Microsoft Office

Working with Excel Events 43
TABLE 43.2
Worksheet Events
Event
Activate
BeforeDoubleClick
BeforeRightClick
Calculate
Change
Deactivate
FollowHyperlink
PivotTableUpdate
SelectionChange
Action That Triggers the Event
The worksheet is activated.
The worksheet is double-clicked.
The worksheet is right-clicked.
The worksheet is calculated (or recalculated).
Cells on the worksheet are changed by the user.
The worksheet is deactivated.
A hyperlink on the worksheet is clicked.
A PivotTable on the worksheet has been updated.
The selection on the worksheet is changed.
Using the Change event
The Change event is triggered when any cell in the worksheet is changed by the user. The Change event is
not triggered when a calculation generates a different value for a formula or when an object (such as a chart
or SmartArt) is added to the sheet.
When the Worksheet_Change procedure executes, it receives a Range object as its Target argument.
This Range object corresponds to the changed cell or range that triggered the event. The following example
displays a message box that shows the address of the Target range:
Private Sub Worksheet_Change(ByVal Target As Excel.Range)
MsgBox “Range “ & Target.Address & “ was changed.”
End Sub
To get a feel for the types of actions that generate the Change event for a worksheet, enter the preceding
procedure into the code module for a Worksheet object. After entering this procedure, activate Excel and,
using various techniques, make changes to the worksheet. Every time that the Change event occurs, a message
box displays the address of the range that changed.
Unfortunately, the Change event doesn’t always work as expected. For example:
n
n
n
n
Changing the formatting of a cell does not trigger the Change event (as expected), but choosing
Home ➪ Editing ➪ Clear ➪ Clear Formats does.
Pressing Delete generates an event even if the cell is empty at the start.
Cells changed via Excel commands may or may not trigger the Change event. For example, the
following operations do not trigger the Change event: sorting and goal seeking. However, operations
such as find and replace, using the AutoSum button, or adding a Totals row to a table do
trigger the event.
If your VBA procedure changes a cell, it does trigger the Change event.
751