Microsoft KB Archive/181889

= BUG: VB Hangs While Automating Excel Using OLE Control =

Article ID: 181889

Article Last Modified on 1/22/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Office 2000 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q181889



SYMPTOMS
Your application hangs while automating Microsoft Excel 97 or later via the OLE control.



CAUSE
This problem occurs while automating an Excel object that is using in-place activation in an OLE control. The problem does not occur with all methods or properties. This problem has been reported with the following method/properties in the Microsoft Excel object library:

PrintOut

Delete

Dialog.Show



RESOLUTION
A workaround is to not activate the object while running the automation code. However, if you need to activate the object, do so in a separate window instead of using in-place activation. For example, this line activates the object in a separate window: OLE1.DoVerb vbOLEOpen Another workaround is to deactivate the object before calling the automation code that causes Visual Basic to hang. For example, the PrintOut and Delete methods cause this problem to occur. Before using these methods, you can deactivate the object prior to calling the method, then optionally reactivate the object after calling the method. See the MORE INFORMATION section later in this article for an example.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.



Steps to Reproduce Behavior
 Start a new Standard EXE project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default. On the Project menu, click References, and then select the Microsoft Excel 8.0 object library. For Excel 2000, select the version 9.0 object library. Place an OLE control on Form1 and create a new Microsoft Excel worksheet. The OLE control properties should be:

 Place a CommandButton on Form1.  Copy the following code to the Code Window of Form1: Private Sub Command1_Click Dim xlBook As Excel.Workbook Set xlBook = OLE1.object OLE1.DoVerb vbOLEShow 'or OLE1.DoVerb vbOLEUIActivate xlBook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Value = "Hello" xlBook.Worksheets("Sheet1").PrintOut Set xlBook = Nothing End Sub </li> On the Run menu, click Start, or press the F5 key to start the program.</li> Click the CommandButton. Visual Basic hangs after it encounters the PrintOut method. The object will be correctly printed, but Visual Basic stops responding. You must select End Task in the task list (by pressing the CTRL+ALT+DEL keys) to end the Visual Basic project and Excel. Repeat until both Excel and the Visual Basic project are removed from the task list.</li>  Repeat the steps again with the code modified as follows: Private Sub Command1_Click Dim xlBook As Excel.Workbook Set xlBook = OLE1.object OLE1.DoVerb vbOLEShow 'or OLE1.DoVerb vbOLEUIActivate xlBook.Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Value = "Hello" Command1.SetFocus 'causes deactivation of object xlBook.Worksheets("Sheet1").PrintOut OLE1.DoVerb vbOLEShow 'optional: reactivates object Set xlBook = Nothing End Sub The problem is avoided by deactivating the object before calling the PrintOut method. Setting focus to any control on the form will deactivate the OLE control object. </li></ol>

Additional query words: locks freezes crashes

Keywords: kbbug kbctrl kbpending KB181889

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.