Deliverable files

In order for an XLL add-in with a ribbon to work properly, the following files must be delivered to a user's machine:

1. The XLL file.

2. The XLL+ Ribbon Manager, XlpRibbonServer.dll.

3. The XLL+ Ribbon Manager's configuration file, XlpRibbonServer.config. This must be delivered to the XlpRibbonServer data folder (see below).

Registering the XLL+ Ribbon Manager DLL

The ribbon manager must be registered as a COM module, which can be most easily done by running:

REGSVR32 XlpRibbonServer.dll

at the command line.

Ensure that you register the correct version of the DLL: on a machine with 64-bit Excel, you should register the 64-bit version of the file, which can be found in redist\x64, whereas on a machine with 32-bit Excel, you should register the 32-bit version of the file, which can be found in redist\win32.

The manager must additionally be registered as an Excel COM add-in. This can most easily be done by running the registration file XlpRibbonServer.reg on the target machine. XlpRibbonServer.reg can be found in the Redist\win32 or Redist\x64 folder of the XLL+ installation.

Note that on 64-bit operating systems the file XlpRibbonServer64.reg should be used instead. This applies whether the version of Excel is 32-bit or 64-bit: the relvant criterion is the bitness of the operating system, not of the Excel executable.

Adding an add-in to the list of XLLs supported by the XLL+ Ribbon Manager

The XLL must appear in the list of XLLs in the XLL+ Ribbon Manager's configuration file, XlpRibbonServer.config.

The configuration file must reside in the Planatech\XlpRibbonServer sub-folder of the user's local application data directory, e.g. (under Windows 7): C:\Users\My Name\AppData\Local\Planatech\XlpRibbonServer.

An <addin> element must be inserted within the <addins> element of the file. The location attribute must be set to the full path of the XLL file, e.g.:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<XlpRibbonServer> 
  <addins> 
    <addin location="C:\DeliveryFolder\MyAddin.xll" /> 
    <addin location="C:\AnotherFolder\AnotherAddin.xll" /> 
  </addins> 
</XlpRibbonServer>

The Ribbon Manager Configuration utility, XlpRibbonReg.exe, can be used to perform the XLL registration. See Ribbon Manager Configuration utility in the reference for more information.

You can also use the Ribbon Manager command on the Tools menu of the XLL Add-ins window to open the file on the development computer.

See Also

Ribbon Reference