XL2000: Problems When You Use Macro to Add Control to UserForm

In Microsoft Excel, you may have difficulty adding a control to a user form programmatically. For example, if you run the following macro code you do not receive an error, but the check box control is not added to the user form:

This macro does not add the control to the user form because this syntax for the Add method only applies during run time. That means you have to include this macro code in an event procedure tied to the user form.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers 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 requirements. If you want use the macro described in the "Symptoms" section to add a check box control to a user form during run time:

1. Open a new workbook.
2. Press ALT+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor, and click UserForm on the Insert menu.
3. With the user form active, click Code on the View menu.
4. In the UserForm1(Code) window, click Initialize in the Procedure list.
   
   The insertion point is now blinking in the middle of a UserForm_Initialize() subroutine.
5. Add code to this subroutine so it resembles the following:

   Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
       Set y = UserForm1.Controls.Add("Forms.CheckBox.1","MyControl",True)
   End Sub
   					

To verify that the check box control called MyControl was added during run time, add on another event procedure to the user form you inserted in step 2. To do this:

1. In the UserForm1(Code) window, click AddControl in the Procedure list.
2. Add code to this subroutine so it resembles the following:

   Private Sub UserForm_AddControl(ByVal Control As MSForms.Control)
       UserForm1.Controls(CheckBox1).Caption = "test"
   End Sub
   					

3. To activate the user form, click the user form window.
4. Press F5 to run the user form.

The user form appears in run time with a single check box displayed (the caption on this check box is "test", without quotation marks).

NOTE: When you dismiss the user form, the check box does not remain on the user form.

To programmatically add a control to a user form so that it becomes part of the user form, you must add it during design time. To do this:

1. Working with the same project from before, click Module on the Insert menu, to add a module sheet to the project.
2. In the new module sheet, type the following code:

         Sub Design_time_control()
   
             Set x = Application.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents. _
                 Item("UserForm1").Designer. _
                 Controls.Add("Forms.CheckBox.1", "MyCheckbox", True)
   
             x.Caption = "test"
   
         End Sub
   					

3. Place the insertion point somewhere within the code you typed in step 2.
4. Press F5 to run the macro.

Your user form has a check box added to it and the caption on the check box is "test", without quotation marks.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

For more information about adding controls to a user form, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type Adding Controls to a User Form in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.