This is a word processor that expects you to type VBA commands and if you type anything else it complains that you have made a mistake.To automate Excel objects in a VB.net project, you have to add reference to
If you wanted to you could just use a module for making notes but if you do you will find that it complains about what you type. When you save the workbook the module is saved along with all of the other pages and loaded again. If you start typing you will find that you can enter lines of text and edit them using copy, cut and paste and the backspace key in the usual way. It behaves more like a simple word processor. It doesn’t have cells and can’t work out formulas. The key thing to understand is that a module doesn’t behave at all like a spreadsheet. Don’t worry about this for the moment what it does will be explained very soon. You may also notice that a new toolbar has appeared at the top - it looks like the controls on a VCR. Each module you create is given a default name - Module1, Module2 and so on - but you can rename it quite easily by typing a new name into the Properties box at the bottom left. Step Two - Entering textĪ new module looks like a blank sheet of paper - which is more or less what it is. To insert a module you use the command Insert,Macro,Module. Once you actually get to the Visual Basic Editor everything looks the same, no matter what version of Excel you are working with. Excel 2010 has a Visual Basic Editor icon in the Developer tab. Early version tend to use Tools, Macro, Visual Basic Editor. How you open the VBA editor depends on the version of Excel you are running. You write a VBA program not in a standard worksheet but in a specially inserted workbook page called a module.To work with a module you have to be in the VBA editor. You should now be able to see the Developer tab in the ribbon - if not you haven't performed the first of the tasks and if you can't run a VBA program then you haven't successfully configured the Trust center. Select Macro settings and finally select enable all macros. To do this you use the File, Options command again but this time select the Trust Center and the Trust Center Settings. This isn't quite enough because you also have to allow the Excel to run programs included with spreadsheets. You then have tick the Developer box to allow the Developer icon to appear. To enable VBA you have to use the File, Options and select Customise the Ribbon.
For historical reasons VBA programs are also known as "macros" and you will find that a lot of the menu options and help files refer to macros. Because spreadsheets that contain programs can be a security risk VBA is disabled in all spreadsheets by default. If you are using Excel 2010 then your first problem is enabling VBA.
#VISUAL BASIC FOR EXCEL 2010 HOW TO#
This may seem trivial but it ensures that you know how to start writing a program and how to run a program without worrying you too much about the difficulties of the actual program. It is a long tradition in programming that the first program you write when learning a new language is “Hello World”.Īll this program does is to display the message on the screen for you to see. So open a copy of Excel and let's get started. Over time VBA has been removed from the main menus and been converted into an option to save beginners from being confused or intimidated by it.įor the screen dumps we are going to use Excel 2010 but the all of the earlier versions of Excel work in much the same way once you get to actually writing a program. The same is true for different versions of Excel - but what does differ is how you gain access to the facility. You will also find VBA within other Office applications and the details of the language hardly differ.
What is isn't so good at is building big and sophisticated applications, but as a way of automating Excel and building Excel-based applications it is very good indeed. Today VBA is the last outpost of classic Visual Basic and it is very suited to getting jobs done quickly and easily. VBA is derived from Visual Basic 6 which was the most used programming language in the world until it was phased out when Microsoft introduced.