Backward compatibility for VB6 COM Excel Add-In

[Nick Hebb]

I'm developing a VB6 COM Add-in for Excel on a machine that current has
Office XP installed, which means that my VB6 project sets a reference
to the Excel 10.0 (2002/XP) object library.

I would like my add-in to be backward compatible with Excel 2000, which
uses the Excel 9.0 (2000) object library. In order to ensure this, as
far as I can tell I have 3 options:

1. Check the Object libraries for 2000 and XP looking for any
differences that might effect my code. Then cross my fingers and hope
for the best.

2. Buy and install Excel 2000 in order to get access to the older
library.

3. Obtain a copy of the Office 2000 SDK. Unfortunately, I can't seem
to locate this anywhere on MSDN.

Option 1 looks like my best bet. Has anyone tried this with success?
Any gotchas to watch out for.

Option 2 isn't appealing because of the cost and the configuration
headaches. If I had VPC or VMWare it would be less of an issue, but I
don't have either.

Option 3 would be optimal, but I don't know where to obtain a copy of
this SDK. Does anyone know if there are still copies available for
download?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Robin Hammond]

Nick,

This has been unanswered for a few days, so I'll give it a shot.

Your least preferred solution, Option 2, is probably the right one, to
develop using Excel 2000.

There are few differences in the object models (more exist with Excel 97),
but testing on the actual platform is the only way to find out how
everything is going to behave. Manually working through the code looking for
differences would be unreliable, and if your code is at all complex, very
time consuming.

Robin Hammond
www.enhanceddatasystems.com

 

[bjoeylouie]

I agree that option 2 is the best. You'll have to debug with XP and
2003. I've also noticed that some folks sell three different versions
to ensure capatibility.

As to cost, you should consider the Microsoft Empower for ISV program.
It is only $375 and you'll get everything you need and more. Check it
our here.

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40010429

 

[Nick Hebb]

I've been planning to sign up for Empower after I get my web site set
up (one of it's requirements). But, I didn't see anything in there
about Office 2000 - just Office XP (Premium or Developer) or Office
2003. Does the Developer Edition include the object libraries for
older versions?

One other thing that was pointed out to me elsewhere was to use late
binding and beta test on 2000. Has anyone had luck with that?