PQ Systems Knowledge Base

Revision Date: 2005-09-20

Problem:

The CHARTrunner-XL 1.7 Add-In was enabled in Microsoft Excel at some time in the past. Now CHARTrunner 2.0 is installed and I have run the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility to enable the 2.0 version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In. But when I draw a chart in Excel using the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In, and do Help > About to see which version of CHARTrunner is being used to draw the chart, I see that version 1.7 is being used instead of version 2.0. What must I do to start using version 2.0 of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In?

Background:

CHARTrunner-XL is an add-in for Microsoft Excel 2000 (or higher) that allows you to use CHARTrunner 1.7 (or higher) within Excel to define, display, and manage CHARTrunner charts using the data in the Excel workbook. When you use the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In, your chart definitions are stored in the Excel workbook along with the Excel data, so that you do not need to leave Excel to display CHARTrunner charts. In addition, the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In allows you to chart data that is arranged horizontally (subgroups that are stored in columns rather than rows), a feature that is not supported in the stand-alone version of CHARTrunner.

The CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that comes with CHARTrunner adds the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In to Excel's list of known add-ins. This list of known add-ins can be managed via Excel's Tools > Add-Ins menu which opens the Add-Ins Manager.  The Add-Ins Manager allows you to add a new add-in to the list of known add-ins, but it does not provide an easy method of removing an existing add-in from the list.

In the Excel Add-Ins Manager, versions of CHARTrunner prior to 1.7.50 and 2.0.71 displayed the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In as CHARTrunner-Excel Add-In, which made it difficult to easily see which version of the add-in was actually being used. Starting with CHARTrunner 1.7.50 and 2.0.71, the name displayed by the Excel Add-Ins Manager for the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In is CHARTrunner-XL 1.7 or CHARTrunner-XL 2.0 - the CHARTrunner version is now displayed as part of the add-in name.

The CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that came with CHARTrunner 1.7.49 (and lower) or 2.0.70 (and lower) does not properly install a different version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In into Excel. For example, if version 1.7 of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In is currently known to Excel, then running the 2.0 version of the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility does not succeed in telling Excel to start using the version 2.0 CHARTrunner-XL Add-In. Likewise, if version 2.0 of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In is currently known to Excel, then running the 1.7 version of the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility does not succeed in telling Excel to start using the version 1.7 CHARTrunner-XL Add-In.

Solution:

Use the updated CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility

The CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that comes with CHARTrunner 1.7.50 (and higher) or 2.0.71 (and higher) has been improved to properly install the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In (CrXLAddIn.xla) that is found in the folder from which the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility (CrXlUtil.exe) is run, and also to remove any other versions of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In that are known to Excel. In addition, the utility detects when multiple versions of Excel are installed on the computer and allows you to specify which version of Excel you want to update. Thus, running the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that comes with CHARTrunner 2.0.71 (and higher) causes the 2.0 version of the add-in to be the one that Excel uses. And, running the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that comes with CHARTrunner 1.7.50 (and higher) causes the 1.7 version of the add-in to be the one that Excel uses.

The preferred method to force Excel to use a different version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In

Use this method if you don't have access to the updated CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that comes with CHARTrunner 1.7.50 (and higher) or 2.0.71 (and higher).

The only way that we know of to have Excel remove an add-in from its list is to fix it so that Excel cannot find the add-in file. If Excel cannot find the CrXLAddIn.xla file, the add-in is shown in the Excel Add-In Manager as Crxladdin, and when you select that line in the Add-In Manager you are given the opportunity to remove it from Excel's list of known add-ins.

Follow these steps to have Excel stop using the 1.7 version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In and start using the 2.0 version:

1. Close all instances of Excel.
2. Either unistall CHARTrunner 1.7 or rename the 1.7 version of the CrXLAddIn.xla file so that Excel cannot find it. Typically this file is located at "C:\Program Files\PQ Systems\CHARTrunner 1.7\Excel\CrXLAddIn.xla". Use Windows Explorer to locate the add-in file and rename it from CrXLAddIn.xla to CrXLAddIn17.xla.
3. Start Excel. You may get a warning message telling you that Excel cannot find "C:\Program Files\PQ Systems\CHARTrunner 1.7\Excel\CrXLAddIn.xla". That is to be expected.
4. Select Tools > Add-Ins to open the Excel Add-In Manager. Click on the line that displays Crxladdin and Excel will tell you that it cannot find the add-in "C:\Program Files\PQ Systems\CHARTrunner 1.7\Excel\CrXLAddIn.xla". You will be offered the option to delete the add-in from the list.  Click on the Yes button to delete the add-in.
5. Close all instances of Excel.
6. Start Excel. Select Tools > Add-Ins to open the Excel Add-In Manager. Verify that Crxladdin or CHARTrunner does not appear in the list of known add-ins. If either appears in the list of add-ins then Excel still has knowledge about another instance of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In. This is an unlikely scenario. In this case use "The Registry method to force Excel to use a different version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In" explained below.
7. Close Excel.
8. Run the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that came with CHARTrunner 2.0 and enable the add-in. Close the utility.
9. If you renamed the 1.7 version of the CrXLAddIn.xla file in step 2, then use Windows Explorer to rename it back to CrXLAddIn.xla.
10. The next time you run Excel it will use the 2.0 version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In.

The Registry method to force Excel to use a different version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In

IMPORTANT: This section contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. These instructions should only be followed by someone knowledgeable with making changes to the registry.

Excel stores information about known add-ins under the following registry keys. The V.V refers to the version of Excel (Excel 2000 = 9.0, Excel 2002 or XP = 10.0, and Excel 2003 = 11.0):

1. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\V.V\Add-in Manager - This key contains zero or more string values whose name specifies the full path to an add-in that is known but not currently enabled (i.e. displayed without a check mark in the Add-In Manager list).
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\V.V\Options - This key contains values named OPEN, OPEN1, OPEN2, etc. whose data specifies the full path to an add-in that is known and currently enabled (i.e. displayed with a check mark in the Add-In Manager list).

Follow these steps to have Excel forget about all known CHARTrunner-XL Add-Ins so that you can start using the specified version, which we will assume to be 2.0:

1. Close all instances of Excel.
2. Open the registry editor (Start > Run > regedit.exe).
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\V.V\Add-in Manager. Delete any values that refer to the CrXLAddIn.xla file.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\V.V\Options. Delete any OPEN or OPENn values that refer to the CrXLAddIn.xla file.
5. Close the registry editor.
6. Use the instructions in "How to manually install the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In into Excel" to install the desired version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In into the desired version of Excel.

How to manually install the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In into Excel

Instead of using the the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility that comes with CHARTrunner to install the add-in, you can manually install the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In. You must use this method to install the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In to multiple versions of Excel on the same computer, since the CHARTrunner-XL Excel Add-In Utility only deals with the most recently installed version of Excel.

1. Start Excel.
2. Select Tools > Add-Ins to open the Excel Add-In Manager.
3. Verify that Crxladdin or CHARTrunner does not appear in the list of known add-ins. If either appears in the list of add-ins then Excel still has knowledge about another instance of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In. In this case use "The Registry method to force Excel to use a different version of the CHARTrunner-XL Add-In" to remove all CHARTrunner add-ins from the list. Afterwards, start again with step #1 in this list of steps.
4. Click on the Browse button and select the CrXLAddIn.xla for the version of CHARTrunner you wish to use. For CHARTrunner 2.0 the add-in file is typically located at "C:\Program Files\PQ Systems\CHARTrunner 2.0\Excel\CrXLAddIn.xla".
5. The selected CHARTrunner-XL Add-In should now appear in the list of known add-ins, with a check mark beside it to show that it is enabled.
6. Close Excel.