"Invalid Procedure Call" with SendKeys Statement (112864)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 5.0
This article was previously published under Q112864

SUMMARY

The error message "Run Time Error '5': Invalid Procedure Call" may be generated when you use the SendKeys statement in a Visual Basic procedure to send multiple spaces.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use the Application.SendKeys statement in place of the SendKey statement, as demonstrated below: 
Sub SendKeysTest()
    Application.SendKeys "{  20}" 'There are 20 spaces before the
    number 20
End Sub
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MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

The SendKeys statement in Visual Basic, Applications Edition, sends one or more key commands to the active window as if the they were typed at the keyboard. To specify repeating keys in the SendKeys statement, the syntax used is "{key number}" (without the quotation marks). A space must be placed between key and number. For example, {LEFT 42} means press the LEFT ARROW key 42 times and {h 10} means press h 10 times.

The following example should send 20 spaces to the active window: 
Sub SendKeysTest()
    SendKeys "{  20}" 'There are two spaces before the number 20
End Sub
However, if you run this procedure, your receive the error message
Run Time Error '5': Invalid Procedure Call.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/10/2006
Keywords:kbProgramming KB112864
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