Comments on: Access Microsoft Excel 2007 COM API through Microsoft Active Accessibility

By: Jeff Gibeau

Jeff Gibeau — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:07:16 +0000

KTTransfer, it sounds like you have a reference that has not been released. This is pretty common with handling Microsoft Office through COM. It may take some time, but you will need to go over your code with a fine tooth comb.
If you are just using the code above, it looks like in my original code I even forgot to release the pWindow object after obtaining the application. This in itself could cause the application to hang even after all windows are closed. I’ve now updated the code.

By: KTTransfer

KTTransfer — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:41:42 +0000

I am not getting E_FAIL. Everything is just working as expected. But one issue: when Excel is closed by user, Excel.exe is not getting killed from task manager. Say if we are accessing 7 different Excel.exe’s then those many will run in the taskmanager even if user closes Excel workbooks. I tried releasing the Worbook*, _ApplicationPtr but Excel.exe is still running. Implicitly it should be closed but its not.Want to try killing explicitly by checking the number of workbooks. if number of workbooks are 0 then i can kill explicitly, please guide me to solve this issue.

By: Jeff Gibeau

Jeff Gibeau — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:05:17 +0000

To all having the E_FAIL return issue, you will have to be in process in order for this to work. Unfortunately I can’t go further into detail on how to get in process.
As for the classnames you are iterating through with enumchildren, you are only looking at the first letter of the classname. Look at the windows with Spy++ to verify the EXCEL7 window exists.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:05:28 +0000

Actually there is just no child window of class “EXCEL7″ on my version of Excel 2007.
Here are the child windows of that I enumerated through EnumChildWindows():
class “E” with hwnd=0x3a0934
class “M” with hwnd=0x60c88
class “M” with hwnd=0xc40668
class “N” with hwnd=0x98012c
class “N” with hwnd=0x330bd2
class “E” with hwnd=0x2406a2
class “M” with hwnd=0x5b074c
class “M” with hwnd=0x600bac
class “N” with hwnd=0x3c0120
class “N” with hwnd=0×420798
class “N” with hwnd=0xd0c74
class “N” with hwnd=0x9f0498
class “N” with hwnd=0x140bd8
class “E” with hwnd=0×430582
class “N” with hwnd=0×190990
class “N” with hwnd=0x8a06c2
class “E” with hwnd=0x70c82
class “E” with hwnd=0x70c6c
class “C” with hwnd=0xd0c7a
class “E” with hwnd=0x150c72
class “E” with hwnd=0×760852
class “N” with hwnd=0x30d02
class “N” with hwnd=0x470c4e
class “E” with hwnd=0xf0c6e
class “E” with hwnd=0×910550
class “E” with hwnd=0x1f05d8
class “E” with hwnd=0x2d0a46
class “E” with hwnd=0x3909fe
class “E” with hwnd=0×500526
class “X” with hwnd=0x2f05b2
class “E” with hwnd=0xc0c50
class “N” with hwnd=0xb40c8a
class “N” with hwnd=0×250834
class “N” with hwnd=0x46071e
class “N” with hwnd=0x2c072e
class “X” with hwnd=0x1f070a
class “X” with hwnd=0x2008a8
class “X” with hwnd=0x170c5a
class “S” with hwnd=0x3a0750
class “E” with hwnd=0x56054e
class “M” with hwnd=0x2e083e
class “M” with hwnd=0x170bd6

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:46:08 +0000

Same issue with Excel 2007 : returns E_FAIL

By: NarVish

NarVish — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:51:28 +0000

I’m getting the same error message E_FAIL as it was posted by VLSJ. I’m using Excel 2007. Please help us to resolve this issue.
Thak you.

By: VLSJ

VLSJ — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:25:35 +0000

Great to see the useful article. Thanks for posting.
I’m getting E_FAIL message in hr at below line.

HRESULT hr = AccessibleObjectFromWindow(hwnd, OBJID_NATIVEOM, __uuidof(Excel::Window), (void**)&pWindow);

Please let me know your suggestions. A million thanks in advance.

By: Jeff Gibeau

Jeff Gibeau — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:46:25 +0000

@NarVish
Thanks for noting that error. I’ve updated the full source to reflect the snippet at the top. get_Document has been replaced in my code by get_Application. get_Document was leftover from my Word source code.

By: Jeff Gibeau

Jeff Gibeau — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:42:52 +0000

@Agnes
See this post http://www.northatlantawebdesign.com/index.php/2009/07/21/automating-excel-2007-in-c-by-importing-the-excel-2007-type-library/
I’ve taken the tlh file that is created from the Microsoft Excel #import and renamed it msexcel.h for simplicity and so that #import is not needed each time.

By: Agnes

Agnes — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:00:57 +0000

Thanks for your post. I’m getting the below compiler error.
fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: ‘msexcel.h’: No such file or directory

How to include the msexcel header file.
Thanks alot in advance.