How to block file Save (^S)?

[G Lykos]

What can be done in VBA such that <CTRL><S> will be blocked from saving a
spreadsheet file?

Situation is that a macro has manipulated the spreadsheet for the purposes
of analysis, and I would like to then block the user from inadvertently
Save-ing this version of the file - but perhaps allow Save As.

Thanks,
George

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

You might use the beforesave event:

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeSave(ByVal SaveAsUI As Boolean, Cancel As
Boolean)
If Not SaveAsUI Then
Cancel = True
End If
End Sub

If macros are disable, this of course will not work.

If you not familiar with events see Chip Pearson's page
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/events.htm

 

[G Lykos]

Tom, thanks for your reply. Yes, intercepting the Save via the associated
event seems logical.

Looked at your example below and Pearson's EventSeq.xls. Having parameters
for an event Sub triggered automatically upon event occurrence is
unfamiliar. Cancel must be an outbound results parameter for the Sub, but
what does the UI in SaveAsUI represent as a mnemonic, and where are it and
Cancel defined? Is SaveAsUI a common Excel flag that the analysis macro can
reset, to be picked up by your event Sub below?

Thanks again,
George

 

[Chip Pearson]

George,

The SaveAsUI (Save As from User Interface -- the File>Save As
operation) indicates whether the save was initiated by the user
or by code. If by the user, SaveAsUI will be True, otherwise
False. The Cancel variable allows you to cancel the save
operation. Setting it to True will cancel the save.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

SaveAsUI is an argument to the BeforeSave event that indicates whether the
SaveAs Dialog will be displayed or not.

Cancel is an argument to the BeforeSave event that is passed in as cancel.
If you set it to True, the Save will not occur.

From help on the BeforeSave event:

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeSave(ByVal SaveAsUi As Boolean, Cancel As
Boolean)

SaveAsUi True if the Save As dialog box will be displayed.

Cancel False when the event occurs. If the event procedure sets this
argument to True, the workbook isn't saved when the procedure is finished.

 

[G Lykos]

Thanks, Chip!

George,

The SaveAsUI (Save As from User Interface -- the File>Save As
operation) indicates whether the save was initiated by the user
or by code. If by the user, SaveAsUI will be True, otherwise
False. The Cancel variable allows you to cancel the save
operation. Setting it to True will cancel the save.


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

 

[G Lykos]

Thanks, Tom. Since the analysis Sub and the suggested event Sub both load
at Excel startup (or at minimum at workbook open), then I need a mechanism
for the analysis Sub to signal the event Sub to block the Save only if/when
analysis has run. How/where would you suggest defining the flag? It needs
to exist from Workbook open to close (is persistent the right word?), be
writable by the analysis Sub and readable by the event Sub, and have a
"correct" initial value (interpreted as not block a Save) without the
analysis Sub having run.

Thanks again,
George

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

Unless your users are writing code, in this case it would be used to
differentiate between a Save and SaveAs.

 

[G Lykos]

And to get it all out on the table - guess I would want to pop open the
SaveAs dialog box if the user opted to Save after having run the analysis,
and would appreciate guidance on how to set this up.

Thanks again!

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

declare you variable in a general module at the top above any procedures

Public AnalysisHasRun as Boolean

It would be initialized automatically upon opening as False. You would have
your analysis procedure set it to true

You can use the beforesave event to set cancel to True, turn off events and
then handle saving with the GetSaveAsFileName procedure.

Make sure you turn events back on. An alternative would be to just have
the analysis procedure go the GetSaveAsFileName as its last act. Again,
you might have to turn off events, then do the save, then turn them back on.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

also, have you considered making the workbook ReadOnly?

 

[G Lykos]

Tom, regarding making the file read-only - typically, changes are made to
the spreadsheet and not analyzed, so file saves are normal. However, when
analysis is done, it manipulates the data to generate a report, and in this
case, I want to block an unintended save. Thanks for your guidance with the
mechanics of setting it up!

Regards,
George