XL97: Copy Method of Sheets Object Causes Invalid Page Fault

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you programmatically add sheets to a workbook, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Windows 95

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module MSO97.DLL at 0137:30705766.

-or-

EXCEL caused an invalid page fault in module EXCEL.EXE at 015f:3023ab75

Windows NT

An application error has occurred and an application log is being generated.

EXCEL.exe
Exception: access violation(0xc0000005), Address: 0x307de830

-or-

Run-time error '1004': Copy method of Worksheet class failed

CAUSE

This problem may occur when you use a looping statement to copy a worksheet over and over. For an example of this problem, please see the "More Information" section of this article.

WORKAROUND

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 Sub Copy Sheets()

    For x = 1 To 300
        Sheets.Add
        Workbooks("YourWorkBook.xls").Sheets("sheet1").Cells.Copy
        ActiveSheet.Paste
        Workbooks("YourWorkBook.xls").Sheets("sheet1").Select
    Next x

 End Sub 

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel 97. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Excel 2000

MORE INFORMATION

This problem occurs because each time you copy the same sheet a codename is assigned to the copy, and each time the sheet is copied, that codename becomes longer. For example, if you copy sheet1 once, the codename assigned to the sheet is sheet11. When you copy the sheet again, it is assigned sheet111, and so on. The codename has a maximum number of about 35 characters. When this limit is reached, Excel stops responding.

Example of the problem

1. Start Microsoft Excel 97.



2. Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor.



3. On the Insert menu, click Module.



4. Type the following into the new module sheet:




      Sub test()
         For x = 1 To 300
            ActiveSheet.Copy before:=Sheets(1)
            Sheets(1).Select
         Next x
      End Sub 

5. Press ALT+F11 to return to Excel.



6. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. Select test and then click Run.

REFERENCES

For more information about the CodeName property, from the Visual Basic Editor, click the Office Assistant, type CodeName property, click Search, and then click to view "CodeName property."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If the Assistant is not able to answer your query, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q176476 OFF: Office Assistant Not Answering Visual Basic Questions

Additional query words: XL97 offvba vba repeat

Keywords : kberrmsg kbdta kbdtacode OffVBA KbVBA
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug