KB142137 - Sample Macro That Won't Allow User to Cancel Dialog Box

Article ID: 142137

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006

Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q142137

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can create a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro to display built-in dialog boxes, such as the Open or the Save As dialog box. Once this type of dialog box is displayed, a user can cancel it by clicking the Cancel button, pressing the ESC key, or by clicking the control menu. If you want to force a user to take a certain action in the dialog box, you can "trap" the cancellation process; that is, you can design the macro so it will not allow the user to cancel the dialog box.

The "More Information" section of this article contains a macro that requires a user to select a file to be opened in the Open dialog box.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub Test()

       Dim X As Boolean

       Do
           X = Application.Dialogs(xlDialogOpen).Show

           ' X returns False if the box is canceled.
           If X = False Then MsgBox "Please select a file to open."

       ' X equals True when you open the file.
       Loop Until X = True

   End Sub

When you run this sample macro, the Open dialog box is displayed. If you try to cancel the dialog box, the macro prompts you with a message box. When you click OK in this message box, you are returned to the Open dialog box. This process continues until you select a file to open.

For additional information on how you can display the Open or the Save As dialog boxes in a Visual Basic for Applications macro, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

139723 How to Display the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes

213371 XL2000: How to Display the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes

Additional query words: 5.00a 5.00c XL97 XL98 XL7 XL5 XL

Keywords: kbdtacode kbhowto kbprogramming KB142137