XL97: Error Using DDEPoke When Chart Is the Active Sheet

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

You get the following error message when you run a macro that sends data to Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows:

   Excel caused an invalid page fault in module
   Mso97.dll at 014f:30705766.

   This task is taking longer than expected. Do you want
   to continue waiting.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you do the following:

• You use DDEPOKE to send data to Excel.

      -and-
  

• The active sheet of the workbook is a Chart sheet.

WORKAROUND

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Method 1: Change the Active Sheet

This problem does not occur if the active sheet is a worksheet. To change the active sheet to a worksheet, use the DDEExecute statement to send the Workbook.Activate command to change the active sheet. For example, the following macro sends the string "this is a test" to cell A1 of Sheet1 in the workbook Book1.

   Sub Example1()
      chan = DDEInitiate ("Excel", "[Book1]Sheet1")
      DDEExecute chan, "[Workbook.Activate(""Sheet1"")]"
      DDEPoke chan,  "R1C1", "this is a test"
      DDETerminate chan
   End Sub

Method 2: Use DDEExecute

Use the DDEExecute statement with the Formula function instead of using the DDEPoke statement. For example, the following macro sends the string "this is a test" to cell A1 of Sheet1 in the workbook Book1.

   Sub Example2()
      chan = DDEInitiate ("Excel", "[Book1]Sheet1")
      DDEExecute chan, "[Formula(""this is a test"",""'Sheet2'!R1C1""]"
      DDETerminate chan
   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

Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is a method you can use to exchange data with another DDE-compliant program.

For additional information about using DDE commands in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q141772
   TITLE     : XL: Visual Basic Examples Using DDE

REFERENCES

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