Closing Excel Application Process in C after Data Access

Question

I m writing an application in C  that opens an Excel template file for read write operations  I want to when user closes the application  excel application process has been closed  without saving excel file  See my Task Manager after multiple runs of the app     I use this code to open the excel file    public Excel Application excelApp   new Excel Application    public Excel Workbook excelBook  excelBook   excelApp Workbooks Add   C  pape xltx      and for data access I use this code    Excel Worksheet excelSheet    Worksheet  excelBook Worksheets 1    excelSheet DisplayRightToLeft   true  Range rng  rng   excelSheet get Range  C2    rng Value2   txtName Text    I see similar questions in stackoverflow such as this question and this  and test answers  but it doesn t works

User · Answer

I met the same problems and tried many methods to solve it but doesn't work. Finally , I found the by my way. Some reference enter link description here

Hope my code can help someone future. I have been spent more than two days to solve it. Below is my Code:

//get current in useing excel
            Process[] excelProcsOld = Process.GetProcessesByName("EXCEL");
            Excel.Application myExcelApp = null;
            Excel.Workbooks excelWorkbookTemplate = null;
            Excel.Workbook excelWorkbook = null;
try{
    //DO sth using myExcelApp , excelWorkbookTemplate, excelWorkbook
}
catch (Exception ex ){
}
finally
            {
                //Compare the EXCEL ID and Kill it 
                Process[] excelProcsNew = Process.GetProcessesByName("EXCEL");
                foreach (Process procNew in excelProcsNew)
                {
                    int exist = 0;
                    foreach (Process procOld in excelProcsOld)
                    {
                        if (procNew.Id == procOld.Id)
                        {
                            exist++;
                        }
                    }
                    if (exist == 0)
                    {
                        procNew.Kill();
                    }        
                }
            }

User · Answer

You may kill process with your own COM object excel pid  add somewhere below dll import code   DllImport  user32 dll   SetLastError   true   private static extern int GetWindowThreadProcessId IntPtr hwnd  ref int lpdwProcessId     and use   if  excelApp    null                                int excelProcessId   -1                  GetWindowThreadProcessId new IntPtr excelApp Hwnd   ref excelProcessId                    Process ExcelProc   Process GetProcessById excelProcessId                   if  ExcelProc    null                                        ExcelProc Kill

User · Answer

Killing Excel is not always easy  see this article  50 Ways to Kill Excel  This article takes the best advice from Microsoft  MS Knowlege Base Article  on how to get Excel to quit nicely  but then also makes sure about it by killing the process if necessary  I like having a second parachute   Make sure to Close any open workbooks  Quit the application and Release the xlApp object  Finally check to see if the process is still alive and if so then kill it   This article also makes sure that we don t kill all Excel processes but only kills the exact process that was started   See also Get Process from Window Handle  Here is the code I use   works every time   Sub UsingExcel         declare process  will be used later to attach the Excel process     Dim XLProc As Process       call the sub that will do some work with Excel      calling Excel in a separate routine will ensure that it is       out of scope when calling GC Collect      this works better especially in debug mode     DoOfficeWork XLProc        Do garbage collection to release the COM pointers      http   support microsoft com kb 317109     GC Collect       GC WaitForPendingFinalizers         I prefer to have two parachutes when dealing with the Excel process      this is the last answer if garbage collection were to fail     If Not XLProc Is Nothing AndAlso Not XLProc HasExited Then         XLProc Kill       End If  End Sub   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms633522 28v vs 85 29 aspx  lt System Runtime InteropServices DllImport  user32 dll   SetLastError  True  gt        Private Shared Function GetWindowThreadProcessId ByVal hWnd As IntPtr        ByRef lpdwProcessId As Integer  As Integer End Function  Private Sub ExcelWork ByRef XLProc As Process        start the application using late binding     Dim xlApp As Object   CreateObject  Excel Application         or use early binding      Dim xlApp As Microsoft Office Interop Excel       get the window handle     Dim xlHWND As Integer   xlApp hwnd       this will have the process ID after call to GetWindowThreadProcessId     Dim ProcIdXL As Integer   0       get the process ID     GetWindowThreadProcessId xlHWND  ProcIdXL        get the process     XLProc   Process GetProcessById ProcIdXL         do some work with Excel here using xlApp       be sure to save and close all workbooks when done       release all objects used  except xlApp  using NAR x         Quit Excel      xlApp quit         Release     NAR xlApp   End Sub  Private Sub NAR ByVal o As Object       http   support microsoft com kb 317109     Try         While  System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject o   gt  0          End While     Catch     Finally         o   Nothing     End Try End Sub

User · Answer

GetWindowThreadProcessId  IntPtr app Hwnd  out iProcessId           wb Close true Missing Value Missing Value           app Quit            System Diagnostics Process   process   System Diagnostics Process GetProcessesByName  Excel            foreach  System Diagnostics Process p in process                        if  p Id    iProcessId                                try                                       p Kill                                      catch                                DllImport  user32 dll     private static extern uint GetWindowThreadProcessId IntPtr hWnd  out uint lpdwProcessId    uint iProcessId   0    this GetWindowThreadProcessId finds the correct Process Id o excell      After kills it     Enjoy It

User · Answer

I have found that it is important to have Marshal ReleaseComObject within a While loop AND finish with Garbage Collection  static void Main string   args        Excel Application xApp   new Excel Application        Excel Workbooks xWbs   xApp Workbooks      Excel Workbook xWb   xWbs Open  quot file xlsx quot         Console WriteLine xWb Sheets Count        xWb Close        xApp Quit         while  Marshal ReleaseComObject xWb     0       while  Marshal ReleaseComObject xWbs     0       while  Marshal ReleaseComObject xApp     0        GC Collect        GC WaitForPendingFinalizers

User · Answer

xlBook Save    xlBook Close true   xlApp Quit    System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject xlApp     try this   it worked for me    you should release that xl application object to stop the process

User · Answer

excelBook Close    excelApp Quit    add end of the code  it could be enough  it is working on my code

User · Answer

Most of the methods works  but the excel process always stay until close the appliation   When kill excel process once it can t be executed once again in the same thread - don t know why

User · Answer

Based on another solutions  I have use this   IntPtr xAsIntPtr   new IntPtr excelObj Application Hwnd   excelObj ActiveWorkbook Close     System Diagnostics Process   process   System Diagnostics Process GetProcessesByName  Excel                    foreach  System Diagnostics Process p in process                                        if  p MainWindowHandle    xAsIntPtr                                                try                                                       p Kill                                                      catch                                               Using the  MainWindowHandle  to identify the process and close him   excelObj  This is my Application Interop excel objecto

User · Answer

wb Close             app Quit              System Diagnostics Process   process   System Diagnostics Process GetProcessesByName  Excel             foreach  System Diagnostics Process p in process                          if   string IsNullOrEmpty p ProcessName   amp  amp  p StartTime AddSeconds  10   gt  DateTime Now                                  try                                         p Kill                                        catch                                 It Closes last 10 sec process with name  Excel

User · Answer

Use a variable for each Excel object and must loop Marshal ReleaseComObject  gt 0  Without  the loop  Excel process still remain active   public class test          private dynamic ExcelObject          protected dynamic ExcelBook          protected dynamic ExcelBooks          protected dynamic ExcelSheet   public void LoadExcel string FileName                        Type t   Type GetTypeFromProgID  Excel Application                if  t    null  throw new Exception  Excel non installato                ExcelObject   System Activator CreateInstance t               ExcelObject Visible   false              ExcelObject DisplayAlerts   false              ExcelObject AskToUpdateLinks   false              ExcelBooks   ExcelObject Workbooks              ExcelBook   ExcelBooks Open FileName 0 true               System Runtime InteropServices Marshal GetActiveObject  Excel Application                ExcelSheet   ExcelBook Sheets 1              private void ReleaseObj object obj                        try                               int i   0               while    System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject obj   gt  0                                        i                        if  i  gt  1000  break                                    obj   null                            catch                                obj   null                            finally                               GC Collect                                    public void ChiudiExcel                 System Threading Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture   ci               ReleaseObj ExcelSheet               try   ExcelBook Close      catch                 try   ExcelBooks Close      catch                 ReleaseObj ExcelBooks               try   ExcelObject Quit      catch                 ReleaseObj ExcelObject

User · Answer

Try this     excelBook Close 0    excelApp Quit      When closing the work-book  you have three optional parameters   Workbook close SaveChanges  filename  routeworkbook    Workbook Close false  or if you are doing late binding  it sometimes is easier to use zero  Workbook Close 0   That is how I ve done it when automating closing of workbooks    Also I went and looked up the documentation for it  and found it here  Excel Workbook Close  Thanks

User · Answer

We can close the Excel Application while converting xls to xlsx by using following code  When we perform this kind of task then Excel application is running in task manager  we Should close this excel which is running in background  Interop is a Com component  to release the com component we used Marshal FinalReleaseComObject    private void button1 Click object sender  EventArgs e                 Excel03to07  D   TestExls  TestExcelApp XLS               private void Excel03to07 string fileName                string svfileName   Path ChangeExtension fileName    xlsx            object oMissing   Type Missing          var app   new Microsoft Office Interop Excel Application            var wb   app Workbooks Open fileName  oMissing  oMissing                          oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing  oMissing           wb SaveAs svfileName  XlFileFormat xlOpenXMLWorkbook  Type Missing  Type Missing  Type Missing  Type Missing  XlSaveAsAccessMode xlNoChange  Type Missing  Type Missing  Type Missing  Type Missing  Type Missing            wb Close false  Type Missing  Type Missing           app Quit            GC Collect            Marshal FinalReleaseComObject wb           Marshal FinalReleaseComObject app

User · Answer

workbook Close 0   excelApp Quit     Worked for me

User · Answer

The right way to close all excel process var  excel   new Application    foreach  Workbook  workbook in  excel Workbooks         workbook Close 0       excel Quit     excel   null   Using process example  this may close all the excel process regardless  var process   System Diagnostics Process GetProcessesByName  quot Excel quot    foreach  var p in process        if   string IsNullOrEmpty p ProcessName             try               p Kill              catch

User · Answer

private void releaseObject object obj        try               System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject obj           obj   null            catch  Exception ex                obj   null          MessageBox Show  Unable to release the Object     ex ToString               finally               GC Collect

User · Answer

Ref  https   stackoverflow com a 17367570 132599     Avoid using double-dot-calling expressions  such as this   var workbook   excel Workbooks Open   params             because in this way you create RCW objects not only for workbook  but for Workbooks  and you should release it too  which is not possible if a reference to the object is not maintained     This resolved the issue for me  Your code becomes   public Excel Application excelApp   new Excel Application    public Excel Workbooks workbooks  public Excel Workbook excelBook  workbooks   excelApp Workbooks  excelBook   workbooks Add   C  pape xltx          Excel Sheets sheets   excelBook Worksheets  Excel Worksheet excelSheet    Worksheet  sheets 1    excelSheet DisplayRightToLeft   true  Range rng  rng   excelSheet get Range  C2    rng Value2   txtName Text    And then release all those objects   System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject rng   System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject excelSheet   System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject sheets   excelBook  Save    excelBook  Close true   System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject xlBook   System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject workbooks   excelApp Quit    System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject xlApp     I wrap this in a try    finally    to ensure everything gets released even if something goes wrong  what could possibly go wrong   e g   public Excel Application excelApp   null  public Excel Workbooks workbooks   null      try       excelApp   new Excel Application        workbooks   excelApp Workbooks            finally               if  workbooks    null  System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject workbooks       excelApp Quit        System Runtime InteropServices Marshal ReleaseComObject xlApp

User · Answer

Think of this  it kills the process   System Diagnostics Process   process System Diagnostics Process GetProcessesByName  Excel    foreach  System Diagnostics Process p in process        if   string IsNullOrEmpty p ProcessName                 try                       p Kill                      catch               Also  did you try just close it normally   myWorkbook SaveAs   C  pape xltx   missing  missing  missing  missing  missing  Microsoft Office Interop Excel XlSaveAsAccessMode xlNoChange  missing  missing  missing  missing  missing   excelBook Close null  null  null                      close your workbook excelApp Quit                                         exit excel application excel   null                                          set to NULL

[c#] Closing Excel Application Process in C# after Data Access

Examples related to c#

Examples related to excel

Examples related to visual-studio-2012

Examples related to excel-interop

Examples related to kill-process