ClrDemo Sample

Calls .NET methods from add-in functions

Run-time requirements

Please note that if you are using Visual Studio 2005, you must have Service Pack 1 installed in order to build a valid XLL.

If the sample fails to load into Excel at run-time, please see the technical note .NET requirements.

Remarks

This project contains two add-in functions that use the Common Language Runtime and the .NET class libraries.

For more information on calling .NET code from add-in functions, see Using .NET and the Common Language Runtime in the User Guide.

The worksheet function ClrDate converts an Excel date to an instance of System::DateTime, and then uses the method System::DateTime::ToString(format) to return a CLR formatted date string.

CopyC++

CXlOper* ClrDate_Impl(CXlOper& xloResult, double date,
    const CXlStringArg& format)
{
    // End of generated code 
    //}}XLP_SRC 
    // Call a CLR method, using toClr() to translate the arguments 
    // & toXl() to translate the result.
    xloResult = toXl(toClrDate(date).ToString(toClr(format)));
    return xloResult.Ret();
}

Inputs are converted to CLR types using the global functions toClr() and toClrDate(). The output of the CLR method (a System::String) is converted back to an Excel string using toXl().

The macro command ShowDialog calls the WinForms library method System::Windows::Forms::MessageBox::Show. An instance of ExcelForm is created, to pass the Excel application window's handle to the WinForms library, so that the message box has the correct owner window.

CopyC++

CXlOper* ShowDialog_Impl(CXlOper& xloResult)
{
    // End of generated code 
    //}}XLP_SRC 
 
    // Call a WinForms method, using a new instance of 
    // the ExcelForm to create an IWin32Window interface 
    // for the main Excel application window.
    MessageBox::Show(
        gcnew XllPlus::Forms::ExcelForm(),
        "Hello from .NET", ".NET message box",
        MessageBoxButtons::OK,
        MessageBoxIcon::Hand);
    return xloResult.Ret();
}

Requirements

In order to make this project build and run, the following step was required:

Check the /clr option in the XLL+ Application Wizard.

The following steps were required in order to use WinForms:

Add a reference to system.windows.forms.dll, so that the WinForms library is available. (You can add an assembly reference by opening the "Common Properties/References" page of the Project Properties dialog and clicking "Add New Reference...".)
Add #include <xlpclrforms.h> to ClrDemo.cpp, to gain access to the ExcelForm class.
For convenience, the statement using namespace System::Windows::Forms; was added.

Classes and functions used

ExcelForm | ple::clr::toClr | ple::clr::toClrDate | ple::clr::toXl

Sample project

Each sample project is located in a sub-directory of the Samples directory of the XLL+ installation. To use the sample project, open the solution file ClrDemo.sln or the project file ClrDemo.vcproj.

You can enable debugging under Excel by using the Setup Debugging command in the XLL+ ToolWindow.