How to run Interop.Excel.Application with command arguments?

Question

I need to pass arguments to new instance of excel and then read arguments from new instance via Addin.

I want to use this construction to open new excel application:

new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application()

Is there a way how to pass command line arguments for example as:

string argument = "TestArgument";
new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application(argument);

Thank you!

Answer 1

If you have to do this (I recommend running from Interop as fast as you can) you can start the Excel application and then obtain a reference to it.

// start Excel with your command line arguments
var pathToExcel = @"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\excel.exe";
var commandLineArguments = "/whatever";
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(pathToExcel, commandLineArguments);

// get a reference to it
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application app = (Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.Application)
    System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application");

Interop is so evil that I feel almost unethical answering this. It opens the gates to endless suffering. If at all possible I recommend using something like EPPlus to interact with Excel files.