XL97: How to Determine the Key Pressed Along with Mouse Button

Visual Basic for Applications in Microsoft Excel 97 incorporates many more events for activating macros. Some of the new events include MouseDown, MouseUp, KeyDown, and KeyUp. One of the Arguments returned by these particular events, Shift, denotes which Key (SHIFT, CTRL, or ALT) on your keyboard is pressed when one of the aforementioned events is triggered.

This articles provides a sample macro that shows how to use the Shift argument returned by the MouseDown event of a CommandButton.

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)

1. Save and close any open workbooks and then open a new workbook.
2. Start the Visual Basic Editor (press ALT+F11).
3. On the Insert menu, click UserForm.
4. Add a CommandButton to the UserForm.
5. Double-click the CommandButton to display the Code Module behind the UserForm.
6. Enter the following code for the MouseDown event for the CommandButton:

         Private Sub CommandButton1_MouseDown(ByVal Button As Integer, _
             ByVal Shift As Integer, ByVal X As Single, ByVal Y As Single)
   
             Select Case Shift
   
                 Case 0
                     MsgBox "No key pressed"
                 Case 1
                     MsgBox "SHIFT key pressed"
                 Case 2
                     MsgBox "CTRL key pressed"
                 Case 3
                     MsgBox "CTRL and SHIFT keys pressed"
                 Case 4
                     MsgBox "ALT key pressed"
                 Case 5
                     MsgBox "ALT and SHIFT keys pressed"
                 Case 6
                     MsgBox "CTRL and ALT keys pressed"
                 Case 7
                     MsgBox "CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT keys pressed"
   
             End Select
   
         End Sub
   						

7. Run the UserForm.
8. Click the CommandButton with any combination (or none at all) of the CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT keys pressed as you click with your mouse.
   
   A message box appears listing the buttons you pressed.
9. Close the UserForm.

The following table outlines the values of the Shift argument based on which key) are pressed when an event that returns this argument is initiated:

For more information about the MouseDown or MouseUp Events, click the Office Assistant, type MouseDown,click Search, and then click to view "MouseDown, MouseUp Events".