Setup Problems
Setup Problems
You should be able to download the ReStackor demo, double click the install file, enter the "ReStackor" password and run the demo spreadsheets. There are, however, all kinds of ways to screw that up:
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Incorrect file paths
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No read/write access on the C:\ drive
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Security disabled spreadsheet macros
The frames below review common problems and may give you some ideas why your system will not run the demo. The most direct way to debug the setup up is open a dos prompt and run C:\ReStackor\Code\restackor.exe. That directly executes the code and you will be able to see error messages generated by common file access problems.
File Path:
The path to the ReStackor code has to be C:\ReStackor\Code\restackor.exe. Installing the executable on any other path will not work.
Run from the DOS prompt:
When ReStackor is run from excel the execution window will immediately close on an error. When that happens you can't see any of the I/O error messages. To see those messages you can run ReStackor directly from the command prompt. On any error the code will complain about missing files or missing file paths.
The spreadsheet has to be run at least once to write the input file to C:\ReStackor\Work_Dir\Stack.in. If that file is missing the code won't make it very far as the first thing it does is try to read the input file.
Enable Macros:
ReStackor calculations are launched by an excel macro. You need to click the "Enable Macro" button to allow ReStackor to run from excel.
Some paranoid installations will disable macros deeper within the menus of excel. The process to enable macro execution varies depending on the distribution version of the spreadsheet.
The process to enable macro execution varies depending on the release version of the spreadsheet. Google "enable spreadsheet macros" for the specifics of your system.
Vista Enable Macros:
Vista also has it's own quirks for enabling macros. There is no menu when excel starts. Instead the enable macro button silently appears at the top of the spreadsheet.
You need to enable both macros and data connections for ReStackor to run within Vista.
Clicking on the Vista Trust Center brings up a whole series of menus controling whether macros can be run or not. Depending on settings Vista may disable all spreadsheet macros and not even tell you the macros were there.
Debugging the entire range of issues with file access under Vista is much easier running ReStackor from a DOS command prompt. That command prompt needs admin privileges and that requires the command prompt to be launched by Start => command prompt [shift][cntrl][enter].
File Paths:
ReStackor reads the calculation input file from C:\ReStackor\Work_Dir\Stack.in and writes output to C:\ReStackor\Work_Dir\stack.out and additional output to the C:\ReStackor\Work_Dir\Mid_Valve directory for mid-valve calculations. If those file paths do not exist the code will bomb.
Vista Enable Macros:
Vista locks the C: drive for file read/write access. That denies spreadsheet macros read/write access to files in the C:\ReStackor directory. The fix is here .
Europe Dot/Decimal:
ReStackor is setup to use the US system of dots for decimals. If your spreadsheet is setup to use commas the code is going to bomb. You can check if your spreadsheet is writing out dots for decimals by checking the ReStackor input file at C:\ReStackor\Work_Dir\Stack.in.
Info to setup your spreadsheet to use dots for decimals is here.
