Cool RefEdit Alternative - (Made with a standard TextBox !)

Jaafar Tribak

Well-known Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
9,577
Office Version
  1. 2016
Platform
  1. Windows
Hi all.

In a previous thread ,our member Jon Von Der Heyden kindly brought my attention to this recent blog by (John Peltier) about using RefEdit control alternatives. This is what gave me the idea to work on the solution I am providing here.

We know all too well how buggy and unreliable the RefEdit Control is yet it has a nice functionality.

John Peltier's alternative is based on the use of a standard textbox with a DropDown click button but the way he went about it is not , in my humble opinion, elegant or practical as one still has to go through an annoying intermediate Excel InputBox which just seems too clumsy and kind of defeats the whole purpose.(you can see this by downloading his workbook example from the above blog link)

Here, I provide a large improvement on John Peltier's solution. It is based on the same idea but it is far closer to the real RefEdit feel, look and functionality.Obviously more complex code is involved.

Workbook Demo.

Project code : (Needs a UserForm, 2 Buttons and 1 TextBox)

Add a Class module to the Project and give it the name of : (CRefEdit)

1- Class code :
Code:
Option Explicit
 
Private WithEvents TextBoxDropButton_Click As MSForms.TextBox
 
Private WithEvents WbEvents As Workbook
 
Private Sub Class_Initialize()
 
    Set WbEvents = ThisWorkbook
 
End Sub
                             [B][COLOR=seagreen]'Remove the Red[/COLOR][/B] [COLOR=red][B]*[/B][/COLOR]
Private Sub TextBoxDropButton_Click_DropButton[COLOR=red][B]*[/B][/COLOR]Click() 
 
    Call ShowWindow(FindWindow("ThunderDFrame", vbNullString), 0)
    Call StartHook(True)
    Call ShowWindow(FindWindow("ThunderDFrame", vbNullString), 1)
 
End Sub
 
Public Sub TransformTextBoxIntoRefEdit _
(ByVal TextBox As MSForms.TextBox)
 
    Set TextBoxDropButton_Click = TextBox
    Set oTextBox = TextBoxDropButton_Click
    TextBox.DropButtonStyle = fmDropButtonStyleReduce
    TextBox.ShowDropButtonWhen = fmShowDropButtonWhenAlways
 
End Sub
 
Private Sub WbEvents_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean)
 
    SendMessage lInputBoxhwnd, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0
 
End Sub

2- Code in the UserForm module

Code:
Option Explicit
 
Private MyRefEditClass As CRefEdit
 
Private Sub UserForm_Activate()
 
    Set MyRefEditClass = New CRefEdit
 
    MyRefEditClass.TransformTextBoxIntoRefEdit TextBox1
 
End Sub
 
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
 
        MsgBox "You selected range : " & vbNewLine _
        & sRangeAddress, vbInformation
 
End Sub
 
Private Sub CommandButton2_Click()
 
    Unload Me
 
End Sub
 
Private Sub UserForm_Terminate()
 
    sRangeAddress = ""
 
End Sub

3- Main code in a Standard module :

Code:
Option Explicit
 
[COLOR=seagreen]'\\ Private declarations.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=seagreen]'=========================[/COLOR]
Private Type RECT
    Left As Long
    Top As Long
    Right As Long
    Bottom As Long
End Type
 
Private Declare Function GetSystemMetrics Lib "user32" _
(ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function FindWindowEx Lib "user32.dll" _
Alias "FindWindowExA" _
(ByVal hWnd1 As Long, _
ByVal hWnd2 As Long, _
ByVal lpsz1 As String, _
ByVal lpsz2 As String) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetWindow Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wCmd As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByRef lpRect As RECT) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetClientRect Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByRef lpRect As RECT) As Long
 
Private Declare Function SetWindowsHookEx Lib _
"user32" Alias "SetWindowsHookExA" _
(ByVal idHook As Long, _
ByVal lpfn As Long, _
ByVal hmod As Long, _
ByVal dwThreadId As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function UnhookWindowsHookEx Lib "user32" _
(ByVal hHook As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function CallNextHookEx Lib "user32" _
(ByVal hHook As Long, _
ByVal ncode As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, _
lParam As Any) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetCurrentThreadId _
Lib "kernel32" () As Long
 
Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" _
Alias "SetWindowLongA" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal nIndex As Long, _
ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function CallWindowProc Lib "user32" _
Alias "CallWindowProcA" _
(ByVal lpPrevWndFunc As Long, _
ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal Msg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, _
ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetClassName Lib "user32" _
Alias "GetClassNameA" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal lpClassName As String, _
ByVal nMaxCount As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetWindowText Lib "user32" _
Alias "GetWindowTextA" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, _
ByVal lpString As String, _
ByVal cch 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
 
Private Declare Function CreateWindowEx Lib "user32" _
Alias "CreateWindowExA" _
(ByVal dwExStyle As Long, ByVal lpClassName As String, _
ByVal lpWindowName _
As String, ByVal dwStyle As Long, ByVal x As Long, _
ByVal y As Long, _
ByVal nWidth As Long, ByVal nHeight As Long, _
ByVal hWndParent As Long, _
ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal hInstance As Long, _
lpParam As Any) As Long
 
Private Declare Function SetParent Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hWndChild As Long, ByVal hWndNewParent As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetDC Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long) As Long
 
Private Declare Function GetDeviceCaps Lib "gdi32.dll" _
(ByVal hdc As Long, _
ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long
 
Private Const WH_CBT As Long = 5
Private Const GWL_WNDPROC As Long = -4
Private Const HCBT_ACTIVATE As Long = 5
Private Const GW_CHILD As Long = 5
Private Const SWP_NOSIZE As Long = &H1
Private Const SWP_NOMOVE As Long = &H2
Private Const SM_CYCAPTION As Long = 4
Private Const LOGPIXELSY As Long = 90
Private Const WS_CHILD As Long = &H40000000
Private Const WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE As Long = &H200&
Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN As Long = &H201
 
Private lhHook As Long
Private bHookEnabled As Boolean
Private lCustomBtnHwnd As Long
Private EditBoxhwnd As Long
Private lPrvWndProc As Long
 
[COLOR=seagreen]'\\ Public declarations.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=seagreen]'=========================[/COLOR]
Public Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32.dll" Alias _
"FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, _
ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long
 
Public Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long
 
Public Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32.dll" Alias _
"SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, ByRef lParam As Any) As Long
 
Public Const WM_CLOSE As Long = &H10
 
Public lInputBoxhwnd As Long
Public sRangeAddress As String
Public oTextBox As MSForms.TextBox
 
Sub StartHook(Dummy As Boolean)
 
    Dim sBuffer As String
    Dim lRet As Long
    Dim lhwnd As Long
    Dim sFormCaption As String
 
    lhwnd = FindWindow("ThunderDFrame", vbNullString)
    sBuffer = Space(256)
    lRet = GetWindowText(lhwnd, sBuffer, 256)
    sFormCaption = Left(sBuffer, lRet)
    If Not bHookEnabled Then
        lhHook = SetWindowsHookEx _
        (WH_CBT, AddressOf HookProc, 0, GetCurrentThreadId)
        bHookEnabled = True
        Application.InputBox "", sFormCaption, Type:=8
    End If
 
End Sub
 
Private Sub TerminateHook()
 
    UnhookWindowsHookEx lhHook
    bHookEnabled = False
 
End Sub
 
Private Function HookProc _
(ByVal idHook As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, _
ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
 
 
    Dim tRect1 As RECT
    Dim tRect2 As RECT
    Dim sBuffer As String
    Dim PixelPerInch As Single
    Dim lRetVal As Long
 
 
    On Error Resume Next
 
    If idHook = HCBT_ACTIVATE Then
        sBuffer = Space(256)
        lRetVal = GetClassName(wParam, sBuffer, 256)
        If Left(sBuffer, lRetVal) = "bosa_sdm_XL9" Then
            lInputBoxhwnd = wParam
            PixelPerInch = _
            GetDeviceCaps(GetDC(0), LOGPIXELSY) / 72
            EditBoxhwnd = GetWindow(wParam, GW_CHILD)
            GetClientRect wParam, tRect1
            Call TerminateHook
            SetWindowPos EditBoxhwnd, 0, 2, 0, _
            0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE
            GetWindowRect EditBoxhwnd, tRect2
            SetWindowPos wParam, 0, 0, 0, _
            tRect1.Right - tRect1.Left, _
            (tRect2.Bottom - tRect2.Top) * PixelPerInch + _
            GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYCAPTION) _
            + GetSystemMetrics(6) * 2, SWP_NOMOVE
            With tRect2
                lCustomBtnHwnd = CreateWindowEx _
                (WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE, "Button", "...", WS_CHILD, _
                255, 0, _
                (tRect1.Right - tRect1.Left) _
                - (.Right - .Left) + 10, _
                .Bottom - .Top + 4, wParam, 0, 0, 0)
            End With
            SetParent lCustomBtnHwnd, wParam
            ShowWindow lCustomBtnHwnd, 1
            lPrvWndProc = SetWindowLong _
            (lCustomBtnHwnd, GWL_WNDPROC, AddressOf CallBack)
        End If
    End If
 
    HookProc = CallNextHookEx _
    (lhHook, idHook, ByVal wParam, ByVal lParam)
 
End Function
 
Private Function CallBack _
(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal Msg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
 
    Dim sBuffer As String
    Dim lRet As Long
 
    On Error Resume Next
 
    Select Case Msg
        Case Is = WM_LBUTTONDOWN
            sBuffer = Space(256)
            lRet = GetWindowText(EditBoxhwnd, sBuffer, 256)
            If InStr(1, Left(sBuffer, lRet), "!") Then
                sRangeAddress = Left(sBuffer, lRet)
            Else
                sRangeAddress = ActiveSheet.Name & "!" & _
                Left(sBuffer, lRet)
            End If
            oTextBox.Text = sRangeAddress
            SendMessage lInputBoxhwnd, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0
    End Select
 
    CallBack = CallWindowProc _
    (lPrvWndProc, hwnd, Msg, wParam, ByVal lParam)
 
End Function

This works on the activesheet, on different sheets and on other open workbooks.

Also, thanks to placing the code into a Class, one can have multiple TextBoxes simultaniously transformed into RefEdit-like controls not just one textbox.

I am still looking to improve a bit the look of the Collapsing Button and hope to post an update soon.

Worde well in Excel2003 Win XP. Not tested on other versions.
 
Last edited:

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Sheer beauty Jaafar! Good job! (y)
Definitely something I see myself using in the future.

Works in XL07 too, using Vista Home
 
Upvote 0
Thanks Jon for the feedback. Glad it worked on XL 07 - Vista too.

Jon Peltier kindly brought to my attention a problem when using multiple TextBoxes in a userform. The selected range address showed only in one TextBox.

HERE is an update that corrects the above problem when using multiple TextBoxes.
 
Upvote 0
Hi Jaafar

I've just taken a brief look again, using XL07 on Vista Home.

I haven't taken the time to go through the code but on initial test the RefEdit controls are not preserving the range addresses when another is subsequently invoked.

But I'm think I can figure it out. This is great!
 
Upvote 0
Thanks jon for taking a look at this.

I haven't taken the time to go through the code but on initial test the RefEdit controls are not preserving the range addresses when another is subsequently invoked.

I just re-tested the workbook example and it worked as expected.
I had also sent the same workbook example to Jon Peltier and he didn't report any problems.
 
Upvote 0
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0
Upvote 0
Hi again Jaafar

I should have time this weekend to fully explore your solution. In the meantime can you confirm that your latest link is to your latest version. Because I have tested again today, this time on XL03 XP and I have the same behaviour. I use the 1st RefEdit to choose a range. The address is correctly loaded to the text box. I then invoke the second. The address is correctly stored again but the address in the first gets wiped.
 
Upvote 0

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