How To Automate Excel from an HTML Web Page Using JScript (234774)

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This article illustrates JScript code that automates Microsoft Excel. JScript has no internal means of creating SAFEARRAYs. When using automation, if you call a function that requires a SAFEARRAY, you can use VBScript to create the SAFEARRAY. The code below demonstrates this combination of JScript and VBScript code.

Building the Automation Sample

Start Notepad.

Paste the following code into Notepad:

<HTML>
<BODY>
Press the button to start Excel and display quarterly data.
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">
Function CreateNamesArray()
' Create an array to set multiple values at once.
  Dim saNames(5, 2)
  saNames(0, 0) = "John"

  saNames(0, 1) = "Smith"
  saNames(1, 0) = "Tom"
  saNames(1, 1) = "Brown"
  saNames(2, 0) = "Sue"
  saNames(2, 1) = "Thomas"
  saNames(3, 0) = "Jane"
  saNames(3, 1) = "Jones"
  saNames(4, 0) = "Adam"
  saNames(4, 1) = "Johnson"
  CreateNamesArray = saNames
End Function
</SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript"> 
function AutomateExcel()
{

   // Start Excel and get Application object.
      var oXL = new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application");
       
      oXL.Visible = true;
      
   // Get a new workbook.
      var oWB = oXL.Workbooks.Add();
      var oSheet = oWB.ActiveSheet;
         
   // Add table headers going cell by cell.
      oSheet.Cells(1, 1).Value = "First Name";
      oSheet.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Last Name";
      oSheet.Cells(1, 3).Value = "Full Name";
      oSheet.Cells(1, 4).Value = "Salary";
         
   // Format A1:D1 as bold, vertical alignment = center.
      oSheet.Range("A1", "D1").Font.Bold = true;
      oSheet.Range("A1", "D1").VerticalAlignment =  -4108; //xlVAlignCenter
         
   // Create an array to set multiple values at once.

   // Fill A2:B6 with an array of values (from VBScript).
      oSheet.Range("A2", "B6").Value = CreateNamesArray();
     
   // Fill C2:C6 with a relative formula (=A2 & " " & B2).
      var oRng = oSheet.Range("C2", "C6");
      oRng.Formula = "=A2 & \" \" & B2";
         
   // Fill D2:D6 with a formula(=RAND()*100000) and apply format.
      oRng = oSheet.Range("D2", "D6");
      oRng.Formula = "=RAND()*100000";
      oRng.NumberFormat = "$0.00";
         
   // AutoFit columns A:D.
      oRng = oSheet.Range("A1", "D1");
      oRng.EntireColumn.AutoFit();
         
   // Manipulate a variable number of columns for Quarterly Sales Data.
      DispalyQuarterlySales(oSheet);
        
   // Make sure Excel is visible and give the user control
   // of Excel's lifetime.
      oXL.Visible = true;
      oXL.UserControl = true;
}
      
function DispalyQuarterlySales(oWS)
{
      var iNumQtrs, sMsg, iRet;

    // Number of quarters to display data for.
      iNumQtrs = 4;
               
    // Starting at E1, fill headers for the number of columns selected.
      var oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E1", "E1").Resize(1,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Formula = "=\"Q\" & COLUMN()-4 & CHAR(10) & \"Sales\"";
         
    // Change the Orientation and WrapText properties for the headers.
      oResizeRange.Orientation = 38;
      oResizeRange.WrapText = true;
         
    // Fill the interior color of the headers.
      oResizeRange.Interior.ColorIndex = 36;
         
    // Fill the columns with a formula and apply a number format.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E2", "E6").Resize(5,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Formula = "=RAND()*100";
      oResizeRange.NumberFormat = "$0.00";
         
    // Apply borders to the Sales data and headers.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E1", "E6").Resize(6,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Borders.Weight = 2;  // xlThin
         
    // Add a Totals formula for the sales data and apply a border.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E8", "E8").Resize(1,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Formula = "=SUM(E2:E6)";
    // 9 = xlEdgeBottom      
      oResizeRange.Borders(9).LineStyle = -4119; //xlDouble
      oResizeRange.Borders(9).Weight = 4; //xlThick
         
    // Add a Chart for the selected data.

      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E2:E6").Resize(5,iNumQtrs);
      var oChart = oWS.Parent.Charts.Add();
      oChart.ChartWizard(oResizeRange, -4100, null, 2);  // -4100 = xl3dColumn
      oChart.SeriesCollection(1).XValues = oWS.Range("A2", "A6");
      for (iRet = 1; iRet <= iNumQtrs; iRet++) {
         oChart.SeriesCollection(iRet).Name = "=\"Q" + iRet + "\"";
      }
      oChart.Location(2, oWS.Name); // 2 = xlLocationAsObject
         
    // Move the chart so as not to cover your data.
      oWS.Shapes("Chart 1").Top = oWS.Rows(10).Top;
      oWS.Shapes("Chart 1").Left = oWS.Columns(2).Left;
}
</SCRIPT>
<P><INPUT id=button1 type=button value="Start Excel" 
          onclick="AutomateExcel"></P>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Save the file to a directory of your choice with the file name Excelaut.htm.
Close Notepad and start Internet Explorer.
In the Address bar, type C:\path\excelaut.htm, where path is the directory you saved the file in.
When Internet Explorer loads the file, you'll see one sentence with a button. When you press the button, Excel will start on the client's machine and fill with data.

REFERENCES

This article parallels other articles that describe the same process using different languages. For more information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

219151 Automate Microsoft Excel from Visual Basic

179706 How To Use MFC to Automate Excel and Create/Format a New Workbook

219430 How To Create and Format an Excel Workbook Using Visual J++

231614 How To Automate Excel to Create a New Workbook from Delphi

For more information regarding automating Excel from a HTML page using VBScript, please see the following Knowledge Base article:

198703 How To Automating Excel From Client-Side VBScript

For more information on Office Automation, please visit the Microsoft Office Development support site at:

http://support.microsoft.com/ofd

How To Automate Excel from an HTML Web Page Using JScript (234774)

SUMMARY

MORE INFORMATION

Building the Automation Sample

REFERENCES