creating VB.NET DLL without admin rights

Question

I have VS 2015 and want to create a VB.NET DLL to be called from VBA.

When I try to compile and get the DLL, I get "Impossible to write assembly: access denied, make sure you have admin rights" (approximate translation) ==> a compilation error

However, amazingly enough, the DLL does get created, but cannot be linked from VBA.

How can I still do it? I do not have access to admin rights, workspace constraints...

I tried :

• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms973913.aspx ==> the "server" needs admin rights, again...

• Directly following the microsoft tutorial ==> "com interop" needs admin rights, as explained above

VB.NET code is dummy, to check the link :

Public Class main
    Public Function plus(x#) As Double
        plus = x + 1
    End Function
End Class

PS: the error:

1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4335,5): error MSB3216: Impossible d'inscrire l'assembly "D:\Full_Path\bin\Debug\LibName.dll" - accès refusé. Assurez-vous que vous exécutez l'application en tant qu'administrateur. L'accès à la clé de Registre 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LibName.main' est refusé.

1>Exécution de la tâche "RegisterAssembly" terminée -- ÉCHEC.

1>Génération de la cible "UnmanagedRegistration" terminée dans le projet "LibName.vbproj" -- ÉCHEC.

translation:

1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4335,5): error MSB3216: Impossible to write assembly "D:\Full_Path\bin\Debug\LibName.dll" - access denied. Make sure you run application as administrator. Acces to registry key 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\LibName.main' denied.

Execution of task "RegisterAssembly" finished -- FAIL.

Generation of task "UnmanagedRegistration" finished in project "LibName.vbproj" -- FAIL.

Answer 1

Maby this is helping you: To make your VB.NET class libary accessable from a VBA project, mark your class with the <System.Runtime.InteropServices.ComVisible(True)>-Attribute.

In your VBA project, add the following references:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\mscoree.tlb (Common Language Runtime Execution Engine 2.4 Library)
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\mscorlib.tlb

And in your VBA code (to "import" the libary):

Sub DLLTest()
    ' You need this to execute functions of the CLR
    Dim clr As mscoree.CorRuntimeHost

    ' Offers you the ability to load functions from the DLL
    Dim domain As mscorlib.AppDomain

    ' Variable to store a instance of your class
    Dim objTest As Object

    ' Create a new RuntimeHost
    Set clr = New mscoree.CorRuntimeHost

    ' Start the RuntimeHost
    clr.Start

    ' Get the default AppDomain
    clr.GetDefaultDomain domain

    ' Create a instance of your DLL class
    ' dll_path is the path pointing to the DLL (can be UNC path)
    Set objTest = domain.CreateInstanceFrom(dll_path, "main").Unwrap

    ' Test 
    Dim result As Double
    result = objTest.plus 1

    ' Delete the reference
    Set objTest = Nothing

    ' Stop the RuntimeHost 
    clr.Stop
End Sub

Credit:

I got the code from here: https://www.vb-paradise.de/index.php/Thread/87001-NET-Dll-in-VBA-ohne-COM-Registrierung-nutzen/

Edit: Here, this code works on my pc

Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

<ComVisible(True)>
Public Class Main
    Public Function Add(value As Double) As Double
        Return value + 1
    End Function
End Class

Target Framework .NET Framework 3.0

VBA-Editor: Added reference to the *.tbl files and used this code:

Sub DLLTest()
    ' You need this to execute functions of the CLR
    Dim clr As mscoree.CorRuntimeHost

    ' Offers you the ability to load functions from the DLL
    Dim domain As mscorlib.AppDomain

    ' Create a new RuntimeHost
    Set clr = New mscoree.CorRuntimeHost

    ' Start the RuntimeHost
    clr.Start

    ' Get the default AppDomain
    clr.GetDefaultDomain domain

    ' Variable to store a instance of your class
    Dim objTest As Object

    ' Create a instance of your DLL class
    ' dll_path is the path pointing to the DLL (can be UNC path)
    Set objTest = domain.CreateInstanceFrom("C:\TestDll.dll", "TestDll.Main").Unwrap()

    ' Test
    Dim result As Double
    result = objTest.Add(1)
    MsgBox result

    ' Delete the reference
    Set objTest = Nothing

    ' Stop the RuntimeHost
    clr.Stop
End Sub

Placed the dll file on C:\ Combining this with a button and after pressing it, a MessageBox appears that tells me the result (input + 1)