| Author: |
Carlos J. Quintero (Microsoft MVP) |
Applies to: |
Microsoft Office 64-bit |
| Date: |
September 2012 |
|
Microsoft Office 32-bit |
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Introduction
This article explains how to debug an add-in for the 64-bit / 32-bit VBA editor of Office
created with Visual Studio .NET and the .NET
Framework 2.0, as explained in the article HOWTO:
Create an add-in for the VBA editor (32-bit or 64-bit) of Office with Visual
Studio .NET.
More information
The VBA editor of some Microsoft Office application is not an standalone
executable (process), so to debug an add-in loaded in it, set a breakpoint in
the OnConnection method in the add-in project of Visual Studio and follow one of the
procedures below.
Note: the procedures will use Excel.exe and assume that you have used .NET
Framework 2.0 in the add-in project of Visual Studio. You can adjust the
procedures to higher .NET Framework versions (4.0, 4.5).
Procedure 1
- Create a file named Excel.exe.config in the same folder than Excel.exe with the
following content to force Excel to use .NET Framework 2.0 when loading managed
add-ins:
<?xml version ="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727" safemode="true"/>
<requiredRuntime version="v2.0.50727" safemode="true"/>
</startup>
</configuration>
- Open Microsoft Excel.
- In Visual Studio, click the "Tools", "Attach to Process..." menu.
- In the "Attach To" field, select the proper "Managed (version)" value:
- For Visual Studio 2005 and 2008, select "Managed".
- For Visual Studio 2010, select "Managed (v2.0, v1.1, v1.0)".
- For Visual Studio 2012, select "Managed (v3.5, v3.0, v2.0)".
- In the "Available Processes" list, select the Excel.exe process.
- Click the "Attach" button.
- In Excel, open the VBA editor and load the add-in. The breakpoint should be hit
in the add-in project.
Procedure 2
- Create a file named Excel.exe.config in the same folder than Excel.exe with the
following content to force Excel to use .NET Framework 2.0 when loading managed
add-ins:
<?xml version ="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727" safemode="true"/>
<requiredRuntime version="v2.0.50727" safemode="true"/>
</startup>
</configuration>
- In the Project properties window of the add-in project, go to the "Debug" tab
and in the "Start external program" enter the path to Excel.exe, for example "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE".
- Click the "Debug", "Start Debugging" menu.
- Excel will be launched.
- Open the VBA editor and load the add-in. The breakpoint should be hit in
the add-in project.
Procedure 3
- In the Solution Explorer of the Visual Studio project, right-click the solution
node and click the "Add", "Existing Project..." menu entry.
- Select the path to Excel.exe, for example "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE".
- Right-click the EXCEL.EXE node and click the "Set as Startup Project" menu
entry.
- Right-click the EXCEL.EXE node and click the Properties menu entry.
- In the Debugger Type field, change its value from "Auto" to "Managed (v2.0)".
- Go to the "Tools", "Options..." window, "Projects and Solutions", "Build and Run" section, and uncheck the setting "Only build startup projects and dependencies on Run".
- Click the "Debug", "Start Debugging" menu.
- Excel will be launched.
- Open the VBA editor and load the add-in. The breakpoint should be hit in the
add-in project.
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