things, but without success: i'm blocked in the 2.b, i mean that i didn't manage to make that my component appears in the Excel's insertable object list.

Can anyone could explane me a bit the arcanes of the .net components and their insertion in Excel?
Do anywone know where can I find some informations, source code, examples, about this subject?

Thanks a lot.
Rod.

3 Replies

Know the answer? Post it — somebody with the same question will find it here.

Sam Hobbs15y ago
I don't think the GAC is what you need. Excel XP (2002) is the latest version of Excel that I have done things with such as you are doing so most of the details that I know are not relevant. You probably want to write an add-in.

I don't see anything relevant in this web site.

One place to go is to use the Help in Excel. You can find answers there but it is not obvious enough for me to find the documentation without doing more reading. I now have the latest version of Office but I have not become familiar with development for it.

Another place to look is Microsoft Office Development. Become familiar with what is there. Then look in Excel Developer Center | How-to Videos, SDKs, References | MSDN. From there click on "Excel and Visual Studio". Become familiar with what is there. There is a lot of stuff there that is relevant and useful for you. Also try this.
rod riggs15y ago
Hi,

indeed, my problem is that I don´t know the correct words. Thus my searches on this site and the msdn are fruitless.
Maybe, if I say you exactly what i want to do, you could say me where to look for, or what to look for.

I said Excel because I thought that it should be a good entry point, but in reality, what I want to do is:
to create an object taht contains some controls (buttons and text edits) and that can be included in any Office program (Word, Excel, etc.). Something important is that this object must appear into the gac (global assembly cache), if I understood well, witch means that this object will appears in the default object include list in these programs (Word, Excel, ...), without having to browse of do anything more than pick it up into this list to insert it.

I know it's a bid confused, but the windows' word is new to me. That's why I need to, in parralel of my own searches, speak with real people to get some "global culture".
Sam Hobbs15y ago
Have you looked at the articles in this web site? The first thing to do is to determine what the correct name is for what you need to do. I would tell you but I don't know. If the articles in this web site does not help with that, then the MSDN documentation will. Look at the documentation of developing for Excel. Then look for articles and samples of doing that. I am confident there is ample resources available for you; just look for it.