Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Classic Excel Add-in in Windows 7

Since my post on how to install the Essbase stack on Windows 7, I have had a few people tell me that the classic Essbase add-in doesn't work on Windows 7.  We took a look at the issue and found that the classic add-in now needs modification to three environment variables instead of two.  The classic add-in has always required two environment variables:

  • ARBORPATH - Set to the Essbase home directory (ex. C:\Hyperion\products\Essbase\EssbaseClient)
  • PATH - Set to %ARBORPATH%\bin
The add-in now requires a third environment variable which was not properly setup by the installer on Windows 7:
  • ESSBASEPATH - Set to the same directory as ARBORPATH.
I don't know for sure when (or why) they added this new environment variable, but in the cases we have worked with, if manually add the variable to your system (and, perhaps, reboot afterwards), the classic add-in should work for you.

19 comments:

srx said...

Interesting Tim, thanks for the hack, but anyway who's still using classic add-in (o:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Tim.. Appreciate it.. There really are alot of clients that love the Excel Add IN still :)

Tim Tow said...

And there will be Excel add-in lovers for years to come..

Tim

Anonymous said...

Please help. We are trying to open the classic add-in (on Office 2007, OS Windows 7) after having made the suggested changes to variables and we're getting a incorrect format error, which prohibits us from adding the Add-in.What else could be missing?

rajesh said...

Thanks Tim, it worked like a charm.

Tim Tow said...

>>
we're getting a incorrect format error, which prohibits us from adding the Add-in.
<<

Did you reboot after changing the environment variables? BTW, this is just another one of those issues with Excel and the classic add-in that inspired us to write Dodeca.

Tim

Aaron Stubbs said...

When installing the Essbase 32-bit client, do any other components ("foundation" for example) need to be installed? Thanks Tim.

Tim Tow said...

Yes, the foundation needs to there for the installer to work unless you have the new 11.1.2 (English-only) standalone installer.

Tim

Anonymous said...

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS THANKS THANKS FOR EVER...great solution!

windows 7 show desktop said...

I still like this classic add, so thanks Tims, for this trick.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Windows 7 solution!

Sincerely,
Director of FP&A in the Silicon Valley

Ana said...

Hi Tim

Our users are now getting laptops with Windows 7 and this is helpful information. I'll try it and post if there are additional issues. Thanks!

Ana

Anonymous said...

Hi Tom,
Love your blogs. Anyway, I followed what you said (though had to make some changes) but nothing seems to happen. Can you suggest what may be wrong. I've posted my question on http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=2209209&stqc=true

thanks
Sam

Tore said...

Hi!

Which version of Essbase Add-in does this apply to? We have 9.3.1. Does this work with versjon 9.3.1?

Tim Tow said...

I haven't tested it, but I would expect that 9.3.1 would work the same except the ESSBASE_PATH may not be necessary.

Tim

Anonymous said...

Im trying to use the 7.1 Excel Add-in with Windows 7 - 64bit and I can connect to my cubes however I receive an error trying to retrieve that says "api function not supported by older server essbase:EssGetLocalServer". And ideas on making this work?

Tim Tow said...

My guess is that you are using a different version of the server. Hyperion did, however rarely, update their APIs to provide additional functionality. That appears to be the case in this instance.

Tim

Anonymous said...

That seems to be the case as when the add-in loads it tells me that we are using 6.5 which my DBA tells me is not the case. She has stated that she upgraded the Essbase Admin Server to version 7.1 Could something be out of whack here or is there a way that I can make the 6.5 add-in work? Currently when I try I can install the add-in but when trying to connect to the server I cannot.

Tim Tow said...

The add-in version on the client appears to be different than the version on the server. It may work but it surely isn't supported.

I would download the Process Explorer from MSDN and look at the DLLs in memory with your Excel instance to see if you can figure out exactly which version, or versions, the add-in is actually using.

Tim