If error vba excel 2007

Errors Happen

We may come across several functions in programming languages. In VBA, we are prone to encounter errors like: 

1. Syntax errors
2. Compile time errors
3. Runtime errors

These are errors in code which can be handled using error handling methods. For example, you can see some best practices in articles like this one.

In this article, we will discuss some logical errors which will give unexpected output.

Example Scenario

Let us try to copy the contents of a cell to another while the data in the cell has invalid or improper data like a “DIV/0” error which we are not aware of. 

In this case, the contents would simply get pasted as-is. But we do not want to use this erroneous data in another sheet or any cell in the same sheet.

In that case, we need an option wherein the copy paste happens only if the source data is error-free. In case of error, we need some specific statement to be pasted there.

The IfError function of VBA can help us achieve this easily.

IfError Function

The IfError function can help point out/display obvious errors in other functions that may not catch our eye easily. 

This function is used to prevent mathematical errors or any other errors that occur from a copy paste action when the source value or the resulting value has an error. This function displays resulting values only if they are error-free. If there are errors in the output values, an alternate statement text is displayed.

Syntax: 

IfError( < source value> , <alternate text> )

Where: 

1. <source value> is the cell from which text is copied
2. <alternate text> is the statement to be used in case the value of source text is erroneous.

Paste One Column’s Cell Values to Another With and Without the IfError Function

Sub ifferror_demo()
'just a for loop to iterate through each row starting from 1 to 20
For i = 1 To 20
' simply paste the cell values of col 4 to col 6
Cells(i, 6).Value = Cells(i, 4).Value
&<pre&>&<code&>' paste the values of col 4 to col 6 only if the values have no errors. If not "invalid numbers" will be pasted.
Cells(i, 5).Value = WorksheetFunction.IfError(Cells(i, 4).Value, "Invalid numbers")&>/code&>&</pre&>;
Next
End Sub

The data in column E pasted using the IfError function looks reasonable and clear.

But the data in col F that has been pasted without using the “IfError” function has not corrected/checked anything for us.

Program That Uses IfError With Vlookup

In this program, we will try to see the price/piece of any item that is selected from a list in a cell.

Price/piece is in col D and the item is in col A. So, we will use “vlookup” here.

I’m setting data validation to list the items in cell H4.

For this, we can go to Data tab-> Data tools-> Data validation. 

Choose a list and select the range as the source.

The items are now listed here:

Now I apply the vlookup formula to get the price/piece of the selected item.

Now I select some item from the list in cell H4 that has a “Division by 0 error” in col D, eg: Cake.

To avoid this kind of output, we have to use the “IfError” formula, which can filter out these errors and display a value that the viewers can understand.

Here, the existing vlookup formula is wrapped in an “IfError” formula with the vlookup formula as the first argument. The second argument is an alternate text to be displayed in case the result is erroneous.

The proper value would be displayed in case the output is error-free.

Do the same using a macro code (VBA):

Sub Excel_IFERROR_demo()

' declare a variable of type worksheet
Dim ws As Worksheet
' assign the worksheet
Set ws = Worksheets("Snackbar")

' apply the Excel IFERROR function with the vlookup function
ws.Range("I4") = Application.WorksheetFunction.IfError(Application.VLookup(ws.Range("H4").Value, ws.Range("A1:D13"), 4, False), "CHECK THE VALUE")

End Sub

Now, we will delete the formula in cell “I4” and use this macro to fill the data in that cell.

What does this code do?

This declares a worksheet object, assigns the worksheet to it. Then, we assign the vlookup formula to the cell I4 . The formula depends on the value in cell H4. 

Whenever we change the value in cell H4, this code should be run to fill the corresponding value in cell I4.

A couple of output results to demonstrate how this code works:

A Program for Mathematical Calculation

This program is for direct division or calculation of price/piece for the item “Roti.”

Sub Excel_IFERROR_demo_2()

' declare a variable of type worksheet
Dim ws As Worksheet
' assign the worksheet
Set ws = Worksheets("Snackbar")

' apply the Excel IFERROR function with the vlookup function
ws.Range("D7") = Application.WorksheetFunction.IfError(ws.Range("B7").Value / ws.Range("C7").Value, "CHECK THE VALUE")

End Sub

Here the formula =B7/C6 in the cell D7 is replaced by the output of this code.

A couple of output values for corresponding input values.

Note: Change the values of B7 or C7 or both and run this procedure (code) to see the output in D7.

Summary

“IfError” is available both as a formula and VBA function in Microsoft Excel. This helps us catch the logical faults (e.g.: Math calculations) and not the syntax or compile errors. They are mostly used in Excel formulae directly instead of macros. In the case of automated macro utilities that are large in size, they can be used in the respective VBA code too.

What is the declared type of SumIfInt? If that’s Integer, its maximum legal value is 32,767, because Integer is a 16-bit type — and using a 16-bit signed integer type to represent row numbers in an Excel worksheet is a good way to achieve run-time error 6 «Overflow».

Use a 32-bit integer type instead:

Dim SumIfInt As Long

If Sheets("Bridge").Range("D" & SumIfInt) is a very small value, it’s possible that using it as a denominator makes the result overflow an Integer, or possibly even a Long — in that case you should probably use a Double floating-point type instead.

When it hits an error, I want it to return a 0.

Better code wouldn’t hit an error at all. The only error you should be worried about here, is «Division by Zero» — actually also «Type Mismatch» if any of the involved cells may contain an error value — in any case, shoving the error under the carpet with On Error Resume Next isn’t showing you anything about how to avoid that situation in the future.

The best error-handling code is code that avoids raising avoidable errors in the first place.

Dim divisorValue As Variant 
divisorValue = Sheets("Bridge").Range("D" & SumIfInt)

If IsError(divisorValue) Or IsEmpty(divisorValue) Then
    ' return 0 and bail out
    Exit Function
End If

Dim divisor As Double
divisor = CDbl(divisorValue)

Now use the known-to-be-ok divisor value instead.

A note about your object management: you’re dereferencing the exact same object reference multiple times — that’s inefficient.

If Sheets("Bridge") exists at compile-time in ThisWorkbook (the workbook that’s running the code), then you never need to dereference it that way — VBA creates a global-scope object variable for every single worksheet in the workbook — select it in the VBE’s Project Explorer (Ctrl+R), bring up its Properties (F4), then set its (Name) to something meaningful, e.g. BridgeSheet. Then you can do this:

BridgeSheet.Range("D" & SumIfInt)

Another tip: the more you cram into a single instruction, the harder debugging becomes, because the more possible failing points there are.

Consider pulling the invidividual values involved into their own variables, then validating them, then performing the division once you know doing that isn’t going to blow up.

VBA Errors Cheat Sheet

Errors

See more VBA “Cheat Sheets” and free PDF Downloads

VBA Error Handling

VBA Error Handling refers to the process of anticipating, detecting, and resolving VBA Runtime Errors. The VBA Error Handling process occurs when writing code, before any errors actually occur.

VBA Runtime Errors are errors that occur during code execution. Examples of runtime errors include:

• Referencing a non-existent workbook, worksheet, or other object (Run-time Error 1004)
• Invalid data ex. referencing an Excel cell containing an error (Type Mismatch – Run-time Error 13)
• Attempting to divide by zero

VBA On Error Statement

Most VBA error handling is done with the On Error Statement. The On Error statement tells VBA what to do if it encounters an error. There are three On Error Statements:

• On Error GoTo 0
• On Error Resume Next
• On Error GoTo Line

On Error GoTo 0

On Error GoTo 0 is VBA’s default setting. You can restore this default setting by adding the following line of code:

On Error GoTo 0

When an error occurs with On Error GoTo 0, VBA will stop executing code and display its standard error message box.

Often you will add an On Error GoTo 0 after adding On Error Resume Next error handling (next section):

Sub ErrorGoTo0()

On Error Resume Next
    ActiveSheet.Shapes("Start_Button").Delete
On Error GoTo 0

'Run More Code

End Sub

On Error Resume Next

On Error Resume Next tells VBA to skip any lines of code containing errors and proceed to the next line.

On Error Resume Next

Note: On Error Resume Next does not fix an error, or otherwise resolve it. It simply tells VBA to proceed as if the line of code containing the error did not exist. Improper use of On Error Resume Next can result in unintended consequences.

A great time to use On Error Resume Next is when working with objects that may or may not exist. For example, you want to write some code that will delete a shape, but if you run the code when the shape is already deleted, VBA will throw an error. Instead you can use On Error Resume Next to tell VBA to delete the shape if it exists.

On Error Resume Next
    ActiveSheet.Shapes("Start_Button").Delete
On Error GoTo 0

Notice we added On Error GoTo 0 after the line of code containing the potential error. This resets the error handling.

In the next section we’ll show you how to test if an error occurred using Err.Number, giving you more advanced error handling options.

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Err.Number, Err.Clear, and Catching Errors

Instead of simply skipping over a line containing an error, we can catch the error by using On Error Resume Next and Err.Number.

Err.Number returns an error number corresponding with the type of error detected. If there is no error, Err.Number = 0.

For example, this procedure will return “11” because the error that occurs is Run-time error ’11’.

Sub ErrorNumber_ex()

On Error Resume Next
ActiveCell.Value = 2 / 0
MsgBox Err.Number

End Sub

Error Handling with Err.Number

The true power of Err.Number lies in the ability to detect if an error occurred (Err.Number <> 0).  In the example below, we’ve created a function that will test if a sheet exists by using Err.Number.

Sub TestWS()
    MsgBox DoesWSExist("test")
End Sub

Function DoesWSExist(wsName As String) As Boolean
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    
    On Error Resume Next
    Set ws = Sheets(wsName)
    
    'If Error WS Does not exist
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        DoesWSExist = False
    Else
        DoesWSExist = True
    End If

    On Error GoTo -1
End Function

Note: We’ve added a On Error GoTo -1 to the end which resets Err.Number to 0 (see two sections down).

With On Error Resume Next and Err.Number, you can replicate the “Try” & “Catch” functionality of other programming languages.

On Error GoTo Line

On Error GoTo Line tells VBA to “go to” a labeled line of code when an error is encountered.  You declare the Go To statement like this (where errHandler is the line label to go to):

On Error GoTo errHandler

and create a line label like this:

errHandler:

Note: This is the same label that you’d use with a regular VBA GoTo Statement.

Below we will demonstrate using On Error GoTo Line to Exit a procedure.

On Error Exit Sub

You can use On Error GoTo Line to exit a sub when an error occurs.

You can do this by placing the error handler line label at the end of your procedure:

Sub ErrGoToEnd()

On Error GoTo endProc

'Some Code
    
endProc:
End Sub

or by using the Exit Sub command:

Sub ErrGoToEnd()

On Error GoTo endProc

'Some Code
GoTo skipExit
    
endProc:
Exit Sub

skipExit:

'Some More Code

End Sub

Err.Clear, On Error GoTo -1,  and Resetting Err.Number

After an error is handled, you should generally clear the error to prevent future issues with error handling.

After an error occurs, both Err.Clear and On Error GoTo -1 can be used to reset Err.Number to 0. But there is one very important difference: Err.Clear does not reset the actual error itself, it only resets the Err.Number.

What does that mean?  Using Err.Clear, you will not be able to change the error handling setting. To see the difference, test out this code and replace On Error GoTo -1 with Err.Clear:

Sub ErrExamples()

    On Error GoTo errHandler:
        
    '"Application-defined" error
    Error (13)
    
Exit Sub
errHandler:
    ' Clear Error
    On Error GoTo -1
    
    On Error GoTo errHandler2:
    
    '"Type mismatch" error
    Error (1034)
    
Exit Sub
errHandler2:
    Debug.Print Err.Description
End Sub

Typically, I recommend always using On Error GoTo -1, unless you have a good reason to use Err.Clear instead.

VBA On Error MsgBox

You might also want to display a Message Box on error.  This example will display different message boxes depending on where the error occurs:

Sub ErrorMessageEx()
 
Dim errMsg As String
On Error GoTo errHandler

    'Stage 1
    errMsg = "An error occured during the Copy & Paste stage."
    'Err.Raise (11)
    
    'Stage 2
    errMsg = "An error occured during the Data Validation stage."
    'Err.Raise (11)
     
    'Stage 3
    errMsg = "An error occured during the P&L-Building and Copy-Over stage."
    Err.Raise (11)
     
    'Stage 4
    errMsg = "An error occured while attempting to log the Import on the Setup Page"
    'Err.Raise (11)

    GoTo endProc
    
errHandler:
    MsgBox errMsg
   
endProc:
End Sub

Here you would replace Err.Raise(11) with your actual code.

VBA IsError

Another way to handle errors is to test for them with the VBA ISERROR Function. The ISERROR Function tests an expression for errors, returning TRUE or FALSE if an error occurs.

Sub IsErrorEx()
    MsgBox IsError(Range("a7").Value)
End Sub

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If Error VBA

You can also handle errors in VBA with the Excel IFERROR Function.  The IFERROR Function must be accessed by using the WorksheetFunction Class:

Sub IfErrorEx()

Dim n As Long
n = WorksheetFunction.IfError(Range("a10").Value, 0)

MsgBox n
End Sub

This will output the value of Range A10, if the value is an error, it will output 0 instead.

VBA Error Types

Runtime Errors

As stated above:

VBA Runtime Errors are errors that occur during code execution. Examples of runtime errors include:

• Referencing a non-existent workbook, worksheet, or other object
• Invalid data ex. referencing an Excel cell containing an error
• Attempting to divide by zero

You can “error handle” runtime errors using the methods discussed above.

Syntax Errors

VBA Syntax Errors are errors with code writing. Examples of syntax errors include:

• Mispelling
• Missing or incorrect punctuation

The VBA Editor identifies many syntax errors with red highlighting:

The VBA Editor also has an option to “Auto Syntax Check”:

When this is checked, the VBA Editor will generate a message box alerting you syntax errors after you enter a line of code:

I personally find this extremely annoying and disable the feature.

Compile Errors

Before attempting to run a procedure, VBA will “compile” the procedure. Compiling transforms the program from source code (that you can see) into executable form (you can’t see).

VBA Compile Errors are errors that prevent the code from compiling.

A good example of a compile error is a missing variable declaration:

Other examples include:

• For without Next
• Select without End Select
• If without End If
• Calling a procedure that does not exist

Syntax Errors (previous section) are a subset of Compile Errors.

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Debug > Compile

Compile errors will appear when you attempt to run a Procedure. But ideally, you would identify compile errors prior to attempting to run the procedure.

You can do this by compiling the project ahead of time. To do so, go to Debug > Compile VBA Project.

The compiler will “go to” the first error. Once you fix that error, compile the project again. Repeat until all errors are fixed.

You can tell that all errors are fixed because Compile VBA Project will be grayed out:

OverFlow Error

The VBA OverFlow Error occurs when you attempt to put a value into a variable that is too large. For example, Integer Variables can only contain values between -32,768 to 32,768. If you enter a larger value, you’ll receive an Overflow error:

Instead, you should use the Long Variable to store the larger number.

Other VBA Error Terms

VBA Catch Error

Unlike other programming languages, In VBA there is no Catch Statement. However, you can replicate a Catch Statement by using On Error Resume Next and If Err.Number <> 0 Then. This is covered above in Error Handling with Err.Number.

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VBA Ignore Error

To ignore errors in VBA, simply use the On Error Resume Next statement:

On Error Resume Next

However, as mentioned above, you should be careful using this statement as it doesn’t fix an error, it just simply ignores the line of code containing the error.

VBA Throw Error / Err.Raise

To through an error in VBA, you use the Err.Raise method.

This line of code will raise Run-time error ’13’: Type mismatch:

Err.Raise (13)

VBA Error Trapping

VBA Error Trapping is just another term for VBA Error Handling.

VBA Error Message

A VBA Error Message looks like this:

When you click ‘Debug’, you’ll see the line of code that is throwing the error:

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VBA Error Handling in a Loop

The best way to error handle within a Loop is by using On Error Resume Next along with Err.Number to detect if an error has occurred (Remember to use Err.Clear to clear the error after each occurrence).

The example below will divide two numbers (Column A by Column B) and output the result into Column C. If there’s an error, the result will be 0.

Sub test()
Dim cell As Range

On Error Resume Next
For Each cell In Range("a1:a10")

    'Set Cell Value
    cell.Offset(0, 2).Value = cell.Value / cell.Offset(0, 1).Value
    
    'If Cell.Value is Error then Default to 0
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
         cell.Offset(0, 2).Value = 0
         Err.Clear
    End If
 Next
End Sub

VBA Error Handling in Access

All of the above examples work exactly the same in Access VBA as in Excel VBA.

Function DelRecord(frm As Form)
'this function is used to delete a record in a table from a form
   On Error GoTo ending
   With frm
      If .NewRecord Then
         .Undo
         Exit Function
      End If
   End With
   With frm.RecordsetClone
      .Bookmark = frm.Bookmark
      .Delete
      frm.Requery
   End With
   Exit Function
   ending:
   End
End Function