Win32::OLE and multiple versions of Office

davies has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I'm trying to write code that I want to work with any version of Excel, but my problem will apply to any component of Office. To test the Excel end, I have installed two versions of office with more planned. However, I have a strong personal preference for 2002 (XP/10) over any later version. 2003 (11) isn't sufficiently different to matter often except in a few edge cases where I prefer its advantages, but 2007(12) and 2010(14) are right out.

So much for personal preference. But the real point is testing. I want to be able to run Perl against any version of Excel on my machine. Unfortunately, although I can install multiple versions in such a way that the user can choose either, I can see no way of persuading Win32::OLE (a) to use a version of my choosing or (b) to tell me what versions are available. Since this is to check that software works, the second problem is unlikely to be critical. But the first has got me seriously stuck as Win32::OLE always seems to use the highest numbered version. I have Googled unsuccessfully and have tried things like changing Excel.Application to Excel.Application.10, but without success. Advice would be appreciated.

TIA & regards,

John Davies

Comment on Win32::OLE and multiple versions of Office Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Win32::OLE and multiple versions of Office by bingos (Vicar) on Sep 18, 2011 at 09:30 UTC
It isn't possible to use automation with multiple installed versions of Excel citation here, look for Using Automation to Control Microsoft Excel	[reply]
Re^2: Win32::OLE and multiple versions of Office by davies (Monsignor) on Sep 18, 2011 at 19:41 UTC
Yuck. I was hoping that newer versions might have greater functionality. I guess Bill Door wants to make it as difficult as possible for people to develop for anything except the latest version. The only way I can see of doing all the testing I want is to set up one virtual machine per version and then run my code in each of the machines in turn. NOT what I was hoping to learn. Thanks anyway for some helpful information & for saving me time. Regards, John Davies	[reply]