The simplest thing to do is put the below:
x = shell("C:\progra...blah\excel.exe")
...into a vb app. you could pretty much do the same in a .bat file.
You could use ShellExecute, calling an .xls file or .mdb file or whatever.
You could also do CreateProcess()...this is now getting more complex and is certainly not a one-line solution.
Further, you could create, for example, an Excel.Application Object in VB and call the objects properties and methods from within vb.
It depends on how much code you want to write and how much control you want over this.
--Jim