Why is the workbook protected upon Workbook_Open Event? - vba

Question

I adapted some code found here http://www.vbaexpress.com/kb/getarticle.php?kb_id=379 for a neat solution that forces users to enable macros. This method is a really good way of getting around this problem. However, my additional requirements are: one particular user needs a more sensitive version of 2 sheets within the workbook. Depending on the answer to a MsgBox an InputBox requires password verification and then shows the sensitive versions of these sheets.
I believe the answer lies in how the workbook is saved and then how all sheets are unhidden upon re-opening the workbook (since two of the sheets are effectively password locked) but somehow now when I open this workbook the password used for unhiding the two sensitive versions of the sheets is required to open the workbook.
So I changed the password required for verification of the said sheets but the Original password is still required to open the workbook:
Any assistance in diagnosing this problem would be a help: Creating a spread-sheet and testing the code on your system shouldn't be too difficult and a good place to start!
Option Explicit
Const WelcomePage = "Macros"
Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
'Turn off events to prevent unwanted loops
Application.EnableEvents = False
'Evaluate if workbook is saved and emulate default propmts
With ThisWorkbook
If Not .Saved Then
Select Case MsgBox("Do you want to save the changes you made to '" & .Name & "'?", _
vbYesNoCancel + vbExclamation)
Case Is = vbYes
'Call customized save routine
Call CustomSave
Case Is = vbNo
'Do not save
Case Is = vbCancel
'Set up procedure to cancel close
Cancel = True
End Select
End If
'If Cancel was clicked, turn events back on and cancel close,
'otherwise close the workbook without saving further changes
If Not Cancel = True Then
.Saved = True
Application.EnableEvents = True
.Close savechanges:=False
Else
Application.EnableEvents = True
End If
End With
End Sub
Private Sub Workbook_BeforeSave(ByVal SaveAsUI As Boolean, Cancel As Boolean)
'Turn off events to prevent unwanted loops
Application.EnableEvents = False
'Call customized save routine and set workbook's saved property to true
'(To cancel regular saving)
Call CustomSave(SaveAsUI)
Cancel = True
'Turn events back on an set saved property to true
Application.EnableEvents = True
ThisWorkbook.Saved = True
End Sub
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
'Unhide all worksheets
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Call ShowAllSheets
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Dim msg1, msg2, Pwd As String
Pwd = "5555"
Do
msg1 = MsgBox("Are you the Master User?", vbYesNo)
Loop Until msg1 = vbNo Or msg1 = vbYes
If msg1 = vbNo Then
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 1").Visible = xlVeryHidden
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 2").Visible = xlVeryHidden
ThisWorkbook.Unprotect Password:=Pwd
ElseIf msg1 = vbYes Then
Do
msg2 = InputBox("Please Enter the Password", "Password Checker", vbOKOnly)
Loop Until msg2 = Pwd
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 1").Visible = True
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 2").Visible = True
Worksheets("Standard Sheet 1").Visible = xlVeryHidden
Worksheets("Standard Sheet 2").Visible = xlVeryHidden
End If
End Sub
Private Sub CustomSave(Optional SaveAs As Boolean)
Dim WS As Worksheet, aWs As Worksheet, newFname As String
'Turn off screen flashing
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
'Record active worksheet
Set aWs = ActiveSheet
'Hide all sheets
Call HideAllSheets
'Save workbook directly or prompt for saveas filename
If SaveAs = True Then
newFname = Application.GetSaveAsFilename( _
fileFilter:="Macro Enabled Excel Files (*.xlsm), *.xlsm")
If Not newFname = "False" Then ThisWorkbook.SaveAs newFname
Else
ThisWorkbook.Save
End If
'Restore file to where user was
Call ShowAllSheets
aWs.Activate
'Restore screen updates
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Private Sub HideAllSheets()
'Hide all worksheets except the macro welcome page
Dim WS As Worksheet
Worksheets(WelcomePage).Visible = xlSheetVisible
For Each WS In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
If Not WS.Name = WelcomePage Then WS.Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden
Next WS
Worksheets(WelcomePage).Activate
End Sub
Private Sub ShowAllSheets()
'Show all worksheets except the macro welcome page
Dim WS As Worksheet
For Each WS In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
If WS.Name <> "Sensitive Sheet 1" And WS.Name <> "Sensitive Sheet 2" Then
If Not WS.Name = WelcomePage Then WS.Visible = xlSheetVisible
End If
Next WS
Worksheets(WelcomePage).Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden
End Sub

Answer 1

You don't need to protect the whole workbook to hide the sheets. xlVeryHidden will hide the sheet and prevent it from being shown on the Hide/Unhide list.
First, unprotect the workbook. You can do this by the Review tab, and then clicking on the Protect Workbook and clear any protection you have checked. I'd also click on the Protect Sheet button for each sheet and clear any protection set there.
Then, modify your Workbook_Open subroutine to do something like this:
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Dim msg1, msg2, Pwd As String
Pwd = "5555"
Do
msg1 = MsgBox("Are you the Master User?", vbYesNo)
Loop Until msg1 = vbNo Or msg1 = vbYes
If msg1 = vbNo Then
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 1").Visible = xlVeryHidden
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 2").Visible = xlVeryHidden
ElseIf msg1 = vbYes Then
Do
msg2 = InputBox("Please Enter the Password", "Password Checker", vbOKOnly)
Loop Until msg2 = Pwd
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 1").Visible = True
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 2").Visible = True
Worksheets("Standard Sheet 1").Visible = xlVeryHidden
Worksheets("Standard Sheet 2").Visible = xlVeryHidden
End If
End Sub
Basically, the workbook is unprotected when opened. If the user is not the special user, then it hides the two special sheets. If they are the special user, then it hides the two special sheets and they can't be unhidden.
Additional Suggestion
You'll run into a problem with the sheet visibility when the user saves - if it's the special user, once the save is complete they won't be able to see the sensitive sheets, because your ShowAllSheets subroutine will hide them.
To get around this, set a global variable to record whether the user is the special user or not, and use that to determine what sheets to show in ShowAllSheets, like this:
Option Explicit
Public IsMasterUser As String
Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Dim msg1, msg2, Pwd As String
Pwd = "5555"
IsMasterUser = "N"
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Call ShowAllSheets
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Do
msg1 = MsgBox("Are you the Master User?", vbYesNo)
Loop Until msg1 = vbNo Or msg1 = vbYes
If msg1 = vbNo Then
IsMasterUser = "N"
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 1").Visible = xlVeryHidden
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 2").Visible = xlVeryHidden
ElseIf msg1 = vbYes Then
Do
msg2 = InputBox("Please Enter the Password", "Password Checker", vbOKOnly)
Loop Until msg2 = Pwd
IsMasterUser = "Y"
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 1").Visible = True
Worksheets("Sensitive Sheet 2").Visible = True
Worksheets("Standard Sheet 1").Visible = xlVeryHidden
Worksheets("Standard Sheet 2").Visible = xlVeryHidden
End If
End Sub
Private Sub ShowAllSheets()
'Show all worksheets except the macro welcome page
Dim WS As Worksheet
For Each WS In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
If Not WS.Name = WelcomePage Then
If IsMasterUser = "N" _
And WS.Name <> "Sensitive Sheet 1" _
And WS.Name <> "Sensitive Sheet 2" Then
WS.Visible = xlSheetVisible
ElseIf IsMasterUser = "Y" _
And WS.Name <> "Standard Sheet 1" _
And WS.Name <> "Standard Sheet 2" Then
WS.Visible = True
End If
End If
Next WS
Worksheets(WelcomePage).Visible = xlSheetVeryHidden
End Sub
This code will set a flag (IsMasterUser) depending on the selection in Workbook_Open. Then when ShowAllSheets is called, it will determine whether to show the standard sheets or the special sheets based on IsMasterUser. Note that IsMasterUser is defaulted to "N" when its declared.
EDIT
A couple of minor problems with the code above. First, the global variable needs to be declared as Public IsMasterUser As String, and secondly it needs to be set to a value inside a function, so I set it to "N" at the start of the Workbook_Open subroutine.
I tested the posted code (the second set), along with the unaltered code from the original post in a Excel 2010 workbook with 6 sheets - Macros, User, Standard Sheet 1, Standard Sheet 2, Sensitive Sheet 1 and Sensitive Sheet 2, and it worked just fine.