My Excel tool performs a long task, and I'm trying to be kind to the user by providing a progress report in the status bar, or in some cell in the sheet, as shown below. But the screen doesn't refresh, or stops refreshing at some point (e.g. 33%). The task eventually completes but the progress bar is useless.
What can I do to force a screen update?
For i=1 to imax ' imax is usually 30 or so
fractionDone=cdbl(i)/cdbl(imax)
Application.StatusBar = Format(fractionDone, "0%") & "done..."
' or, alternatively:
' statusRange.value = Format(fractionDone, "0%") & "done..."
' Some code.......
Next i
I'm using Excel 2003.
Add a DoEvents function inside the loop, see below.
You may also want to ensure that the Status bar is visible to the user and reset it when your code completes.
Sub ProgressMeter()
Dim booStatusBarState As Boolean
Dim iMax As Integer
Dim i As Integer
iMax = 10000
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
''//Turn off screen updating
booStatusBarState = Application.DisplayStatusBar
''//Get the statusbar display setting
Application.DisplayStatusBar = True
''//Make sure that the statusbar is visible
For i = 1 To iMax ''// imax is usually 30 or so
fractionDone = CDbl(i) / CDbl(iMax)
Application.StatusBar = Format(fractionDone, "0%") & " done..."
''// or, alternatively:
''// statusRange.value = Format(fractionDone, "0%") & " done..."
''// Some code.......
DoEvents
''//Yield Control
Next i
Application.DisplayStatusBar = booStatusBarState
''//Reset Status bar display setting
Application.StatusBar = False
''//Return control of the Status bar to Excel
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
''//Turn on screen updating
End Sub
Text boxes in worksheets are sometimes not updated
when their text or formatting is changed, and even
the DoEvent command does not help.
As there is no command in Excel to refresh a worksheet
in the way a user form can be refreshed, it is necessary
to use a trick to force Excel to update the screen.
The following commands seem to do the trick:
- ActiveSheet.Calculate
- ActiveWindow.SmallScroll
- Application.WindowState = Application.WindowState
Put a call to DoEvents in the loop.
This will affect performance, so you might want to only call it on each, say, 10th iteration.
However, if you only have 30, that's hardly an issue.
#Hubisans comment worked best for me.
ActiveWindow.SmallScroll down:=1
ActiveWindow.SmallScroll up:=1
Specifically, if you are dealing with a UserForm, then you might try the Repaint method. You might encounter an issue with DoEvents if you are using event triggers in your form. For instance, any keys pressed while a function is running will be sent by DoEvents The keyboard input will be processed before the screen is updated, so if you are changing cells on a spreadsheet by holding down one of the arrow keys on the keyboard, then the cell change event will keep firing before the main function finishes.
A UserForm will not be refreshed in some cases, because DoEvents will fire the events; however, Repaint will update the UserForm and the user will see the changes on the screen even when another event immediately follows the previous event.
In the UserForm code it is as simple as:
Me.Repaint
This worked for me:
ActiveWindow.SmallScroll down:=0
or more simply:
ActiveWindow.SmallScroll 0
I couldn't gain yet the survey of an inherited extensive code. And exact this problem bugged me for months. Many approches with DoEnvents were not helpful.
Above answer helped. Placeing this Sub in meaningful positions in the code worked even in combination with progress bar
Sub ForceScreenUpdate()
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
Application.Wait Now + #12:00:01 AM#
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
End Sub
This is not directly answering your question at all, but simply providing an alternative. I've found in the many long Excel calculations most of the time waiting is having Excel update values on the screen. If this is the case, you could insert the following code at the front of your sub:
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
and put this as the end
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
I've found that this often speeds up whatever code I'm working with so much that having to alert the user to the progress is unnecessary. It's just an idea for you to try, and its effectiveness is pretty dependent on your sheet and calculations.
On a UserForm two things worked for me:
I wanted a scrollbar in my form on the left. To do that, I first had to add an Arabic language to "Change administrative language" in the Language settings of Windows 10 (Settings->Time & Language->Change Administrative Language). The setting is actually for "Change the language of Non-Unicode Programs," which I changed to Arabic (Algerian). Then in the properties of the form I set the "Right to Left" property to True. From there the form still drew a partial ghost right scrollbar at first, so I also had to add an unusual timed message box:
Dim AckTime As Integer, InfoBox As Object
Set InfoBox = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
'Set the message box to close after 10 seconds
AckTime = 1
Select Case InfoBox.Popup("Please wait.", AckTime, "This is your Message Box", 0)
Case 1, -1
End Select
I tried everything to get the screen to redraw again to show the first text box in it's proper alignment in the form, instead of partially underneath or at least immediately adjacent to the scrollbar instead of 4 pixels to the right where I wanted it. Finally I got this off another Stackoverflow post (which I now can't find or I would credit it) that worked like a charm:
Me.Frame1.Visible = False
Me.Frame1.Visible = True
In my case the problem was in trying to make one shape visible and another one invisible on a worksheet.
This is my approach to "inactivating" a button [shape] once the user has clicked it. The two shapes are the same size and in the same place, but the "inactive" version has dimmer colors, which was a good approach, but it didn't work, because I could never get the screen to update after changing .visible = FALSE to = TRUE and vice versa.
None of the relevant tricks in this thread worked. But today I found a solution that worked for me, at this link on Reddit
Essentially you just call DoEvents twice in immediate succession after the code that makes the changes. Now why? I can't say, but it did work.
I've been trying to solve this Force a screen update on a Worksheet (not a userform) for many years with limited success with
doevents and scrolling etc.. This CH Oldie solutions works best with a slight mod.
I took out the Wait and reset ScreenUpdating and EnableEvents back to true.
This works office excel 2002 through to office 365
Sub Sheet1Mess(Mess1 As String)
Sheet1.Range("A6").Value = Mess1
ForceScreenUpdate
End Sub
Sub ForceScreenUpdate()
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
' Application.Wait Now + #12:00:01 AM#
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.EnableEvents = False
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub
I've created an ActiveX dropdown list and each option is linked to a bookmark for the text. Under the ActiveX controls there are the bookmarks (R1 andR2), hidden.
When I hit the btnselect button, all the other bookmarks, except the selected one, get deleted and the selected one becomes visible.
In the bookmark R2
I have a MacroButton for showing/hiding another text (CollapseMentiuniReclamant). When clicking the button it runs either Expand1 sub or Collapse1 sub, but the bookmark CollapseMentiuniReclamant doesn't show up.
I've simplified the document and codes as much as possible. Link to the document - https://wetransfer.com/downloads/1caea3c5d3b05e226e8b8f6a29760ad220190522071742/15db59.
The vba code is:
Private Sub btnselect_Click()
If ComboBox1.Value = "1" Then
Bookmarks("R1").Range.Font.Hidden = False
Bookmarks("R2").Range.Font.Hidden = False
Bookmarks("R2").Range.Delete
End If
If ComboBox1.Value = "2" Then
Bookmarks("R1").Range.Font.Hidden = False
Bookmarks("R1").Range.Delete
Bookmarks("R2").Range.Font.Hidden = False
Bookmarks("CollapseMentiuniReclamant").Range.Font.Hidden = True
End If
End Sub
Sub Expand1()
ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.BuildingBlockEntries("Collapse1").Insert _
Where:=Selection.Range
Bookmarks("CollapseMentiuniReclamant").Range.Font.Hidden = False
End Sub
Sub Collapse1()
ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.BuildingBlockEntries("Expand1").Insert _
Where:=Selection.Range
Bookmarks("CollapseMentiuniReclamant").Range.Font.Hidden = True
End Sub
Update: I've simplified the last part of code and the problem still persists:
Sub Expand1()
Bookmarks("CollapseMentiuniReclamant").Range.Font.Hidden = False
End Sub
I've even removed the button entirely and ran the macro from View Macros Tab and it's not working.
Why doesn't CollapseMentiuniReclamant show up?
It's not showing up because what you're trying to hide/unhide isn't inside the bookmarked range. In any event, you should be inserting/deleting the content, not simply toggling it's hidden property. Making something hidden is no guarantee it won't be seen or printed (even if not seen), as those settings depend on how the end user has Word configured.
I have a userform looping through a range with 2 settings; manual and automatic.
When I have an option button on my form set to manual, and click a next command button, I check the next cell in the range, change the contents of the form accordingly, then wait for the next button press.
However if I find the option button is set to automatic then instead of finishing up my code and waiting for the next button press, I have to call the next button press programmatically. That means that the previous subs each calling the next code slowly build up in the call stack, and I worry this will have some memory implications if I'm looping over a large range.
In code:
Private Sub nextItem()
Dim willShow As Boolean
returnResults 'return details from the form to the sheet
clearMemory 'clear out previous items on form
itemNo = itemNo + 1 'iterate over the range
SetupParts 'place new items on form
'do what next
Select Case displaySetting 'this variable holds the result from my option button in a custom enum "dispMode"
Case dispMode.Manual 'always show form
willShow = True
Case dispMode.SemiAutomatic 'show form based on condition
willShow = (Data.Count = 0) 'if SetupParts returns no data, display form, otherwise keep hidden
Case dispMode.Automatic 'don't show form
willShow = False
End Select 'there are actually a few more options here, but I've simplified
If willShow = False Then
If Me.Visible = True Then 'if needs to hide, and currently visible, then hide the form
Me.Hide
nextItem 'this is the problem, I call this code again, so the call stack grows
Else
'form is already hidden, do nothing
End If
ElseIf Me.Visible = False Then 'willShow must be True
Me.Show 'then wait for button click
End If
End Sub
Private Sub commandBtnNext_Click()
nextItem
End Sub
To avoid this problem, is there any way of getting nextItem to run immediately after the previous call of nextItem has run; ie. to tell a sub to run immediately after this one has finished (without introducing time delays). Or maybe this isn't an issue; if so, please explain why.
UPDATE
There is also a SemiAutomatic check to see which mode to use based on the contents of the userform. This is fine when calling recursively, but I can't see how to incorporate it into a looping approach.
I want to allow the user to make a selection, run some code, pause for another selection, run more code?
I work with documents with large number of tables that eventually convert to HTML. Sometimes the formatting on two like tables doesn't convert the same. Knowing how the converter works, I'd like to copy all of the formatting data from one table and "paste" it onto another one.
I've the idea of a userform to have the user select something, hit a copy button, select something else and hit a paste button.
The timer function allows you to do this. It may not be the best way to code, but it is the answer to your problem:
'1st code here
Start = Timer
Do While Timer < Start + 10
DoEvents
Loop
'do 2nd code here
DoEvents allows the user to select text, etc. After 10 seconds, the code resumes at "2nd code."
You can use global a global variable:
Public myVar as Variant
Sub fillmyVar()
myVar = Selection
End Sub
Sub doSth()
' use myVar and the new selected text
End Sub
Using the answer from Aaron and incorporating it with a ToggleButton in the Userform you can successfully pause the code. With this you can then work in an additional selection to change the operation.
I originally did not use Global or Public Variables but soon learnt that its easier for passing data between Subs and Userforms
Userform:
Public Sub ToggleButton1_AfterUpdate()
'Program is Paused / Selected to Pause
If ProgBar.ToggleButton1.Value = True Then
'Changing the Text of the Toggle button once the program is selected to Pause
'If program paused then button will display continue
ProgBar.ToggleButton1.Caption = "Continue"
'For Sending to Loop Code
ProgramStatus = "0"
Call LoopCode.PrgStat(ProgramStatus)
End If
'Program is running / Selected to run
If ProgBar.ToggleButton1.Value = False Then
'Changing the Text of the Toggle button once the program is selected to continue
'If program running then button will display pause
ProgBar.ToggleButton1.Caption = "Pause"
'For Sending to Loop Code
ProgramStatus = "1"
Call LoopCode.PrgStat(ProgramStatus)
End If
End Sub
In your Module
Public Status As String
Public Sub PrgStat(ByVal ProgStatus As String)
Status = ProgStatus
End Sub
Sub SomeSub()
Do While
' Some Loop Code Running
If Status = "1" Then
'Toggle Not Pressed
End If
If Status = "0" Then
'Toggle Button Pressed
Do While Status = "0"
'Program will stop here until the togglebutton on the
'userform is pressed again which changes Status = 1
'This is where you can make another selection on the
'userform
DoEvents
Loop
End If
Loop
End Sub
I have a userform that can be filled in but only if a previous userform was filled in as there are calculations in the userform based on the previous input and if those are empty, the calculations crash.
Now I did write a few if statements that check for these empty values and then had a brain flash.. how about if one of the fields is missing, the userform is just disabled. So thought, so done and it works :)
if DP1 = "" then
reportback.enable = false
else
end if
That is the form and it shows up beautifully and nothing can be changed, but Ohhh.. you can´t even close the form, nothing works .. lol.
So my question. Is there a way to disable all fields from any input but still have the cancel button active ?
Private Sub Cancel_Click()
Unload reportback
End Sub
Use below code to disable all controls on your form to avoid the issue.
UserForm1 refers to name of Userform kindly replace accordingly.
Dim ctrl As Control
For Each ctrl In UserForm1.Controls
ctrl.Enabled = False
Next
Set ctrl = Nothing