VBA to change tab colour using the palette

[sparky2205]

Hi folks,
I'm trying to write a macro to allow users to change the colour of a selected tab on a protected worksheet.
My plan:
• Use an input box to get the tab name from the user and assign it to a variable
• Present the user with the colour palette to select the colour (standard or custom) and assign it to a variable
• Set the tab to the selected colour
I've been using...

ColorCode = Application.Dialogs(xlDialogEditColor).Show(1, 26, 82, 48)

...to present the palette and assign the selected value to ColorCode but it refuses to be equal to anything other than -1.
I haven't worked with the palette in Vba previously so what I'm trying is probably not correct.

 

[RoryA]

Show just returns either False, if the user cancelled, or True. It will not return the selected colour. I think you'd need to create a userform with buttons for each colour.

 

[sykes]

If you were happy with 56 colours, then you could use a separate worksheet as your "Pallette" and, in the sheet's _selectionChange event temporarily use:

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
Target.Interior.ColorIndex = .Row
End Sub

select any cell in row 1, then use the down arrow to scroll to 56. This will give you your "Pallette."

Then build a simple userform with a listbox (or combo) populated with all the sheet names, and the _click event coded to bring up your "Pallette" worksheet (might need to make the userform Modeless for this).
User selects colour, and row number can be passed back to the userform code, to finish with:

activesheet.tab.colorindex= colourfromsheetselectionvariable

etc.

 

[Jaafar Tribak]

You need to retrieve the color from the first colorindex in your workbook

This worked for me:

If Application.Dialogs(xlDialogEditColor).Show(1, 26, 82, 48) Then
  ActiveSheet.Tab.Color = ActiveWorkbook.Colors(1)
End If

 

[sparky2205]

Hi folks,
thank you all for your efforts on this.
Jaafar's solution looks to be the simpler one and it does work.
I do have one question. As I'm not familiar with using the palette in this way does this have a lasting impact on my palette or does it remain unaffected? Probably a silly question but I want to be sure I'm not pemanently changing a red RGB to green or something like that.

 

[Jaafar Tribak]

The code as is, would affect the color palette of the workbook if the latter is saved... It shoudn't affect the excel default palette for new workbooks.

You could adapt the code as follows to make sure the workbook palette remains unchanged:

Sub Test()

    Dim lColor As Long
    
    On Error GoTo errHandler
    
    [COLOR=#008000]'store existing first colorindex color.[/COLOR]
    lColor = ActiveWorkbook.Colors(1)
    
    If Application.Dialogs(xlDialogEditColor).Show(1, 26, 82, 48) Then
      ActiveSheet.Tab.Color = ActiveWorkbook.Colors(1)
    End If
    
    
errHandler:
    [COLOR=#008000]'restore initial color[/COLOR]
    ActiveWorkbook.Colors(1) = lColor

End Sub

 

[sparky2205]

Excellent,
thanks again for your help Jaafar.
Much appreciated.