如何修复在Excel 2010中起作用的Excel 2016对象必需错误

Question

I have recently migrated to Excel 2016 from 2010 and one of the sheets I inherited from a colleague has stopped working. I am in the process of learning VBA but would appreciate help with the run-time error that I keep getting when running the below code.

I believe it results from the way variables are declared (or seemingly not in this case). The function takes in a range which overlays a chart. It then exports the chart as a .png image. Another thing I don't understand is why it works fine in Excel 2010 but not 2016?

Error 424 - Object Required:

The line the error occurs :

 With .Pictures(1)

The code:

Sub createPNG(sheetName As String, rangeName As String, fileName As String)

  Dim vFilePath As Variant
  Dim rSelection As Range
  Dim sDefaultName As String

  Sheets(sheetName).Range(rangeName).Select

  Set rSelection = Selection

  vFilePath = "Z:\marginsOutput\Charts\" & fileName & ".png"
  '-- copy selected range as picture (not as bitmap)
  rSelection.CopyPicture Appearance:=xlScreen, Format:=xlPicture

  '--Create an empty chart, slightly larger than exact size of range copied
  With Sheets(sheetName).ChartObjects.Add( _
      Left:=rSelection.Left, Top:=rSelection.Top, _
      Width:=rSelection.Width + 2, Height:=rSelection.Height + 2)

  With .Chart
  ' clean up chart
  .ChartArea.Format.Line.Visible = msoFalse

  ' paste and position picture
  .Paste
  With .Pictures(1)
    .Left = .Left + 2
    .Top = .Top + 2
  End With

  ' export
  .Export CStr(vFilePath)
End With

' remove no-longer-needed chart
.Delete
  End With

End Sub

Answer 1

I find sometimes in VBA the .paste just doesn't seem to work the first time around especially if the item is already in the clipboard! I've added a few lines to check if there is an picture present before trying to select the picture! if it's not found then it will attempt the .paste again. you should add some control to this to stop it looping on paste errors!

try the edit below;

Sub createPNG(sheetName As String, rangeName As String, fileName As String)

  Dim vFilePath As Variant
  Dim rSelection As Range
  Dim sDefaultName As String

  Sheets(sheetName).Range(rangeName).Select

  Set rSelection = Selection

  vFilePath = "Z:\marginsOutput\Charts\" & fileName & ".png"

  '-- copy selected range as picture (not as bitmap)
  rSelection.CopyPicture Appearance:=xlScreen, Format:=xlPicture

  '--Create an empty chart, slightly larger than exact size of range copied
  With Sheets(sheetName).chartobjects.Add( _
      Left:=rSelection.Left, Top:=rSelection.Top, _
      Width:=rSelection.Width + 2, Height:=rSelection.Height + 2)

  With .Chart
  ' clean up chart
  .ChartArea.Format.Line.Visible = msoFalse

  ' paste and position picture
  .Paste
  If .Pictures.Count = 0 Then
        .Paste
  End If
  With .Pictures(1)
    .Left = .Left + 2
    .Top = .Top + 2
  End With

  ' export
  .Export CStr(vFilePath)
End With

' remove no-longer-needed chart
.Delete
  End With

End Sub

Answer 2

It works, if you just select the ChartObject before pasting a picture into its Chart .
This is one of the seldom cases, where a .Select helps - otherwise see How to avoid using Select in Excel VBA

With Sheets(sheetName).ChartObjects.Add( _
    Left:=rSelection.Left, Top:=rSelection.Top, _
    Width:=rSelection.Width + 2, Height:=rSelection.Height + 2)
    .Select
    With .Chart
        ' ...
    End With
End With

... and during debugging, it is really annoying:
If you run the code step-by-step via (F8), it works without ChartObject.Select , but if you run it normally or via (F5) you get an error, either
Picture(1) = Error 424 (no such object)
Shapes(1) = Error -2147024809 (number 1 not there)

Answer 3

Like Max, I have found that many commands in Excel that operate on various objects (shapes, charts, pictures, worksheets, workbooks, etc.) take longer than they used to, and VBA doesn't wait for them to finish before trying to execute the next command. Hence the failure when it tries doing something to the picture which isn't really pasted yet.

An indication of this problem is that the code runs without error when stepping through in the VB Editor with the F8 key, but fails at full speed when running with the F5 key.

Similar to Max, I've come up with a little loop to watch for this:

With .chart
  Do Until .Pictures.Count = 1
    DoEvents
    .Paste
  Loop
End With

An alternative is to place the actual Paste in a separate function, which you would call from that part of the code, and pass in the picture being pasted and the chart that is receiving it. The barrier between different items in the call stack seems to encourage VBA to finish what it's doing before going on the the next step.

I should note that I've had to do this to many parts of my commercial Excel VBA add-in that works extensively with charts, and I the code I pasted above is taken directly out of this add-in.