KB201671 - XL97: Runtime Error 424 Clicking Cancel on InputBox

Article ID: 201671

Article Last Modified on 11/23/2006

Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q201671

SYMPTOMS

When you cancel a dialog box displayed with the InputBox method in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, you may receive the following error message:

Runtime Error '424'

Object required

CAUSE

This error message occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

You create an object variable.

-and-

You assign the variable using InputBox as in the following example:

   Set myRange = Application.InputBox(Title:="Count Columns", _
      Prompt:="Select range to count number of columns.", Type:=8)

-and-

You click Cancel in the dialog box displayed by InputBox.

RESOLUTION

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 the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104

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

To successfully trap the value returned by clicking Cancel, you need to add error handling to your code. The following is an example of error handling that you can use with the InputBox method, to prevent the error message described in this article.

Start Excel and create a new workbook.
Press ALT+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.

On the Insert menu, click Module and type the following code in the new module:

Sub CountColumns()
' Dimension myRange variable.
Dim myRange As Object
' Begin error trapping.
On Error GoTo ErrHandler
' Store InputBox value into variable myRange.
Set myRange = Application.InputBox(Title:= "Count Columns", _
Prompt:="Select range to count number of columns.", Type:=8)
' Show message box.
MsgBox myRange.Columns.Count
' End macro.
End
' Show message box when Cancel is clicked or other error
' is encountered.
ErrHandler: MsgBox "No columns selected."
End Sub

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Keywords: kbdtacode kberrmsg kbprb KB201671