Disappearing Addin List

[Giordano Bruno]

I have workbook which automatacally 'installs' an addin, i.e. ticks the box.

When I open the workbook without Excel running, the code fails to install the addin. When I then use Tools > Addins, the panel of addins is completely blank.

I can only restore the addins list by closing Excel and reopening it.

 

[AlexM]

I've used code which installs addin in Workbook_Open event. Everything is working properly. Do you have any code, which is executed in Workbook_Open event?

 

[Giordano Bruno]

Hi AlexM,

I download a workbook which has some Workbook_Open event code. From this file, a button is clicked which then tries to install an addin and if it can't, i.e. the addin doesn't exist, it tries to download an xls and convert that to an addin.

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

How are you opening the workbook without Excel running?

 

[Giordano Bruno]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your interest.

I have a hyperlink to the first xls file. This opens the file in Excel. Excel is now running. I click on a button which tries to open the second file. The second file turns itself into an xla in a Workbook_Open event code.

It is when this second operation fails that I find I cannot see any of the Addins, standard or new.

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

Can you post your button code please?

 

[Giordano Bruno]

I have been investigating further and have isolated the problem further. If I open the first file by selecting if from an Explorer menu, Excel opens automatically and then the Excel file opens and runs some Workbook_Open code. This works perfectly.

If I open the file from a hyperlink in Word and Excel is not running, the file opens and the Workbook_Open code runs, but at this stage, Excel is still not open. Once the code has run its course, Excel opens, but the damage has been done and the Addins panel is entirely blank.

It doesn't seem that the problem is the way that the code is written and instead is a problem in the way that Excel operates. I need to be able to open the file from a Word hyperlink and so I need to find some way to have Excel open before my file opens. Is this going to be possible or must the client perhaps be directed to an intermediate Excel file with a second Hyperlink.

 

[Giordano Bruno]

Just an update to my previous message.

The hyperlink on the Excel sheet does not work either.

I put some junk code which will not run at the start of the Workbook_Open code. I close the workbook and close Excel. I then open Excel and call the workbook from the Intranet via a hyperlink on an Excel sheet. The file opens and asks that macros be enabled. I click yes and the code fails immediately with a runtime error regarding the line of nonsense code. Even if I stop the code before it has moved off the first line, the Addin panel has already been wiped clean.

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

I can't reproduce your problem in Word 2003. Clicking a hyperlink to a workbook starts Excel, prompts to enable macros, opens the workbook, runs the Workbook_Open procedure and brings the Excel window to the front. The Add-Ins list is intact.

 

[Giordano Bruno]

Many thanks for testing that Andrew.

Looks like I should try the workbook stripped back to its bare minimum and see if its a workbook corruption problem or something specific to my situation.

I'll post any developments here is anything untoward turns up.