VBA Calling Public Sub in Worksheet Module: Crosstalk between Sheet and ThisWorkbook modules - vba

Question

I was so pleased that this works that I thought I would share it...
It allows me to have generic event handlers in the ThisWorkbook module to initiate worksheet-specific code in an anonymous ActiveSheet.
I use the CalByName function to access user-defined, Public methods in the Sheet objects.
I'm using it to re-start a timer that is killed by auto-recover saves and it works great. I've got it on two sheets.
In ThisWorkbook Module:
Private Sub Workbook_AfterSave(ByVal Success As Boolean)
Dim ws As Worksheet
Set ws = ActiveSheet
On Error GoTo afterSaveFailed
CallByName ws, "afterSave", VbMethod
If debugEvents Then Debug.Print timeStamp & ": " & "AfterSave: afterSave called in sheet: " & ws.Name
On Error GoTo 0
Exit Sub
afterSaveFailed:
If debugEvents Then Debug.Print timeStamp & ": " & "AfterSave: afterSave Failed in sheet: " & ws.Name
Err.Clear
End Sub
then in each applicable Worksheet Module:
Public Sub afterSave()
'sheet specific after save handler
End Sub

Answer 1

CallByName is a very old and well known method. :)
Also in your code
What is debugEvents You might want to use Option Explicit
Why _AfterSave and not _BeforeSave? What if afterSave() makes a change to the workbook? You will have to save again before closing.
Also instead of pasting the code in each applicable worksheet and creating duplicate code why not create a common code in a module?
Public Sub afterSave(oWs as Worksheet)
With oWs
'sheet specific after save handler
End With
End Sub
Worst Case Scenario:
Assuming that the afterSave is different for every worksheet. You could always use a Select Case. This will ensure that you have your code in one place. You don't have to hop around to check the code.
Public Sub afterSave(oWs As Worksheet)
With oWs
Select Case .Name
Case "AAA"
Case "BBB"
Case "CCC", "DDD" '<~~ If two or more worksheet have the same code
End With
End Sub

Answer 2

thanks for the comments. My responses are inserted below:
CallByName is a very old and well known method. :)
Which is why I didn't entitle the post "CallByName".
If you read the title, thats what its about. I couldn't find a solution to this on the web so I had to figure out my own method. My point is not about CallByName, its about cross-talk between the modules and using CallByName to maximum effect to achieve this, I'm not suggesting that CallByName is novel.
I guess I could achieve the same thing using RaiseEvents but I think maybe this is more straight-forward.
I was just happy coz VBA was letting me do what I wanted for a change :q
Also in your code
What is debugEvents You might want to use Option Explicit
It's a global flag to control how noisy the immediate window is. Yes I always use option explicit and do so in this case. I assume that's a given.
Why _AfterSave and not _BeforeSave? What if afterSave() makes a change to the workbook? You will have to save again before closing.
Because the stuff I'm doing needs to be done after the save has completed, not before it starts. The Autorecovery save event kills a timer that I'm running so I need to re-start it after the save.
Also instead of pasting the code in each applicable worksheet and
creating duplicate code why not create a common code in a module?
Public Sub afterSave(oWs as Worksheet)
With oWs
'sheet specific after save handler
End With End Sub
Worst Case Scenario:
Because its "sheet specific"
Assuming that the afterSave is different for every worksheet. You
could always use a Select Case. This will ensure that you have your
code in one place. You don't have to hop around to check the code.
Public Sub afterSave(oWs As Worksheet)
With oWs
Select Case .Name
Case "AAA"
Case "BBB"
Case "CCC", "DDD" '<~~ If two or more worksheet have the same code
End With End Sub
OK, I'll think about that: thanks for the suggestion :)
When I have generic features, I prefer to handle that with Class Modules. To me that's neater: I just instance the object in the sheet to expose the generic features, and as in your suggestion, I only have to check it once. I also use the Class_Initialize and Class_Terminate events to transparently manage life cycle of the generic features. I couldn't do that with generic code in the ThisWorkbook object.
Thats how I handle general functionality, for object-specific features, my preference is to collect the code that is specific to the object, in the actual object: I prefer shy objects. There's really no need to expose that detail to supervisory code. Also, if I'm working on the sheet, I don't have to skip back to a general module and I don't have to try and remember where I put the code or invent some convention, coz it's right there in sheet.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond in detail!