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The steps below walk you through all the setup of the environment required to run the Banana Excel add-in from a local installation and not from the Office store.
In order to do that, you will have to:
- Download all the add-in files.
- Save them to specific folders on your computer.
- Add a trusted add-in catalog in Excel.
- Load the add-in in Excel.
- Set the server URL in the add-in.
Minimum requirements: Microsoft Excel 2016 for Windows or macOS.
Get Banana Accounting 9
Install Banana Accounting 9 for Windows or Mac on your pc.
Start Banana Accounting web server
In order to use the add-in you have to start the Banana web server first:
- Start Banana Accounting 9.
- On menu bar click Tools → Program options and select the Interface tab.
- Check the Start Web Server option. The web server with ssl is not needed.
- Click Ok.
Download the add-in files
The next step is to download all the required files of the add-in.
- Download the BananaAccountingExcelAddin.zip file.
- Extract the content:
- BananaAccountingExcelAddin: folder containing all the add-in files.
- BananaAccountingExcelManifest: manifest file of the add-in.
Install the add-in files
The files extracted from the zip must be copied to specific directories.
Add-in files for Windows
On Windows you need to copy the BananaAccountingExcelAddin folder in the directory C:\Users\{user_name}\AppData\Local\Banana.ch\Banana\9.0\WWW.
- In the search box insert %LocalAppData% and press enter. The AppData\Local folder will open.
- Navigate through the folders Banana.ch\Banana\9.0.
- If it doesn't exists yet, create a folder named WWW (all in capital letters).
- Copy in the WWW folder the BananaAccountingExcelAddin folder extracted from the zip file.
Add-in files for macOS
On macOS you need to copy the BananaAccountingExcelAddin folder in the directory /Users/{user_name}/Library/Application Support/Banana.ch/Banana/9.0/WWW.
- Open the Finder.
- From the menu select Go and then Go to folder.
- Insert here the path /Users/{user_name}/Library/Application Support/Banana.ch/Banana/9.0 and click Go.
- If it doesn't exists yet, create a folder named WWW (all in capital letters).
- Copy in the WWW folder the BananaAccountingExcelAddin folder extracted from the zip file.
Install the Manifest file
Each Office add-in has its own manifest file. The manifest is an XML file that defines various settings, including description and links to all the add-in files.
Manifest file must be copied to a specific directory.
Manifest directory for Windows
On Windows you need to create a directory to save the manifest of the add-in.
The directory needs to be a shared directory.
- Create a folder for the add-ins manifests on a network share:
- Create a folder on your local drive (for example, C:\Shared\OfficeManifest).
- Right click on the folder, select properties.
- Click on Sharing tab.
- Click on Advanced Sharing...
- Check the Share this folder box.
- Click Apply and then Ok.
- Copy here the BananaAccountingExcelManifest file extracted from the zip file.
- Tell Excel to use the Manifests directory as trusted app catalog:
- Launch Excel and open a blank spreadsheet.
- Choose the File tab, and then choose Options.
- Choose Trust Center, and then choose the Trust Center Settings button.
- Choose Trusted Add-in Catalogs.
- In the Catalog URL box, enter the path to the network share you created, and then choose Add Catalog.
To see the path of the network share folder: right click on the shared folder → Properties → Sharing → Network Path.
You can copy the path from here.
- Select the Show in Menu check box, and then choose OK.
A message appears to inform you that your settings will be applied the next time you start Office.
- Close Excel and restart it.
Manifest directory for macOS
On Mac you need to create a folder to save the manifest of the add-in.
Go to one of the following folders and copy here the BananaAccountingExcelManifest file extracted from the zip file.
If the wef
folder doesn't exist on your computer, create it.
- For Excel:
/Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Documents/wef
- For Word:
/Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Documents/wef
- For PowerPoint:
/Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Powerpoint/Data/Documents/wef
Note: <username> is your name on the device.
Load the add-in in Excel
Once all the setup and installations are done, it is possible to run and use the add-in.
- Open Microsoft Excel 2016.
- Click on Insert tab.
- Click on the My Add-ins button.
- Click on the Shared folder.
- Select the Banana Accounting Excel add-in.
- Click Add.
The add-in is added
Set the server URL setting
In the add-in make sure to change the server URL to http://localhost:8081.
- Start Excel and the Banana Accounting add-in.
- Click on the Options tab of the Add-in.
- From the server information select Other.
- In the Server URL field, insert http://localhost:8081
- Click OK to confirm and save the changes.
Other Resources
For more and detailed information about the developing of the Office Add-ins, please visit https://github.com/BananaAccounting/General/tree/master/OfficeAddIns.
Introduction to Excel 2016 Add-ins
Office 2016 Add-ins are extentions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Add-ins are composed of:
- Manifest file.
An XML file that defines various settings, including description and links to all the add-in files.
It is used by Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook to locate the Add-in resources.
The manifest file can reside on a local directory or is published on the Office Store. - Webpage files.
Files that compose the web app (HTML pages, JavaScript code and images).
All the files need to reside on a web server.
Add-in Examples
These examples have been made available for programmers that want to create specialized add-ins to retrieve information from Banana Accounting.
You need to insall the add-ins on a web server.
- for Excel:
- Account Card report to create an Excel worksheet with details of an account.
- Retrieve Table report to create an Excel worksheet with a full table taken from the accounting.
- for Word:
- Account Card report to create a Word document with details of an account.