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brothertruffle880Flag for United States of America

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Excel 2010 VBA - Form Controls vs. ACTIVEX Controls

As you can see from the illustration, there are form controls and ActiveX controls.  Some are identical.  
Command Button
Check Box
Combo Box
List Box
Option Button
Spin Button

Why would a person use an ACTIVEX control versus regular form control (let's say a list box)?

controls.jpg
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wabashbdw

There are other experts on here who know a LOT more about the differences than I do, but I use ActiveX controls when I don't want to hassle with creating a form to house the control.  For instance, I often place ActiveX drop down boxes inside a cell to allow the user to select which data to view.  I could do the same thing with a form but it would take a little more time and trouble.
You get a lot more code options with ActiveX controls. Have a look and see - there are many more events whereas Form controls have only the change event (I think).
As mentioned above, the Active X controls provide much deeper control over actions and behaviors. However, they're not always the most stable. A couple of times, I've had to shift from Active X to Forms, as the controls were behaving erratically (changing formats on their own etc)

Thomas
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SickSkilz

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