Tab Indexing Behavior on a Mac

[kudruu]

Hello,
I was asked to write a database input device in Excel. I had all my
code and my Userform functioning on a PC. I was also asked to make
this program available for a Mac as well. I put the code and the
Userform into the Mac (of course I had to redo the Userform because
apparently the PC and the Mac Excel were not compatible).
My problem is that on the PC I have a very smooth interface where the
user can tab through each Input Box and enter the data. To do this I
had set the tab index for each Input Box from 1 to 30. On the Mac I
did the same thing but the Tab Index doesn't seem to work at all. If
I start at Tab Index 1 the next tab will be Tab Index 12 and it stops
there... If I try to tab anything from certain boxes the cursor does
not move and from other boxes it will jump to a location and then it
won't move.
Is there some trick to getting tab key behavior working properly on
the Mac?

Thanks in advance for any help

-Andrew

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Is there some trick to getting tab key behavior working properly on
the Mac?

Nope - this is a bug that hasn't been fixed.

It almost certainly won't be fixed, either, since MacOffice is dropping
VBA in the next version (a version or so before WinOffice is supposed
to).

 

[kudruu]

Nope - this is a bug that hasn't been fixed.

It almost certainly won't be fixed, either, since MacOffice is dropping
VBA in the next version (a version or so before WinOffice is supposed
to).

Wow, that sucks. What are they going to do instead? Or is there no
substitute planned? I guess active Java controls come next.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Wow, that sucks. What are they going to do instead? Or is there no
substitute planned? I guess active Java controls come next.

Well, WinOffice is going in the .Net direction. Don't know if
MacOffice14 (assuming it sees the light of day - and I believe it will)
adapts, or not.

In the short run, MacOffice2008 will retain its OLE hooks so automation
can be done via AppleScript, which is proprietary to Macs, of course, or
RealBasic, which is cross-platform. One loses events and Userforms
(though forms are far easier to build, customize, and automate in XCode
than userforms are - and they're a lot more attractive), and, most
importantly, cross-platform compatibility, but the file formats will
stay the same, so WinXL code will be retained during a round-trip (as
will Mac-only features).

But I suspect some of us will be keeping MacXL04 around for a while...

I agree it sucks, but the Mac Business Unit had rather a Hobson's choice
- either drop VBA, or undergo a massive VBA upgrade effort the same time
they were converting their code base to run on Intel-based Macs, in
which case it would have likely been MacOffice2010.

MacOffice08 will contain some cool new features - at least a few of
which I expect to make it into WinXL14 or 15...