Chapter 5. Function, General, and Application-Specific Add-ins

Add-ins are the primary constituents of well-designed Excel applications. In this chapter we discuss the most important duties add-ins perform within an Excel application, as well as details about the activities various types of add-ins must perform. This chapter does not cover dictator applications, as that is the subject of the next chapter.

The Four Stages of an Application

Every Excel application passes through four distinct stages, regardless of the type of add-in used to implement it. These stages are development/maintenance, startup, runtime, and shutdown. In this section we briefly discuss all four stages and identify the activities and services that must be provided by the application ...

Get Professional Excel Development: The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel, VBA, and .NET, Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.