XL98: Limitations for Naming Visual Basic Modules

ID: Q182238

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, the names of Visual Basic for Applications modules are subject to certain limitations. This article explains these limitations and how to avoid problems when module names include illegal characters.

MORE INFORMATION

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Changing the Name of a Module in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you can rename a module by activating the module, clicking to the right of "(Name)" in the Properties window of the Visual Basic Editor, typing a new module name, and pressing RETURN.

You can also programmatically change the name of a module by using code similar to the following: 

   ActiveWorkbook.Modules("Module1").Name = "Module7"

Limitations for Naming Modules in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, module names can include the following characters:

Illegal characters (characters that cannot be used in module names) include the following: NOTE: Some characters that are illegal in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition are acceptable in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

Module names cannot exceed 31 characters in length.

Module names cannot start with a numeric character (0-9) or an underscore character (_). Module names must start with an alphabetical character (A-Z, a-z).

If you try to rename a module so that its name includes illegal characters, you will receive the following error message: 

   Not a legal object name: '<module name>'
where <module name> is the name of the active module sheet.

Names of Modules That You Created in Earlier Versions of Microsoft Excel

If you open a workbook that contains modules with names that include characters that are illegal in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, the modules and the macros they contain are still available.

None of the modules are renamed by Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition. However, if a module's name contains an exclamation point, the exclamation point is replaced on the screen by a question mark. However, the actual name of the module does not change.

For example, if you open a Microsoft Excel 5.0 workbook that contains the following three modules, Microsoft Excel 98 may change the module names. The following table illustrates how the module names would appear. 

   Original             Module name that appears
   module name          in the Project Window
   ---------------------------------------------

   Module!1             Module?1
   My Module            My Module
   xyz.Module           xyz.Module
Microsoft strongly recommends that you rename such modules so that their names do not include any illegal characters. For example, in the table above, rename the module from Module!1 to Module1 or Module_1.

Note that renaming modules may require that you modify your Visual Basic macro code wherever it refers to a module by name.

Additional query words: XL98 

Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode xlui xlvbainfo OffVBA 
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: June 30, 1999