missing dll error

Question

I have an xla which uses the dll AUTHZAX.DLL.    When the code was written, I was using Excel 2000, and this dll was found in the path ending in the directory Office11.  Since then, I and others have been switched to Excel 2003, and this continues to work for those of us that have always used the add-in.

Now, as new uers are being added, they are only getting Excel 2003 installed, and so this file is located in Office12.  For these users when the add-in is loaded they get an error that the dll is missing.

Is there some way that this dll can be found on the new machine in Office12 rather than Office11 without having to manually find this file on the the problem machines any time I have updates?

I had found a suggestion on Chip Pearson's site about running Detect and Repair, however I have been told by corporate IT that this would only reinstall Office, and will not rsolve the problem, so they will not do that.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I have confirmed the versions of Excel being used are 2003 on both PCs.  What I also learned though is that the user I am trying to help initially had Excel 2007 installed, and (for whateerve reason) that was uninstalled, and Excel 2003 was installed instead.  After this chaneg was when I was asked for help.

I've use the PATH command before, just not for this purpose.  I'm trying to undetstand how the path for a referenced dll can be set up to find the path automatically on other PCs?  The only way I know to include a reference for a dll is while in the VB Editor, using Tools>References, and then select the file from the list (or browse to find it).    I didn't think it should be necesary for me to get onto each users PC to change the path if a different path was used during installation for them.

Answer 2

Are you sure about your versions? My copy of XL2003 shows its path as...

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11

while my copy of XL2007 shows its path as...

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12

In any event, it sounds like you have that path hard-coded in your code. You should let Excel figure out its path for you... use Application.Path to get the paths as I showed above for my copies of Excel... just note that Application.Path never shows a back slash at the end of the String value it returns, so don't forget to put one in when you concatenate your DLL onto it. Execute this line of code in the Immediate Window to see how this would work...

MsgBox Application.Path & "\AUTHZAX.DLL"

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