how to retain the clipboard data after changing workbooks in vba? - vba

Question

i have a program that copies a range of cells and the needs to paste the contents into a new workbook that is created in code. i can copy the data but somehow the clipboard loses its data whenever i change workbooks to the new one created. i considered copying the cells to an array and then just copying the array to the new workbook but i wont know the size of the array at coding time this varies almost every time the macro runs.
how do i then keep the data on the clipboard while i change the active workbook?
cell = "k7: l" & row
Worksheets(1).Range(cell).Select
Selection.Copy
relpath = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\" & "DispersionList.xls"
If Dir(relpath) <> "" Then
Application.Workbooks.Open (relpath)
Workbooks("DispersionList.xls").Activate
Else
Call createWorkbook
End If
Worksheets(1).Cells(7, 14).Select
Selection.PasteSpecial
End Sub
if i run through the code line by line and check the clipboard it loses its contents at the workbooks.open line

Answer 1

There are a few actions in Excel/VBA that will void the selection/clipboard, e.g. changing any window/display settings. Thus, I suspect there is some event being called when you change the worksheet/workbook.
You can either debug it and while stepping through the code figure out, when the selection is voided and avoid this statement (if possible).
Alternatively, use subStoreClipboard and subRestoreClipboard from below code in your event code. To use the code, insert it in a new module in your worksheet - and also insert a new (hidden) worksheet which is named "ws_Temp" in VBA.
Private mIntCutCopyMode As XlCutCopyMode
Private mRngClipboard As Range
Public Sub subStoreClipboard()
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Dim wsActiveSource As Worksheet, wsActiveTarget As Worksheet
Dim strClipboardRange As String
mIntCutCopyMode = Application.CutCopyMode
If Not fctBlnIsExcelClipboard Then Exit Sub
Application.EnableEvents = False
'Paste data as link
Set wsActiveTarget = ActiveSheet
Set wsActiveSource = ThisWorkbook.ActiveSheet
With ws_Temp
.Visible = xlSheetVisible
.Activate
.Cells(3, 1).Select
On Error Resume Next
.Paste Link:=True
If Err.Number Then
Err.Clear
GoTo Finalize
End If
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
End With
'Extract link from pasted formula and clear range
With Selection
strClipboardRange = Mid(.Cells(1, 1).Formula, 2)
If .Rows.Count > 1 Or .Columns.Count > 1 Then
strClipboardRange = strClipboardRange & ":" & _
Mid(.Cells(.Rows.Count, .Columns.Count).Formula, 2)
End If
Set mRngClipboard = Range(strClipboardRange)
.Clear
End With
Finalize:
wsActiveSource.Activate
wsActiveTarget.Parent.Activate
wsActiveTarget.Activate
ws_Temp.Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden
Application.EnableEvents = True
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
Err.Clear
Resume Finalize
End Sub
Public Sub subRestoreClipboard()
Select Case mIntCutCopyMode
Case 0:
Case xlCopy: mRngClipboard.Copy
Case xlCut: mRngClipboard.Cut
End Select
End Sub
Private Function fctBlnIsExcelClipboard() As Boolean
Dim var As Variant
fctBlnIsExcelClipboard = False
'check if clipboard is in use
If mIntCutCopyMode = 0 Then Exit Function
'check if Excel data is in clipboard
For Each var In Application.ClipboardFormats
If var = xlClipboardFormatCSV Then
fctBlnIsExcelClipboard = True
Exit For
End If
Next var
End Function