C / C++ / MFC

3-Sep-04 5:56

Hello All excel Automation expert,
I'm having trouble closing excel application. It physically closed.. but the TaskManager Process shows the Excel Process is still running.

The program wait for the excel application to be close by user.. it is waiting forever since the Excel process is still running. How to close the excel application totally?

Is there anyway, not closing excel application and waiting for the user to finish formating or whatever he/she has to do with the worksheet then let the user close the excel file (not excel application). As soon as program knows the user just close the excel ( again , not excel application), the program can open new excel file in the same application?
Thank you.

<br />
ReleaseAllDispatch();<br />
WaitForExcelToClose();<br />
<br />

<br />
void CDlg::WaitForExcelToClose()<br />
{<br />
    HWND hWnd;<br />
    char buf[1024];<br />
    hWnd = ::FindWindow(TEXT("XLMain"),NULL);<br />
    if(NULL==hWnd)<br />
    {<br />
      return;<br />
    }<br />
	<br />
    DWORD pid;<br />
    DWORD dThread;<br />
    DWORD dwReason;<br />
    dThread = ::GetWindowThreadProcessId(hWnd,&pid);<br />
    HANDLE hProcess;<br />
    hProcess = ::OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE|PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS,TRUE,pid);<br />
    pid = NULL;<br />
    dwReason = ::WaitForSingleObject(hProcess,INFINITE);<br />
    ::CloseHandle(hProcess);   <br />
}

<br />
void CDlg::ReleaseAllDispatch(){<br />
range.DetachDispatch();    <br />
pagesetup.DetachDispatch();<br />
sheet.DetachDispatch();	<br />
sheets.DetachDispatch();<br />
book.DetachDispatch();   	<br />
app.DetachDispatch();<br />
<br />
book.ReleaseDispatch();		<br />
books.ReleaseDispatch();		<br />
range.ReleaseDispatch();	<br />
pagesetup.ReleaseDispatch();    <br />
sheet.ReleaseDispatch();    <br />
sheets.ReleaseDispatch();				<br />
app.Quit();    <br />
<br />
app=NULL;		<br />
pagesetup = NULL;<br />
range = NULL;<br />
book = NULL;<br />
books = NULL;<br />
sheet = NULL;<br />
sheets = NULL;<br />
<br />
CoUninitialize();  //unintializing the OLE*/<br />
}<br />

David Crow3-Sep-04 6:11

3-Sep-04 6:11

pnpfriend wrote:
hWnd = ::FindWindow(TEXT("XLMain"),NULL);

Not a good idea to use FindWindow() as the target window could be in a blocked state, thus rendering your code "dead."

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

pnpfriend3-Sep-04 6:56

3-Sep-04 6:56

Hi Dave,
what should I use? any suggestion?

David Crow3-Sep-04 7:02

3-Sep-04 7:02

Did you use CreateProcess() or ShellExecuteEx() to start Excel?

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

pnpfriend3-Sep-04 9:02

3-Sep-04 9:02

Then, how am I going to format the excel if I used ShellExecuteEx() or CreateProcess()?

the following way is to open the excel application. If I used ShellExecuteEx() how to get an app object? if I dont have app obj, I can't get workbooks, no workbooks there will not be no workbook, sheets or sheet. I thought about using ShellExecuteEx() but I don't know how to get workbooks back after that. Any suggestion please?

<br />
CApplication app; <br />
<br />
if(!app.CreateDispatch(TEXT("Excel.Application")))<br />
    {<br />
       AfxMessageBox(TEXT("Could not create Excel Application Object."));<br />
	   open = false;<br />
    }<br />
	else<br />
	{<br />
		app.put_Visible(TRUE);       // set visible....			<br />
		app.put_WindowState(2); //wdWindowstate minimize = 2<br />
		app.put_UserControl(TRUE); // let the user control 		<br />
	<br />
books = app.get_Workbooks(); //get work books<br />
	book = books._Open(fileName, covOptional,covOptional, covOptional, covOptional, covOptional, covOptional,covOptional,covOptional,covOptional,covOptional,covOptional,covOptional); // return workbooks's IDispatch<br />
   <br />
    //Get the Sheets collectiona and attch the IDispatch pointer to your sheets object.<br />
    sheets = book.get_Sheets();<br />
      <br />
    int numofSheets =(int) sheets.get_Count(); <br />
    int index=1;<br />
    <br />
    // Get every single Sheet in the CWorksheets and attach the IDispatch pointer to your sheet object<br />
	//making sure that user wants to print <br />
	<br />
    for( index=1;index <= numofSheets;index++)<br />
    {<br />
		lpDisp = sheets.get_Item(COleVariant ((short)(index)));  //GetItem(const VARIANT &index); // get a sheet<br />
		ASSERT(lpDisp);<br />
}<br />
}<br />

David Crow3-Sep-04 9:42

3-Sep-04 9:42

pnpfriend wrote:
If I used ShellExecuteEx() how to get an app object?

You couldn't, hence my reason for clarifying exactly how you were starting the Excel application.

When I use automation with any of the Office products or Internet Explorer, I do so with the intent of there being no user interaction. If I wanted user interaction, I would use CreateProcess() or ShellExecuteEx(). What you have here seems to be the need for both automation and user interaction. Is this a fair assessment?

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

pnpfriend7-Sep-04 7:33

Activate a specific View in an MDI MFC Doc/View App

7-Sep-04 7:33

True.. I need both automation and user interaction to preview the file first then user print the file manually.

It is hard right?

Paul Steane3-Sep-04 5:28

Paul Steane

3-Sep-04 5:28

I have a VC++ 6 MDI application using the conventional MFC Doc/View architecture. At any given time there can be several different views of several different document types open.

I want to be able to programmatically "activate" one of these Views, i.e. if it is hidden by other Views then I want it to become visible, just as if the User clicked on the relevent numbered item in the Windows menu (NB this does work correctly). The specific View that is to be activated does not directly depend on User input, e.g. it could be as a result of a message from another thread.

This seems to be an obvious thing to be able to do yet I cannot make it work. I am inside a message handler within my CMainFrame class; I have a CMyView* to the View I want to activate. MDIActivate(pMyView) seems to do nothing; I can't get CMDIChildWnd::MDIActivate() to work for me.

Perhaps it is something to do with me using the above functions with a CView* not a CWnd*. Can I deduce the latter from the former in a way that will make this work? What else may be wrong?

All assistance appreciated.

Running an .exe programmatically

anderslundsgard3-Sep-04 5:13

anderslundsgard

3-Sep-04 5:13

I want to run this file C:\gzip.exe like I do in the prompt:

gzip.exe -9 C:\myfile.wrl

How can I make the call with the parameters “-9” and “C:\myfile.wrl” ?

_____________________________

...and justice for all

APe

Re: Running an .exe programmatically

David Crow3-Sep-04 6:12

Re: Running an .exe programmatically

3-Sep-04 6:12

Either use ShellExecute() or CreateProcess().

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

Michael Dunn3-Sep-04 7:20

Michael Dunn

3-Sep-04 7:20

See the FAQ
6.4 How do I run another program from my program?[^]

--Mike--
Personal stuff:: Ericahist | Homepage
Shareware stuff:: 1ClickPicGrabber | RightClick-Encrypt
CP stuff:: CP SearchBar v2.0.2 | C++ Forum FAQ
----
"Kosh reminded me of some of the prima-donna programmers I've worked with. Knew everything but when you asked them a question; never gave you a straight answer."
-- Michael P. Butler in the Lounge

Replace Minimize Button

Caligulo3-Sep-04 4:34

Caligulo

3-Sep-04 4:34

Hi,

i have a sub class of the CMDIChildWnd class and i would like to replace the minimize button with a button with the '*'-sign. This to have a consistent user interface. After a lot of searching I haven't found a way of doing that (Only to remove it with ModifyStyle)
Anyone have any ideas of how to do this?

thx alot

Re: Replace Minimize Button

Maximilien3-Sep-04 5:10

Maximilien

3-Sep-04 5:10

I think you need to repaint the captions.

have a look at WM_NCPAINT (CWnd::OnNcPaint and related messages and API )

Maximilien Lincourt
Your Head A Splode - Strong Bad

Sending characters to other windows

tab13-Sep-04 4:28

3-Sep-04 4:28

I'm trying to beat a track and field type game. The game runs on a internet page and requires me to alternately press the 'B' and 'N' buttons :(to gain speed.
Is it possible to write an application that actually sends these characters to the game

David Crow3-Sep-04 4:39

3-Sep-04 4:39

tab1 wrote:
Is it possible to write an application that actually sends these characters to the game

Probably. Are the buttons just standard <input type = button> elements, are are they actually part of a Flash, Shockwave, or ActiveX control?

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

tab13-Sep-04 4:42

3-Sep-04 4:42

Haven't got a clue.
Here's the link to the game

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/herculympics/default.stm

David Crow3-Sep-04 4:51

3-Sep-04 4:51

Notice the paragraph right below the movie:

Visit our Flash Help Page if you have any questions or problems about using the Flash plug-in.

Based on that, I would say to try using SendMessage(WM_CHAR, 'B', 0) to send the keys to that window.

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

tab13-Sep-04 4:58

3-Sep-04 4:58

Yes but.......

SendMessage will send the character to the application that i have written. How do i get it to go to the internet page with the flash game on instead?

David Crow3-Sep-04 5:10

3-Sep-04 5:10

SHELLEXECUTEINFO sei = {0};
sei.cbSize = sizeof(SHELLEXECUTEINFO);
sei.fMask  = SEE_MASK_NOCLOSEPROCESS; 
sei.lpVerb = _T("open"); 
sei.lpFile = _T("http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/herculympics/default.stm");
sei.nShow  = SW_SHOWNORMAL; 
 
ShellExecuteEx(&sei);
WaitForInputIdle(sei.hProcess, INFINITE);
 
// you might could use "BBC SPORT | Olympics 2004 | Herculympics - Microsoft Internet Explorer" as the 2nd parameter
HWND hWnd = FindWindow("IEFrame", NULL); 
ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOW);
SetForegroundWindow(hWnd);
 
SendMessage(hWnd, ...);

"When I was born I was so surprised that I didn't talk for a year and a half." - Gracie Allen

tab15-Sep-04 23:26

5-Sep-04 23:26

Hi
Thanks for your continued patience good ideas but......
It still doesn't work.

The SHELLEXECUTEINFO method certainly starts the web page but i couldn't figure out what to do next;

The FindWindow methods also works but it doesn't get my WM_CHAR messages

The method suggested by bdiamond is also not working. Here i created a sdi app with HTML view and used SetTimer is to fire the

SendMessage(WM_CHAR, 'B', 1)
Sleep(100)
SendMessage(WM_CHAR, 'N', 1)

As a check to ensure this was working i put an OnChar handler in there to see my messages working

The funny thing is that when you press charcaters in the view (ie the web page) the OnChar does not catch anything, but the man starts swimming if you pressing the B and N as you are supposed to

Again, thanks for any help

BlackDice3-Sep-04 7:09

BlackDice

3-Sep-04 7:09

Or you can always put a webbrowser control in an app and set the address and open the page there. then have a button you can press that loops a million times (or whatever) and use a control variable of the ClassWizard-generated class for the browser control and do a sendmessage().

[insert witty comment here]

bdiamond Sleepy | :zzz:

Creating directory..

Sudhakar Pasupunuri3-Sep-04 3:56

Sudhakar Pasupunuri

3-Sep-04 3:56

I am trying to Create a Directory with Path length > 260 Characters..

Windows is not allowing me to create when length exceds 260 characters..The function i used is CreateDirectory().. When I saw the SDK Documentation it said I need to Use Unicode Version of this function for a maximum path length of 32767.

I want to know wht is this Unicode version function is?? Also do i need to change any settings in Visual Studio if i want to use Unicode Functions..

If possible can any one explain me the above with an example..

Thanks
Sudhakar

Re: Creating directory..

David Crow3-Sep-04 4:40