Making shapes invisible/visible in excel through VBA - excel

Question

I'm having this problem for the last few hours and I would really appreciate some help with it.
Basically, I want to be able to hide/unhide shapes depending on selections a user makes on a userform. I've broken the problem down into a very simple example. If I insert a shape called "oval 1" in a sheet and run the code:
Sub hideshape()
With ActiveSheet
.Shapes("Oval 1").Select
With Selection
.Visible = False
End With
End With
End Sub
the shape disappears but when I run this code
Sub unhideshape()
With ActiveSheet
.Shapes("Oval 1").Select
With Selection
.Visible = True
End With
End With
End Sub
I get an error "Requested Shapes are locked for Selection"
The workbook is not protected and I have tried un-ticking locked and locked text on the shape properties.
Any ideas what's causing this.

Answer 1

You cannot Select a hidden object. However, you dont need to use Select at all, and it is usually not recommended. Try simply:
Sub HideShape()
ActiveSheet.Shapes("Oval 1").Visible = False
End Sub
Sub UnhideShape()
ActiveSheet.Shapes("Oval 1").Visible = True
End Sub

Answer 2

I hide shapes based on their name since some shapes I don't want to hide. I use this format:
Sheet1.Shapes.Range(Array("COtxtBox1")).Visible = msoTrue
name of your shape or shapes goes into the array
if it only 1 shape you could just use:
Sheet1.Shapes.range("COtxtBox1").Visible = True
I found that the "mso" part is not necessary for the True or False statement

Answer 3

Sub HideEachShape()
Dim sObject As Shape
For Each sObject In ActiveSheet.Shapes
sObject.Visible = False
Next
End Sub
from: extendoffice.com

Answer 4

I solved problem with this code(Oval = Type 9, from MsoAutoShapeType Enumeration (Office)):
Sub hide()
s = ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count
For i = 1 To s
If ActiveSheet.Shapes(i).Type = 9 Then ActiveSheet.Shapes(i).Visible = False
Next i
End Sub
Sub unhide()
s = ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count
For i = 1 To s
If ActiveSheet.Shapes(i).Type = 9 Then ActiveSheet.Shapes(i).Visible = True
Next i
End Sub
If "Type = 9" is wrong, you can find out type of your shape with code in Immediate window (ctrl+G in VBA):
?ActiveSheet.Shapes("Oval 1").Type

Answer 5

Public HIDE As Boolean
Sub T_BUTTON ()
ActiveSheet.Shapes("T 1").Visible = HIDE
If ActiveSheet.Shapes("T 1").Visible = False Then
HIDE = True
Else
HIDE = False
End If
END SUB