VBA error 1004 - select method of range class failed

Question

First time poster, so if there is any formatting, or guidelines I failed to adhere to, please let me know so that I can fix it.

So I am basically asking the user for the file directory of the excel file, then I setup some variables (originally set at public as project variables, since these were being used and changed in other places). I have also added the lines to set these variables to nothing (just in case, I do not think that it should matter). I then set these variables to the excel file, workbook, and sheets that I want to access.

Dim filepath as String
filePath = CStr(fileDialog)              'ask file dir, set to string
Dim sourceXL As Variant                  'these three were orig project variables
Dim sourceBook As Variant
Dim sourceSheet As Variant
Dim sourceSheetSum As Variant

Set sourceXL = Nothing                    'set to nothing in case...?
Set sourceBook = Nothing
Set sourceSheet = Nothing
Set sourceSheetSum = Nothing

Set sourceXL = Excel.Application          'set to the paths needed
Set sourceBook = sourceXL.Workbooks.Open(filePath)
Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Sheets("Measurements")
Set sourceSheetSum = sourceBook.Sheets("Analysis Summary")

Dim measName As Variant                    'create variable to access later
Dim partName As Variant

sourceSheetSum.Range("C3").Select           'THIS IS THE PROBLEM LINE

measName = sourceSheetSum.Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Value
sourceSheetSum.Range("D3").Select
partName = sourceSheetSum.Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Value

So I created two different sheet variables 'sourceSheets' and 'sourceSheetsSum', the code works if i use 'sourceSheets', but error 1004 occurs if i use 'sourceSheetsSum'. I have also tried the code with the variable 'sourceSheet' removed completely, in case that was overriding 'sourceSheetSum' for some reason.

I am fairly confident that the excel workbook and sheets exist and are being called correctly, since I ran a quick bit of code to loop through all the sheets in the workbook and output the names, shown below.

For j = 1 To sourceBook.Sheets.Count
Debug.Print (Sheets(j).name)
Next j

With the debug output of

Measurements
Analysis Summary
Analysis Settings

So, does anyone have any ideas what this error could mean, or how I can possibly go about finding more about what the error actually is?

EDIT: So I decided to add a bit to the listing of the sheet names, not sure if it will help at all.

For j = 1 To sourceBook.Sheets.Count
    listSheet(j) = Sheets(j).name
Next j    
Debug.Print (listSheet(2))    
Set sourceSheetSum = sourceBook.Sheets(listSheet(2))

The debug prints Analysis Summary, so I know that the sheet exists in the workbook, and there should not be any issues with a 'typo' in the names.
The code still has the same error at the same line though.

deusxmach1na: I think you wanted me to change

Dim sourceXL As Variant                  
Dim sourceBook As Variant
Dim sourceSheet As Variant
Dim sourceSheetSum As Variant

Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Sheets("Measurements")

To

Dim sourceXL As Excel.Application
Dim sourceBook As Excel.Workbook
Dim sourceSheet As Worksheet
Dim sourceSheetSum As Worksheet

Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Worksheets("Measurements")

But this does not change the error, I remember I had it similar to that, and then changed it since I read that variant is like a catch all, not actually that solid on what variant is.

Answer 1

You have to select the sheet before you can select the range.

I've simplified the example to isolate the problem. Try this:

Option Explicit


Sub RangeError()

    Dim sourceBook As Workbook
    Dim sourceSheet As Worksheet
    Dim sourceSheetSum As Worksheet

    Set sourceBook = ActiveWorkbook
    Set sourceSheet = sourceBook.Sheets("Sheet1")
    Set sourceSheetSum = sourceBook.Sheets("Sheet2")

    sourceSheetSum.Select

    sourceSheetSum.Range("C3").Select           'THIS IS THE PROBLEM LINE

End Sub

Replace Sheet1 and Sheet2 with your sheet names.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Using Variants is dangerous and can lead to difficult-to-kill bugs. Use them only if you have a very specific reason for doing so.