Knowledge Base

XL2000: Macro Code to Check Whether a File Is Already Open

Article ID: 213383

Article Last Modified on 11/23/2006

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q213383

For a Microsoft Excel 2002 version of this article, see 291295.
For a Microsoft Excel 98 and earlier version of this article, see 138621.

SUMMARY

When you use a file that is shared over a network, you may frequently find it useful to know if another user has the file open. The following Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications procedure is an example of a method for determining whether another user has a particular file open.

MORE INFORMATION

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

Sample Macro Code

If a given file is not already open, the following macro also opens it. If the file is not in the location you specified, you receive the following error message:

File not found.

To create a Visual Basic procedure to see if Book2.xls in drive C is already open, follow these steps:

Start Microsoft Excel, and then press ALT+F11 to open Visual Basic for Applications.
In Visual Basic, click Module on the Insert menu.

Type the following code in the module sheet:

Sub TestFileOpened()

    ' Test to see if the file is open.
    If IsFileOpen("c:\Book2.xls") Then
        ' Display a message stating the file in use.
        MsgBox "File already in use!"
        '
        ' Add code here to handle case where file is open by another
        ' user.
        '
    Else
        ' Display a message stating the file is not in use.
        MsgBox "File not in use!"
        ' Open the file in Microsoft Excel.
        Workbooks.Open "c:\Book2.xls"
        '
        ' Add code here to handle case where file is NOT open by another
        ' user.
        '
    End If

End Sub

' This function checks to see if a file is open or not. If the file is
' already open, it returns True. If the file is not open, it returns
' False. Otherwise, a run-time error occurs because there is
' some other problem accessing the file.

Function IsFileOpen(filename As String)
    Dim filenum As Integer, errnum As Integer

    On Error Resume Next   ' Turn error checking off.
    filenum = FreeFile()   ' Get a free file number.
    ' Attempt to open the file and lock it.
    Open filename For Input Lock Read As #filenum
    Close filenum          ' Close the file.
    errnum = Err           ' Save the error number that occurred.
    On Error GoTo 0        ' Turn error checking back on.

    ' Check to see which error occurred.
    Select Case errnum

        ' No error occurred.
        ' File is NOT already open by another user.
        Case 0
         IsFileOpen = False

        ' Error number for "Permission Denied."
        ' File is already opened by another user.
        Case 70
            IsFileOpen = True

        ' Another error occurred.
        Case Else
            Error errnum
    End Select

End Function

REFERENCES

For more information about how to use the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

212536 OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

Additional query words: XL2000

Keywords: kbdtacode kbhowto kbinfo kbprogramming KB213383

Microsoft KB Archive/213383

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