XL97: Error Activating Chart Not on the Active Worksheet

ID: Q172639

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you run a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro or a Microsoft Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro that attempts to activate a chart object on a worksheet, you may receive the following error message:

   This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
   If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

If you click Details, you receive an error message similar to either of the following:

   EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module MSO97.DLL at
   0137:30705766.

   EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module EXCEL.EXE at
   0137:301240ec.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if all of the following conditions are true:

The macro uses a line of code similar to either of the following to activate the chart object:

      ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").ChartObjects("Chart 1").Activate

      -or-

      =UNHIDE("[Book1.xls]Sheet1 Chart 1")

    -and-

The worksheet that contains the chart object is not the active worksheet.
```
    -and-
```
The active worksheet contains split or frozen panes.

WORKAROUND

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

To work around this problem, modify the macro so that it activates the worksheet that contains the chart object before it attempts to activate the chart object.

Visual Basic Macro

If you are using a Visual Basic macro, modify the macro so that it contains code that is similar to the following:

   ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").Activate
   ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").ChartObjects("Chart 1").Activate

XLM Macro

If you are using an XLM macro, modify the macro so that it contains code that is similar to the following:

   =ACTIVATE("Sheet1")
   =UNHIDE("[Book1.xls]Sheet1 Chart 1")

In each example, the first line of code activates the worksheet that contains the chart object. The second line of code activates the chart object. If you use this method to activate chart objects, the problem described in this article does not occur.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Note that the problem described in this article does not occur when a macro attempts to activate a chart object that is in the active worksheet. Also, the problem does not occur if the active worksheet does not contain split or frozen panes.

Additional query words: XL97 ipf freeze panes 0137:30029835

Keywords          : kberrmsg kbprg kbdtacode kbchart xlvbahowto xlvbainfo 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999