Microsoft KB Archive/138822

= How to Use the MacID Function =

Article ID: 138822

Article Last Modified on 8/19/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh

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This article was previously published under Q138822



SUMMARY
The Visual Basic for Applications MacID function is unique to the Macintosh platform and can be used when you use the Kill, Shell, Dir, and AppActivate functions. Because the Macintosh does not support wild cards, you can instead use the MacID function to specify the file type of a group of files.



MORE INFORMATION
The following macro code examples use the MacID function, as well as the equivalent Microsoft Excel for Windows code.

Note, in each of the four examples below, the argument for the MacID function should be a text string (note that this string is case sensitive). Also, you may want to rebuild your desktop if the MacID function does not work as you expect.

For more information about Rebuilding the Desktop, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

82980 Excel: Unexpected Quit Under Macintosh System 7.0.x

Kill Statement
  Macintosh          Kill MacID("TEXT") Windows           Kill "*.txt" This will delete all text files in the current directory.

Dir Function
  Macintosh          myfile = Dir("HD:MyFolder:", MacID("XLS5")) Windows           myfile = Dir("c:\mydir\*.xls") This will return the name of the first Microsoft Excel file in the specified folder to the variable "myfile." Note that in the Macintosh example, you need to follow the specified folder with a colon.

Shell Function
  Macintosh          myprog = Shell(MacID("MSWD")) Windows           myprog = Shell("C:\Msoffice\Winword\Winword.exe") This will start Microsoft Word from within your Microsoft Excel macro, and in the Windows example, assumes that Microsoft Word is in the C:\Msoffice\Winword folder. If the Shell function successfully runs the named file, it returns the task identification (ID) of the started program to the variable "myprog". The task ID is a unique number that identifies the running program.

AppActivate Statement
  Macintosh          AppActivate MacID("MSWD") Windows           AppActivate "Microsoft Word" This will activate Microsoft Word from within you Microsoft Excel macro. NOTE: In order for the AppActivate Statement to work, you must first have the application started.

