HOWTO: Automate Excel from an HTML Web Page Using JScript

ID: Q234774

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article demonstrates how to create and manipulate a Microsoft Excel 97 workbook from an HTML page.


MORE INFORMATION

This article illustrates JScript code that automates Microsoft Excel. JScript has no internal means of creating SAFEARRAYs. When using automation, if you call a function that requires a SAFEARRAY, you can use VBScript to create the SAFEARRAY. The code below demonstrates this combination of JScript and VBScript code.

Building the Automation Sample

  1. Start Notepad.


  2. Paste the following code into Notepad:


    3. 
<HTML>
<BODY>
Press the button to start Excel and display quarterly data.
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">
Function CreateNamesArray()
' Create an array to set multiple values at once.
  Dim saNames(5, 2)
  saNames(0, 0) = "John"
  saNames(0, 1) = "Smith"
  saNames(1, 0) = "Tom"
  saNames(1, 1) = "Brown"
  saNames(2, 0) = "Sue"
  saNames(2, 1) = "Thomas"
  saNames(3, 0) = "Jane"
  saNames(3, 1) = "Jones"
  saNames(4, 0) = "Adam"
  saNames(4, 1) = "Johnson"
  CreateNamesArray = saNames
End Function
</SCRIPT>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JScript"> 
function AutomateExcel()
{
   // Start Excel and get Application object.
      var oXL = new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application");
       
      oXL.Visible = true;
      
   // Get a new workbook.
      var oWB = oXL.Workbooks.Add();
      var oSheet = oWB.ActiveSheet;
         
   // Add table headers going cell by cell.
      oSheet.Cells(1, 1).Value = "First Name";
      oSheet.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Last Name";
      oSheet.Cells(1, 3).Value = "Full Name";
      oSheet.Cells(1, 4).Value = "Salary";
         
   // Format A1:D1 as bold, vertical alignment = center.
      oSheet.Range("A1", "D1").Font.Bold = true;
      oSheet.Range("A1", "D1").VerticalAlignment =  -4108; //xlVAlignCenter
         
   // Create an array to set multiple values at once.

   // Fill A2:B6 with an array of values (from VBScript).
      oSheet.Range("A2", "B6").Value = CreateNamesArray();
     
   // Fill C2:C6 with a relative formula (=A2 & " " & B2).
      var oRng = oSheet.Range("C2", "C6");
      oRng.Formula = "=A2 & \" \" & B2";
         
   // Fill D2:D6 with a formula(=RAND()*100000) and apply format.
      oRng = oSheet.Range("D2", "D6");
      oRng.Formula = "=RAND()*100000";
      oRng.NumberFormat = "$0.00";
         
   // AutoFit columns A:D.
      oRng = oSheet.Range("A1", "D1");
      oRng.EntireColumn.AutoFit();
         
   // Manipulate a variable number of columns for Quarterly Sales Data.
      DispalyQuarterlySales(oSheet);
        
   // Make sure Excel is visible and give the user control
   // of Excel's lifetime.
      oXL.Visible = true;
      oXL.UserControl = true;
}
      
function DispalyQuarterlySales(oWS)
{
      var iNumQtrs, sMsg, iRet;

    // Number of quarters to display data for.
      iNumQtrs = 4;
               
    // Starting at E1, fill headers for the number of columns selected.
      var oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E1", "E1").Resize(1,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Formula = "=\"Q\" & COLUMN()-4 & CHAR(10) & \"Sales\"";
         
    // Change the Orientation and WrapText properties for the headers.
      oResizeRange.Orientation = 38;
      oResizeRange.WrapText = true;
         
    // Fill the interior color of the headers.
      oResizeRange.Interior.ColorIndex = 36;
         
    // Fill the columns with a formula and apply a number format.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E2", "E6").Resize(5,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Formula = "=RAND()*100";
      oResizeRange.NumberFormat = "$0.00";
         
    // Apply borders to the Sales data and headers.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E1", "E6").Resize(6,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Borders.Weight = 2;  // xlThin
         
    // Add a Totals formula for the sales data and apply a border.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E8", "E8").Resize(1,iNumQtrs);
      oResizeRange.Formula = "=SUM(E2:E6)";
    // 9 = xlEdgeBottom      
      oResizeRange.Borders(9).LineStyle = -4119; //xlDouble
      oResizeRange.Borders(9).Weight = 4; //xlThick
         
    // Add a Chart for the selected data.
      oResizeRange = oWS.Range("E2:E6").Resize(5,iNumQtrs);
      var oChart = oWS.Parent.Charts.Add();
      oChart.ChartWizard(oResizeRange, -4100, null, 2);  // -4100 = xl3dColumn
      oChart.SeriesCollection(1).XValues = oWS.Range("A2", "A6");
      for (iRet = 1; iRet <= iNumQtrs; iRet++) {
         oChart.SeriesCollection(iRet).Name = "=\"Q" + iRet + "\"";
      }
      oChart.Location(2, oWS.Name); // 2 = xlLocationAsObject
         
    // Move the chart so as not to cover your data.
      oWS.Shapes("Chart 1").Top = oWS.Rows(10).Top;
      oWS.Shapes("Chart 1").Left = oWS.Columns(2).Left;
}
</SCRIPT>
<P><INPUT id=button1 type=button value="Start Excel" 
          onclick="AutomateExcel"></P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
  3. Save the file to a directory of your choice with the filename EXCELAUT.HTM.


  4. Close Notepad and start Internet Explorer.


  5. In the Address bar, type C:\<path>\excelaut.htm, where <path> is the directory you saved the file in.


  6. When Internet Explorer loads the file, you'll see one sentence with a button. When you press the button, Excel will start on the client's machine and fill with data.



REFERENCES

This article parallels other articles that describe the same process using different languages. For more information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q219151 HOWTO: Automate Excel 97 from Visual Basic
Q179706 HOWTO: Use MFC to Automate Excel and Create/Format a New Workbook
Q219430 HOWTO: Create and Format an Excel Workbook Using Visual J++
Q231614 HOWTO: Automate Excel to Create a New Workbook from Delphi
For more information regarding automating Excel from a HTML page using VBScript, please see the following Knowledge Base article:
Q198703 HOWTO: Automating Excel From Client-Side VBScript
For more information on Office Automation, please visit the Microsoft Office Development support site at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/officedev/

© Microsoft Corporation 1999, All Rights Reserved.
Contributions by Mark Durrett, Microsoft Corporation

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbAutomation kbExcel kbVBScript kbGrpDSO kbDSupport 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000,4.0,4.01,5.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: July 27, 1999