hightopfade/HelloWorldXll

Installing Requirements

• Download and Install Excel 2013 XLL Software Development Kit
  • If you choose a different year, make sure you apply the proper pathing below
• Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition

Visual Studio 2019

1. Create a new solution (File -> New -> Create New Project)
2. Change All Languages -> C++ and All Platforms -> Windows -> Dynamic-Link Library (DLL)
3. Under Project name name it HelloWorldXll
4. In the Solution Explorer, right click the HelloWorldXll and select Properties.
5. On to top of this screen Configuration: All Configurations, Platform: x64
6. Under C/C++
   • Click Additional Include Directories then the dropdown arrow, then Edit and finally the New Line icon
     • Navigate to where you installed the XLL SDK. In my case, C:\2013 Office System Developer Resources\Excel2013XLLSDK\INCLUDE
7. Under Linker -> Input
   • Click Additional Dependancies then the dropdown arrow, then Edit
     • Add the following text, C:\2013 Office System Developer Resources\Excel2013XLLSDK\LIB\x64\XLCALL32.LIB
8. In pch.h, add the following lines:
   • Earlier versions of Visual Studio (<= 2017) this file was named stdafx.h
   • If you are having issues including XLCALL.H, try changing your Build (DEBUG vs RELEASE)

#include "framework.h"
#include "XLCALL.h"

9. Under Solution Explorer right click Source Files -> Add -> New Item -> C++ File (.cpp)
   • Name it HelloWorldXll.cpp
10. In HelloWorldXll.cpp add the following lines:

#include "pch.h"
#include <stdlib.h>

short __stdcall xlAutoOpen()
{
	const char* text = "Hello world";
	size_t text_len = strlen(text);
	XLOPER message;
	message.xltype = xltypeStr;
	message.val.str = (char*)malloc(text_len + 2);
	memcpy(message.val.str + 1, text, text_len + 1);
	message.val.str[0] = (char)text_len;
	XLOPER dialog_type;
	dialog_type.xltype = xltypeInt;
	dialog_type.val.w = 2;
	Excel4(xlcAlert, NULL, 2, &message, &dialog_type);
	return 1;
}

11. In the Solution Explorer, right click HelloWorldXll -> Add -> New Item

    • Under Visual C++ -> Code -> Module-Definition File (.def)
    • Change the name to HelloWorldXll.def

12. Change the contents of HelloWorldXll.def to:

LIBRARY

EXPORTS
    xlAutoOpen

You should now be able to Build Solution