XL98: Structure and Windows Arguments of Protect Method

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, 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 98 Macintosh Edition.

For example, this line of code does not work:

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

WORKAROUND

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

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

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 98 Macintosh Edition. The only acceptable values for these arguments are True and False.