Scheduling the printing of an Excel file which has an add-in from the command line using visual basic scripting (vbs) via wscript
On a recent project I was required to print out an Excel based report which made extensive use of OSIsoft PI DataLink's Excel Add-in on a sechduled basis (7am daily).
Unfortunately Excel does not easily allow for the printing of an Excel file via the command line via switches or parameters when calling Excel.exe (e.g. C:\Windows\MS Office\Excel.exe -print "C:\Reports\My Report.xls").
I was able to find examples on the Internet which made use of cscript or wscript where one calls VBS code, and where one provides the file name as argument, for example:
wscript "C:\Data\My Scripts\printXLS.vbs" "C:\Data\My Reports\Daily Analyser Excursion Report.xls"
Note the convention of using "" around full path filenames as they contain spaces.
The file printXLS.vbs would contain something akin to the following code:
The solution I found was to explicitly load the Excel Add-in via XLApp.RegisterXLL ("fullpath filename")
So my VBS file looked like something this:
I also decided to allow one to specify the Excel workbook and which specific worksheet in the Excel workbook to be printed.
So allowing for parameters the VBS look something like this:
'Arguments'1 Excel Name e.g. "C:\OSIsoft\Reports\Scheduled\PI Report - Analyzers - Quality Excursions.xls"'
2 Worksheet Name e.g. "Report"'
3 Printer Name e.g. "PRC2"'
4 No of copies e.g. 1
Unfortunately Excel does not easily allow for the printing of an Excel file via the command line via switches or parameters when calling Excel.exe (e.g. C:\Windows\MS Office\Excel.exe -print "C:\Reports\My Report.xls").
I was able to find examples on the Internet which made use of cscript or wscript where one calls VBS code, and where one provides the file name as argument, for example:
wscript "C:\Data\My Scripts\printXLS.vbs" "C:\Data\My Reports\Daily Analyser Excursion Report.xls"
Note the convention of using "" around full path filenames as they contain spaces.
The file printXLS.vbs would contain something akin to the following code:
Dim XLAppThe problem I experienced was Excel Add-ins are not automatically loaded in Excel applications created via Automation. This resulted in the Excel file printing but with OSIsoft PI DataLink Excel Add-in functions not being recognised and #NAME! appearing in the relevant cells on my printout.
Dim XLWkbk
Dim ObjArgs
set ObjArgs = wscript.arguments
if ObjArgs.count <> 1 then
wscript.echo "Invalid passed arguments"
wscript.quit
end if
Set XLApp = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
XLApp.Visible = False
Set XLWkbk = XLApp.Workbooks.Open(objargs(0))
XLWkbk.PrintOut
XLWkbk.Close False
XLApp.Quit
Set XLWkbk = Nothing
Set XLApp = Nothing
Set ObjArgs = nothing
The solution I found was to explicitly load the Excel Add-in via XLApp.RegisterXLL ("fullpath filename")
So my VBS file looked like something this:
Dim XLAppI also wanted to be able to specify the number of copies to print and which printer should be used namely PRC2 in my case. If the printer is not specified then the windows default printer is used.
Dim XLWkbk
Set XLApp= CreateObject("excel.application")
XLApp.Visible = FalseSet XLWkbk = XLApp.Workbooks.Open("C:\OSIsoft\Reports\Scheduled\PI Report - Analyzers - Quality Excursions.xls")
XLApp.RegisterXLL ("C:\Program Files\PIPC\Excel\pipc32.xll")
XLWkbk.Worksheets("Report").Calculate
XLWkbk.PrintOut
XLWkbk.Close False
XLApp.Quit
Set XLWkbk = Nothing
Set XLApp = Nothing
I also decided to allow one to specify the Excel workbook and which specific worksheet in the Excel workbook to be printed.
So allowing for parameters the VBS look something like this:
'Arguments'1 Excel Name e.g. "C:\OSIsoft\Reports\Scheduled\PI Report - Analyzers - Quality Excursions.xls"'
2 Worksheet Name e.g. "Report"'
3 Printer Name e.g. "PRC2"'
4 No of copies e.g. 1
Dim XLAppI was then able to use Windows Task Scheduler to call the VBS file to print my Excel files on a daily basis.
Dim XLWkbk
Dim ObjArgs
Dim strFileName
Dim strWorkSheetName
Dim strPrinter
Dim intCopies
Set ObjArgs = wscript.arguments
If objArgs.count <> 4 Then
wscript.echo "Invalid Passed Arguments"
wscript.quit
End If
strFileName = objargs(0)
strWorkSheetName = objargs(1)
strPrinter = objargs(2)
intCopies = objargs(3)
Set XLApp= CreateObject("Excel.Application")
XLApp.Visible = False
Set XLWkbk = XLApp.Workbooks.Open(strFileName)
XLApp.RegisterXLL ("C:\Program Files\PIPC\Excel\pipc32.xll")
XLWkbk.Worksheets(strWorkSheetName).Calculate
XLWkbk.PrintOut , , intCopies, , strPrinter
XLWkbk.Close False
XLApp.Quit
Set XLWkbk = Nothing
Set XLApp = Nothing
Set ObjArgs = Nothing