XL97: Structure and Windows Arguments of Protect Method

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you run a Visual Basic for Applications subroutine that protects a workbook, you may receive the following error message:

   Run-time error '5':
   Invalid procedure call or argument

CAUSE

This problem occurs if you attempt to set either the Structure argument or the Windows argument (or both) of the Protect method to a value other than True or False. Although you can do this in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, you cannot use a value other than True or False in Microsoft Excel 97.

For example, this line of code does not work:

   ActiveWorkbook.Protect Structure:=0, Windows:=1

WORKAROUND

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.

If you use the Structure and Windows arguments of the Protect method, you must set them to either True or False. For example, use the following line of code:

   ActiveWorkbook.Protect Structure:=False, Windows:=True

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 97.

MORE INFORMATION

The Structure and Windows arguments of the Protect method allow you to decide whether the structure of the workbook (the relative location of sheet tabs, and whether sheets are hidden) and the workbook's window (size and position on the screen) are protected.

In many programming languages, including Visual Basic for Applications, the Boolean value "False" is often equal to 0, and you can sometimes substitute the value 0 whenever False is required for the value of an argument. Similarly, the Boolean value "True" is often equal to any nonzero value (for example, 5), and you can sometimes substitute a nonzero value whenever True is required for the value of an argument.

However, this convention does not apply to the Structure and Windows arguments of the Protect method in Microsoft Excel 97. The only acceptable values for these arguments are True and False.