Error opening Excel 2007 files in Express Edition

Exsharaen · April 9th, 2008, 03:05 AM

Hi,

I want to open Excel 2007 file then retrieve some data inside. I used this code, let's say under Form1_Load:

Code:

Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop
...
Dim xlApp As New Excel.Application, xlWorkbook As Excel.Workbook
Dim xlWorksheet As Excel.Worksheet

Try
' The following line always fails
    xlWorkbook = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(My.Application.Info.DirectoryPath & _
"\Work Report.xlsx") 
    xlWorksheet = xlWorkbook.Sheets("April 2008")
    Label1.Text = xlWorksheet.Cells("B2")
Catch ex As Exception
    MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString)
End Try
...

I have added a reference to Microsoft Excel 12.0 Object Library.

When I test this code, I always get an error:

System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80028018):
Old format or invalid type library.
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80028018 (TYPE_E_INVDATAREAD))
Ã Ã Ã at Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Workbooks.Open(Stri ng Filename,
Object UpdateLinks, Object ReadOnly, Object Format, Object Password,
Object WriteResPassword, Object IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended, Object Origin,
Object Delimiter, Object Editable, Object Notify, Object Converter, Object AddToMru,
Object Local, Object CorruptLoad)
Ã Ã Ã at Sample.Form3.Form3_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in
D:\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Sample\Sample\Form3.vb:line 24

The VB 2008 samples about Excel application also don't work and throw the same exception.

I already did a workaround as written here: http://blogs.msdn.com/eric_carter/ar...15/429515.aspx
(since my locale is set to Indonesian), but it also didn't work.

Does anyone know how to overcome this in VB 2008 Express Edition?

Thank you.

BrianWren · April 9th, 2008, 11:32 AM

Try creating a new workbook instead of trying to open an existing workbook,
to distinguish whether it is the file itself, or it the file-opening mechanism.

(Also, could you edit your original posting so that the error line is not so
long? Because it is in CODE tags, the browser will not wrap the line, and to
read you post, I need to horizontally scroll back and forth. Perhaps you
could put an asterisk as the comment, and explain it outside the CODE tags...

Exsharaen · April 25th, 2008, 01:47 AM

Hi,

I'm sorry for the late reply. Creating a new workbook also fails. Fortunately, my friend gave me an alternative I had not found anywhere else. It seems my locale is the source of my problem, since I don't use English. So, I need to add this line:

Code:

System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = _ 
System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("en-US")

before attempting to open or create a new workbook.

Thank you anyway for your guidance.