PerformDefaultRegistration() and Excel

[Paul Margus]

Hi Govert –

 

I’m working on a project involving spreadsheet function registration.

 

Initially, my project was using the following ExcelDna packages.

• ExcelDna.AddIn, version 1.5.1
• ExcelDna.Integration, version 1.5.1
• ExcelDna.Interop, version 15.0.0
• ExcelDna.Registration, version 1.5.1
• ExcelDna.Registration.VisualBasic, version 1.5.1

 

I experienced the now-familiar anti-virus bug in Windows Defender.   As of 2022-09-20, Microsoft hasn’t fixed it.

 

I’m registering my spreadsheet functions following standard procedures:

 

• In the dna file:

<ExternalLibrary

Path="Kalends.dll"

ExplicitRegistration="true"

LoadFromBytes="true"

Pack="true" />

• In Public Sub AutoOpen() Implements IExcelAddIn.AutoOpen:

 

PerformDefaultRegistration()

 

But execution stops at PerformDefaultRegistration(), with the following message:

System.NullReferenceException

HResult=0x80004003

Message=Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source=ExcelDna.Loader

 

I have an earlier version of this project, which has always worked fine.  After searching high and low, I found only one significant difference: The older version uses an older version of ExcelDna.

 

So, I downgraded to version 1.1.0 or 14.0.1 as appropriate.  Then PerformDefaultRegistration() worked perfectly.  And, as you have indicated elsewhere, Windows Defender stopped complaining.

 

Now I’m suspicious:  Do you think that Windows Defender was somehow erasing the “instance of an object”?

 

Everything now seems fine, except that when a signature includes an Enumeration, a DnaMarshalException results.  If that’s merely a limitation of the earlier ExcelDna version, I can deal with it.

 

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Paul Margus, FSA, MAAA

https://margusconsulting.com

• XTbML project
• New York LawTamer

 

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Pa...@MargusConsulting.com

 

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[Govert van Drimmelen]

Hi Paul,

Can you try to update your project to the current pre-release version 1.6.0-rc1?

I think that should not give you the Defender problems, and might fix the registration error too.

-Govert

[Pa...@MargusConsulting.com]

Hi Govert --

Just finished upgrading to pre-release version 1.6.0-rc.  Everything seems great:

• Windows Defender is totally quiet, and
• Sub PerformDefaultRegistration() is now functioning perfectly.
  

I'll continue using 1.6.0-rc until you replace it with the next stable version.

Thanks for your help. ExcelDna is an excellent package!

-- Paul