VBA Grey Checkboxes - vba

Question

I would like to grey out my checkboxes in Excel VBA. When using Checkbox.Enabled = False, the checkbox is not editable, but it is also not grey. How do I get the greyed out effect?
Using form controls with Excel 2010. Inserted via developer tab directly into excel worksheet. Not used in a VBA userform.
Thanks!

Answer 1

Whenever anyone says "it is impossible", it hits my stubborn streak. So may I present to you: "The Impossible".
"Visible" and enabled checkbox:
"Disabled" checkbox (you can tweak the degree of visibility by changing values in the code for both color and transparency of the cover shape):
Basic idea: you place a semi transparent shape over the checkbox, and assign a dummy macro to it. Now you can't change the value of the checkbox. The "toggle" button is there to change the state - either place the shapes, or remove them. It uses a global variable to track the current state.
Finally - note that you can't use For Each when you delete (or add) shapes as you should not modify the collection you are iterating over. I circumvented that with a simple "count shapes, then iterate backwards by numerical index".
Is it a hack? You bet! Does it do what you asked? Yes!
Dim checkBoxesVisible As Boolean
Option Explicit
Sub toggleIt()
' macro assigned to "Toggle visibility" button
checkBoxesVisible = Not checkBoxesVisible
toggleCheckboxes checkBoxesVisible
End Sub
Sub grayOut(cb)
' put a "cover" shape over a checkbox
' change the color and transparency to adjust the appearance
Dim cover As Shape
Set cover = ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeRectangle, cb.Left, cb.Top, cb.Width, cb.Height)
With cover
.Line.Visible = msoFalse
With .Fill
.Visible = msoTrue
.ForeColor.RGB = RGB(255, 255, 255)
.Transparency = 0.4
.Solid
End With
End With
cover.Name = "cover"
cover.OnAction = "doNothing"
End Sub
Sub doNothing()
' dummy macro to assign to cover shapes
End Sub
Sub unGray(cb)
' find the cover shape for the checkbox passed as the argument
' and delete it
' "correct shape" has the name "cover" and is properly aligned with top left
Dim sh As Shape
For Each sh In ActiveSheet.Shapes
If sh.Name = "cover" And sh.Left = cb.Left And sh.Top = cb.Top Then
sh.Delete
Exit For
End If
Next sh
End Sub
Sub toggleCheckboxes(onOff)
Dim s As Shape
Dim n As Integer, ii As Integer
n = ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count
' loop backwards over shapes: if you do a "For Each" you get in trouble
' when you delete things!
For ii = n To 1 Step -1
Set s = ActiveSheet.Shapes(ii)
If s.Type = msoFormControl Then
If s.FormControlType = xlCheckBox Then
If onOff Then
unGray s
Else
grayOut s
End If
End If
End If
Next ii
End Sub

Answer 2

A slight hack - but the following does work. I created a simple userform with two controls - a regular checkbox (CheckBox1), and a button I called "DisableButton" with the following code:
Private Sub DisableButton_Click()
CheckBox1.Enabled = Not (CheckBox1.Enabled)
If CheckBox1.Enabled Then
CheckBox1.ForeColor = RGB(0, 0, 0)
Else
CheckBox1.ForeColor = RGB(128, 128, 128)
End If
End Sub
When I clicked the button, the checkbox was grayed out and unavailable. Clicking it again "brought it back to life". I think this is the effect you were looking for. If it's not - that's what comments are for.
Here is what it looks like:

Answer 3

I am afraid it is impossible what you are trying to do within a worksheet. You can refer to the Floris' answer if you are using an UserForm.
For more details on the properties of (Form/worksheet) check boxes see MSDN

Answer 4

Maybe this is what you want.
Private Sub CheckBox1_Click()
If CheckBox1.Value = True Then
CheckBox2.Value = False
CheckBox2.Enabled = False
CheckBox2.ForeColor = rgbBlue
Else
CheckBox2.Visible = True
CheckBox2.ForeColor = rgbAntiqueWhite
CheckBox2.Enabled = True
End If
Code tels that when checkbox1 is checked, checkbox2 is disabled; unchecked and the forecollor changes. the colors can be what you want.
Did this with the checkboxes directly in the excel worksheet.

Answer 5

Based on Floris' idea.
The code assumes all the controls are on ActiveSheet and they are called CheckBox1 and CheckBox2, if not, change it accordingly.
You can call this when you click on CheckBox1 or you can call it from another sub, with an optional ticked status (True/False) to check or uncheck CheckBox1.
Draw an object on top of CheckBox2 and name it "mask" (you can name it anything else but then you have to change the code accordingly)
Give mask the same fill color as your background color and opacity of around 50%.
Public Sub CheckBox1_Click(Optional ticked As Variant)
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
ActiveSheet.Unprotect
If Not IsMissing(ticked) Then
If ticked = True Then ActiveSheet.Shapes("CheckBox1").OLEFormat.Object.Value = 1 Else ActiveSheet.Shapes("CheckBox1").OLEFormat.Object.Value = -4146
End If
If ActiveSheet.Shapes("CheckBox1").OLEFormat.Object.Value > 0 Then
ActiveSheet.Shapes("mask").OLEFormat.Object.ShapeRange.ZOrder msoSendToBack
Else
ActiveSheet.Shapes("mask").OLEFormat.Object.ShapeRange.ZOrder msoBringToFront
End If
ActiveSheet.Protect DrawingObjects:=True, Contents:=True, Scenarios:=True
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Now each time you tick CheckBox1, mask comes to front to hide CheckBox2 and when you untick it, mask goes to back to unhide it. Since it is opaque, it gives you the greyed out effect and you don't even have to worry about enable/disable either.
Worksheet should be protected so that user can't accidentally move or edit mask, but should be unprotected for SendToBack/BringToFront to work, so the code does that. Please check the protection settings at the Application.Protect part.