How to add events to Controls created at runtime in Excel with VBA

Question

I would like to add a Control and an associated event at runtime in Excel using VBA but I don't know how to add the events.

I tried the code below and the Button is correctly created in my userform but the associated click event that should display the hello message is not working.

Any advice/correction would be welcome.

Dim Butn As CommandButton
Set Butn = UserForm1.Controls.Add("Forms.CommandButton.1")
With Butn
    .Name = "CommandButton1"
    .Caption = "Click me to get the Hello Message"
    .Width = 100
    .Top = 10
End With

With ThisWorkbook.VBProject.VBComponents("UserForm1.CommandButton1").CodeModule
    Line = .CountOfLines
    .InsertLines Line + 1, "Sub CommandButton1_Click()"
    .InsertLines Line + 2, "MsgBox ""Hello!"""
    .InsertLines Line + 3, "End Sub"
End With
UserForm1.Show

Answer 1

The code for adding a button at runtime and then to add events is truly as simple as it is difficult to find out. I can say that because I have spent more time on this perplexity and got irritated more than in anything else I ever programmed.

Create a Userform and put in the following code:

Option Explicit


Dim ButArray() As New Class2

Private Sub UserForm_Initialize()
    Dim ctlbut As MSForms.CommandButton
    
    Dim butTop As Long, i As Long

    '~~> Decide on the .Top for the 1st TextBox
    butTop = 30

    For i = 1 To 10
        Set ctlbut = Me.Controls.Add("Forms.CommandButton.1", "butTest" & i)

        '~~> Define the TextBox .Top and the .Left property here
        ctlbut.Top = butTop: ctlbut.Left = 50
        ctlbut.Caption = Cells(i, 7).Value
        '~~> Increment the .Top for the next TextBox
        butTop = butTop + 20

        ReDim Preserve ButArray(1 To i)
        Set ButArray(i).butEvents = ctlbut
    Next
End Sub

---

Now you need to add a Class Module to your code for the project. Please remember it's class module, not Standard Module.

The Object butEvents is the button that was clicked.

Put in the following simple code (in my case the class name is Class2).

---

Public WithEvents butEvents As MSForms.CommandButton

Private Sub butEvents_click()

    MsgBox "Hi Shrey from " & butEvents.Caption

End Sub

---

That's it. Now run it!

Answer 2

Try this:

Sub AddButtonAndShow()

    Dim Butn As CommandButton
    Dim Line As Long
    Dim objForm As Object

    Set objForm = ThisWorkbook.VBProject.VBComponents("UserForm1")

    Set Butn = objForm.Designer.Controls.Add("Forms.CommandButton.1")
    With Butn
        .Name = "CommandButton1"
        .Caption = "Click me to get the Hello Message"
        .Width = 100
        .Top = 10
    End With

    With objForm.CodeModule
        Line = .CountOfLines
        .InsertLines Line + 1, "Sub CommandButton1_Click()"
        .InsertLines Line + 2, "MsgBox ""Hello!"""
        .InsertLines Line + 3, "End Sub"
    End With

    VBA.UserForms.Add(objForm.Name).Show

End Sub

This permanently modifies UserForm1 (assuming you save your workbook). If you wanted a temporary userform, then add a new userform instead of setting it to UserForm1. You can then delete the form once you're done with it.

Chip Pearson has some great info about coding the VBE.