Introduction... 1 Part I: Getting Started with Excel VBA Programming Part II: How VBA Works with Excel... 31

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1 Contents at a Glance Introduction... 1 Part I: Getting Started with Excel VBA Programming... 9 Chapter 1: What Is VBA?...11 Chapter 2: Jumping Right In...21 Part II: How VBA Works with Excel Chapter 3: Working in the Visual Basic Editor...33 Chapter 4: Introducing the Excel Object Model...53 Chapter 5: VBA Sub and Function Procedures...67 Chapter 6: Using the Excel Macro Recorder...79 Part III: Programming Concepts Chapter 7: Essential VBA Language Elements...93 Chapter 8: Working with Range Objects Chapter 9: Using VBA and Worksheet Functions Chapter 10: Controlling Program Flow and Making Decisions Chapter 11: Automatic Procedures and Events Chapter 12: Error-Handling Techniques Chapter 13: Bug Extermination Techniques Chapter 14: VBA Programming Examples Part IV: Communicating with Your Users Chapter 15: Simple Dialog Boxes Chapter 16: UserForm Basics Chapter 17: Using UserForm Controls Chapter 18: UserForm Techniques and Tricks Chapter 19: Accessing Your Macros through the User Interface COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Part V: Putting It All Together Chapter 20: Creating Worksheet Functions and Living to Tell about It Chapter 21: Creating Excel Add-Ins...347

2 Part VI: The Part of Tens Chapter 22: Ten VBA Questions (and Answers) Chapter 23: (Almost) Ten Excel Resources Chapter 24: Ten VBA Do s and Don ts Index

3 Table of Contents Introduction... 1 Is This the Right Book?...1 So You Want to Be a Programmer Why Bother?...2 What I Assume about You...3 Obligatory Typographical Conventions Section...4 Check Your Security Settings...5 How This Book Is Organized...6 Part I: Getting Started with Excel VBA Programming...6 Part II: How VBA Works with Excel...6 Part III: Programming Concepts...6 Part IV: Communicating with Your Users...7 Part V: Putting It All Together...7 Part VI: The Part of Tens...7 Icons Used in This Book...7 Getting the Sample Files...8 Now What?...8 Part I: Getting Started with Excel VBA Programming... 9 Chapter 1: What Is VBA? Okay, So What Is VBA?...11 What Can You Do with VBA?...12 Inserting a bunch of text...13 Automating a task you perform frequently...13 Automating repetitive operations...13 Creating a custom command...13 Creating a custom button...13 Developing new worksheet functions...14 Creating custom add-ins for Excel...14 Creating complete, macro-driven applications...14 Advantages and Disadvantages of VBA...14 VBA advantages...14 VBA disadvantages...15 VBA in a Nutshell...15 An Excursion into Versions...18

4 viii Excel VBA Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition Chapter 2: Jumping Right In First Things First...21 What You ll Be Doing...22 Taking the First Steps...22 Recording the Macro...23 Testing the Macro...24 Examining the Macro...25 Modifying the Macro...27 Saving Workbooks That Contain Macros...27 Understanding Macro Security...28 More about the NameAndTime Macro...30 Part II: How VBA Works with Excel Chapter 3: Working in the Visual Basic Editor What Is the Visual Basic Editor?...33 Activating the VBE...33 Understanding VBE components...34 Working with the Project Window...36 Adding a new VBA module...37 Removing a VBA module...38 Exporting and importing objects...38 Working with a Code Window...39 Minimizing and maximizing windows...39 Creating a module...40 Getting VBA code into a module...41 Entering code directly...41 Using the macro recorder...44 Copying VBA code...46 Customizing the VBA Environment...47 Using the Editor tab...47 Using the Editor Format tab...50 Using the General tab...51 Using the Docking tab...52 Chapter 4: Introducing the Excel Object Model Excel Is an Object?...54 Climbing the Object Hierarchy...54 Wrapping Your Mind around Collections...55 Referring to Objects...56 Navigating through the hierarchy...57 Simplifying object references...57 Diving into Object Properties and Methods...58 Object properties...60 Object methods...61 Object events...62

5 Table of Contents ix Finding Out More...63 Using VBA s Help system...63 Using the Object Browser...64 Automatically listing properties and methods...65 Chapter 5: VBA Sub and Function Procedures Subs versus Functions...67 Looking at Sub procedures...68 Looking at Function procedures...68 Naming Subs and Functions...69 Executing Sub procedures...69 Executing the Sub procedure directly...71 Executing the procedure from the Macro dialog box...72 Executing a macro by using a shortcut key...72 Executing the procedure from a button or shape...74 Executing the procedure from another procedure...75 Executing Function procedures...76 Calling the function from a Sub procedure...76 Calling a function from a worksheet formula...77 Chapter 6: Using the Excel Macro Recorder Is It Live, or Is It VBA?...79 Recording Basics...80 Preparing to Record...82 Relative or Absolute?...82 Recording in absolute mode...82 Recording in relative mode...83 What Gets Recorded?...85 Recording Options...86 Macro name...87 Shortcut key...87 Store Macro In...87 Description...87 Is This Thing Efficient?...88 Part III: Programming Concepts Chapter 7: Essential VBA Language Elements Using Comments in Your VBA Code...93 Using Variables, Constants, and Data Types...95 Understanding variables...95 What are VBA s data types?...96 Declaring and scoping variables...98 Working with constants Pre-made constants Working with strings Working with dates...107

6 x Excel VBA Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition Using Assignment Statements Assignment statement examples About that equal sign Smooth operators Working with Arrays Declaring arrays Multidimensional arrays Dynamic arrays Using Labels Chapter 8: Working with Range Objects A Quick Review Other Ways to Refer to a Range The Cells property The Offset property Some Useful Range Object Properties The Value property The Text property The Count property The Column and Row properties The Address property The HasFormula property The Font property The Interior property The Formula property The NumberFormat property Some Useful Range Object Methods The Select method The Copy and Paste methods The Clear method The Delete method Chapter 9: Using VBA and Worksheet Functions What Is a Function? Using Built-In VBA Functions VBA function examples VBA functions that do more than return a value Discovering VBA functions Using Worksheet Functions in VBA Worksheet function examples Entering worksheet functions More about using worksheet functions Using Custom Functions...140

7 Table of Contents xi Chapter 10: Controlling Program Flow and Making Decisions Going with the Flow, Dude The GoTo Statement Decisions, Decisions The If-Then structure The Select Case structure Knocking Your Code for a Loop For-Next loops Do-While loop Do-Until loop Using For Each-Next Loops With Collections Chapter 11: Automatic Procedures and Events Preparing for the Big Event Are events useful? Programming event-handler procedures Where Does the VBA Code Go? Writing an Event-Handler Procedure Introductory Examples The Open event for a workbook The BeforeClose event for a workbook The BeforeSave event for a workbook Examples of Activation Events Activate and deactivate events in a sheet Activate and deactivate events in a workbook Workbook activation events Other Worksheet-Related Events The BeforeDoubleClick event The BeforeRightClick event The Change event Events Not Associated with Objects The OnTime event Keypress events Chapter 12: Error-Handling Techniques Types of Errors An Erroneous Example The macro s not quite perfect The macro is still not perfect Is the macro perfect yet? Giving up on perfection Handling Errors Another Way Revisiting the EnterSquareRoot procedure About the On Error statement...189

8 xii Excel VBA Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition Handling Errors: The Details Resuming after an error Error handling in a nutshell Knowing when to ignore errors Identifying specific errors An Intentional Error Chapter 13: Bug Extermination Techniques Species of Bugs Identifying Bugs Debugging Techniques Examining your code Using the MsgBox function Inserting Debug.Print statements Using the VBA debugger About the Debugger Setting breakpoints in your code Using the Watch window Using the Locals window Bug Reduction Tips Chapter 14: VBA Programming Examples Working with Ranges Copying a range Copying a variable-sized range Selecting to the end of a row or column Selecting a row or column Moving a range Looping through a range efficiently Looping through a range efficiently (Part II) Prompting for a cell value Determining the selection type Identifying a multiple selection Changing Excel Settings Changing Boolean settings Changing non-boolean settings Working with Charts AddChart versus AddChart Modifying the chart type Looping through the ChartObjects collection Modifying chart properties Applying chart formatting VBA Speed Tips Turning off screen updating Turning off automatic calculation Eliminating those pesky alert messages Simplifying object references Declaring variable types Using the With-End With structure...229

9 Table of Contents xiii Part IV: Communicating with Your Users Chapter 15: Simple Dialog Boxes UserForm Alternatives The MsgBox Function Displaying a simple message box Getting a response from a message box Customizing message boxes The InputBox Function InputBox syntax An InputBox example Another type of InputBox The GetOpenFilename Method The syntax for the GetOpenFilename method A GetOpenFilename example The GetSaveAsFilename Method Getting a Folder Name Displaying Excel s Built-in Dialog Boxes Chapter 16: UserForm Basics Knowing When to Use a UserForm Creating UserForms: An Overview Working with UserForms Inserting a new UserForm Adding controls to a UserForm Changing properties for a UserForm control Viewing the UserForm Code window Displaying a UserForm Using information from a UserForm A UserForm Example Creating the UserForm Adding the CommandButtons Adding the OptionButtons Adding event-handler procedures Creating a macro to display the dialog box Making the macro available Testing the macro Chapter 17: Using UserForm Controls Getting Started with Dialog Box Controls Adding controls Introducing control properties Dialog Box Controls: The Details CheckBox control ComboBox control CommandButton control Frame control Image control...271

10 xiv Excel VBA Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition Label control ListBox control MultiPage control OptionButton control RefEdit control ScrollBar control SpinButton control TabStrip control TextBox control ToggleButton control Working with Dialog Box Controls Moving and resizing controls Aligning and spacing controls Accommodating keyboard users Testing a UserForm Dialog Box Aesthetics Chapter 18: UserForm Techniques and Tricks Using Dialog Boxes A UserForm Example Creating the dialog box Writing code to display the dialog box Making the macro available Trying out your dialog box Adding event-handler procedures Validating the data Now the dialog box works More UserForm Examples A ListBox example Selecting a range Using multiple sets of OptionButtons Using a SpinButton and a TextBox Using a UserForm as a progress indicator Creating a modeless tabbed dialog box Displaying a chart in a UserForm A Dialog Box Checklist Chapter 19: Accessing Your Macros through the User Interface Ribbon Customization Customizing the Ribbon manually Adding a macro to the Ribbon Customizing the Ribbon with XML Customizing Shortcut Menus Commanding the CommandBars collection Listing all shortcut menus Referring to CommandBars Referring to controls in a CommandBar Properties of CommandBar controls...317

11 Table of Contents xv VBA Shortcut Menu Examples Resetting all built-in, right-click menus Adding a new item to the Cell shortcut menu Disabling a shortcut menu Creating a Custom Toolbar Part V: Putting It All Together Chapter 20: Creating Worksheet Functions and Living to Tell about It Why Create Custom Functions? Understanding VBA Function Basics Writing Functions Working with Function Arguments Function Examples A function with no argument A function with one argument A function with two arguments A function with a range argument A function with an optional argument Wrapper Functions The NumberFormat function The ExtractElement function The SayIt function The IsLike function Functions That Return an Array Returning an array of month names Returning a sorted list Using the Insert Function Dialog Box Displaying the function s description Argument descriptions Chapter 21: Creating Excel Add-Ins Okay... So What s an Add-In? Why Create Add-Ins? Working with Add-Ins Add-In Basics An Add-In Example Setting up the workbook Testing the workbook Adding descriptive information Protecting the VBA code Creating the add-in Opening the add-in Distributing the add-in Modifying the add-in...356

12 xvi Excel VBA Programming For Dummies, 3rd Edition Part VI: The Part of Tens Chapter 22: Ten VBA Questions (and Answers) Chapter 23: (Almost) Ten Excel Resources The VBA Help System Microsoft Product Support Internet Websites Excel Blogs Google Bing Local User Groups My Other Books Chapter 24: Ten VBA Do s and Don ts Do Declare All Variables Don t Confuse Passwords with Security Do Clean Up Your Code Don t Put Everything in One Procedure Do Consider Other Software Don t Assume That Everyone Enables Macros Do Get in the Habit of Experimenting Don t Assume That Your Code Will Work with Other Excel Versions Do Keep Your Users in Mind Don t Forget About Backups Index