XL: Can't Display Dialog Box from VBA Macro If Workbooks Hidden

ID: Q125765

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, if a workbook is not visible in the workspace and you run a macro or procedure that attempts to display a built-in dialog box that requires that a workbook be active, you may receive the following error message:

   Run-time error '1004':
   Show method of Dialog Class failed.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals 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 needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

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

To work around this problem, you must make at least one workbook visible in the workspace before you attempt to display the built-in dialog box.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

The following Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro is an example of how to show the xlDialogSaveAs (Save As dialog) when all open workbooks are hidden.

   Sub SaveHidden()
       ' Sets the Visible property to False.
       ActiveWindow.Visible = False

       ' Sets ScreenUpdating to False.
       Application.ScreenUpdating = False

       ' Sets the macro workbook Visible property to True.
       Windows(ThisWorkbook.Name).Visible = True

       ' Displays the SaveAs Dialogbox.
       Application.Dialogs(xlDialogSaveAs).Show ("Book1.xls")

       ' Resets the Visible property to False.
       ActiveWindow.Visible = False

   End Sub

Additional query words: 5.00 7.00 XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5

Keywords          : kberrmsg kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmOthr PgmHowto KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,7.0a,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999