Running .exe using VBA

Question

So I created an .exe file (tlsolver.exe) to run using VBA (TLSolver.xlsm). When I launch the .exe, it runs some calculations, spits out a csv file, and then I use VBA to copy that data onto my excel sheet.

This is the VBA code I am using:

Public Sub StartExeWithArgument()
    Dim strProgramName As String

    ActiveWorkbook.Save
    strProgramName = "C:\Users\My.Name\Desktop\Python\Tagless\tlsolver.exe"

    Call Shell("""" & strProgramName & """", vbNormalFocus)
End Sub

When I run the macro, the console window pops up as it should and then quickly closes. I managed to see this error before it closes:

IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'TLSolver.xlsm'

I know that the .exe works perfectly fine when I doubleclick on the file regularly, so I am inclined to think that I am messing up something silly in the VBA.

Any help appreciated!

Edit: I know the sub is labeled as StartExeWithArgument, but there is no argument required, simply click and run.

Quick question... Why are you getting the error message `No such file or directory: 'TLSolver.xlsm'` why `.xlsm`? Shouldn't it be `.exe`? — Siddharth Rout, Nov 25 '14 at 20:32
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/65643/discussion-between-ploo-and-siddharth-rout). — ploo, Nov 25 '14 at 20:33
Post chat discussion: The exe is launching correctly from VBA. The exe was created using python and is unable to read from the .xlsm file. — Siddharth Rout, Nov 25 '14 at 20:40

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 25 '14 at 20:51

4

The shell command is executing correctly. The exe launches and then looks for the .xlsm file in the current path. What is happening is that it is not able to find the TLSolver.xlsm in the current directory and hence the error IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'TLSolver.xlsm'

Three suggestions in such a case.

Change the directory in VBA using ChDir to the directory where the excel file resides and then launch the exe OR
Place both files in the same directory. OR
Rewrite the python exe code (This falls out of my expertise so can't help you here) to prompt the user to select the excel file.

VBA PART (Suggestion 1)

Public Sub StartExeWithArgument()
    Dim strProgramName As String
    Dim xlFilePath As String

    '~~> Path of the excel file. Change as applicable
    xlFilePath = "C:\Temp"

    ActiveWorkbook.Save

    '~~> Change directory
    ChDir xlFilePath

    strProgramName = "C:\Users\My.Name\Desktop\Python\Tagless\tlsolver.exe"

    Call Shell("""" & strProgramName & """", vbNormalFocus)
End Sub

answered Nov 25 '14 at 20:51

Siddharth Rout

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Awesome :) My apologies for taking so long. I actually misread the error message in the beginning. – Siddharth Rout Nov 25 '14 at 20:59
happen to have the same problem, I modified the VBA code like this, but still it doesn't work... any idea why? if I run the .exe directly, then it can read the xlsm file... – ilovecp3 May 29 '15 at 19:48
@ilovecp3: Does the path to exe have spaces in them? – Siddharth Rout May 29 '15 at 19:52
Yes, it has!! That's the problem? – ilovecp3 May 29 '15 at 19:53
1

@ilovecp3: Yup. You need to pad them with double quotes :) – Siddharth Rout May 29 '15 at 19:54
Got it. BTW, if the exe file is in the same directory as the xlsm file, is there a way to call exe file without setting any path? Thanks. – ilovecp3 May 29 '15 at 19:57
@ilovecp3: Yes. How are you creating the Exe? Vb.Net/C#/VB6/C++? – Siddharth Rout May 29 '15 at 20:00
I used python and py2exe. – ilovecp3 May 29 '15 at 20:01
1

@ilovecp3: Damn... This is where I back off :D If you do google search you will find the syntax for activedirectory path? Or maybe [THIS](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2632199/how-do-i-get-the-path-of-the-current-executed-file-in-python) may help? Not sure :P – Siddharth Rout May 29 '15 at 20:04
Thanks very much for the comments. Problem solved. I will try to avoid spaces in the path in the future. – ilovecp3 May 29 '15 at 20:08

Running .exe using VBA

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