As part of the open-source Excel-DNA project (https://github.com/Excel-DNA)
an IntelliSense add-in is available, which "adds in-sheet IntelliSense for Excel UDFs, ... through an independently deployed add-in".
During the help build process, XLL+ generates a file <Addin>.IntelliSense.xml
. To make use of this file, follow these steps:
<Addin>.IntelliSense.xml
file to the deployment directory, alongside <Addin>.xll
and <Addin>.chm
.ExcelDna.IntelliSense.xll
or
ExcelDna.IntelliSense64.xll
,
from https://github.com/Excel-DNA/IntelliSense/releases.
Be sure to use the correct version for the version of Excel you intend to support. For 32-bit Excel, use
ExcelDna.IntelliSense.xll
; for 64-bit Excel, use ExcelDna.IntelliSense64.xll
.If a simple add-in function MyAdd()
has two arguments, x
and y
, it might appear in the
Excel Formula Wizard like this:
With IntelliSense loaded, the function help will appear alongside the list of suggested functions, thus:
When the formula is being edited, context-sensitive help will appear as a popup:
If you are debugging C++ code using Visual Studio, and the Excel-DNA IntelliSense add-in ExcelDna.IntelliSense.xll
is loaded,
you may run into an unhandled exception during Excel close-down. This appears to be a side-effect of a loader-locking problem between managed and unmanaged DLLs.
You can avoid it at this time by ensuring that ExcelDna.IntelliSense.xll
is not automatically loaded when you are debugging XLL+ add-ins.