XL98: Using the RefEdit Control with a UserForm

ID: Q188565

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, there is no Help topic for the RefEdit control. This article describes the RefEdit control and provides information about using the RefEdit control in a UserForm.

MORE INFORMATION

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/

A RefEdit control is similar in behavior and appearance to an edit box control with an InputType property that you set to xlReference. (The edit box control is available in Microsoft Excel 5.0 on the Forms toolbar in dialog sheets.) The RefEdit control differs from an edit box control in that the RefEdit control contains a button that allows you to collapse the UserForm to easily select a cell range.

Using an Edit Box

The RefEdit control imitates the behavior of the reference edit boxes that are built into Microsoft Excel. To illustrate how the built-in reference edit boxes work in Microsoft Excel, follow these steps:

1. In a new worksheet, click Function on the Insert menu to display the

   Function Wizard.

2. Click SUM in the Function Name box and click OK.

   Notice that the edit box for the first argument contains a button with a
   red arrow on the right side.

3. Click the button with the red arrow in the edit box.

   The Function Wizard collapses, which allows you to see more of your
   worksheet.

4. Drag the pointer over cells in the worksheet.

   The reference for the cells appears in the reference edit box.

5. Click the button in the edit box to expand the Function Wizard.

6. Click OK or Cancel.

Using the RefEdit Control on a UserForm

The following example illustrates how to create a UserForm that contains a RefEdit control and a CommandButton control. When the UserForm appears, you enter a reference in the RefEdit control and click OK. When you click OK, the range that you referenced is formatted with a red background, and the UserForm is unloaded. To illustrate how the RefEdit control works in Microsoft Excel, follow these steps:

 1. In a new workbook, press OPTION+F11 to activate the Visual Basic
    Editor.

 2. On the Insert menu, click UserForm.

    This step inserts UserForm1 into your project. If the Toolbox is not
    displayed, click Toolbox on the View menu.

 3. In the Toolbox dialog box, click RefEdit, and draw the control on
    UserForm1.

    To determine which button is the RefEdit button, move the pointer over
    the button and examine the name that appears in the ToolTip.

 4. In the Toolbox dialog box, click CommandButton and draw the
    CommandButton on UserForm1.

 5. With the CommandButton selected, press F6 to display the Properties
    window. Change the Caption property of the control to OK.

 6. Double-click the CommandButton to open the Code window for the
    CommandButton.

 7. Type the following code for the Click event of the CommandButton:

       Sub CommandButton1_Click()

           Dim SelRange as Range
           Dim Addr as String

           'Get the address, or reference, from the RefEdit control.
           Addr = RefEdit1.Value

           'Set the SelRange Range object to the range specified in the
           'RefEdit control.
           Set SelRange = Range(Addr)

           'Apply a red pattern to the SelRange.
           SelRange.Interior.ColorIndex = 3

           'Unload the userform.
           Unload Me

       End Sub

 8. Click Module on the Insert menu to insert a Visual Basic module sheet.

 9. Type the following code into the module sheet:

       Sub ShowForm()

         UserForm1.Show

       End Sub

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

11. Point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Macros, Click

    ShowForm, and then click Run.

    The UserForm is displayed.

12. Click the button in the RefEdit control. Notice that the UserForm

    collapses. Select a range of cells on the worksheet, and then click the
    RefEdit button to expand the UserForm.

13. Click OK.

The UserForm disappears, and the cells that you selected are formatted with a red background.

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: 8.00 Ref Edit user form

Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode xlvbahowto xlvbainfo 
Version           : MACINTOSH:98
Platform          : MACINTOSH
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 18, 1999