C# interop: excel process not exiting after adding new worksheet to existing file [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to properly clean up Excel interop objects in C#

I've read many of the other threads here about managing COM references while using the .Net-Excel interop to make sure the Excel process exits correctly upon exit, and so far the techniques have been working very well, but I recently came across a problem when adding new worksheets to an existing workbook file.

The code below leaves a zombie Excel process.

If I add a worksheet to a newly created workbook file, it exits fine. If I run the code excluding the .Add() line, it exits fine. (The existing file I'm reading from is an empty file created by the commented out code)

Any ideas?

//using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
//using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
public static void AddTest()
{
  string filename = @"C:\addtest.xls";
  object m = Type.Missing;
  Excel.Application excelapp = new Excel.Application();
  if (excelapp == null) throw new Exception("Can't start Excel");
  Excel.Workbooks wbs = excelapp.Workbooks;

  //if I create a new file and then add a worksheet,
  //it will exit normally (i.e. if you uncomment the next two lines
  //and comment out the .Open() line below):
  //Excel.Workbook wb = wbs.Add(Excel.XlWBATemplate.xlWBATWorksheet);
  //wb.SaveAs(filename, m, m, m, m, m, 
  //          Excel.XlSaveAsAccessMode.xlExclusive,
  //          m, m, m, m, m);

  //but if I open an existing file and add a worksheet,
  //it won't exit (leaves zombie excel processes)
  Excel.Workbook wb = wbs.Open(filename,
                               m, m, m, m, m, m,
                               Excel.XlPlatform.xlWindows,
                               m, m, m, m, m, m, m);

  Excel.Sheets sheets = wb.Worksheets;

  //This is the offending line:
  Excel.Worksheet wsnew = sheets.Add(m, m, m, m) as Excel.Worksheet; 

  //N.B. it doesn't help if I try specifying the parameters in Add() above

  wb.Save();
  wb.Close(m, m, m);

  //overkill to do GC so many times, but shows that doesn't fix it
  GC();
  //cleanup COM references
  //changing these all to FinalReleaseComObject doesn't help either
  while (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wsnew) > 0) { } 
  wsnew = null;
  while (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(sheets) > 0) { }
  sheets = null;
  while (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wb) > 0) { }
  wb = null;
  while (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wbs) > 0) { }
  wbs = null;
  GC();
  excelapp.Quit();
  while (Marshal.ReleaseComObject(excelapp) > 0) { }
  excelapp = null;
  GC();
}

public static void GC()
{
  System.GC.Collect();
  System.GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
  System.GC.Collect();
  System.GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
}

Answer 1

I have done a similar thing. I create an Excel file or open an existing. I delete all the sheets and add my own. here is the code I use to ensure all references are closed:

            workbook.Close(true, null, null);
            excelApp.Quit();

            if (newSheet != null)
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(newSheet);
            }
            if (rangeSelection != null)
            {
            System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(rangeSelection);
            }
            if (sheets != null)
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(sheets);
            }
            if (workbook != null)
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(workbook);
            }
            if (excelApp != null)
            {
                System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(excelApp);
            }

            newSheet = null;
            rangeSelection = null;
            sheets = null;
            workbook = null;
            excelApp = null;

            GC.Collect();

I have tested this with many different options and not had it fail on me yet.