Using a VB Application with Different Office Versions

[Ian Henderson]

I am a developer who is slowly getting to grips with developing applications
using Microsoft Visual Studio 2002, specifically the Visual Basic element.

I've recently developed an application which connects to a SQL Server
database. When it runs a report, the front-end app sends the commands back
to SQL, which processes the report and sends the finished data back to the
front-end app, which pushes the information out to Microsoft Excel.

Everything works fine on my development machine, which is installed with
Microsoft Office 2003. However, when I publish the application and make it
available to the users, the reporting functionality fails at the point where
the front-end application is trying to control Excel. I believe the cause
of this to be the fact that the user base has a mixtureof Excel 97 and Excel
2000 (mostly 2000).

Would this problem be solved by placing the relevant Excel assemblies into
the GAC? I've read about this, but am unsure as to whether or not this
would be the best approach. Also, because the application is designed to
run from a central server, not the individual client PC, presumably I would
have to register the assemblies on the server's GAC?

I hope someone can advise me on this soon - it's beginning to do my head in!

Ian Henderson
VB.NET/SQL Server Programmer

[Fredrik Wahlgren]

"Ian Henderson" <ia************@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cs**********@sparta.btinternet.com...

I am a developer who is slowly getting to grips with developing applications using Microsoft Visual Studio 2002, specifically the Visual Basic element.

I've recently developed an application which connects to a SQL Server
database. When it runs a report, the front-end app sends the commands back to SQL, which processes the report and sends the finished data back to the
front-end app, which pushes the information out to Microsoft Excel.

Everything works fine on my development machine, which is installed with
Microsoft Office 2003. However, when I publish the application and make it available to the users, the reporting functionality fails at the point where the front-end application is trying to control Excel. I believe the cause
of this to be the fact that the user base has a mixtureof Excel 97 and Excel 2000 (mostly 2000).

Would this problem be solved by placing the relevant Excel assemblies into
the GAC? I've read about this, but am unsure as to whether or not this
would be the best approach. Also, because the application is designed to
run from a central server, not the individual client PC, presumably I would have to register the assemblies on the server's GAC?

I hope someone can advise me on this soon - it's beginning to do my head in!
Ian Henderson
VB.NET/SQL Server Programmer

Hmm, can you create a minimal sample program or show some code with the
problems you describe?

/Fredrik