Workbook_Activate not triggered by Alt+Tab

  • Thread starter Thread starter Antoun
  • Start date Start date
A

Antoun

Hello,

I'm using VBA with Excel 2000 (9.0.3821 SR-1) on Windows 2000 (5.0 2195
SP4). The events Workbook_Activate, Sheet_Activate and
WorkbookWindow_Activate are not triggered when arriving on my Workbook by
Alt+Tab.

Has someone ever encountered this problem ? Is there any solution (service
pack, any means of detecting or forbidding Alt+Tab) ?

Thanks in advance for any hint !

Antoun
 
These events fire when you're moving from one location in that excel instance to
another--not when you're swapping between applications.

I think most don't see this as a problem.
 
Dave Peterson said:
These events fire when you're moving from one location in that excel instance to
another--not when you're swapping between applications.
Click to expand...

they do fire when I swap from one Excel file to another... except if I do it
with Alt+Tab.
I think most don't see this as a problem.
Click to expand...

I would not if it was between applications. But between Excel files it's a
big problem for me.
 
The workbook_activate events fired for me when I used alt-tab--if those
workbooks were in the same instance of excel.

The sheet_activate events fire when I change sheets in the same workbook--not
swap workbooks.

I used xl2003 and windowsXP home.
 
Dave said:
The workbook_activate events fired for me when I used alt-tab--if those
workbooks were in the same instance of excel.
(...)
I used xl2003 and windowsXP home.
Click to expand...

I'm quite happy for you... alas, my customer uses XL 2000 and Windows 2000.
 
The behavior Dave described for Excel 2003 is the same in 2000. Within a
single instance of Excel you have to use the Workbook_Activate event to trap
arriving at a worksheet from another workbook. And Worksheet_Activate to
trap arriving at a worksheet from another worksheet in the same workbook.

From another application or another instance of Excel, no Excel event fires.
I remember wishing for that once upon a time, maybe to clear the clipboard
but I'm not sure.

--
Jim
| Dave Peterson wrote:
| > The workbook_activate events fired for me when I used alt-tab--if those
| > workbooks were in the same instance of excel.
| > (...)
| > I used xl2003 and windowsXP home.
|
| I'm quite happy for you... alas, my customer uses XL 2000 and Windows
2000.
 
Jim said:
The behavior Dave described for Excel 2003 is the same in 2000. Within a
single instance of Excel you have to use the Workbook_Activate event to trap
arriving at a worksheet from another workbook.
Click to expand...

I can guarantee you it doesn't fire when using Alt+Tab (at least with XL
2000 / Win 2000). It works normally when using Ctrl+F6, the task bar,
the Window menu, etc.
 
Antoun,

Just to clarify - are you talking about a single instance of Excel, or multiple instances? Your use of alt+Tab suggests multiple
instances.

Tim
 
Using ctrl-f6 and the window menu indicate that Antoun is using
tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar.

Unchecking that option would fix the problem--since alt-tab wouldn't stop on
other workbooks open in the same instance. I'm guessing that Antoun won't want
to do that.
 
Tim said:
Antoun,

Just to clarify - are you talking about a single instance of Excel, or multiple instances? Your use of alt+Tab suggests multiple
instances.

Tim
Click to expand...
A single instance.
 
Dave said:
Using ctrl-f6 and the window menu indicate that Antoun is using
tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar.

Unchecking that option would fix the problem--since alt-tab wouldn't stop on
other workbooks open in the same instance. I'm guessing that Antoun won't want
to do that.
Click to expand...

Why not ? I'm desperately looking for any means to prevent my users from
crashing my pretty user interface (which works very well as long as
there is no user putting his dirty fingers on it ;-)).


It seems interesting... I'll test it today.
 
Just tested:
With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> Checked:
XL2000:
Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does not fire
Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire

XL2002:
Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does fire
Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire

With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> UnChecked:
XL2000 + XL2002:
Alt+Tab: Not applicable
Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire

NickHK
 
Just tested:

Oddly enough it does for me. Excel 2000 (9.0.6926 SP-3).


--
Jim
| Just tested:
| With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> Checked:
| XL2000:
| Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does not fire
| Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
|
| XL2002:
| Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does fire
| Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
|
| With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> UnChecked:
| XL2000 + XL2002:
| Alt+Tab: Not applicable
| Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
|
| NickHK
 
I just figured that you wouldn't want to make a change to the user's
environment--especially one that they could change back as soon as they noticed
it.

But maybe you want to take that chance.
 
HTML???

What the heck happened?

Oddly enough it does for me. Excel 2000 (9.0.6926 SP-3).


--
Jim
| Just tested:
| With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> Checked:
| XL2000:
| Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does not fire
| Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
|
| XL2002:
| Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does fire
| Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
|
| With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> UnChecked:
| XL2000 + XL2002:
| Alt+Tab: Not applicable
| Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
|
| NickHK
Click to expand...
 
Won't happen again!<g>

--
Jim
| HTML???
|
| What the heck happened?
|
| <vbg>
|
| > Jim Rech wrote:
| >
| > >>Just tested:
| > >>With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> Checked:
| > >> XL2000:
| > >> Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does not fire
| >
| >
| > Oddly enough it does for me. Excel 2000 (9.0.6926 SP-3).
| >
| >
| > --
| > Jim
| > | > | Just tested:
| > | With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> Checked:
| > | XL2000:
| > | Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does not fire
| > | Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
| > |
| > | XL2002:
| > | Alt+Tab: WB_Activate event does fire
| > | Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
| > |
| > | With Tools|Options|View tab|Windows in taskbar> UnChecked:
| > | XL2000 + XL2002:
| > | Alt+Tab: Not applicable
| > | Cntl+F6: WB_Activate event does fire
| > |
| > | NickHK
|
| --
|
| Dave Peterson
 
Dave Peterson said:
I just figured that you wouldn't want to make a change to the user's
environment--especially one that they could change back as soon as they noticed
it.

But maybe you want to take that chance.
Click to expand...

Actually, I was pondering trapping their keyboard to send an electric shock
on Alt + Tab combo... so an Excel option I can uncheck and re-check it quite
a mild change to their environment ;-)

Officially, I can tell'em they'll lose guarantee if they touch this option.

Thanks a lot for this most welcome suggestion !
 
Thanks for answering my question about how to get alt tab to show/switch
between open workbooks as well as alert me to ctrl f6!
 
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