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We have just written an Excel VBA Oil and Gas Reservoir analysis program with lots of Active X controls and many code modules. (Excel 2007 with a 1000 x 1000 calculating C++ grid running in the background some of the more daunting calculations).

We are concerned about security. Locking the Worksheets or Workbook does not prevent a right-click/View Code, which exposes all of the modules.

Should we or can we convert or write these Modules into .dlls? Is there any literature to consult?? So far, I can't understand anything that I have found on the web.

Is there another way of protecting the module by password?

Comments and thoughts greatly appreciated.

Gaffi
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brucebadeau
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  • I wrote a more extensive piece about this topic here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16363621/protecting-code-in-an-excel-workbook/28968867#28968867 Chris is right - if you already have a C++ extensibility add-in then you could remove almost all of the VBA code. There's also an example of how you could do that in .NET too. – stuzor Apr 15 '15 at 03:41

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From your post, it seems you need to set the VBA project protection: in the VBA editor, right-click the project in the Project Explorer window, select Properties\Protection.

That said, there is much discussion on SO and the web generally on the (lack of) strength of Office VBA protection and the ease of cracking it. Given you mention a 'C++ grid' component, it would seem you already use externally (to Excel) developed components: if security is a major concern it may be best to develop the whole app in VSTO.

Gaffi
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chris neilsen
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