XL97: Offset of Nonadjacent Range Returns Incorrect Results

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In a Visual Basic for Applications subroutine in Microsoft Excel 97, the Offset property does not return the correct range for a range object that refers to nonadjacent cells. It returns one range of adjacent cells. This behavior is different in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when you run a Visual Basic subroutine and the following conditions are true:

• You reference a range object for a range of nonadjacent cells.

  -and-

• You use the Offset property of the range object for the range of nonadjacent cells.

WORKAROUND

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To work around this problem, reference each range of adjacent cells separately and then apply the Offset property. The following sample subprocedure uses this method:

   ' The following subroutine takes the selection and moves it over by one
   ' column to the right. The subroutine checks to see if the selected
   ' cells are adjacent or nonadjacent and handles the two situations
   ' differently.

   Sub Range_Offset_Select()

       ' Dimensions variables to be used.
       Dim NewRange As Range, singleArea As Range

       'Check to see if the selection is an adjacent selection.
       If Selection.Areas.Count = 1 Then

           ' Move the selection by one column to the right.
           Selection.Offset(0, 1).Select

       ' Else, if the selection is a nonadjacent selection...
       Else

           ' Sets the range object, Newrange to the offset by one column
           ' from the first adjacent area of the selection
           Set NewRange = Selection.Areas(1).Offset(0, 1)

           ' Starts a For/Each loop for each adjacent area of the
           ' selection.
           For Each singleArea In Selection.Areas
               Set NewRange = Union(NewRange, singleArea.Offset(0, 1))
           Next
           NewRange.Select

       End If

   End Sub

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

The Offset property in Visual Basic for Applications for Microsoft Excel returns a Range object that represents a range that is offset from the specified range.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120198
   TITLE     : XL: How to Select Cells/Ranges Using Visual Basic Procedures

REFERENCES

For more information about the Offset property, click the Office Assistant while in the Microsoft Visual Basic editor, type "Offset," click Search, and then click to view "Offset Property."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Microsoft Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120802
   TITLE     : Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office
               Program or Component