Creating Excel DLLs

[gus]

Hi,

I'm trying to create a DLL for Excel on Mac OS X but any guide or tutorial on the net seems to be completely focussed on Windows. Can anybody help me with how to create DLLs on a mac or direct me to a tutorial.

Thanks
gus

[kc0arf]

Hello,

Are you sure that you want to make a DLL, as in the traditional Windoze DLL (Dynamic Linked Library?) I do not believe Mac Excel will support that... then again they may have added new features to Office 2004 that will do that sort of thing.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Macros? Windoze-developed Macros should work just fine in the equivelant Office program... because they are within the Office program, and can work.

A DLL, to my understanding, is an OS thing, and yes, the Mac uses linked libraries, but I am certain they are structurally different than the Windoze codebase.

Christian

[gus]

I thought the benefit of DLLs were that they were developed in C and were therefore a lot faster than the use of ordinary Excel macros?

I was also under the impression that in Windows you could either use the ordinary macros or DLLs. If you had something that was processor intensive and you wanted speed, then you would use DLLs. Is there an equivalent for Mac or am a wrong about the purpose of DLLs?

Cheers
Neil

[kc0arf]

Hi,

This topic is beyond me, so I don't want to mislead you. There very well could be a development tool.

DLLs in Windows are written and compiled, whereas Macros are "interpreted" like a script. You would see more speed on a DLL given a proper configuration and programming logic.

I wish I could help you more on this.

I wonder what MS Technet has to say about it. Perhaps you would also do a Google search and dig deeper. If you do find something, please let us know.

Christian

[nicentral]

Yes and no. One could write a dll in C, C++, C#, J#, or even VB.NET or VB6. They're basically a pre-compiled object or library that when referenced is used with other APIs. The problem with macros is that they are compiled at run-time. So in essence whenever you use a macro for the first time, it needs to be compiled, making it less efficient.

Another advantage of dlls is the ability to share a tool with someone else without revealing the code behind it. I'm completely for open source systems, but for corporate IP issues, this is an advantage.

I hope this helps a bit

Andy

I thought the benefit of DLLs were that they were developed in C and were therefore a lot faster than the use of ordinary Excel macros?

I was also under the impression that in Windows you could either use the ordinary macros or DLLs. If you had something that was processor intensive and you wanted speed, then you would use DLLs. Is there an equivalent for Mac or am a wrong about the purpose of DLLs?

Cheers Neil