Deleting Macros from within a Macro

Gene asked for a way to delete macros from within a macro. He has a large worksheet that uses macros to put together a purchase order. As the last step, the macro deletes the original data that is no longer necessary for the finished purchase order. This pared-down workbook is then saved under a new name. Gene needs the macro, just prior to saving, to delete a macro that is stored in SelectionChange event handler.

There are a couple of ways that this could be handled. One way is to avoid having to do the deletion all together. Instead, have your macro create a new workbook and then transfer, to that workbook, a copy of the data you need. You could then slice and dice the data in the new workbook and save it as your purchase order. The macros in the existing workbook are never copied to the new workbook during the process, so you don't need to worry about deleting them.

Copying all the worksheets in the current workbook to a new workbook is very easy to do. The following macro shows how it is done:

Sub CopyThisWorkbook()
    Dim CopiedWB As String

    CopiedWB = "Copy of " & ActiveWorkbook.Name

    Sheets.Copy
    ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs Filename:=CopiedWB, _
      FileFormat:=xlNormal
End Sub

The Copy method, when applied to the Sheets collection, copies all the worksheets in the active workbook to a new workbook and makes the new workbook active. The final command saves the new workbook under a new name.

Of course, if you need some of your macros to be in the new workbook, but not all of them (such as the SelectionChange event handler), then you are probably best to delete what you don't need and simply save under a new name. The following example macro shows how to delete the SelectionChange event handler from the worksheet code for Sheet1.

Sub DeleteProcedure()
    Dim VBCodeMod As CodeModule
    Dim StartLine As Long
    Dim HowManyLines As Long

    Set VBCodeMod = ThisWorkbook.VBProject.VBComponents("Sheet1").CodeModule
    With VBCodeMod
        StartLine = .ProcStartLine("Worksheet_SelectionChange", _
          vbext_pk_Proc)
        HowManyLines = .ProcCountLines("Worksheet_SelectionChange", _
          vbext_pk_Proc)
        .DeleteLines StartLine, HowManyLines
    End With
End Sub

After the macro is completed, the workbook could be saved, and the desired macro won't be in the saved file. This macro is adapted from information provided at Chip Pearson's Web site, which you should reference if you need additional information on this technique:

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/vbe.aspx

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3073) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.