excel multiple on error goto - vba

Question

I am trying to get multiple on error statements to work and can't figure it out.
If pdf can be found in local then open, if not then open network location. If there is no PDF in then return msgbox.
Sub Cutsheets()
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Dim finalrow As Integer
finalrow = Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
On Error GoTo net1
If Not Application.Intersect(ActiveCell, Range("A9:A" & finalrow)) Is Nothing Then
'Local Location
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink "C:\Local" & ActiveCell & ".pdf"
Application.SendKeys "{ENTER}", True
End If
Exit Sub
net1:
If Not Application.Intersect(ActiveCell, Range("A9:A" & finalrow)) Is Nothing Then
'Network Location
On Error GoTo whoa
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink "P:\Network" & ActiveCell & ".pdf"
Application.SendKeys "{ENTER}", True
End If
Exit Sub
whoa:
MsgBox ("No cutsheet can be found for this item.")
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Also I don't remember why I put sendkeys in there but it doesn't work without it.

Answer 1

Using multiple On Error Goto XYZ handlers for control flow is over-complicating some easy validation checks you can do and then simply use the error handling for actual errors.
As #Rory pointed out in a comment you can use the Dir function. You can combine the use of Dir with an If...ElseIf...Else...End If construct to control what you code does:
Option Explicit
Sub Cutsheets()
On Error GoTo ErrHandler
Dim strLocalCheck As String
Dim strNetworkCheck As String
'check for files - Dir will return "" if file not found
strLocalCheck = Dir("C:\Local" & ActiveCell.Value & ".pdf")
strNetworkCheck = Dir("P:\Network" & ActiveCell.Value & ".pdf")
'control flow
If strLocalCheck <> "" Then
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink strLocalCheck
Application.SendKeys "{ENTER}", True
ElseIf strNetworkCheck <> "" Then
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink strNetworkCheck
Application.SendKeys "{ENTER}", True
Else
MsgBox "No cutsheet can be found for this item."
End If
Exit Sub
ErrHandler:
Debug.Print "A real error occurred: " & Err.Description
End Sub

Answer 2

I am trying to get multiple on error statements to work
Don't.
Imagine you're the VBA runtime. You're executing a procedure called Cutsheets, and you come across this instruction:
On Error GoTo net1
From that point on, before you blow up in the user's face, you're going to jump to the net1 label if you ever encounter a run-time error. So you keep running instructions. Eventually you run this line:
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink "C:\Local" & ActiveCell & ".pdf"
And when the FollowHyperlink method responds with "uh nope, can't do that" and raises a run-time error, your execution context changes.
You're in "error handling" mode.
So you jump to the net1 label. You're in "error handling" mode. There are certain things you can do in "normal execution mode" that you can't (or shouldn't) do in "error handling mode". Raising and handling more errors is one of these things.
On Error GoTo whoa
You're already handling a run-time error: what should you do when you encounter that statement in an error handler subroutine? Jump to the whoa right away?
When the VBA runtime is in "error handling mode", your job as a programmer is to handle runtime errors and do everything you can to get back to "normal execution mode" as soon as possible - and that's normally done with a Resume instruction, or by leaving the current scope.
Copying a chunk of code from the "normal execution path" and trying to run it (slightly altered) in "error handling mode" isn't handling errors and getting back to normal execution mode as soon as possible.
Error handling or not, copy-pasting chunks of code is poorly written code anyway.
Extract a procedure instead:
Private Sub OpenPortableDocumentFile(ByVal path As String)
On Error GoTo ErrHandler
ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink path
Application.SendKeys "{ENTER}", True
Exit Sub
ErrHandler:
MsgBox "Could not open file '" & path & "'."
End Sub
Now that that's out of the way, clean up your control flow by verifying if the file exists before you pass an invalid path to the OpenPortableDocumentFile procedure.
The best error handling strategy is to avoid raising run-time errors in the first place.