Thread: Best way to identify the "version" of your Add-in code?

I have an Excel Add-in that has been around since Office 97. We have
recently made a lot of changes and we want to easily identify the
"version" of the add-in that the customer is using. The only way I know
to do this is to maintain it manually in the code by creating a
constant and updating the value each time we update the add-in. In
addtion to this I add a custom property to each sheet identifying the
version the spreadsheet was created with. We then could add a way for
the customer to identify the version they are running when they contact
us for support.

I am wondering if there is a better way to do this? Is there a way you
can version an .xla file?

Thanks for any input...pmax

A lot of people use a "Help|about" button/menuitem for that kind of thing. It
makes it easy to ask the remote user to click on it and read the results.



pmax wrote:
>
> I have an Excel Add-in that has been around since Office 97. We have
> recently made a lot of changes and we want to easily identify the
> "version" of the add-in that the customer is using. The only way I know
> to do this is to maintain it manually in the code by creating a
> constant and updating the value each time we update the add-in. In
> addtion to this I add a custom property to each sheet identifying the
> version the spreadsheet was created with. We then could add a way for
> the customer to identify the version they are running when they contact
> us for support.
>
> I am wondering if there is a better way to do this? Is there a way you
> can version an .xla file?
>
> Thanks for any input...pmax

--

Dave Peterson

use the comments field as this will show up at the bottom
in the addin dialog.

can be edited when isaddin=false via file properties dialog
or in code via workbook.comments

(it can ALSO be set via explorer/ file properties)

--
keepITcool
| www.XLsupport.com | keepITcool chello nl | amsterdam


pmax wrote :

> I have an Excel Add-in that has been around since Office 97. We have
> recently made a lot of changes and we want to easily identify the
> "version" of the add-in that the customer is using. The only way I
> know to do this is to maintain it manually in the code by creating a
> constant and updating the value each time we update the add-in. In
> addtion to this I add a custom property to each sheet identifying the
> version the spreadsheet was created with. We then could add a way for
> the customer to identify the version they are running when they
> contact us for support.
>
> I am wondering if there is a better way to do this? Is there a way you
> can version an .xla file?
>
> Thanks for any input...pmax

Hi pmax,

There's probably a lot of different ways to handle this issue, but it really
boils down to personal preference as to what works best, by scenario.
Tracking this properly is the key. Here's some suggestions:

1. You can use the SaveSetting & GetSetting VBA functions to store the info
in the Registry. This allows you to update the info in the registry when your
add-in starts, or read the current info to test running version against
previous running version. See VBA Help for how to use these functions.

2. You can do something similar to the above using an .INI type text file
instead of using the registry. This requires custom functions and a small
number of API function declarations. -Not as easy as suggestion #1.

3. You could identify your .xla file by including the "version" in the
filename, possibly. Example: myaddin_1.1.1.xla where a "major.minor.build"
series is used to identify it. Most usually use something like
"myaddin1.0.xla". (The simpler, the better)

4. As suggested elsewhere in this thread, use an "About" form to display
the info to your user. It would also help you with user support by including
a control to display the user's OS and Excel version. The number of features
you could include with this form are not limited. Check out other software
"About" dialogs to get some ideas.

Good luck,
GS