Editing a Worksheet Formula from a Macro in Excel

 Last reviewed: November 2, 1994
Article ID: Q37506
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 2.x, 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0
  • Microsoft Excel for OS/2 versions 2.2, 2.21, 3.0

SUMMARY

When you edit a formula contained in a worksheet from a macro, using the SEND.KEYS function replicates the manual editing steps, as the following example illustrates: 

   =ACTIVATE("sheet1.xls")
   =SELECT("r12c2")
   =SEND.KEYS("{F2}editingtext~")
In the SEND.KEYS line, {F2} takes you into edit mode on the formula bar. "editingtext" is the string of keystrokes to press if you are manually editing the formula. The tilde (~ or {ENTER}) terminates the edit mode and enters the formula into the selected cell.

Note: The SEND.KEYS text is not sent until a dialog box is displayed, or the macro is finished, so the above cannot be repeated in a macro.

MORE INFORMATION

Examples of SEND.KEYS function editing are as follows:

  1. Original Formula: =SUM(A1:A10) 
       Editing Command:   =SEND.KEYS("{F2}*B2~")
   Resulting Formula: =SUM(A1:A10)*B2.

  2. Original Formula: =SUM(A1:A10) 
       Editing Command:   =SEND.KEYS("{F2}{LEFT}{BS}{BS}{BS}C8~")
   Resulting Formula: =SUM(A1:C8)
In the second example, {LEFT} moves the insertion point to the left one character, and {BS} backspaces one character each time, deleting "A10".

REFERENCES

For more information on using the SEND.KEYS function, query on: 

   send.keys and on.time

KBCategory: kbusage
KBSubcategory:

Additional words: 5.00 2.00 2.0 2.01 2.1 2.10 2.2 2.21 2.20 3.00
3.0 4.00 4.0

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Last reviewed: November 2, 1994
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