XL2000: Cannot Enable or Disable Built-in Commands with a Macro (213767)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 2000

This article was previously published under Q213767

SYMPTOMS

When you run a macro that attempts to set the Enabled property for a built-in menu command or a submenu command, you receive following error message:
Run-time error '1004':
Application-defined or object-defined error.

CAUSE

In Microsoft Excel, you cannot enable or disable built-in menu commands and submenu commands. You can only set the Enabled property for a menu command that you add to a menu.

RESOLUTION

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Simulating Disabling a Built-in Menu Command

You cannot enable or disable a built-in menu command. However, you can create a macro that gives a built-in menu command the appearance of being disabled.

The sample macro in this article makes the built-in Exit command on the File menu appear disabled. This macro performs the following steps:
  1. The built-in menu command location is saved.
  2. The built-in menu command is deleted.
  3. A custom menu command with the same caption and index is added to the menu.
  4. The custom menu command is disabled.

Sample Macro

Sub Disable_Builtin_MenuItem()
   Dim i
   Dim x
      With MenuBars(xlWorksheet).Menus("File").MenuItems("Exit")
      i = .Index     'Save the position of the built-in menu command.
      .Delete        'Delete the built-in menu command.
   End With
   'Add a custom menu command with the same caption and index as the
   'built-in menu command that you deleted.
   Set x = MenuBars(xlWorksheet).Menus("File").MenuItems.Add _
      (Caption:="Exit", before:=i)
   x.Enabled = False
End Sub
				

Resetting the Menu That Is Changed by the Sample Macro

To reset the entire menu to the default values, run the following macro:
Sub ResetMenubar()
   MenuBars(xlWorksheet).Reset
End Sub
				
NOTE: There is not a way to reset a single menu or menu command.

REFERENCES

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic forApplications, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

226118 OFF2000: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications


Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/11/2006
Keywords:kbdtacode kberrmsg kbprb kbProgramming kbui KB213767