Excel.EXE won't GO away

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I've been using excel within VB.NET applications and I can't get it to close down and remove itself from memory.

I'm using Visual Studio 2003 ver 7.1.3088, Framework 1.1, MS Office 2003 with MS VS Tools for MS Office System 69586-3

After closing all workbooks etc and setting them to nothing, I run the following code to get rid of the Excel Application object

If Not (xlApp Is Nothing) Then
xlApp.Quit()
xlApp = Nothing
GC.Collect()
End If

This does set the application object to nothing in the locals panel but the Excel.EXE process is still running in the Task Manager.

Thanks for your help.
 
Duncan Allen said:
I've been using excel within VB.NET applications and I can't get it to close down and remove itself from memory.
Click to expand...

I ran into this in c#. I found a ms web page with a great example on
this but can't find it again now.

You are probably creating some objects implicitly by doing something
like xlApp.Workbook.Worksheet and these objects are not getting freed.
Here are some tips :

1) Create all excel ojbects explicitly
2) Quit Excel
3) Use Marshal.ReleaseComObject on all excel objects
4) Set all excel objects to null

The instance of Excel your code creates should then terminate as you
expect it to.

I hope that helps.

Bob

Here is some sample (c# code)

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.OleDb;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

private void Export(string saveToName)
{

//Create all Excel objects
Excel.Application oXL;
Excel.Workbook oWB;
Excel.Worksheet oSheet;
Excel.Range oRng;

try
{
//Start Excel and get Application object.
oXL = new Excel.Application();
oXL.DisplayAlerts = false;
oXL.ScreenUpdating = false;

//Make sure Excel is hidden
oXL.Visible = false;
oXL.UserControl = false;

//Open the workbook.
oWB = oXL.Workbooks.Open(excelFileName,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing);

oSheet = (Excel.Worksheet) oWB.Worksheets.get_Item(1);

oSheet.Activate();

//Copy data from data reader to excel
string[] cell = new
string[30]{"A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z","AA","AB","AC","AD"};

int row = 2;

while (dReader.Read())
{
for (int index = 0; index < 30; index++)
{ {
oRng = oSheet.get_Range(cell[index] + row.ToString(),
cell[index] + row.ToString());

if (dReader[index].ToString() == "")
{
oRng.Value2 = "0";
}
else
{
oRng.Value2 = dReader[index].ToString();
}

//Release the range object
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(oRng);
}

row++;
}

//Save the file
object fileName = saveToName;

oWB.SaveAs(fileName,
Excel.XlFileFormat.xlExcel9795,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Excel.XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlNoChange,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing,
Type.Missing);

oXL.Quit();


//Free the remaining excel resources
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(oRng);
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(oSheet);
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(oWB);
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(oXL);

oXL = null;
oWB = null;
oSheet = null;
oRng = null;
}
catch( Exception theException )
{
String errorMessage = "Error: ";
errorMessage = String.Concat(errorMessage, theException.Message);
errorMessage = String.Concat(errorMessage, " Line: ");
errorMessage = String.Concat(errorMessage, theException.Source);

MessageBox.Show(errorMessage, "Error");
}
}
 
¤ I've been using excel within VB.NET applications and I can't get it to close down and remove itself from memory.
¤
¤ I'm using Visual Studio 2003 ver 7.1.3088, Framework 1.1, MS Office 2003 with MS VS Tools for MS Office System 69586-3
¤
¤ After closing all workbooks etc and setting them to nothing, I run the following code to get rid of the Excel Application object
¤
¤ If Not (xlApp Is Nothing) Then
¤ xlApp.Quit()
¤ xlApp = Nothing
¤ GC.Collect()
¤ End If
¤
¤ This does set the application object to nothing in the locals panel but the Excel.EXE process is still running in the Task Manager.

See if the following helps:

PRB: Office Application Does Not Quit After Automation from Visual Studio .NET Client
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;317109


Paul ~~~ (e-mail address removed)
Microsoft MVP (Visual Basic)
 
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