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ExcelAddinInstaller

InnoSetup script to install and activate Excel® addins.

Note: You may also be interested in my VstoAddinInstaller which is a much improved version.

Features

  • Works with native Excel addins for Excel 2000-2003 (.XLA files) as well as Excel 2007-2013 (.XLAM files).
  • Automatically registers and activates the addin.
  • Checks if Excel is running and can automatically shut it down before proceeding with the installation process.
  • Can be used with an /UPDATE switch to silently shut down and restart Excel after the installation.
  • Modular structure makes it easy to keep custom configuration separate from the core functionality.

The script is based on the installer used by Daniel's XL Toolbox.

Planned features

  • Ability to install binary addins (e.g., .NET/VSTO addins).

Obtaining

Usage

The scipt is divided into several files. The master file, addin-installer.iss, pulls in several non-configurable files from the inc\ subfolder as well as customized configuration files from the main folder (see below).

To generate an installer, use InnoSetup to compile the master file addin-installer.iss. Never make changes to this master file; use custom configuration files instead: To protect you from accidentally overwriting your personalized configuration with an update from the Git repository, the distributed configuration files (to be recognized by the ".dist" contained in the filename) need to be copied from the config-dist folder to the parent folder. Then, rename the files to remove the ".dist" part from them, and edit these files.

Depending on how much you want to customize the script, you need to copy and rename just one or several files.

Most basic scenario

The most basic scenario assumes that you have an .XLAM and/or an .XLA file, but no other files that need to be installed.

Copy the distributed configuration file config-dist\config.dist.iss to the main folder and rename it to config.iss.

Edit the new file config.iss and insert the appropriate descriptive information. By default, the .XLAM/.XLA files are expected in a source\ folder, but this can be adjusted in the config.iss file too.

Important: When you first edit this file, you must create a global unique ID (GUID) for your addin. You will easily identify the line in the default configuration file where this information is needed. InnoSetup has a "Generate GUID" command in the "Tools" menu.

When you are done editing, save the file, then right-click on the addin-installer.iss file and choose "Compile" from the context menu (if you do not see a "Compile" command in the context menu, check that you have actually installed InnoSetup).

Alternatively, double-click on addin-installer.iss, which will start InnoSetup with the file loaded.

The installer will be written to the deploy\ folder by default. This can be changed in the config.iss file.

Adding more files

If you need more files than just an .XLAM and/or .XLA addin file, you need to copy the files.dist.iss configuration file from the config-dist folder to the main folder, and rename it to files.iss.

Add the file definitions to this file. Make sure to use the Dest directive as described in this configuration file (i.e., it must contain a call to the GetDestDir function).

Advanced configuration

If you need more advanced configuration, copy and rename one or several of the following configuration files from the config-dist folder to the main folder:

  • lanuages.dist.iss and messages.dist.iss to add more languages.
  • tasks.dist.iss to define custom tasks.

Always remember to remove the .dist from the file names after copying them to the main folder.

Demo

The ExcelAddinInstaller comes with a sample configuration and two (empty) Excel addin files, one for Excel 2000-2003 (.XLA) and one for Excel 2007-2013 (.XLAM). To test the demo, copy the file demo\config.demo.iss to the main folder and rename it to config.iss. Then, use InnoSetup to compile the master file addin-installer.iss.

The demo script will generate a setup file demo_1.0.exe in the deploy\ subfolder. When you execute this file, the appropriate addin file (depending on what version of Excel you have installed) will be installed to your user profile folder.

Successful installation can be verified using Excel's addin manager, by looking at the Add/Remove Software applet in the Windows Control Panel, and by opening an Explorer window on the profile folder:

  • With Windows XP: Start > Run... > "%appdata%\Microsoft\Addins"
  • With Windows 7: Start > "%appdata%\Microsoft\Addins"

Further information

For background information, see http://xltoolbox.sf.net/blog/2013/12/using-innosetup-to-install-excel-addins.

Credits

Victor McClean tested the script and contributed bug fixes. Jorrit Wronski (@jowr) contributed Danish language messages. @cardsurf fixed a bug.

License

Published under the GPL v3 license.

Copyright (C) 2013-2018  Daniel Kraus <http://github.com/bovender>

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.	See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

Microsoft®, Windows®, Office, and Excel® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.