XL2000: Structure and Windows Arguments of Protect Method

In Microsoft Excel, when you run a Visual Basic for Applications subroutine that protects a workbook, you may receive the following error message:

This problem occurs if you attempt to set either the Structure argument or the Windows argument (or both) of the Protect method to a value other than True or False. Although you can do this in versions of Microsoft Excel earlier than Excel 97, you cannot use a value other than True or False in Microsoft Excel 2000.

For example, this line of code does not work:

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers 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 requirements. If you use the Structure and Windows arguments of the Protect method, you must set them to either True or False. For example, use the following line of code:

This code works in Microsoft Excel 2000 and in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel.

The Structure and Windows arguments of the Protect method allow you to decide whether the structure of the workbook (the relative location of sheet tabs, and whether sheets are hidden) and the workbook's window (size and position on the screen) are protected.

In many programming languages, including Visual Basic for Applications, the Boolean value False is often equal to 0, and you can sometimes substitute the value 0 whenever False is required for the value of an argument. Similarly, the Boolean value True is often equal to any nonzero value (for example, 5), and you can sometimes substitute a nonzero value whenever True is required for the value of an argument.

However, this convention does not apply to the Structure and Windows arguments of the Protect method in Microsoft Excel. The only acceptable values for these arguments are True and False.