XL97: Copy Method of Sheets Object Causes Invalid Page Fault

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you programmatically add sheets to a workbook, you may receive one of the following error messages:

Windows 95

If you click Details, you receive an error message similar to the following:

Windows NT

and then Excel quits.

This problem may occur when you use a looping statement to copy a worksheet over and over. For an example of this problem, please see the "More Information" section of this article.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:

Microsoft Certified Partners - https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104 (https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104)

Microsoft Advisory Services - http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice (http://support.microsoft.com/gp/advisoryservice)

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;cntactms) To work around this problem, try using code similar to the following to copy worksheets:

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Excel 97. This problem no longer occurs in Microsoft Excel 2000.

This problem occurs because each time you copy the same sheet a codename is assigned to the copy, and each time the sheet is copied, that codename becomes longer. For example, if you copy sheet1 once, the codename assigned to the sheet is sheet11. When you copy the sheet again, it is assigned sheet111, and so on. The codename has a maximum number of about 35 characters. When this limit is reached, Excel stops responding.

Example of the problem

NOTE: This example may cause Excel to stop responding. Please use with discretion.

1. Start Microsoft Excel 97.
2. Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor.
3. On the Insert menu, click Module.
4. Type the following into the new module sheet:

         Sub test()
            For x = 1 To 300
               ActiveSheet.Copy before:=Sheets(1)
               Sheets(1).Select
            Next x
         End Sub
   					

5. Press ALT+F11 to return to Excel.
6. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros. Select test and then click Run.

The macro will copy sheets in Excel until it stops responding.

For more information about the CodeName property, from the Visual Basic Editor, click the Office Assistant, type codename property, click Search, and then click to view "CodeName property."