XL97: Chart Activation with Macro Changes Selection

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you run a macro that activates and deactivates a chart, the chart remains selected.

If your macro expects that the selection before the chart activation will remain selected when the chart is deactivated, your macro may fail or may not perform as it did in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

CAUSE

In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, programmatically activating an embedded chart does not select the chart. The selection remains on the range or object on the worksheet that was selected before the chart was activated.

This behavior has changed in Microsoft Excel 97. In Microsoft Excel 97, programmatically activating a chart will select the chart area. Thus, when the chart is deactivated, it remains selected.

This change in functionality may cause problems with code that expects the selection to remain as it was before the chart activation.

WORKAROUND

To programmatically deactivate and deselect an embedded chart, you must select another object on the worksheet.

STATUS

This is by design in Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows.

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.

In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, you could use the following line in a macro to restore the selection before the chart is activated:

   ActiveWindow.Visible = False

Sub ChartSelection()

    Dim myobj As Object

    'Save the current selection in the object variable "myobj".
    Set myobj = Selection

    'Activate the embedded chart.
    ActiveSheet.ChartObjects(1).Activate

    'Restore the selection.
    myobj.Select

End Sub