open an external program

[Tiger99]

Hi
I am just wondering is it possible to open an external program ( ie Microsoft word) in the background with excel VBA?

Thanks for any help

 

[TommyGun]

Sure...just depends on what you want to do with it. This code will open Word, create a new document, drop some text, and print it, without the user knowing.

<font face=Courier New><SPAN style="color:#00007F">Sub</SPAN> OpenWord_Shhhhhh()
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Dim</SPAN> WordApp <SPAN style="color:#00007F">As</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Object</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Dim</SPAN> WordDoc <SPAN style="color:#00007F">As</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Object</SPAN>
    
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">On</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Error</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Resume</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Next</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Set</SPAN> WordApp = CreateObject("Word.Application")
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">If</SPAN> WordApp <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Is</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Nothing</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Then</SPAN>
        MsgBox "It didn<SPAN style="color:#007F00">'t work.", vbOKOnly + vbCritical, "Oops!"</SPAN>
        <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Exit</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Sub</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">End</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">If</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">On</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Error</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">GoTo</SPAN> 0
    
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Set</SPAN> WordDoc = WordApp.documents.Add
    
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">With</SPAN> WordDoc
        .Range.Text = "This is a new Word document."
        .PrintOut <SPAN style="color:#00007F">False</SPAN>
        .<SPAN style="color:#00007F">Close</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">False</SPAN>
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">End</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">With</SPAN>
    
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Set</SPAN> WordDoc = <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Nothing</SPAN>
    
    WordApp.Quit
    <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Set</SPAN> WordApp = <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Nothing</SPAN>
<SPAN style="color:#00007F">End</SPAN> <SPAN style="color:#00007F">Sub</SPAN></FONT>

 

[zilpher]

Sure, here's the method I use:

Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long

Sub g()
'open Word with a blank doc
ShellExecute Application.hwnd, vbNullString, "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\winword.exe", vbNullString, "C:\", 1
'open a document
ShellExecute Application.hwnd, vbNullString, "C:\data\FAX.doc", vbNullString, "C:\", 1

End Sub

You'll need to change the paths accordingly.

HTH