Compile ExcelDNAUnpack

Question

I've learned Excel VBA programming in the last few months and I can say that I'm now proficient at it. However, recently I was given an add-in with a .xll extension. I currently know little about producing .dll/.xll files; but I'm going to learn.

I found this thread Possible to view source code or decompile XLL Excel add in, which points me to github to get some source code.

The README.md tells me how to call the command ExcelDnaUnpack.exe. However, this command is not in the package. I guess I'm expected to compile the source code and produce it.

How should I do this?

For ExcelDNAUnpack, I think you are meant to download the whole solution and build it into the .exe. Then, it is usable via commandline — ArcherBird, Dec 24 '19 at 01:50
I'm not familiar with Windows .exe building. Do I use Visual Studio? I need some tips to tell me what to do initially. — Mikey, Dec 24 '19 at 09:06
Yes, you would need Visual Studio. Download, and extract, all the files/folders from the git project. Open the .sln file ins VS. In VS, you can build the solution from the “Build” menu. — ArcherBird, Dec 24 '19 at 12:27
@Mikey @ArcherBird You can download the `ExcelDnaUnpack.exe` from the [Releases](https://github.com/augustoproiete/ExcelDnaUnpack/releases) tab of the GitHub repository — C. Augusto Proiete, May 31 '20 at 00:57

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 31 '20 at 00:55

You don't necessarily need to compile the ExcelDnaUnpack project in order to use it. You can download the compiled version (ExcelDnaUnpack.exe) in the Releases tab of the repository.

There you'll find a file called ExcelDnaUnpack.{version}.zip which contains the ExcelDnaUnpack.exe. Extract the .zip file on your machine and run it.

If did want to build it from source, (as of this writing) all you need is Visual Studio 2017 or 2019, with .NET Framework 4.0 or higher installed.

Compile ExcelDNAUnpack

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