Make program call for Excel SUBSTITUTE

[DanInPhilly]

(Sorry in advance if my terminonlogy is wrong, I'm not a tech guy)

I use a software ('aremos') that will occasionally send data to/from an Excel spreadsheet. It must actually start Excel in order to do this. Well, I don't have Excel on my new XP computer, but I did install OpenOffice which has a good Excel substitute ("Calc").

I want my software to interact with Calc rather than Excel. Right now it doesn't do that; when it calls for Excel, it doesn't find it and gives an error message. So: Can I change this so it will open Calc and use it, instead of excel?

TIA, -Dan
(Previously posted on 'Highly Technical' forum)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Do you know what type of file is being opened (XLS, CSV, TXT, etc.) ?

If it's XLS or CSV this may work: in windows explorer, right-clik on a file of that type, choose Open With (if it shows) or Open if not, say you want to choose from local programs not the internet, pick Open Office (or its sheet program if a separate exe).

Test this by double-clicking on an (XLS / CSV) and seeing if Open Office displays it automatically.

This assumes 'aremos' is set to use the Windows Shell default program for the file extension. If it is hard-wired to start Excel you need to talk to the publisher of 'aremos'.

That won't work if they are automating Excel directly instead of having the shell run it.

I assume you've also asked this in the support system or forums for 'aremos'?

 

[DanInPhilly]

Thanks. Right now I only have Calc so .xls files open automatically with Calc.

I think you're right about Aremos being hard-wired to work with Excel (I guess I was hoping there was some little registry tweak I could do to redirect to Calc). I'll try to find some tech support from the software producer.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Low tech: if it's hardwired to the exe instead of using Office automation via COM, you could copy-paste calc.exe and rename the copy as excel.exe