Microsoft KB Archive/177634

= XL97: Copy Method of Sheets Object Causes Invalid Page Fault =

Article ID: 177634

Article Last Modified on 11/23/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q177634



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.

If you click Details, you receive an error message similar to the following:

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

and then Excel quits.

-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
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals 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 needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

To work around this problem, try using code similar to the following to copy worksheets: 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
NOTE: This example may cause Excel to stop responding. Please use with discretion.  Start Microsoft Excel 97. Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor. On the Insert menu, click Module.  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  Press ALT+F11 to return to Excel.</li> On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. Select test and then click Run.</li></ol>

The macro will copy sheets in Excel until it stops responding.

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