Hi.

In my application I'm using Excel to get some data into an array from a worksheet.
Here is my method.

public string[,] WorksheetToArray(string path, bool visible = false)
        {
            oExcel oXL = new oExcel(); // here new icon appears.
            if (oXL.Error > 0)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("An Error Occurred" + "\r" + "Error: " + oXL.Error.ToString(),
                    "TestApp");
                Application.Exit();
            }

            Excel.Worksheet sheet = oXL.OpenWorkSheet(path);

            oXL.oWB.Close(false);
            oXL.oXL.Quit(); // expected new icon to disappear


            return null;
        }

When the line oExcel oXL = new oExcel(); is executed, I get a second system tray icon of my application which does not close after Excel object has quit.

Any ideas how I might solve this?

I wrote an article a few years back which might shed some light on this if you can bare to read it as its quite long!

https://www.paxium.co.uk/PublicArticle/Article/497

Just realised you are already cleaning things up so whilst my article may not help its certainly worth reading especially if you have insomnia!

commented: Great article +15

Thanks.

Here is my oExcel class.

class oExcel : Form1
    {
        public Excel.Application oXL;
        public Excel.Workbook oWB;
        public Excel.Worksheet oSheet;
        public Excel.Range oRng;

        public string[,] sRet;
        private int error = 0;

        public int Error
        {
            get { return error; }
            set { error = value; }
        }

        public oExcel() // as soon as this constructor is stepped into, the second icon appears.
        {
            //Console.Beep(700, 100);
            try
            {
                oXL = new Excel.Application();
                oXL.Visible = false;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                error = 1;
                Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message.ToString());
            }
            //Console.Beep(400, 100); // testing creation time.
        }

        public Excel.Worksheet OpenWorkSheet(string path)
        {

            try
            {
                oWB = oXL.Workbooks.Open(path);

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                oXL.Quit();
                error = 2;
                Debug.WriteLine("Error: " + error.ToString() + " - " + ex.Message.ToString());
                return null;
            }

            try
            {
                //Get a reference to the active sheet of the workbook.
                //objSheets = oWB.Worksheets;
                //oSheet = (Excel.Worksheet)objSheets.get_Item(1);
                oSheet = (Excel.Worksheet)oWB.ActiveSheet;
            }
            catch(Exception ex)
            {
                oXL.Quit();
                error = 3;
                Debug.WriteLine("Error: " + error.ToString() + " - " + ex.Message.ToString());
                return null;
            }

            object[,] obj = GetRange();

            return oSheet;
        }

        public object[,] GetRange()
        {

            object[,] saRet;
            try
            {
                oRng = oSheet.UsedRange;
                saRet = (System.Object[,])oRng.get_Value(Type.Missing);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                oWB.Close();
                oXL.Quit();
                error = 4;
                Debug.WriteLine("Error: " + error.ToString() + " - " + ex.Message.ToString());

                return null;
            }


            //Determine the dimensions of the array.
            long iRows;
            long iCols;
            iRows = saRet.GetUpperBound(0);
            iCols = saRet.GetUpperBound(1);
            sRet = new string[iRows, iCols];

            for (long rowCounter = 1; rowCounter <= iRows; rowCounter++)
            {
                for (long colCounter = 1; colCounter <= iCols; colCounter++)
                {
                    sRet[rowCounter - 1, colCounter - 1] = saRet[rowCounter, colCounter].ToString();
                }
            }
            // Debug.WriteLine(sRet.GetUpperBound(0).ToString());
            //Debug.WriteLine(sRet[sRet.GetUpperBound(0), 0]);
            //Debug.WriteLine(sRet[sRet.GetUpperBound(0), 1]);
            //Debug.WriteLine(sRet[sRet.GetUpperBound(0), 2]);
            //Report the value of the array.
            //Debug.Write(valueString);

            return saRet;
        }

        ~oExcel()
        {
            try
            {
                oWB.Close(false);
                oXL.Quit();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {

            }
        }
    }

On the face of it, I think I might have solved this with simply Disposing my class instance after quitting excel.

oXL.oWB.Close(false);
oXL.oXL.Quit();
oXL.Dispose();

No 100& certain though, all I'm sure of is the second icon disappears.

I'm happy to take a closer look if you want.

If so do I need more code or the above all I need to make it all work?

Hi DaveAmour.

I'm not sure what information or personal details are passed along with a complete project, and a little weary of doing so.

I hope you understand, and thank you very much for such a kind offer of help.

Yes sure I wouldn't trust me if I saw my picture too!

I was blue, even before the film Avatar came out!
But serious. I noticed your use of a tilde, which, to my knowledge is destructor syntax in C++ and I guess never needed in C#. I once wrote a small C# program to process some chemistry data for a colleague of mine. And I used this Excel class:

// ****************************************************
//
// Class to manipulate and work with Excel files in C#
// DM 2.2.2009
//
// ****************************************************

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;

namespace Peaker
{
    class ExcelC

    {
        const int FirstColWidth = 50;

        private Excel.Application  app = null;
        private Excel.Workbook workbook = null;
        private Excel.Worksheet worksheet = null;
        //private Excel.Range range = null;

        public ExcelC()
        {            
        }

        private int WSCount;

        public int WorkSheetCount
        {
            get { return WSCount = workbook.Worksheets.Count; }//if null?           
        }

        public void CreateADoc()
        {
            try
            {
                app = new Excel.Application();
                app.Visible = false;
                workbook = app.Workbooks.Add(1); 
                worksheet = (Excel.Worksheet)workbook.Sheets[1];
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error:" + e.Message);
            }
        }

        public void OpenADoc(string fileName)
        {
            try
            {
                app = new Excel.Application();
                workbook = app.Workbooks.Open
                    ( Filename : fileName, 
                    UpdateLinks : Type.Missing, 
                    ReadOnly : false, 
                    Format : 5, 
                    Password : Type.Missing,
                    WriteResPassword : Type.Missing,
                    IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended : true, 
                    Origin : Excel.XlPlatform.xlWindows,
                    Delimiter : "\t", 
                    Editable : true, 
                    Notify : false, 
                    Converter : Type.Missing,
                    AddToMru : true,
                    Local : false,
                    CorruptLoad : Type.Missing);
                worksheet = (Excel.Worksheet)workbook.Worksheets.get_Item(1);

            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Error:" + e.Message);
            }
        }

        public void Show()
        {
            app.Visible = true;
        }

        public void Hide()
        {
            app.Visible = false;
        }

        public void CloseADoc()
        {
            workbook.Close(true, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);           
        }

        public void Quit()
        {
            app.Quit();
            releaseObject(worksheet);
            releaseObject(workbook);
            releaseObject(app);
        }

        // Put data in an excel cell
        public void PutData(int row, int col, string data)
        {
            worksheet.Cells[row, col] = data;
        }

        // Get data as string out of an excel cell
        public string GetData(int row, int col)
        {
            string Val = string.Empty;
            if (worksheet.Cells[row, col].Value2 != null)
            {
                Val = worksheet.Cells[row, col].Value2.ToString();
            }
            return Val;
        }

        // Get data from a specific sheet
        public string GetData(int worksheetNr, int row, int col)
        {
            worksheet = (Excel.Worksheet)workbook.Worksheets.get_Item(worksheetNr);
            return GetData(row, col);
        }

        // Get data as double out of an excel cell
        public double GetDouble(int row, int col)
        {
            double d = -999.0;
            if (worksheet.Cells[row, col].Value2 != null)
            {
                d = worksheet.Cells[row, col].Value2;
            }
            return d;
        }

        // Write a series of strings to the active excel sheet
        public void PutHeader(int startrow, int startcol, List<string> H)
        {
            foreach (string item in H)
            {
                PutData(startrow, startcol, item);
                startcol++;
            }
        }

        public void WidenCols(int Ncols) //start with col nr 1
        {
            const int B_charASCIIcode = 66;

            worksheet.Range["A:A", Type.Missing].ColumnWidth = FirstColWidth;
            char ch = (char)(B_charASCIIcode + Ncols - 1);
            worksheet.Range["B:" + ch.ToString(), Type.Missing].ColumnWidth = 17;
        }

        public int GetLastFreeRowNr(int worksheetNr)
        {
            worksheet = (Excel.Worksheet)workbook.Worksheets.get_Item(worksheetNr);
            return worksheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count + 1; 
        }

        private void releaseObject(object obj)
        {
            try
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(obj);
                obj = null;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                obj = null;
                MessageBox.Show("Unable to release the Object " + ex.ToString());
            }
            finally
            {
                GC.Collect();
            }
        } 
    }
}

I never had any problems with it.
Perhaps the use of a tilde here, got the C# compiler confused?

I've often wondered what that charater was called, and I don't believe that destructor is ever called, the app acts the same with or without it.

Just artifacts of things I was trying really.

Thanks for the class ddanbe, I'll have a study of it.

@Suzie999: just a litle warning. You may use this code to your own liking. Just remember that here and there it is tailored to what I needed at the time. Maybe you would delete or add some methods.

Yes, thanks.

Just looking at the way it's tidying up, same issues again.
The second icon remains, until the class which creates the excel app is disposed.

Destructors are used - read my article if you have time

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.