XL97: Redraw Problem Changing Visibility of Object on Dialog

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you run a Visual Basic for Applications macro that changes the Visible property for a drawing object on a Microsoft Excel 5.0 dialog sheet that is displayed, the border of the drawing object may not appear correctly.

When you set the Visible property to True, the border of the drawing object may not be displayed completely. Conversely, when you set the Visible property to False, the border of the drawing object may not be erased completely.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because Microsoft Excel 97 does not redraw the screen correctly.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides examples of Visual Basic for Applications procedures 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. The Visual Basic procedures in this article are provided 'as is' and Microsoft does not guarantee that they can be used in all situations. While Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular macro, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality, nor will they help you construct macros to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to consult one of the Microsoft Solution Providers. Solution Providers offer a wide range of fee-based services, including creating custom macros. For more information about Microsoft Solution Providers, call Microsoft Customer Information Service at (800) 426-9400.

To work around this problem, use a UserForm instead of a Microsoft Excel 5.0 dialog sheet. UserForms are new in Microsoft Excel 97; Microsoft recommends that you use a UserForm instead of a dialog sheet. A UserForm is more flexible and offers more functionality than a Microsoft Excel 5.0 dialog sheet.

If you must use a Microsoft Excel 5.0 dialog sheet, you can use an alternative method. When you change the Visible property for the shape, close the dialog sheet, and then display it again. This forces Microsoft Excel to redraw the screen, which causes the border around the shape to appear correctly. The following example forces Microsoft Excel to do this:

1. Start a new workbook.

2. Right-click a sheet tab in the workbook and click Insert.

3. Click MS Excel 5.0 Dialog and click OK.

4. Click Rectangle on the Drawing toolbar and draw a rectangle on the dialog sheet. (If the Drawing Toolbar is not displayed, point to Toolbars on the View menu and click Drawing.)

5. For the caption for the OK button, type "Toggle" (without the quotation marks), and then click the dialog frame to deselect the button.

6. Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor.

7. On the Insert menu, Click Module.

8. Type the following code in the module:

          Sub Main()
   
              Dim contin
              'Set the flag to True.
              contin = True
   
              'Continue to show the dialog sheet while Contin is set to
              'True.
              Do While contin
                  contin = DialogSheets(1).show
              Loop
   
          End Sub
   
          Sub Toggle()
   
              'Toggle the Visible property of the Rectangle on the
              'dialog sheet.
              DialogSheets(1).Shapes("Rectangle 4").Visible = _
                  Not (DialogSheets(1).Shapes("Rectangle 4").Visible)
   
          End Sub
   
   

9. On the File menu, click "Close and Return to Microsoft Excel".

10. Right-click the Toggle button and click Assign Macro. Select the macro "Toggle" and click OK.

11. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. Select the macro "Main" and click Run.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.