Microsoft KB Archive/125897

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

XL: Patterns Not Displayed in Drop-Down Patterns List
Last reviewed: September 13, 1996

Article ID: Q125897

The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
 * Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
 * Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
 * Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version 5.0, 5.0a
 * Microsoft Excel for the Power Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel, if the Patterns dialog box is called by a Visual Basic, Applications Edition, macro or by an Excel 4.0 Macro, the drop-down list may display a white area instead of patterns. In Microsoft Excel for Windows or in Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, if you click the white area, you may receive a general protection (GP) fault or an invalid page error.

CAUSE
This problem occurs if screen updating is disabled before you call the Patterns dialog box. For example, this problem occurs with the following subroutine:

Sub Display_Patterns Application.ScreenUpdating=False Application.Dialogs(xlDialogPatterns).Show End Sub The problem will also occur with the following Excel 4.0 Macro:

Display_Patterns =ECHO(False) =PATTERNS? =RETURN

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, use the appropriate command below to enable screen updating before you call the Patterns dialog box.

  In Visual Basic for Applications, set ScreenUpdating to TRUE: Application.ScreenUpdating = TRUE   In the Microsoft Excel 4.0 Macro language, set the ECHO function to TRUE: =ECHO(TRUE) 

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.