I currently use:

myHwnd = FindWIndow("XLMAIN", 0)

To find the handle of the window containing an instance of excel for my use after opening an instance of Excel.

Then I use:

xlapp.Quit
tmpBoolean = xlapp.DestroyWindow(myHwnd)

To close the instance.
It works great the task bar shows the instance does in fact disappear.

My problem is that when I use:

myHwnd = FindWIndow("XLMAIN", 0)
agein to dectect if any further nstances are open, I get the handle of the supposedly destroyed instance again and not "0" which I would expect if the instance were truely destroyed.

Is there some "refresh" type function I need to run after closing an unused instance and destroying its window, so the FindwIndow function will stop returning the destroyed windows handle, making me think it still is in existance when it is not.

Hi,
You need to send a message to the Window to physically close it.

Add the following declaration :

Declare Function SendMessage _        Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" _        (ByVal hwnd As Long, _        ByVal wMsg As Long, _        ByVal wParam As Long, _        lParam As Long) _        As Long

Then add the following to your procedure :

Const NILL = 0& Const WM_SYSCOMMAND = &H112 Const SC_CLOSE = &HF060& 'get the window handle for the app myHwnd = FindWIndow("XLMAIN", 0) 'now send message to close it myHwnd = SendMessage(myHwnd, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_CLOSE, NILL)

____________________________
multi-tasking - the ability to hang more than one app. at the same time.