GAers:

I?m trying to use VC to open Excel and manipulate a worksheet.  I?m
importing Excel9.OLB, which can be located in C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\Office\ -- assuming the default installation
folder.  Depending on your version of Excel, the OLB filename might be
slightly different... ExcelXX.OLB.  I encourage you to look at it
using OLE/COM Object Viewer.

I can successfully instantiate an instance of _Application using
CoCreateInstance().  From there, I can get Workbooks, _Workbook,
Sheets, and _Worksheet.  However, the problem occurs when I try to
call the _Worksheet method called get_Range().  It?s defined as
follows...

 _Worksheet::get_Range(VARIANT Cell1, VARIANT Cell2, RANGE **RHS).

I make my call this way...

// sheet is declared/initialize prior

Range *range = NULL;
sheet->get_Range(_variant_t(?A1?), _variant_t(?A2?), &range);

After I have the range, I need to call the method Activate(VARIANT
*RHS).  However, I cannot call methods to that variable unless I use
Invoke(), DISPPARAMS, etc, which makes my code very bloated.  How can
I create an object of type IRange, which is the interface to make easy
method calls?

I?ve tried various ways?

// sheet is obtained before hand

IRange *range = NULL;
IDispatch *temp = NULL;

sheet->get_Range(_variant_t(?A1?), _variant_t(?A2?), (Range **)&temp);
temp->QueryInterface(__uuidof(Range), (void **)&range);

VARIANT var;	// var is just a return message indicating success or failure
VariantInit(&var);
range->Activate(&var);

This attempt does not work.  Again, any suggestions on how I can
create an object of type IRange, so I can easily call methods would be
much appreciated as calling Invoke() from the data type Range is
encumbering my code.

I thank you all for those who try to assist me in my endeavor.  Also,
I hope others find your solutions helpful if they -- too -- have the
same or similar problems.  Thank you once again.