BuiltinProperties DirectCast Fails

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Nethercott
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark Nethercott

I get the following failure when trying to access the builtin properties;

An unhandled exception of type 'System.InvalidCastException' occurred in
resultsoutput.dll
Additional information: Specified cast is not valid.

In general terms the code is constructed as follows;

ModuleA
Public xlWb As Excel.Workbook

ModuleB
SubA
Dim prps As Microsoft.Office.Core.DocumentProperties
prps = DirectCast(xlWb.BuiltinDocumentProperties,
Microsoft.Office.Core.DocumentProperties)

This is using;
Framework 1.1
Excel 2002 SP3
Reference to COM Microsoft Excel 10.0 Object Library (Version 1.4)

I've been following the article by Ken Getz
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/odc_vsto20
03_ta/html/ExcelObj.asp) which suggests the code should work. Ken's article
refers to Excel 2003, but all the objects he references are also in the
Microsoft Excel 10 COM object. I wondered whether this was a bug in the 2002
COM or I've missed something in my code.
 
Try CType instead of DirectCast.
In this case, you're dealing with COM wrappers, and I have the nagging
feeling you're using a newer interface and trying to cast directly to an
older one. CType should call QueryInterface under the hood, so that if the
interface exists, it will get you a proper reference.

Hope that helps,

-Rob Teixeira [MVP]
 
Rob,
DirectCast will call QueryInterface to find the COM interface!

I will be very curious if CType works, where DirectCast fails.

Hope this helps
Jay
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'd already tried CType as an alternative, but
that fails as well.

Ken Getz's article is pretty clear on working with the DirectCast - I'll try
the code with the 2003 COM object
 
Yes, you're absolutely right. That's what I get for posting while
multi-tasking *sigh*

OK, this seems like a similar issue to a co-worker had.
Try this Mark - Use reflection on the object reference you do have to get
all implemented interfaces.
Also use Reflection to get the GuidAttribute from each (including the
GuidAttribute on the object ref's class).

Next, check to see that these are in fact the registered interfaces for
Excel in the system registry (based on the GUIDs).
I believe the problem may in fact be that you are trying to cast to a newer
version of the interface, which an older version of Excel might not provide
(or another such scenario). It would also help to know what version of the
PIAs you are using vs. what version of Office (and which PIAs have you
installed on that system).

-Rob Teixeira [MVP]
 
Thanks Rob for the input.

You were right, in the end I had to use reflection to contort my way through
the COM interface.
It took a while to figure out & I relied heavily on the help of Tom Annetts
@ Experts-Exchange.

The full thread can be found at;

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Programming_Languages/Dot_Net/VB.NET/Q_20973995.html

I've included the final function here for completeness. I've only tested it
under XP SP3 & Excel 2002, where it works fine;

Sub SetProperty(ByVal xlWB As Excel.Workbook, ByVal PName As String, ByVal
PValue As Object, _
ByVal isPropCustom As Boolean)

'This function sets the value of a property.
'
'The parameters passed to the function are as follows:
'
'xlWB A reference to the the workbook whose property is to
be set.
'PName A string containing the name of the property
'PValue A variant containing the value of the property
'isPropCustom A boolean indicating whether the property is a
Custom Document Property.

Dim result As Object
Dim PType As Long
Dim isLinkToContent As Boolean = False
Dim LinkSource As Object = Nothing

Select Case VarType(PValue)
Case vbBoolean
PType =
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeBoolean
Case vbDate
PType = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeDate
Case vbDouble, vbLong, vbSingle, vbCurrency
PType = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeFloat
Case vbInteger
PType = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeNumber
Case vbString
PType = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeString
Case Else
PType = Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeString
End Select

If isPropCustom Then
xlWB.CustomDocumentProperties.GetType().InvokeMember("Add",
BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, _
Nothing, xlWB.CustomDocumentProperties, New Object() {PName,
isLinkToContent, PType, PValue, LinkSource})
Else
result = xlWB.BuiltinDocumentProperties.GetType().InvokeMember("Item",
BindingFlags.GetProperty, _
Nothing, xlWB.BuiltinDocumentProperties, New Object() {PName})
result.GetType().InvokeMember("Value", BindingFlags.SetProperty,
Nothing, result, New Object() {PValue})
End If

End Sub
 
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