Dim engine As CoXlsEngine
Set engine = CreateObject("ExcelGenerator.ARsTDesign")

Dim wbk As IXlsWorkbook
Set wbk = engine.New("c:\myfile.xls")

Dim wksht As IXlsWorksheet
Set wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet("sheet1")

... ' your code begins here

... ' your code ends here

wbk.Close

Set engine = Nothing

Sub mycustomcode()

  ' create a running instance of the generator
  Dim engine As CoXlsEngine
  Set engine = CreateObject("ExcelGenerator.ARsTDesign")

  ' create a new Excel file, and get a workbook to work with
  Dim wbk As IXlsWorkbook
  Set wbk = engine.New("c:\myfile.xls")

  ' create a new worksheet
  Dim wksht As IXlsWorksheet
  Set wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet("sheet1")

  ... ' your code begins here

  ' commit all the work, and make sure the .xls file is ready to use
  wbk.Close

  ' free the memory from the running instance
  Set engine = Nothing

End Sub

ASP specific information

If xlsgen is used to generate and write Excel files on the file system (very likely), it must be ensured that the target folder has effectively been granted write permissions. Remember that when running a web application, the user is not the local interactive account, but ASP/ASPNET (or NETWORKSERVICE if you are running on Windows Server 2003) and those users are not granted such right for obvious reasons.

Make sure to know that while there is no restriction or significant drawback to writing Excel files on the file system in general, xlsgen actually supports an in-memory scenario which does not require write permissions to be granted and is thus perhaps better suited to meet restricted environments. The xlsgen install comes with a code sample called 'inmemory' showing how to proceed. To grant write permissions to an ASP/ASP.NET web server :

• create a folder, let's call it C:\tmp
• right-click and select Properties
• click on the Web Sharing tab
• click on Share this folder
• Provide a name alias (that does not really matter)
• Make sure to check the Write permission before you click ok

If you do that, you are all set (no need to restart IIS). For instance, you can write a statement like xlsgenEngine.New(@"c:\tmp\test.xls"); and forget about access-denied errors.

Note that you can do this as well from the IIS control panel. Just right-click there, create a virtual folder, and then proceed with the name alias, Write permission and actual file system folder.

<%@ Language="VBSCRIPT" %>

<%

Dim szOutputFolder
szOutputFolder = "c:\Inetpub\excelfiles\"

' create a server-side instance of the generator
If IsEmpty(Session("MyObj")) Then
	Set Session("MyObj") = Server.CreateObject("ExcelGenerator.ARsTdesign")
End If

If Not(IsEmpty(Session("MyObj"))) Then

  ' create a new Excel file, and retrieve a workbook
  Dim wbk
  Set wbk = Session("MyObj").New(szOutputFolder & "myfile.xls")

  ' create a new worksheet
  Dim wksht
  Set wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet("sheet1")

  ' sample code
  wksht.Label(9,1) = "hello world!"
  ' your code begins here
  ' ...

  wbk.Close

  ' notify IIS of the actual Excel output
  Response.Redirect szOutputFolder & "myfile.xls"

End If

%>

Response.Buffer = true
Response.CacheControl = "no-cache"

' ... paste all the same than above ...

' grab the raw binary content from myfile.xls
' TODO : buffer = ... ( szOutputFolder & "myfile.xls" )

' .XLS  ==> application/vnd.ms-excel
' .XLSX ==> application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
' .XLSM ==> application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12
' .XLTX ==> application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template
' .XLTM ==> application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12
' .XLAM ==> application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
Response.BinaryWrite ( buffer )
Response.End

<%@ Language="JSCRIPT" %>

<%

  var szOutputFolder
  szOutputFolder = "c:\\Inetpub\\excelfiles\\"

  // create a server-side instance of the generator
  var xlsgen = Server.CreateObject("ExcelGenerator.ARsTdesign")

  // create a new Excel file, and retrieve a workbook

  var wbk = xlsgen.New(szOutputFolder + "myfile.xls")

  // create a new worksheet
  var wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet("sheet1")

  // sample code
  wksht.Label(9,1) = "hello world!"
  // your code begins here
  // ...

  wbk.Close()

  Response.Redirect (szOutputFolder + "myfile.xls")

%>

  ' xlsgen_clientside.vbs
  ' to run this code, double-click on the .vbs file

  Dim szOutputFolder
  szOutputFolder = "c:\excelfiles\"

  Dim xlsgen
  Set xlsgen = CreateObject("ExcelGenerator.ARsTdesign")
  
  ' create a new Excel file, and retrieve a workbook
  Dim wbk
  Set wbk = xlsgen.New(szOutputFolder & "myfile.xls")

  ' create a new worksheet
  Dim wksht
  Set wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet("sheet1")

  ' sample code
  wksht.Label(9,1) = "hello world!"
  ' your code begins here
  ' ...

  wbk.Close

  ' free the memory
  Set xlsgen = Nothing

  ' xlsgen_clientside.js
  ' to run this code, double-click on the .js file
  
  var szOutputFolder
  szOutputFolder = "c:\\excelfiles\\"

  // create a server-side instance of the generator
  var xlsgen = new ActiveXObject("ExcelGenerator.ARsTdesign")

  // create a new Excel file, and retrieve a workbook

  var wbk = xlsgen.New(szOutputFolder + "myfile.xls")

  // create a new worksheet
  var wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet("sheet1")

  // sample code
  wksht.Label(9,1) = "hello world!"
  // your code begins here
  // ...

  wbk.Close()

  // free the memory
  xlsgen = null

// create a running instance of the generator
xlsgen.CoXlsEngine engine = new xlsgen.CoXlsEngine();

// create a new Excel file, and retrieve a workbook to work with
IXlsWorkbook wbk = engine.New( @"c:\myfile.xls" );

// create a new worksheet
IXlsWorksheet wksht = wbk.AddWorksheet( "sheet1" );

// your code begins here
...

// commit all work, and make sure the .xls file is ready to use
wbk.Close();

// free the memory from the running instance
System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(engine);

ASP.NET specific information

If xlsgen is used to generate and write Excel files on the file system (very likely), it must be ensured that the target folder has effectively been granted write permissions. Remember that when running a web application, the user is not the local interactive account, but ASP/ASPNET (or NETWORKSERVICE if you are running on Windows Server 2003) and those users are not granted such right for obvious reasons.

Make sure to know that while there is no restriction or significant drawback to writing Excel files on the file system in general, xlsgen actually supports an in-memory scenario which does not require write permissions to be granted and is thus perhaps better suited to meet restricted environments. The xlsgen install comes with a code sample called 'inmemory' showing how to proceed. To grant write permissions to an ASP/ASP.NET web server :

• create a folder, let's call it C:\tmp
• right-click and select Properties
• click on the Web Sharing tab
• click on Share this folder
• Provide a name alias (that does not really matter)
• Make sure to check the Write permission before you click ok

If you do that, you are all set (no need to restart IIS). For instance, you can write a statement like xlsgenEngine.New(@"c:\tmp\test.xls"); and forget about access-denied errors.

Note that you can do this as well from the IIS control panel. Just right-click there, create a virtual folder, and then proceed with the name alias, Write permission and actual file system folder.

By default ASP.NET 64-bit has stronger and tightened security configuration bits. Which results in having to make changes in order to run xlsgen on a 64-bit OS using ASP.NET. It works as follows :

In order to be able to run xlsgen at all, you must use the isolated server (or use the 64-bit version of xlsgen.dll, which we manually send) since ASP.NET is a 64-bit application. See the isolated server pages for setting it up.

The execution access bits must be manually set to "everyone" using Windows's DCOMcnfg.exe tool. In order to do this, hit Windows+R, enter DCOMcnfg.exe and hit enter. Unfold "Component services / Computers / My computer / DCOM configuration", and you should see a key called "ExcelGenerator". Right-click on it, and click on the Security tab. From there, change the appropriate security option to "everyone" (loosen up the screw).

In case you don't see the "ExcelGenerator" key, it is probably because you are running Windows 2008 server R2 or Windows 7 64-bit. There is a behavior change in Windows, and the workaround works as follows. Hit Windows+R, enter mmc -32 and hit enter. Then add the Component services snap-in from there. That should fix it and from now on it will be possible to use DCOMcnfg.exe again.

.NET specific information

Due to the undeterministic nature of the .NET garbage collection mechanism, you must ensure that the xlsgen object instances are never prematurely collected, otherwise this will lead to a program execution crash. For some reason that should be explained by the implementers of the .NET run-time, the garbage collector sometimes incorrectly believes that objects being used are...not being used anymore and can be collected. This can cause xlsgen objects to be prematurely disconnected. To avoid the problem, you can "pin" the objects. Here is how.

• if you are using managed C++, you can use the __pin keyword in front of objects
• if you are using C#, VB.NET or any other .NET language, you can indirectly pin an object by moving where it's declared, for instance by declaring the object as a class member instead of within a local function.
• a careful .NET citizen should release a COM component such as xlsgen by calling the following method when the component is not needed anymore : System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(engine);

import xlsgen.*;

class test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // create an engine instance
        XlsEngine engine = new XlsEngine("./../../../xlsgen.dll");

        // create a new Excel file
        XlsWorkbook workbook = engine.New("myfile.xls");

        // create a worksheet
        XlsWorksheet wksht = workbook.AddWorksheet("sheet1");

        // put a label
        wksht.putLabel(1 /*row*/,1 /*column*/, "Hello!");

        // we are done
        workbook.Close();

    }
}

Local $engine = ObjCreate("ExcelGenerator.ARsTdesign")

$workbook = $engine.New("sample.xlsx")

$worksheet = $workbook.AddWorksheet("Sheet1")

$worksheet.Label(2, 3) = "Hello world!"

$workbook.Close

$engine = 0

Exit

#include <objbase.h>
#include "xlsgen_i.c" // relative or absolute path might be required for compilation
#include "xlsgen_i.h" // relative or absolute path might be required for compilation

// initialize the COM library
::CoInitialize(NULL);
{
  // create a running instance of the generator
  IXlsEngine* pGenerator = NULL;
  HRESULT hr = ::CoCreateInstance(CLSID_CoXlsEngine, 
                                  NULL, CLSCTX_ALL , 
                                  IID_IXlsEngine, 
                                  (void**)&pGenerator);
  if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
  {
    // create a new Excel file, and retrieve a workbook to work with
    IXlsWorkbook* pWbk= NULL;
    pGenerator->New( L"myfile.xls", &pWbk);

    // create a new worksheet
    IXlsWorksheet* pWksht = NULL;
    pWbk->AddWorksheet( L"sheet1", &pWksht);

    // your code begins here
    // ...

    // commit all work, and make sure the .xls file is ready to use
    pWbk->Close();

    // free the memory from the running instance
    pWksht->Release();
    pWbk->Release();
    pGenerator->Release();
  }
}
::CoUninitialize();

::ShellExecute(NULL,"open","myfile.xls",NULL,NULL,SW_SHOW);