optional-parameters-and-default-values.md

layout	title
page	Optional Parameters and Default Values

Update: There is now a project to develop rich parameter support using a custom registration processing pipeline. This includes support for Optional and Default values. See https://github.com/Excel-DNA/Registration. I leave the documentation below as applying to the core Excel-DNA library. _

There is currently no special support built into Excel-DNA for optional parameters or default values. You can implement these in your add-in by changing your parameter type to be 'object' and then dealing with the different options explicitly.

As an example, the code below shows how you could create a helper class to deal with the passed parameters, making the handling in you functions as easy as possible.

using System;
using ExcelDna.Integration;

// These are some functions that implement an optional parameter with some default value.
public class MyFunctions
{
    public static double TestDefault(double x, object yArg)
    {
        double y = Optional.Check(yArg, 17.0);

        return x + y;
    }

    public static string TestHello(object nameArg)
    {
        string name = Optional.Check(nameArg, " Unknown person!?");

        return "Hello " + name;
    }

    public static string TestSpecialDate(object dateArg)
    {
        DateTime date = Optional.Check(dateArg, DateTime.Now);

        return "The special date is: " + date.ToString("dd MMMM yyyy");
    }
}

// Here is the helper class - add to it or change as you require
internal static class Optional
{
    internal static string Check(object arg, string defaultValue)
    {
        if (arg is string)
            return (string)arg;
        else if (arg is ExcelMissing)
            return defaultValue;
        else
            return arg.ToString();  // Or whatever you want to do here....

        // Perhaps check for other types and do whatever you think is right ....
        //else if (arg is double)
        //    return "Double: " + (double)arg;
        //else if (arg is bool)
        //    return "Boolean: " + (bool)arg;
        //else if (arg is ExcelError)
        //    return "ExcelError: " + arg.ToString();
        //else if (arg is object[,](,))
        //    // The object array returned here may contain a mixture of types,
        //    // reflecting the different cell contents.
        //    return string.Format("Array[{0},{1}]({0},{1})",
        //      ((object[,](,)(,))arg).GetLength(0), ((object[,](,)(,))arg).GetLength(1));
        //else if (arg is ExcelEmpty)
        //    return "<<Empty>>"; // Would have been null
        //else if (arg is ExcelReference)
        //  // Calling xlfRefText here requires IsMacroType=true for this function.
        //                return "Reference: " +
        //                     XlCall.Excel(XlCall.xlfReftext, arg, true);
        //            else
        //                return "!? Unheard Of ?!";
    }

    internal static double Check(object arg, double defaultValue)
    {
        if (arg is double)
            return (double)arg;
        else if (arg is ExcelMissing)
            return defaultValue;
        else
            throw new ArgumentException();  // Will return #VALUE to Excel

    }

    // This one is more tricky - we have to do the double->Date conversions ourselves
    internal static DateTime Check(object arg, DateTime defaultValue)
    {
        if (arg is double)
            return DateTime.FromOADate((double)arg);    // Here is the conversion
        else if (arg is string)
            return DateTime.Parse((string)arg);
        else if (arg is ExcelMissing)
            return defaultValue;

        else
            throw new ArgumentException();  // Or defaultValue or whatever
    }
}