Disposing of Excel after using it in VBA - vba

Question

I have a routine that pastes any recordset into an existing workbook from an MS Access database. The code works fine the first time, but I can never run it twice because it leaves one instance of Excel running in the Task Manager. Of course, this causes an error when I refer to Excel objects in my code the 2nd, 3rd, etc. time, because the objects are ambiguous.
For the sake of missing anything here is the entire code:
'I call the routine like so:
Private Sub cmdGenerateRpt
Dim strPath As String
strPath = "C:\Test\MyReport.xlsx"
Call PushToExistingExcel("MAIN SHEET", strPath)
End sub
Public Sub PushToExistingExcel(strSheetToPlaceData As String, strPathToWorkbook As String)
'Puts a recordset into a specific cell of an Excel workbook
Dim xlApp As Object
Dim wb As Object
Dim xlSheet As Object
Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
Dim rsTotals As DAO.Recordset
Dim x As Integer
Dim fld As Variant
Dim intRecords As Integer
Dim intTotals As Integer
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Set wb = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(strPathToWorkbook)
Set xlSheet = wb.Sheets(strSheetToPlaceData) 'or you can manually type the sheet name in place of strSheetToPlaceData
Set rs = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset("Select * from qryRPT")
Set rsTotals = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset("Select * from qryTOTALS")
intRecords = rs.RecordCount
intTotals = intRecords + 3
xlSheet.Select
xlSheet.Range("A3:AH3").Select
xlSheet.Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Select
'PLACE
xlSheet.Range("A3").CopyFromRecordset rs
xlSheet.Range("L" & intRecords + 3).CopyFromRecordset rsTotals
Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
xlSheet.Range("A1").Select
Range("A" & intTotals & ":AH" & intTotals).Select
With Selection.Interior
.Pattern = xlSolid
.PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorLight1
.TintAndShade = 0
.PatternTintAndShade = 0
End With
With Selection.Font
.Name = "Calibri"
.FontStyle = "Bold"
.Size = 11
.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorDark1
.TintAndShade = 0
End With
Selection.NumberFormat = "$#,##0.00"
Range("A" & intTotals).Value = "TOTALS"
wb.Save
MsgBox "Done"
xlApp.Visible = True
'If I use xlApp.quit it quits, but still leaves it running in task manager
Set wb = Nothing
Set xlSheet = Nothing
Set rs = Nothing
Set rsTotals = Nothing
Set xlApp = Nothing
End Sub
At the end of the day, I want for the finished Workbook to open up presenting itself to the user. There is no reason to just say that the report is done - 'go look for it'.
But I can't seem to figure out how to get rid of the instance of Excel left over from VBA.

Answer 1

In order to clean up successfully, you need to
destroy all objects that refer to objects in the Excel App
close all workbooks
Quit the app
Also, to avoid any mistakes and to create cleaner code you should
avoid use of the implicit ActiveSheet. The unqualified references to Cells. ..., Range( ..., Selection. ... may be leaving references to the Excel app hanging. Use variables for all references
avoid Select, Selection etc
See this answer for help on avoiding these
Cleanup code should be
Set xlSheet = Nothing
For Each wb In xlApp.Workbooks
wb.Close False
Next
xlApp.Quit
Set xlApp = Nothing

Answer 2

This one is closer to 'air tight.' In addition to avoiding using '.select' or '.selection any stray reference like cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit was a Gotcha for me.
Note how I tried to stick to 3 variables for Excel - xlApp, wb and xlSheet
Any reference I used needed all three of these tightly integrating the full address. I also used 'Late Binding.'
Then I isolated the presentation of the workbook in another routine.
Use this as an example for pasting a complex query into an existing workbook at a specified location and presenting the report. It works nicely!
Public Sub PushToExistingExcel(strSheetToPlaceData As String, strPathToWorkbook As String)
'Puts a recordset into a specific cell of an Excel workbook
Dim xlApp As Object
Dim wb As Object
Dim xlSheet As Object
Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
Dim rsTotals As DAO.Recordset
Dim x As Integer
Dim fld As Variant
Dim intRecords As Integer
Dim intTotals As Integer
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
Set wb = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(strPathToWorkbook)
Set xlSheet = wb.Sheets(strSheetToPlaceData) 'or you can manually type the sheet name in place of strSheetToPlaceData
Set rs = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset("Select * from qryRPT")
Set rsTotals = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset("Select * from qryTOTALS")
intRecords = rs.RecordCount
intTotals = intRecords + 3
xlSheet.Rows("3:" & xlSheet.Rows.Count).ClearContents
'PLACE
With xlSheet
.Range("A3").CopyFromRecordset rs
.Range("L" & intRecords + 3).CopyFromRecordset rsTotals
.Cells.EntireColumn.AutoFit
End With
With xlSheet.Range("A" & intTotals & ":AH" & intTotals).Interior
.Pattern = xlSolid
.PatternColorIndex = xlAutomatic
.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorLight1
.TintAndShade = 0
.PatternTintAndShade = 0
End With
With xlSheet.Range("A" & intTotals & ":AH" & intTotals).Font
.Name = "Calibri"
.FontStyle = "Bold"
.Size = 11
.ThemeColor = xlThemeColorDark1
.TintAndShade = 0
End With
xlSheet.Range("A3:AH" & intTotals).NumberFormat = "$#,##0.00"
xlSheet.Range("A" & intTotals).Value = "TOTALS"
wb.Save
'cleanup
Set xlSheet = Nothing
For Each wb In xlApp.Workbooks
wb.Close False
Next
Set rs = Nothing
Set rsTotals = Nothing
xlApp.Quit
Set xlApp = Nothing
MsgBox "Report Complete"
PresentExcel (strPathToWorkbook)
End Sub
Public Sub PresentExcel(strPath As String)
Dim xlApp As Object
Set xlApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
xlApp.Visible = True
xlApp.Workbooks.Open strPath
Debug.Print xlApp.Version
Set xlApp = Nothing
End Sub