XL98: Description of the Value2 Property for the Range

ID: Q182812

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

Microsoft Excel 98 includes a new Visual Basic for Applications property called Value2. The Value2 property, which you can use for the Range object, is almost identical to the Value property except that the Value2 property does not use the Currency and Date data types. Depending on how a cell is formatted (for example, with date, currency, or other formats), the two properties may return different values for the same cell.

Note that the Value2 property is not available in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel. Therefore, if a cell is formatted with a currency number format or a date number format, the Value property may not return the expected underlying cell value.

MORE INFORMATION

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   http://www.microsoft.com/supportnet/refguide/

In the following example, the Value and Value2 properties return different results for the same cell object. To see the results, follow these steps:

1. Close and save any open workbooks, and then create a new workbook.

2. Enter the following in Sheet1:

      A1: 1.23456789
      A2: 2/3/97

3. Click cell A1 and click cells on the Format menu. Then, on the Number

   tab, click Currency in the Category list, and click OK.

4. Click cell A2 and click cells on the Format menu.

5. Click the Number tab, click Date in the Category list, and click

OK.

6. Start the Visual Basic Editor (press OPTION+F11).

7. On the Insert menu, click Module.

8. Enter the following code in the Visual Basic module:

      Sub Value_vs_Value2()

         MsgBox "Currency returned by Value property = " & _
            Sheet1.Range("A1").Value

         MsgBox "Currency returned by Value2 property = " & _
            Sheet1.Range("A1").Value2

         MsgBox "Date returned by Value property = " & _
            Sheet1.Range("A2").Value

         MsgBox "Date returned by Value2 property = " & _
            Sheet1.Range("A2").Value2

      End Sub

9. Run the Value_vs_Value2 macro. To do this, click Macros on the Tools

   menu. Click Value_vs_Value2 and click Run.

The macro displays the following messages in order:

   Currency returned by Value property =  1.2346

   Currency returned by Value2 property = 1.23456789

   Date returned by Value property = 2/3/97

   Date returned by Value2 property = 34002

The underlying cell value in cell A1 is 1.23456789, however, the Value property returns 1.2346. This is true because Microsoft Excel stores currency numbers in an integer format that is scaled by 10,000 to produce a fixed-point number with 15 digits to the left of the decimal and 4 digits to the right of the decimal. For cells formatted as currency, the Value2 property returns the actual underlying cell value.

The underlying cell value in cell A2 is the serial number for 2/3/97, which is 34002. The Value property returns a date formatted with the short date format. The Value2 property, for cells formatted as a date, returns the underlying serial number for the date.

REFERENCES

For more information about using the Value2 property, click the Office Assistant, type "value2" (without the quotation marks), click Search, and then click to view the "Value2 Property" topic.

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Visual Basic for Applications Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120802
   TITLE     : Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office
               Program or Component

Additional query words: XL98

Keywords          : kbprg OffVBA 
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 18, 1999