Visual Basic Procedure to Get/Set Cursor Position (152969)

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Excel does not have the built-in functionality to get or set the cursor position. However, you can use the Declare statement in a Microsoft Excel Visual Basic for Applications macro to call a Microsoft Windows function to access the current position. You can also use another function SetCursorPos to set the cursor position. The SetCursorPos function can be used in a looping structure to move the cursor across the screen.

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EXAMPLES

1. Type the following code into a new module:

   ' Access the GetCursorPos function in user32.dll
         Declare Function GetCursorPos Lib "user32" _
         (lpPoint As POINTAPI) As Long
         ' Access the GetCursorPos function in user32.dll
         Declare Function SetCursorPos Lib "user32" _
         (ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long) As Long
   
         ' GetCursorPos requires a variable declared as a custom data type
         ' that will hold two integers, one for x value and one for y value
         Type POINTAPI
            X_Pos As Long
            Y_Pos As Long
         End Type
   
         ' Main routine to dimension variables, retrieve cursor position,
         ' and display coordinates
         Sub Get_Cursor_Pos()
   
         ' Dimension the variable that will hold the x and y cursor positions
         Dim Hold As POINTAPI
   
         ' Place the cursor positions in variable Hold
         GetCursorPos Hold
   
         ' Display the cursor position coordinates
         MsgBox "X Position is : " & Hold.X_Pos & Chr(10) & _
            "Y Position is : " & Hold.Y_Pos
         End Sub
   
         ' Routine to set cursor position
         Sub Set_Cursor_Pos()
   
         ' Looping routine that positions the cursor
            For x = 1 To 480 Step 20
               SetCursorPos x, x
               For y = 1 To 40000: Next
            Next x
         End Sub
   						

2. Click anywhere inside the text of the Get_Cursor_Pos routine and press the F5 key to run the Get_Cursor_Pos macro.
   
   You will get a message box displayed with the coordinates of the current position of the mouse pointer.
3. Click anywhere inside the text of the Set_Cursor_Pos routine and press the F5 key to run the Set_Cursor_Pos macro.

The cursor will move diagonally down across the screen.