Programmatically set DLL search path in VBA macro - vba

Question

The problem
I have a word template which uses VBA's Declare statement to link to a dll, whose path can be determined within the VBA macro
I want to delploy this to the users %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP directory
I DON'T want to permanently change the user's PATH environment variable (temporarily would be OK, but this doesn't seem to work as they don't get refreshed until application restart)
Attempted solution
I tried dynamically adding the code with the Declare statements using ThisDocument.VBProject.CodeModule.AddFromString(code) which works when loading the template from a normal directory, but when the template is within Word\STARTUP, it gives the following error:
Run-time error '50289':
Can't perform operation since the
project is protected.
And setting the registry key "HKEY___LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Security\AccessVBOM" to 1 doesn't fix this when the template is in Word\STARTUP
I'm really struggling to find a solution. If anyone knows a way to do this, that would be great.

Answer 1

Frankly, I don't know what's the problem with using all those VBA code injection, assembly generation for LoadLibrary() calls, etc techniques that I've seen used for this simple task. In my project I use simple code to load dll from the same location as the workbook, like this:
Declare Function MyFunc Lib "MyDll.dll" (....) As ...
Sub Test()
....
ChDir ActiveWorkbook.Path
... = MyFunc(....)
End Sub
Excel 2003 at least, has no problem loading the dll from the current path, Set ChDir to whatever path your DLL has. You might also need to change your current drive which is separate from current path. You have to do it only once, before the first function call, after it the DLL stays attached no matter where your current path is, so you may do it once in workbook_open and not bother about the path later. I provide an empty dummy function in the DLL just for this pupose. I don't think MS Word is any different on this.
Private Declare Sub Dummy Lib "MyDLL.dll" ()
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
ChDrive Left$(Me.Path, 1)
ChDir Me.Path
Dummy
End Sub

Answer 2

You can use LoadLibrary api.
For example in my projects the code looks like this:
If LibraryLoaded() Then
Call MyFunc ...
End If
Public Function LibraryLoaded() As Boolean
Static IsLoaded As Boolean
Static TriedToLoadAlready As Boolean
If TriedToLoadAlready Then
LibraryLoaded = IsLoaded
Exit Function
End If
Dim path As String
path = VBAProject.ThisWorkbook.path
path = Left(path, InStrRev(path, "\") - 1)
IsLoaded = LoadLibrary(path & "\bin\" & cLibraryName)
TriedToLoadAlready = True
LibraryLoaded = IsLoaded
End Function

Answer 3

There is another really really ugly solution, but this blogger figured it out, and I can't figure out any other way:
http://blogs.msdn.com/pranavwagh/archive/2006/08/30/How-To-Load-Win32-dlls-Dynamically-In-VBA.aspx
Basically, you write a procedure that creates a code module in VBA during runtime. This module must create a reference to the dll and it must create a dummy function (or procedure) as part of this module that calls the dll. Then, from your code, you use Application.Run(dummyfunction(), arg1, arg2...). This is necessary because otherwise, the project will not compile because dummyfunction isn't yet a function.
You'll notice in his code, he uses InputBox() to get the location of the .dll but obviously you could get the location from a range in the spreadsheet. The following code snippet may be useful.
Dim cm As CodeModule
Dim vbc As VBComponent
Set cm = Application.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents.Add(vbext_ct_StdModule).CodeModule
cm.AddFromString (decString & funcString)
cm.Name = "MyNewModule"
Set vbc = cm.Parent
Application.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents.Remove vbc
'decString' and 'funcString' were just strings I constructed like his 'ss'. The snippet shows how you can rename the code module so that you could delete it later if needed. Obviously, this just deletes it right after it is created, and you probably wouldn't want to do that, but at least it shows you how it would be done.
Having said all that, we mostly just write .exe's now and shell out. If you need VBA to wait on the shell to finish, there are solutions for that issue as well.

Answer 4

Here's what I ended up doing, using Pranav Wagh's methodology linked above and code from C Pearson's site (http://www.cpearson.com/excel/vbe.aspx). This code prompts the user to select the path to the dll using an Open File window, builds a new module with a Declare Function with the inputted path and a function to execute a handshake with the dll. The purpose-built function in the dll returns a 1 if successful:
Public rtn As Integer
Sub LinkToDll()
Dim path As String, default As String
MsgBox "Select Geo_DLL.dll file from next window"
With Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogOpen)
.AllowMultiSelect = False
.Title = "Select Geo_DLL.dll file"
If .Show = True Then
path = .SelectedItems(1)
End If
End With
'Add a module
Dim VBProj As VBIDE.VBProject
Dim VBComp As VBIDE.VBComponent
Set VBProj = ActiveWorkbook.VBProject
Set VBComp = VBProj.VBComponents.Add(vbext_ct_StdModule)
VBComp.Name = "LinkModule"
'Add procedure to module
Dim CodeMod As VBIDE.CodeModule
Dim LineNum As Long
Set VBComp = VBProj.VBComponents("LinkModule")
Set CodeMod = VBComp.CodeModule
With CodeMod
LineNum = .CountOfLines + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "Declare Function RegDll Lib " & Chr(34) & path & Chr(34) & " (ByRef rtn As Integer)"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "Sub runthisfunc(rtn)"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "On Error Resume Next"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "rtn = 0"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "RegDll rtn"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "If rtn = 1 Then MsgBox (" & Chr(34) & "DLL linked" & Chr(34) & ")"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "If rtn = 0 Then MsgBox (" & Chr(34) & "DLL not found" & Chr(34) & ")"
LineNum = LineNum + 1
.InsertLines LineNum, "End Sub"
End With
'This is what CodeMod.InsertLines is writing:
'--------------------------------------------
'Declare Function RegDll Lib "C:\path\Geo_DLL.dll" (ByRef rtn As Integer)
'Sub runthisfunc(rtn)
'On Error Resume Next
'rtn = 0
'RegDll rtn
'If rtn = 1 Then MsgBox ("DLL Linked")
'If rtn = 0 Then MsgBox (DLL not found")
'End Sub
Application.Run "runthisfunc", rtn
'Delete Module
VBProj.VBComponents.Remove VBComp
End Sub
However, once I turned the workbook (xlsm) into an addin (xlam) I found that Excel wouldn't let the macro create new modules so my LinkToDll wouldn't work. The fix was to put the Declare Function back into LinkToDll with just the dll file name ("Geo_DLL.dll") as the Lib along with the runthisfunc sub. I found having the user simply select the dll file via the Open File window was enough to point Excel to the dll even with only the file name in the Lib portion of the Declare Function statement.
Chris

Answer 5

In my case code below worked. I added "ChDir (ThisWorkbook.Path)"
after function. But I tested it only on my laptop. I don't know if it works on network.
Option Explicit
' Declare the function that is in the DLL
Private Declare PtrSafe Function suntransitForEXL Lib _
"sampadll.dll" (ByRef lat As Double, ByRef lon As Double, ByRef dy As Integer, ByRef mnt As Integer, ByRef yr As Integer, ByRef tmz As Double) As Double
' use function on worksheet
Function noon(latitude As Double, longtitude As Double, day As Integer, month As Integer, year As Integer, timezone As Double) As Double
ChDir (ThisWorkbook.Path) ' Set working directory to current.
Dim decimaltime As Double
Dim hour As Integer
Dim minute As Integer
Dim second As Integer
decimaltime = suntransitForEXL(latitude, longtitude, day, month, year, timezone)
hour = Fix(decimaltime)
minute = Fix((decimaltime - hour) * 60)
second = Fix(((decimaltime - hour) * 60 - minute) * 60)
noon = TimeSerial(hour, minute, second)
End Function