Microsoft KB Archive/163497

= XL97: Cannot Stop Macro After Switching to Other Program =

Article ID: 163497

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q163497



SYMPTOMS
When you run a Visual Basic for Applications macro in Microsoft Excel, the following problems may occur:
 * You cannot stop the execution of the macro by pressing ESC or CTRL+BREAK.

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 * The screen in Microsoft Excel 97 is not updated until the macro is finished running. As a result, Microsoft Excel 97 appears to stop responding.



CAUSE
This problem may occur when the following conditions are true:
 * The Visual Basic macro requires a long time to finish running. This may be true if your macro contains loops that iterate many times.

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 * While the macro is running, you switch to any other program, such as Microsoft Notepad or Microsoft Word 97.

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 * You then attempt to switch back to Microsoft Excel 97.



WORKAROUND
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. To work around this problem, wait for the macro to finish running. After the macro is finished, Microsoft Excel 97 updates the screen. If you wait for a long time and the macro does not finish running, it may be necessary to end the instance of Microsoft Excel 97 by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Although it is not possible to prevent this problem from ever occurring, you can lessen its affects by adding MsgBox commands to the Visual Basic macro. For example, assume you are running the following Visual Basic macro: Sub Test For X = 1 To 4000 ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 1).Value = X      Next X       For Y = 1 To 4000 ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 2).Value = Y      Next Y       For Z = 1 To 4000 ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 3).Value = Z      Next Z   End Sub When you run this macro, switch to another program, and then switch back to Microsoft Excel 97, you may not be able to halt the macro by pressing ESC. Also, the screen may not be updated properly until the macro is finished. However, you can add message boxes that allow the screen to be updated. For example, type the following subroutine: Sub Test For X = 1 To 4000 ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 1).Value = X      Next X       MsgBox "Stage one complete!" 'new line of code For Y = 1 To 4000 ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 2).Value = Y      Next Y       MsgBox "Stage two complete!" 'new line of code For Z = 1 To 4000 ThisWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 3).Value = Z      Next Z       MsgBox "Stage three complete!" 'new line of code End Sub When each loop is completed, the macro displays a message box. When you click OK, the screen is updated properly, and you can halt the macro by pressing ESC.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Excel 2000.



MORE INFORMATION
This problem occurs even if the Visual Basic macro contains one of the following lines of code: Application.EnableCancelKey = xlInterrupt

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Application.EnableCancelKey = xlErrorHandler

Additional query words: 97 XL97 vba hang hangs hanging hung lock up locks locking locked lockup freeze freezes freezing froze frozen stop stopping stopped won't respond waiting

Keywords: kbbug kbdtacode kbpending kbprogramming KB163497

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