Scripting Aurora from Microsoft Excel

NOTE: Energy Exemplar recommends using Aurora's internal scripting form.

To control Aurora from Excel (or other applications) using VBA, the following commands are required:

Dim AURORACommand As Object
Dim AC As Object
Dim AURORADataset As Object
Dim ADS As Object

Set AC = CreateObject("AURORAserver.comApplication")

Set ADS = CreateObject("AURORAserver.comDataset")

Set DataType = CreateObject("AURORAserver.ScriptingDataType")

Set ProjectDSTableType = CreateObject("AURORAserver.ProjectType")

AC.InitializeAurora

These commands designate Aurora as a controllable application and allow for communication through Excel. Once these have run, all AURORA Commands and AURORA Datasets will be accessible through Excel.

The InitializeAurora AURORA Command shown above is used to launch the application. Since Aurora is not visible when accessed through this method, it is a good practice to utilize the OpenStatus argument for the LoadProject AURORA Commands.  

Refer to the following example:

Dim OpenStatus as Long

AC.LoadProject "C:\Aurora\WECC Default.apz", OpenStatus

This will return one of three values:
1 = Open OK
2 = Open Error
3 = Open With Missing DB

Aurora References in Excel

When you run Aurora from Excel, you must make sure Excel has the correct references to Aurora dlls, otherwise the above code will not work. Register two Aurora dlls using the method below and create the .tlb files for Excel to reference. The example below is using Aurora 14.0.

If using version 13.4 or earlier, use the dlls located here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\AURORA\AURORA\AURORAMessaging.dll

C:\Program Files (x86)\AURORA\ AURORA\AURORAServer.dll

 

If using version 13.5, use the dlls located here:

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 13.5\AURORAMessaging.dll

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 13.5\AURORAServer.dll

 

If using version 14.0, use the dlls located here:

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.0\AURORAMessaging.dll

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.0\AURORAServer.dll

 

If using version 14.1, use the dlls located here (note that the dll names have changed slightly)

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.1\EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Messaging.dll

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.1\EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Server.dll

 

1. Open a Command Prompt in Administrator mode. 
2. If you have a 64 bit version of Excel, type in “cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319”. If you have a 32 bit version of Excel, type in “cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319”. If you are using a different version of Microsoft Framework than v4.0.30319, then go to that folder instead.
3. Type in “regasm "C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.0\AURORAMessaging.dll" /codebase /verbose /tlb”. This will create a .tlb file for Excel to use from the AURORAMessaging.dll file. 
4. Type in “regasm "C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.0\AURORAServer.dll" /codebase /verbose /tlb”.  This will create a .tlb file for Excel to use from the AURORAServer.dll file.  
5. In Excel, open the Visual Basic scripting window, then go to Tools -> References and select “AURORA XMP Messaging and Interface class” and “AURORA XMP server and computation engine” as references in your project.  The file path for these references should be the .tlb file created in “C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.0” 

 

 NOTE: If using the 32 bit version of Excel, use the regasm.exe located at: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\ Framework\v4.0.30319. By default, the 64 bit version of regasm.exe located in the “Framework64” folder will only register the dlls in the 64 bit registry. If you have a 32 bit version of regasm.exe to register the dlls in the 32 bit registry, type in “cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319”.

 

If using version 14.2, use the dlls located here:

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.2\EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Messaging.dll

C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.2\EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Server.dll

 

1. Open a Command Prompt in Administrator mode. 
2. If you have a 64 bit version of Excel, type in “cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319”. If you have a 32 bit version of Excel, type in “cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319”. If you are using a different version of Microsoft Framework than v4.0.30319, then go to that folder instead.
3. Type in “regasm "C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.2\EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Messaging.dll" /codebase /verbose /tlb”. This will create a .tlb file for Excel to use from the EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Messaging.dll file. 
4. Type in “regasm "C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.2\EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Server.dll" /codebase /verbose /tlb”. This will create a .tlb file for Excel to use from the EnergyExemplar.Aurora.Server.dll file.  
5. In Excel, open the Visual Basic scripting window, then go to Tools -> References and select “AURORA XMP Messaging and Interface class” and “AURORA XMP server and computation engine” as references in your project. The file path for these references should be the .tlb file created in “C:\Program Files\Energy Exemplar\Aurora 14.2” 

 

Troubleshooting Error Messages

Click on the following for more information:

Error: 5 was generated by mscorlibError: 5 was generated by mscorlib

 

Scripting

Scripting Aurora from Microsoft Excel

---

For further assistance, please contact Aurora Support.

Copyright© 1997-2024 Energy Exemplar LLC. All rights reserved.