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WD2000: How to Programmatically Create UserForms in Visual Basic for Applications

Article ID: 204330 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q204330

SUMMARY

The following Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) procedures allow you to create and manipulate a UserForm through VBA code. This article illustrates how to use code to add a text box, a check box, and a command button to a form.

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MORE INFORMATION

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:

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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

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VBA Objects

The following sample code creates a UserForm, changes its properties, and adds controls to it.

For these VBA objects to work, you must reference the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extensibility library. To load the library into the current VBA project, follow these steps:

Press ALT+F11 to start the Visual Basic Editor.
On the Tools menu, click References.
Click to select the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extensibility check box under Available References, and then click OK.

The VBA object model in Microsoft Office 2000 provides the objects and methods for accessing the Visual Basic Editor projects and their elements. The top object for accessing VBA objects is the VBE object, which can be accessed through the Application object. The VBE object, in turn, contains a collection of VBProject objects.

The VBProject object, in turn, contains the VBComponents collection. Dialog boxes, also called UserForms, are represented as UserForm objects. UserForm objects and code modules are elements of the VBComponents collection.

In Microsoft Word for Windows 2000, each document, as well as every template, can contain its own VBProject object. In the Word documents, the VBProject object is located underneath the Document object.

VBE Projects and Components

The following sample code displays a message box for each of the components in the active project. Each message box displays the name of the component.

Sub VbeCompName()
   X = VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents.Count
   For I = 1 To X
      Msgbox VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents(I).Name
   Next I
End Sub

Use one of the following subprocedures to display a message box with the total number of components in the active project.

Sub VbeCompName()
   MsgBox Application.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents.Count
End Sub

-or-

Sub VbeCompName()
    MsgBox ActiveDocument.VBProject.VBComponents.Count
End Sub

(In Microsoft Excel, replace ActiveDocument with ActiveWorkbook; in Microsoft PowerPoint, substitute ActivePresentation.)

Creating a New UserForm

The following sample code creates a new UserForm and assigns the variable MyNewForm to it. You can now use this new VBComponent object to manipulate the User Form.

Sub BuildMyForm()
   Set MyNewForm = _
      VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents.Add(ComponentType:=vbext_ct_MSForm)
End Sub

Changing the Name and Other Properties of a UserForm

The following sample code creates a new UserForm and then changes the name, caption (text shown in the title bar), height, and width of the newly created dialog box.

Sub BuildMyForm()
   Set mynewform = _
      ActiveDocument.VBProject.VBComponents.Add(vbext_ct_MSForm)
      With mynewform
         .Properties("Height") = 246
         .Properties("Width") = 616
         .Name = "HelloWord"
         .Properties("Caption") = "This is a test"
      End With
End Sub

Adding Controls to the UserForm

The following sample code adds a check box control to a newly created UserForm and sets the name, caption, position, and size of the control. To add a control to a UserForm, you must first access the Designer Property object of the corresponding VBComponent object. The Designer object (in this case, the ToolBox controls) is the object that permits manipulation and access to the controls' properties.

Sub BuildMyForm()
   Set mynewform = _
      ActiveDocument.VBProject.VBComponents.Add(vbext_ct_MSForm)
      Set myCheckBox = mynewform.Designer.Controls.Add("Forms.CheckBox.1")
      With myCheckBox
         .Name = "Check1"
         .Caption = "Check here"
         .Left = 10
         .Top = 10
         .Height = 20
         .Width = 60
      End With
End Sub

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