XL98: Limitations for Naming Visual Basic Modules

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, the names of Visual Basic for Applications modules are subject to certain limitations. This article explains these limitations how to avoid problems when module names include illegal characters.

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Changing the Name of a Module in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, you can rename a module by activating the module, clicking to the right of "(Name)" in the Properties window of the Visual Basic Editor, typing a new module name, and pressing RETURN.

You can also programmatically change the name of a module by using code similar to the following:

   ActiveWorkbook.Modules("Module1").Name = "Module7"

Limitations for Naming Modules in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, module names can include the following characters:

• Alphanumerics (A-Z, a-z, 0-9)
• Underscore characters (_)

• Spaces ( )
• Exclamation points (!)
• Periods (.)
• Question marks (?)
• Commas (,)
• Any other nonalphanumeric characters

Module names cannot exceed 31 characters in length.

Module names cannot start with a numeric character (0-9) or an underscore character (_). Module names must start with an alphabetical character (A-Z, a-z).

If you try to rename a module so that its name includes illegal characters, you will receive the following error message:

   Not a legal object name: '<module name>'

Names of Modules That You Created in Earlier Versions of Microsoft Excel

If you open a workbook that contains modules with names that include characters that are illegal in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, the modules and the macros they contain are still available.

None of the modules are renamed by Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition. However, if a module's name contains an exclamation point, the exclamation point is replaced on the screen by a question mark. However, the actual name of the module does not change.

For example, if you open a Microsoft Excel 5.0 workbook that contains the following three modules, Microsoft Excel 98 may change the module names. The following table illustrates how the module names would appear.

   Original             Module name that appears
   module name          in the Project Window
   ---------------------------------------------

   Module!1             Module?1
   My Module            My Module
   xyz.Module           xyz.Module

Note that renaming modules may require that you modify your Visual Basic macro code wherever it refers to a module by name.