I found a solution to my problem. I was working with an older Excel97
workbook. I guess there is no inclusion of the Office library because
te problem was that the mso constants were not being recognized. I
looked them up in the object browser and instead now am using the
values themseleves (eg msoShapeOval=9). I figured that out using the
Object Browser (F2 in VBA code screen).

eg. Instead of this: ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeOval,
365.25, 204.75, 72#, 72#).Select
I now call: ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(9, 365.25, 204.75, 72#,
72#).Select
and also replaced the other mso constants with their appropriate
values.

I suppose I could opt to include the Office library somehow, perhaps
by resaving the Excel97 file as an Excel2000 file, but what would
happen then if a user not having Office 2000 tried to run this macro?
I figure I'm safer using the actual values rather than the mso
constants.

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My Original message was:

From: (SDuguay)
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.excel.programming
Subject: Trouble Drawing shapes with macros in Excel
NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.202.94.254
Message-ID:

This macro code works fine to draw an ellipse in a black cell, as long
as the macro is in the same workbook as the active sheet. But, when I
try running from a sheet in a diffferent workbook, it fails with this
message.
"Runtime error: 1004. The specified value is out of range"

Any ideas how I can fix this. It fails at the AddShape Line.

Macro code is below:

Sub nlDrawEllipseInBlackCell()

Dim iTop As Integer ' top of shape
Dim iLeft As Integer ' left edge of shape
Dim iWidth As Integer ' width of shape
Dim iHeight As Integer ' width of shape

' Remember the position, height and width of the selected cell.
iTop = Selection.Top + 1
iLeft = Selection.Left + 2
iWidth = Selection.Width - 4
iHeight = Selection.Height - 3

'Draw the ellipse
ActiveSheet.Shapes.AddShape(msoShapeOval, 365.25, 204.75, 72#,
72#).Select
Selection.ShapeRange.Fill.Visible = msoFalse
Selection.ShapeRange.Fill.Transparency = 0#
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.Weight = 0.75
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.DashStyle = msoLineSolid
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.Style = msoLineSingle
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.Transparency = 0#
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.Visible = msoTrue
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.ForeColor.SchemeColor = 9
Selection.ShapeRange.Line.BackColor.RGB = RGB(255, 255, 255)
Selection.ShapeRange.LockAspectRatio = msoFalse
Selection.ShapeRange.Height = iHeight ' eg. 11.25
Selection.ShapeRange.Width = iWidth ' eg. 58.5
Selection.ShapeRange.Rotation = 0#

'Move it to the cell
ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Top = iTop
ActiveSheet.Shapes(ActiveSheet.Shapes.Count).Left = iLeft

End Sub
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