I've built a simple Excel tool that uses the additional Calendar Control(mscal.ocx). Everything worked out fine, on different systems, however, the calendar seems not to be implemented and instead of just not showing the date picker, the whole form crashes.
Is there a way to implement the calendar control so that it runs on every system? Or do I have to code a datepicker myself? (Office12)
Whenever you're using controls that aren't native to all operating systems and versions of excel, you're asking for trouble on other computers. Often, when developing, you'll have access to forms that don't exist on most systems, and only exist on yours because you have Visual Studio installed, or a special Microsoft Office package. Whenever such a problem occurs you have 3 choices:
Work your ass of to try and package the missing controls (mscal.ocx), and try to create a deployment script for your users which will copy it to the System32 directory and register it. This is a pain because there is usually a large chain of dependencies for a single control.
Deal with the fact that some systems won't support your tool and warn users upfront or provide a virtual machine that they can access that and that your tool will run on.
Reinvent whatever fancy control you're using with basic buttons, list-boxes, drop-downs, images, etc, which is the biggest pain of all and often requires you to compromise some nice functionality.
I've had to do number 3 countless times for excel 2007 tools that work on XP systems, but not Vista+ where certain ActiveX controls (i.e. Datagrid) are no longer supported.
