This book is aimed squarely at Excel users who want to harness the
power of the VBA language in their Excel applications. At all
times, the VBA language is presented in the context of Excel, not
just as a general application programming language.
The Primer has been written for those who are new to VBA
programming and the Excel object model. It introduces the VBA
language and the features of the language that are common to all
VBA applications. It explains the relationship between collections,
objects, properties, methods, and events and shows how to relate
these concepts to Excel through its object model. It also shows how
to use the Visual Basic Editor and its multitude of tools,
including how to obtain help.
The middle section of the book takes the key objects in Excel
and shows, through many practical examples, how to go about working
with those objects. The techniques presented have been developed
through the exchange of ideas of many talented Excel VBA
programmers over many years and show the best way to gain access to
workbooks, worksheets, charts, ranges, and so on. The emphasis is
on efficiency?that is, how to write code that is readable and
easy to maintain and that runs at maximum speed. In addition, the
chapters devoted to accessing external databases detail techniques
for accessing data in a range of formats.
The final four chapters of the book address the following
advanced issues: linking Excel to the Internet, writing code for
international compatibility, programming the Visual Basic Editor,
and how to use the functions in the Win32 API (Windows 32-bit
Application Programming Interface).
Author Biography
John Green lives and works in Sydney, Australia, as an
independent computer consultant, specializing in Excel and Access.
He has 35 years of computing experience, a Chemical Engineering
degree, and an MBA.
He wrote his first programs in FORTRAN, took a part in the
evolution of specialized planning languages on mainframes and, in
the early ?80s, became interested in spreadsheet systems,
including 1-2-3 and Excel.
John established his company, Execuplan Consulting, in 1980,
specializing in developing computerbased planning applications and
in training. He has led training seminars for software applications
and operating systems both in Australia and overseas.
John has had regular columns in a number of Australian magazines
and has contributed chapters to a number of books including
Excel Expert Solutions and Using Visual Basic for
Applications 5. He also co-authored Professional Excel
Development with Stephen Bullen and Rob Bovey.
From 1995 to 2005 he was accorded the status of MVP (Most Valuable
Professional) by Microsoft for his contributions to the CompuServe
Excel forum and MS Internet newsgroups.
John Green contributed the Introduction, Chapters 1?11,
13, 15?17, and 19 to this book.
Stephen Bullen lives in Woodford Green, London, England,
with his partner Clare, daughter Becky, and their dogs, Fluffy and
Charlie. He has two other daughters, Jane and Katie, from his first
marriage.
A graduate of Oxford University, Stephen has an MA in Engineering,
Economics, and Management, providing a unique blend of both
business and technical skills. He has been providing Excel
consulting and application development services since 1994,
originally as an employee of Price Waterhouse Management
Consultants and later as an independent consultant trading under
the names of Business Modelling Solutions Limited and Office
Automation Limited. Stephen now works for Barclays Capital in
London, developing trading systems for complex exotic derivative
products.
The Office Automation web site, www.oaltd.co.uk, provides a number
of helpful and interesting utilities, examples, tips and techniques
to help in your use of Excel and development of Excel
applications.
As well as co-authoring previous editions of the Excel VBA
Programmer?s Reference, Stephen co-authored
Professional Excel Development.
In addition to his consulting and writing assignments, Stephen
actively supports the Excel user community in Microsoft?s
peer-to-peer support newsgroups and the Daily Dose of Excel blog.
In recognition of his knowledge, skills and contributions,
Microsoft has awarded him the title of Most Valuable Professional
each year since 1996.
Stephen Bullen contributed Chapters 14, 18, 24?27, and
Appendix B to this book.
Rob Bovey is president of Application Professionals, a
software development company specializing in Microsoft Office,
Visual Basic, and SQL Server applications. He brings many
years? experience creating financial, accounting, and
executive information systems for corporate users to Application
Professionals. You can visit the Application Professionals web site
at www.appspro.com.
Rob developed several add-ins shipped by Microsoft for Microsoft
Excel and co-authored the Microsoft Excel 97 Developers Kit
and Professional Excel Development. He earned his Bachelor
of Science degree from The Rochester Institute of Technology and
his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is
a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and a Microsoft
Certified Solution Developer (MCSD). Microsoft has awarded him the
title of Most Valuable Professional each year since 1995.
Rob Bovey contributed Chapters 20?22 to this book.
Michael Alexander is a Microsoft Certified Application
Developer (MCAD) with more than 14 years? experience
consulting and developing office solutions. He parlayed his
experience with VBA and VB into a successful consulting practice in
the private sector, developing middleware and reporting solutions
for a wide variety of industries. He currently lives in Frisco,
Texas, where he serves as a Senior Program Manager for a top
technology firm. Michael is the author of several books on
Microsoft Access and Excel, and is the principle behind DataPig
Technologies, where he shares Access and Excel knowledge with the
Office community.
Michael Alexander contributed Chapters 12 and 23 and Appendices
A and C to this book.