Killing Excel.EXE on server [duplicate]

Question

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

Suppose a ASP.NET web application generates automated Excel Reports on the server. How do we kill a server-side Excel.EXE once the processing is over. I am raising this purposely, because I believe that the Garbage Collecter does not clean the Excel executable even after the Excel file is closed.

Any pointers would be helpful?

Answer 1

Sorry to say this, and I'm not trying to be smart, but... don't put office on the server!!!

That's if I've understood correctly! :)

EDIT: Even though I've been marked down for this, I will never ever advocate running Office on the server - it has proven way too much of a pain in the ass for me in the past.

Having said that, the same now goes for me and Crystal Reports ;-)

Answer 2

I agree with not running Office on a server. Not that I have any choice in the matter :)

One thing to keep in mind with the taskkill option, is that unless you specifically plan for it (aka - singleton), you may have multiple copies of Excel (or any other Office app) running, and unintentionally close the wrong instance.

Also note that per http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757

Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment.

As an alternative, there is a product called Aspose Cells that offers a product that is designed to allow you to programmatically work with an Excel sheet in a server environment. As a disclaimer, I have never personally used this product, but I have heard about it from several people I worked with in the past.