Excel 2002 VC++ COM Automation - Read/Write Help

Hi Experts!

I am EXTREMELY new to this whole automation stuff so I wll try to be as descriptive as possible with my problem.

First - My Objective - I have an excel file which contains a bunch of data in a certain format (this is my input). I want to extract this data into my app/C++ code and do some conditional statements, manipulate some of the data I've collected and then write it to another excel sheet (my output file).

Secondly - What I have accomplished thus far - I have been able to successfully open both excel files for reading/writing. What I've gotten stuck on is all of the specifics as far as methods/functions for properly reading/writing data. In other words, I don't know how to say - go to cell A10 and grab the interger/string value.

Thirdly - I have already read through most of the MSDN documentation and a lot of it has gone over my head so I would really really appreciate specific examples from any of you if possible.

Lastly - Here is the code I have thus far. I would appreciate input regarding wether or not I'm going in the right direction, and if so, where am I going wrong or where can I go from here. I can successfully write the header portion of my output file but after that it kinda goes downhill. Essentials I would like to know how to do is read the data in different types i.e. strings/ints/doubles etc. Help is GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!


#include <iostream>

// In the #include area,
// import the type library information
#import "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office10\MSO.DLL"

#import "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VBA\VBA6\VBE6EXT.OLB"

#import "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Excel.exe" \
  rename("DialogBox", "DialogBoxXL") \
  rename("RGB", "RGB_XL") \
  named_guids \

// In your function
int main()
{
 
  CoInitialize(NULL); // Initialize COM
  try
  {      
        Excel::_ApplicationPtr apps(__uuidof(Excel::Application)) ;
        Excel::_WorkbookPtr workbook_in;
      Excel::_WorksheetPtr worksheet_in;
      Excel::_WorkbookPtr workbook_out ;
      Excel::_WorksheetPtr worksheet_out ;

        workbook_in = apps->Workbooks->Open("c:\\Test_In.xls"); // Open the workbook
        worksheet_in = workbook_in->Sheets->Item[1l];
             
      workbook_out = apps->Workbooks->Add() ;
      worksheet_out = workbook_out->ActiveSheet ;
                 
        for (long i=1; i <= 65536; i++) {
      
             if(i == 1) //write the header portion of the file
             {
                   worksheet_out->Cells->Item[i][1L] = "Person" ;
                  
                   for(long j=1; j <= 128; j++){
                         
                        TCHAR szBuffer[100];
                        wsprintf (szBuffer, "Attribute%d", j);
                        worksheet_out->Cells->Item[i][j] = szBuffer;
                   }
                  
             }else

             { if( i == 2 || i == 3 || i == 4)
                  {
                        TCHAR szBuffer[100];
                        //is this how I get the value from the sheet?
                        wsprintf (szBuffer, "%d", worksheet_in->Cells->Item[i][4L].intVal);
                        worksheet_out->Cells->Item[i][4L]  = szBuffer;      
                  }
      }

      _variant_t vnull, vformat, vconflict ;

      vformat = (long)Excel::xlWorkbookNormal ;
      vconflict = (long)Excel::xlLocalSessionChanges ;
      workbook_out->SaveAs("c:\\test.xls",
                   vformat,                        
// format
                   vnull,                          
// password
                   vnull,                          
// write-res password
                   vnull,                          
// read-only recommended
                   vnull,                          
// create backup ?
                   Excel::xlNoChange,              
// access mode
                   vconflict,                      
// conflict resolution
                   vnull,                          
// add to MRU
                   vnull,vnull) ;                  
// not used

      workbook_in->Close() ;
        workbook_out->Close() ;
      apps->Quit () ;
    //Excel::_ApplicationPtr excel;
    //HRESULT hr = excel.CreateInstance(L"Excel.Application"); // Start excel
    // // Get the first worksheet
      //std::string worksheet_name = static_cast<char *>(worksheet->Name); // Get the worksheet name
    //workbook->Close(); // Close the workbook
    //excel->Quit(); // Quit Excel
  }
  catch(_com_error &ce)
  {
    // Error occurred
  }
  CoUninitialize();
  return 0;
}