OpenSTAAD V8i

5.5 ActiveX Component in Microsoft Excel

Error message:

"ActiveX component can't create object"

when attempting to run an OpenSTAAD macro in Microsoft Excel.

  1. Make sure that you have a directory called "OpenSTAAD" inside of your SProV8i folder (i.e., C:\SProV8i\ OpenSTAAD).

  2. In that folder, make sure you have the files openstaad.dll, staadread.tbl, staadread.dll, and steeltable.dll. If not, please contact Bentley Technical Support.

  3. When you open the Excel file, is it asking you to Enable Macros? If so, make sure you press Yes. If not, you need to change the security settings in Excel. Select Tools > Macro > Security... from the Excel menu. Make sure the Security Level is set to Medium. Close Excel down (completely, not just the file) and reopen the file again.  This time it should ask you if you want your Macros enabled or disabled. Choose Enabled.

  4. When you run your macro, if it still gives you the error ("ActiveX component can't create object"), it might be because the OpenSTAAD library was not registered properly when the program was installed.  To register the OpenSTAAD dll, close down Excel, go to your Windows  Start menu and select the Run command. Type in:

    regsvr32 c:\SProV8i\openstaad\openstaad.dll

    and click OK . 

    The path to the openstaad.dll file may be different on your computer if you did not use the default installation path provided by the STAAD.Pro Setup program when you installed your software – if so, you should modify the above command to correspond to the actual location on your computer.

    A message dialog opens to display the message, “DllRegisterServer in c:\SProV8i\openstaad\openstaad.dll succeeded.”  If the registration did not succeed, please contact our technical support staff for further instructions.

  5. Try opening and running the Excel beam example file provided with your STAAD.Pro software (C:\SProV8i\OpenSTAAD\Rectangle-beam.xls).