Test Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros) winhlp32 files

**DocAElstein** · 12-30-2020, 04:39 PM

Testing and notes in preparation for possible blog on
Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros)

Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros)
Introduction
.
The vagueness of Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros)
Before Visual Basic for Applications, VBA, there were Excel macros, XLM.
The concept of XLM is very different from Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros.
VBA was introduced in Excel version 5.0 so these older macros are also known as Excel 4 Macros.
We basically have a lot of single commands, the execution of which does something. The actual way that you can use them seems to be a bit vague. Possibly this is because they have been continued to be supported in newer Office versions and can be used in various ways. It’s not too clear how these ways relate to the original way that they were used before Visual Basic for Applications.
The help information has been continually withdrawn, and it’s possible that the very latest versions of Office my not support them anymore.
So there may be a conscious or unconscious policy to confuse the issue.

There are ways to use an individual command, ( an individual Excel macro ), or a sequential list of them. Typically a list of them would be held in a file looking something with a modern spreadsheet but having the extension .xlm
In many cases the commands do something and / or return something, so they could be thought of as methods or functions.
Often a list of the possible commands would be referred to as a list of excel 4.0 macro functions.
Nobody is sure anymore of what all the possible commands / excel 4.0 macro functions are, or if they all still work, so there is no comprehensive list

Working on closed workbooks
What first interested me in these old Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros) things was seeing that they come close to doing sometimes something like the VBA Evaluate function working with a closed workbook reference. The VBA Evaluate function won’t work with a closed workbook reference, which always annoyed me.
http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=25213
https://eileenslounge.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=34952
https://www.excelforum.com/excel-pro...ml#post5363303

Single value limitation, non array characteristic
One limitation worth pointing out an early stage to avoid possible over excited over possibilities with Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros), is that typical commands/functions that return something will unlikely return anything other than a single value

Using Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros)
General: In a Cell or Cells
Nobody can remember exactly how Excel macros , XLM , (Excel 4 Macros), were ever used, but approximately they seem to have been used like a modern Excel function, so like
=TheExcel4MacroCommandFunctionThing
But typing one of the old XLM commands/functions in a cell like that doesn’t seem to work in a modern Excel spreadsheet cell. In fact it would likely give you an error: A modern Excel wont recognise the thing as a name or function.
There seems to be a mixture of ways to get things working… , and a couple of things help us often, couple of general observations:
_(i) The common factor in getting the macro commands to run seems to be somehow referring to them. We often see this in Excel and VBA: We sometime talk about “exposing the interface…” : We find in Excel and VBA that sometimes a thing springs into life, or gets done if we are :
refer to a thing;
or
refer to where a thing is at;
or
using/calling its name.
For us, the thing of interest is named ranges. We will consider this in more detail later
_ As part of the compatibility measures present in newer Excel versions, we may add a macro sheet, a “4.0 Macro sheet in a Microsoft Excel” : this may be done via shortcut keys, Ctrl+F11 or from menus after right clicking on a worksheet tab, as in this screenshot
InsertMaco2Sheet.JPG : http://i.imgur.com/JtaUKCQ.jpg
Attachment 3468