About Excel Add Ins

KBC SIM Suite integrates with Microsoft Excel through COM Add-ins, which are special dll files that Excel knows about and loads on startup. These dlls sit in the background until needed. SIM Suite uses up to four add-ins:

  • KBCProfSIMGateway.dll - provides supporting functionality for SIM reactors and Petro-SIM/Monitor. Reactor use in version 4 is limited to migration support.
  • PSXLRibbonBar.dll - provides the Petro-SIM ribbon bar used with Excel 2007
  • PetroSIMExcelApp - provides support for all version 4 Reactor and Reporting workbook functions. Implemented as three distinct dlls to ensure operability with Excel 2003 upwards:
* PSXL2007Shim.dll - this is the actual add-in dll seen by Excel. It is a wrapper that in turn invokes the remaining two dlls.
* PetroSIMExcelApp.dll - contains the main functionality
* ManagedAggregator.dll - wrapper dll
  • PetroSIMXLToolbar.dll - provides links to database reporting and LP Utility reporting in Excel

Each set of dlls is specific to a SIM Suite version and the version that gets used/loaded by Excel depends on what is registered on your machine. This registration happens when you install SIM Suite or when you force a change by manually registering dlls for a specific version.