How to check which shapes/objects are selected/act

Question

I would like to check which objects are selected/active.

In PowerPoint and Word it is quite easy, but in Excel... nothing what I checked is working. Globals.ThisAddin.ActiveWindow.Selection is of type: dynamic. I added reference to VisualBasic, to have an access to TypeName function.

If chart is selected it returns type "ChartObject"... so I am setting it to variable of ChartObject type, but then I have no access to almost any of its properties and methods, for example when I try to read name that object or trying to return chart from it gives me an error.

When there is few shapes selected then TypeName function returns me type: "DrawingObjects"... but I am not able to read anything from it. I was trying to get get from it ShapeRange, but again... errors.

Could you advise me how to get all selected objects?

Answer 1

In Excel VBA TypeName() can return any of a large variety of names corresponding to a variety of Shapes.

Once we have determined that the Name (as defined by TypeName()) corresponds to a specific Shape-type, we can use the Name of Selection to define that specific Shape:

Sub WhatIsSelected()
    Dim sh As Shape

    If TypeName(Selection) = "Rectangle" Then
        Set sh = ActiveSheet.Shapes(Selection.Name)
    End If

    MsgBox TypeName(Selection) & vbCrLf & sh.Name
End Sub

Now that sh has been both Dimmed and Set we can get all it Properties and use all its Methods.

Answer 2

I managed to create code that works (for charts):

        public static List<XL.Chart> ReturnSelectedCharts(dynamic selection )
    {
        List<XL.Chart> charts=new List<XL.Chart>();

        XL.ShapeRange selectedShapeRange = null;
        XL.Chart chart=null;
        try
        {
            selectedShapeRange = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.Selection.ShapeRange;
            for (int i = 1; i <= selectedShapeRange.Count; i++)
            {
                XL.Shape shape=selectedShapeRange.Item(i);
                if (shape.HasChart==MsoTriState.msoTrue)
                {
                    chart = shape.Chart;
                    charts.Add(chart);
                }

            }
        }
        catch
        {
        }
        if (charts.Count==0)
        {
            try
            {
                chart = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveChart;
                charts.Add(chart);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
            }
        }

        return charts;
    }