How to install an Excel Add-in (XLA or XLL) with Automation (280290)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2000
  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0
This article was previously published under Q280290

SUMMARY

This article illustrates how to install an Excel Add-in (xla or xll) with Automation.

MORE INFORMATION

The following code demonstrates how to use Automation to:
  • Add a new workbook.
  • Call the Add method of the AddIns collection to add the new add-in to the list of add-ins in Excel Add-In Manager.
  • Set the Install property of the AddIn object to True (equivalent to selecting the add-in the Add-in Manager).
    Dim oXL As Object, oAddin As Object
Set oXL = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
oXL.Workbooks.Add
Set oAddin = oXL.AddIns.Add("C:\test.xla", True)
oAddin.Installed = True
oXL.Quit
Set oXL = Nothing
    Note that a workbook is added prior to calling the Add method in this example. The Add-in Manager in Excel is not available unless there is at least one visible workbook open. Without this line of code, you receive one of the following error messages:
    Run-time error '1004':
    Unable to get the Add property of the AddIns class

    -or-

    Run-time error '1004':
    Add method of addins class failed.

REFERENCES

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

161439 XL97: How to Remove Entries from Add-Ins Dialog Box

211956 XL2000: Cannot Delete Entries from Add-Ins Dialog Box

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/10/2005
Keywords:kbAutomation kbhowto kbProgramming KB280290 kbAudDeveloper
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