XLL not loaded or logging

[Chezky]

Hi,

I've got an xll that works fine on my machine, but when I installed it
on a client machine, it doesn't seem to load. My AutoOpen has calls to
display output via ExcelDna.Logging.LogDisplay, but I see none of it
printed. My ribbon, defined in a subclass of ExcelRibbon, loads, with
a button to show the ExcelDna log window, but this button shows
nothing on startup. Is there any other way of debugging the loading
process, so we can figure out what's going wrong?

Thanks,
Chezky

[Govert van Drimmelen]

Hi Chezky,

* Do you see the 'Registering....' message in the status bar when you
load the .xll?
* It sounds like your .xll is loading since the ribbon is being
displayed. Is that right?
* Do simple Excel-DNA add-ins load and work on that Excel?
* Can you move your add-in to a different directory and rename
the .xll to check?
* Do you have a try-catch around the stuff in your AutoOpen - what if
there is an exception before or when the Logging is displayed?
* Can you write to a file using something simple like
File.WriteAllText from your AutoOpen?
* Could your add-in assembly have a dependency on something else that
is not being resolved? - you can switch on Fusion logging to see.


Good luck,
Govert

[Chezky]

ok, the logging helped, it looks like it was the wrong version
of .NET. I'm going to specify RuntimeVersion in my dna file as 3.5.
Question - will this still work OK if .NET 4.0 is installed? What will
appear to the user if they try running with something below 3.5?

Thanks,
Chezky

[Govert van Drimmelen]

Hi Chezky,

The .NET Framework versions 3.0 and 3.5 only add libraries, and don't
install a new version of the runtime.

So the RuntimeVersion options for Excel-DNA are effectively 2.0 and
4.0. By default the .NET 2.0 runtime is loaded, and if you add
RuntimeVersion="v4.0" then the .NET 4 runtime is loaded. If you don't
have RuntimeVersion="v4.0" and only .NET 4 is installed, it will not
load.

If your add-in requires the .NET 3.5 libraries, you need to check that
yourself in your AutoOpen. Best is to check for the registry key HKLM
\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5\Install. Possibly you
require .NET 3.5 SP1, so you might need to also check for HKLM\Software
\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5\SP.

Regards,
Govert