XL: Using Visual Basic to Return Screen Elements

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, when you develop a custom application that will run on computers with different screen resolutions, it may be useful to determine the amount of space that different workspace elements such as the menu bar, formula bar, status bar and toolbars will use. After you determine the amount of space these element use, you can then determine how and where to position documents and which elements you want to be displayed.

MORE INFORMATION

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.

With Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, you can write code that will retrieve workspace properties. For example the Application.UsableWidth and Application.UsableHeight command allow you to return the width and height (in points) of the workspace.

Sample Macro Code

The following example determines the height of the status bar:

Sub statusbarheight()

   'Declares the Variables as Integers
   Dim Nostatusbar as  Integer
   Dim Withstatusbar as  Integer
   Dim StatusHeight as  Integer
      Application.DisplayStatusBar = False         'Turns status off
      nostatusbar = Application.UsableHeight       'finds height without
                                                   'status bar
      Application.DisplayStatusBar = True          'Turns the status bar on
      withstatusbar = Application.UsableHeight     'Finds height with
                                                   'status bar on
      statusheight = nostatusbar - withstatusbar   'Determines the
                                                   'difference
      MsgBox ("The height of the status bar in points is " & statusheight)

End Sub

REFERENCES

"Visual Basic User's Guide," version 5.0, Chapter 5

For information about returning screen element sizes using the Microsoft Excel 4.0 macro language, please see the following article(s) in the Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q103707
   TITLE     : Excel: Using GET.WORKSPACE() to Determine Screen Element
               Size