Trying to run Excel - can't create dispatch (Visual Studio 6 C++)

Hi there! :) It seems I forgot some nuances in my own old code - take a look please:
...
// Excel app initialization
_Application oApp;
oApp.CreateDispatch("Excel.Application");
if (!oApp)
{
AfxMessageBox("Can't run Excel.");
return;
}
...
So it works in my very old project (just compiled it from archive) but if try to copy/paste this part of code into another project - I receive "Can't run Excel" modal window while running my current project. I mean - same VM (Windows XP), same Visual Studio 6 and same Office (2003). So I already checked *.cpp and *.h files (excel9.cpp and excel9.h) - they are connected to the project. What could I have forgotten to check? :confused: Please help.

I'd hazard a guess that this is an ANSI/Unicode mess.

Really ancient VS assumed ANSI (like pre-2000).

Really new VS assumes Unicode (like post-2010).

Somewhere in the middle, you had to tell VS which kind of API you were using.

For most purposes, you can insulate yourself with copious use of _T() macros.

Code:

---

oApp.CreateDispatch(_T("Excel.Application"));

---

The rabbit hole starts here:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldne...12-00/?p=40643