The ExcelAuto sample application demonstrates how to use Visual Basic to start Excel, create a workbook from a template, and update cells in a worksheet that then populate graphs in the workbook. The sample also shows how to send the workbook to an e-mail address, either one time or on a regular schedule.
To get samples and instructions for installing them
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Do one or more of the following:
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On the Help menu, click Samples.
The Readme displays information about samples.
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Visit the Visual Studio 2008 Samples Web site. The most recent versions of samples are available there.
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Locate samples on the computer on which Visual Studio is installed. By default, samples and a Readme file are installed in drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Samples\lcid. For Express editions of Visual Studio, all samples are located online.
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For more information, see Locating Sample Files.
 Security Note: |
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This sample code is intended to illustrate a concept, and it shows only the code that is relevant to that concept. It may not meet the security requirements for a specific environment, and it should not be used exactly as shown. We recommend that you add security and error-handling code to make your projects more secure and robust. Microsoft provides this sample code "AS IS" with no warranties. |
To run the sample
In Solution Explorer, open ExcelAuto.sln.
Press F5.
This sample requires that your computer have the following applications installed:
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Visual Studio 2005 with Service Pack 1, or Visual Studio 2008
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Microsoft Office Excel 2007
This sample consists of a solution named ExcelAuto.sln that contains two projects. ExcelAuto.vbproj is an interactive Windows-based application for automating Excel and setting up a scheduled task. ExcelAutoTask is a console application that contains Excel automation code that is run when the task is scheduled.
When the ExcelAutomation application runs, it opens a form that has buttons for automating Excel.
When you click Load Spreadsheet with Data, ExcelAuto creates a new Excel application. It then creates an Excel workbook from a template and updates the cells with data stored in a file named OrderData.xml. This data represents order status from the Northwind database sample. The spreadsheet is a status report that displays the status of Northwind orders.
You may also want to try the e-mail and task scheduling features in the sample.