Page 270 - Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Programming Inside Out

Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Programming Inside Out

Using the AddIns Collection

The AddIns collection contains the set of add-ins available whether or not they have been
installed. The entries in this collection correspond to the add-ins listed in the Add-Ins dialog
box. Through the AddIns collection, you can browse the add-ins available to Excel, add new
add-ins, and install and remove add-ins from your program.

AddIns Collection
The AddIns collection is a typical collection object having the properties shown in Table 11-2.

Table 11-2. Properties
Property Type Description
Application Object Returns the Application object representing the creator of
the add-in.
Count Long Returns the total number of AddIn objects in the
collection.
Creator Long Returns a 32-bit integer containing the binary value XCEL.
Item(Index) String Returns the AddIn object associated with Index. If Index
is numeric, it refers to the relative position of the object
in the collection. If Index is a string, the Item property
returns an object reference to the AddIn object whose
Name property matches the value in Index.
Parent Object Returns the parent object associated with the add-in.
The AddIns collection includes a single method, Add. The Add method takes one or two
parameters and returns an object reference to the new AddIn object. The syntax of the Add
method as it applies to the AddIns object is
expression.Add(FileName, CopyFile)

The FileName parameter is required and specifies the full path and file name of the add-in.
The CopyFile parameter is optional and applies only when the file is stored on a removable
drive (that is, a floppy or a CD-ROM drive). When the second parameter is True, the add-in
is copied to a hard disk, whereas False means that the file remains on the removable drive. If
Chapter 11
the second parameter isn’t specified and the file resides on a removable drive, Excel will
prompt the user to choose whether the file should be copied or not.
This code fragment shows you how you can use the Add method to include a new add-in
workbook in the AddIns collection:

NewAddIn = Application.AddIns.Add("c:\Chapter11.xla")

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Part 4: Advanced VBA