How can I open a console window from Excel?

Question

I want to display debug information.

I already log to a UserForm, the Immediate window and files.

I tried using AllocConsole, but it fails with error 87 : The parameter is incorrect.


Option Explicit

Private Declare PtrSafe Function FreeConsole Lib "kernel32" () As Long
Private Declare PtrSafe Function AllocConsole Lib "kernel32" () As Long
'https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/console/allocconsole

Sub Example()
    Dim l As Long
    
    l = FreeConsole
    Debug.Print "FreeConsole: " & l     ' 1
    
    If FreeConsole = 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.LastDllError, "FreeConsole failed"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
    l = AllocConsole
    Debug.Print "AllocConsole: " & l     ' 0
    
    If l = 0 Then
        Debug.Print Err.LastDllError ' 87 : The parameter is incorrect.
        Exit Sub
    End If
    
End Sub

Output:

FreeConsole: 1
AllocConsole: 0
 87

N.B. I'm using Excel 365 (Version 2207 Build 1547.20284) on Windows 10 (20H2).

Not sure what you want to achieve. Usually, you simply use Debug.Print to write something into the immediate window. Never heard that someone wants to use a console to debug VBA — FunThomas, Oct 12 '22 at 12:24
The console is built into the editor, press Ctrl+G to bring it up. If you want to present it to the user, you need to make your own UI and `Debug.Print` wrapper — Mathieu Guindon, Oct 12 '22 at 14:14
cmd.exe with parameters if you really want to display to this window see: [link]https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17956651/execute-a-command-in-command-prompt-using-excel-vba — Red Hare, Oct 12 '22 at 14:26
I already log to both text files and the immediate window, however, I have some data that needs text + colour. — William Bettridge-Radford, Oct 12 '22 at 15:16

How can I open a console window from Excel?

0 Answers0