XL: Named Arguments Are Not Supported with DAO

ID: Q143453

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you run a Microsoft Excel Visual Basic for Applications macro that uses Data Access Objects (DAO), you may receive one of the following error messages:

Compile Error:
Named Argument Not Found
-or-
Run-time error '438':
Object doesn't support this property or method


CAUSE

DAO versions 3.0 and 3.5, which are included with Microsoft Excel 7.0 and 97 respectively, do not fully support named arguments. In some cases, named arguments will work without error, however, you should avoid using them.

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel.


RESOLUTION

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://support.microsoft.com/support/
To work around this behavior, use positional arguments instead of named arguments.

In a Visual Basic macro, when you call a Subroutine or Function, you can supply arguments positionally, in the order in which they appear in the definition of the procedure. Alternatively, you can supply the arguments by name without regard to position. However, with DAO properties and methods, Microsoft recommends that you use only positional arguments.

Example of the Problem

The DAO 3.5 OpenDatabase method uses the following syntax: 

   Set <database> = OpenDatabase(dbname, options, readonly, connect)
If you use the OpenDatabase method by supplying named arguments in the macro, you may receive one of the errors described in this article. For example, when you run the following macro, the compile error "Named Argument Not Found" appears: 

   Set DB = _
      OpenDatabase(dbname:= "C:\My Documents\DB1.MDB", readonly: = True)

Example of the Resolution

To correct the problem, use positional arguments. To do this, supply the arguments for the method in the correct position, where each argument is delimited by a comma, as shown in the following example: 

   Set DB = OpenDatabase("C:\My Documents\DB1.MDB", , True)


REFERENCES

For more information about named arguments, click the Index tab in Visual Basic for Applications Help, type the following text

named arguments
click the Display button, and then double-click the "Understanding Named Arguments and Optional Arguments" topic.

Additional query words: XL97 8.0 8.00 parameter OpenRecordset 


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbprg kbdta kbdtacode xldao KbVBA xlvbmigrate 
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,7.0a,97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: July 1, 1999