Excel Application.InputBox Position - excel

Question

With the Top and Left arguments for this function is there a Centre screen option, or will it always be a number?
I'm using this instead of a regular inputbox as it handles the cancel event better but it always appears in the bottom right of the screen which is less than helpful :/

Answer 1

There is no center screen option. You'd have to calculate it. But, assuming you are using Excel 2007 or later, there's another issue...
This was news to me, but in googling and testing I see that in Excel 2007 and 2010 Application.Inputbox reverts to its last position, disregarding the Top and Left settings. This problem seems to persist even if a new Inputbox is called from a new worksheet. When I try it in XL 2003 it works correctly, and the Inputbox is placed at the correct left and right coordinates.
You can maybe just drag the Inputbox where you want and then save. Unless somebody drags it later, it will re-open in the same place.
Here's a link to a solution that worked for somebody to bring back the correct behavior, and also addresses centering the inputbox. It does require API calls, so save your work before you try it.
EDIT - Per JMax's comment, here's the code from the link above. It's by a user called KoolSid on the vbforums.com site:
Private Declare Function UnhookWindowsHookEx Lib "user32" _
(ByVal hHook As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function GetCurrentThreadId Lib "kernel32" () 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 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
'~~> Handle to the Hook procedure
Private hHook As Long
'~~> Hook type
Private Const WH_CBT = 5
Private Const HCBT_ACTIVATE = 5
'~~> SetWindowPos Flags
Private Const SWP_NOSIZE = &H1 '<~~ Retains the current size
Private Const SWP_NOZORDER = &H4 '<~~ Retains the current Z order
Dim InputboxTop As Long, InputboxLeft As Long
Sub TestInputBox()
Dim stringToFind As String, MiddleRow As Long, MiddleCol As Long
hHook = SetWindowsHookEx(WH_CBT, _
AddressOf MsgBoxHookProc, 0, GetCurrentThreadId)
'~~> Get the center cell (keeping the excel menus in mind)
MiddleRow = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Rows.Count / 1.2
'~~> Get the center column
MiddleCol = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Columns.Count / 2
InputboxTop = Cells(MiddleRow, MiddleCol).Top
InputboxLeft = Cells(MiddleRow, MiddleCol).Left
'~~> Show the InputBox. I have just used "Sample" Change that...
stringToFind = Application.InputBox("Sample", _
"Sample", "Sample", InputboxLeft, InputboxTop, , , 2)
End Sub
Private Function MsgBoxHookProc(ByVal lMsg As Long, _
ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
If lMsg = HCBT_ACTIVATE Then
'~~> Change position
SetWindowPos wParam, 0, InputboxLeft, InputboxTop, _
0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE + SWP_NOZORDER
'~~> Release the Hook
UnhookWindowsHookEx hHook
End If
MsgBoxHookProc = False
End Function

Answer 2

You can test the regular inputbox to see if cancel was pressed, and it has the extra benifit of always being centered. Just use StrPtr(variable) = 0 to test it. Simple!
Another way to avoid a user hitting OK with nothing typed is to add a default value inside the input box to start with, that way you know that if it returns an empty string, it's most likely due to the cancel button being pressed.
StrPtr will return a 0 if cancel was selected (also returns 0 for vbNullString, btw). Please note that StrPtr work in VB5, VB6, and VBA, but since it's not officially supported, it could be rendered unusuable years down the line. I highly doubt they'd get rid of it but it's worth considering if this is an application you plan to distribute.
Sub CancelTest()
Dim temp As String
temp = InputBox("Enter your name", "Cancel Test")
If StrPtr(temp) = 0 Then
' You pressed cancel
Else
If temp = "" Then
'You pressed OK but entered nothing
Else
'Do your thing
End If
End If
End Sub
Some more info on strptr:
StrPtr(S) returns a pointer to the actual string data currently stored in S. This is what you need when passing the string to Unicode API calls. The pointer you get points to the Datastring field, not the Length prefix field. In COM terminology, StrPtr returns the value of the BSTR pointer. (from the fantastic site: http://www.aivosto.com/vbtips/stringopt2.html)

Answer 3

' assume normal screen else go through GetDeviceCaps(hDCDesk, LOGPIXELSX) etc etc
' 1440 twips / inch pts / pix = 3/4 inch 100 pts
' so twips / pixel = 15
Sub GetRaXy(Ra As Range, X&, Y&) ' in twips
Dim ppz!
ppz = ActiveWindow.Zoom / 75 ' zoom is % so 100 * 3/4 =>75
' only the pixels of rows and columns are zoomed
X = (ActiveWindow.PointsToScreenPixelsX(0) + Ra.Left * ppz) * 15
Y = (ActiveWindow.PointsToScreenPixelsY(0) + Ra.Top * ppz) * 15
End Sub
Function InputRealVal!(Optional RaTAdd$ = "K11")
Dim IStr$, RAt As Range, X&, Y&
Set RAt = Range(RaTAdd)
GetRaXy RAt, X, Y
IStr = InputBox(" Value ", "ENTER The Value ", 25, X, Y)
If StrPtr(IStr) = 0 Then
MsgBox "Cancel Pressed"
Exit Function
End If
If IsNumeric(IStr) Then
InputRealVal = CDec(IStr)
Else
MsgBox "Bad data entry"
Exit Function
End If
End Function