Using the immediate window from within the Excel desktop

Hummm, not the most robust code – you may have to flick between the VBE and the Excel window, I don’t have time to develop it further, but it gets the job done for now.

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imwindow.JPG

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[vba]Private Declare Function SetParent Lib “user32″ ( _
ByVal hWndChild As Long, _
ByVal hWndNewParent As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib “user32″ Alias “FindWindowA” ( _
ByVal lpClassName As String, _
ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long

Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib “user32″ Alias “FindWindowExA” ( _
ByVal hWnd1 As Long, _
ByVal hWnd2 As Long, _
ByVal lpsz1 As String, _
ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Long

Private Declare Function SetForegroundWindow Lib “user32″ ( _
ByVal hWnd As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib “user32″ ( _
ByVal hWnd As Long, _
ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, _
ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long, _
ByVal cx As Long, _
ByVal cy As Long, _
ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long
Public Sub GetIMWin()
Dim PWHand As Long
Dim CWHand As Long
Dim Res As Long

”’Get excel desktop handel
PWHand = FindWindowEx(Application.hWnd, 0&, “XLDESK”, vbNullString)
”’open VBE
If Application.VBE.MainWindow.Visible = False Then
Application.VBE.MainWindow.Visible = True
End If
”’open IM window if not open
If Application.VBE.Windows(“immediate”).Visible = False Then
Application.VBE.MainWindow.SetFocus
Application.SendKeys (“!G”) ”’oh send keys;-(
End If
”’Get IM window handel
CWHand = GetIM
”’Set IM as child of excel desktop  window
Res = SetParent(CWHand, PWHand)

Application.VBE.MainWindow.Visible = True

With Application.VBE.Windows(“immediate”)
.Visible = True
.Height = 100
.Width = 400
.Top = 100
.Left = 400
    End With
End Sub

Function GetIM() As Long
Dim VBEHand As Long
VBEHand = FindWindow(“wndclass_desked_gsk”, Application.VBE.MainWindow.Caption)
GetIM = FindWindowEx(VBEHand, 0&, “VbaWindow”, “immediate”)
If GetIM = 0 Then
GetIM = FindWindow(“VBFloatingPalette”, “immediate”)
End If
End Function[/vba]

Comments

  1. simon murphy says:

    Ross
    I had a little play around with this the other day – brilliant idea.
    I can see a few uses for the window and for the technique itself.
    cheers
    Simon

  2. Ross says:

    Thanks Simon,
    It’s never something that I’ve ever really wanted but I have hear it ask about before, so when I saw the API code somewhere I gave it a go. To be honest I used a Z order approach to begin with but that did not work, this kind does.

    cheers
    Ross

  3. simon murphy says:

    Ross
    I never wanted it till I saw it, and tried it. It so much better than clicking back and forth to the VBE. I have some plans to play around with this in the near future – I’ll let you know how I get on.
    cheers
    Simon

  4. [...] That was until I found Ross’s bit of code to rip the immediate window out of VBA and put it in the Excel desktop instead. What a great idea, I wish I’d thought of it. I didn’t, but it did inspire this little form based tool. Its as tatty as, just a mega rough and ready thing that I probably wont bother to develop further. No idea if its any use, of if I’ve missed something obvious, and there is a more simple way to do this. If so, be sure to let us know via comments. [...]

  5. [...] It is a bit like a spreadsheet with a code editing window tacked below. Both Ross and I have tackled this issue with VBA in different ways in the past. Here is Ross’s code to unlock the VBAIDE Immediate window to float over the grid. [...]

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