Trouble with Excel automation in a non-English locale
Deploying BAM definitions from Excel files means automating Excel. Automating Excel has it’s issues when you work in a multilingual environment, like me. Specifically, when you use a non-English locale for your OS while having an English localized version of Excel installed may cause you to get the exception:
ERROR: Failed to open BAM Excel workbook file - 'C:\Xxx.xls'.
Old format or invalid type library.
I always use the English versions of applications, and the Office 2007 Suite is no exception. This problem isn't new, but it's still with us. According to the KB that deals with this issue there are three possible solutions.
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Set the locale in the application doing the automation to English
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Set your environments (OS) locale to English
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Option one isn’t really an option in this case since it’s bm.exe doing the automation. Option two isn’t really something you’d want in the long run, but it’s ok if you just need it as a temporary workaround during deployment. Option three - getting a language pack is really the preferred one and if you’re a MSDN Subscriber like me, the language packs are just a few clicks away. For the rest of you, sorry, you’ll have to buy them (they are $24.95 at the moment).