Developing Web Apps for Excel 2013

[FrExcel]

Hello everybody! I hope it is the correct section for this post as it is somehow ambiguous.

I am trying to stay ahead of the curve with Excel and I noticed that the new version is going to introduce Web Apps; as it is still a little bit fuzzy in my head I wondered if some of you experts would be kind enough to help me clarify my perceptions about this new version.

From what I understand they have opened Excel and Office to new languages such as HTML5/ Javascript... My questions are the following:

1- Do you think Microsoft is trying to replace VBA with more standard languages in this version? I have the impression that they are going to favor the App business-model, which they can centralize and earn a commission on; rather than pushing VBA code which is less easier to control by essence.

2- Do you think newly implemented languages can be more powerful than VBA?

3- What do you think is the best language or combination such as HTML5 + JavaScript to develop an app?

Thank you very much in advance for your insights!

 

[SydneyGeek]

I don't know about the language but I think I could comfortably bet that
(1) VBA isn't going anywhere. Way too big an installed base. Most people would just refuse to upgrade, IMO
(2) Javascript could be a likely Web scripting option. That's the path MS took with Access 2010; the macros (not VBA) are converted to Javascript in web apps. Note that this would require a different automation environment, maybe like the old pre-VBA macros, in parallel with VBA. Then developers would choose one or the other, depending on whether the workbook was going to be desktop or web-based.

Denis

 

[FrExcel]

Thanks for your insights Denis,

I do not doubt that VBA is here to stay for a while but what about the orientation toward a SaaS that Microsoft is trying to impose? I have the impression that building web-based solutions could be easier to deploy and also maybe safer than traditional VBA but then again I may be wrong.

Else you are probably right, the two will very likely cohabit for a certain number of years. I think the best thing for me is to learn JavaScript so I will maybe be able to access to the best of both worlds,

François

 

[mjhea0]

There is also a rise in Python APIs that work through the COM that are more powerful than VBA and can still incorporate VBA in the code. Check out Data Nitro - https://www.datanitro.com/

I agree that VBA is here to stay for a while, but it will slowly be phased out in favor of JavaScript and Python - which are much easier to learn and more powerful in my opinion.

 

[FrExcel]

Thanks for your reply mjhea0, the link you provided is also very interesting. From what I understand, DataNitro's main advantage over VBA is the conveniency for data import from the Internet (I must confess that web interactions appear quite tricky to me in VBA)

Otherwise I think I will focus on JavaScript then as it is the direction that Office (and apparently more broadly the market) is gearing toward; I have the impression that the concept of application will be interesting for deployment on large scales. This being said I am not entirely clear with this matter and I need to get more knowledge.

 

[Kyle123]

I agree that VBA is here to stay for a while, but it will slowly be phased out in favor of JavaScript and Python - which are much easier to learn and more powerful in my opinion.

Do you have a source for this? I can't see MS ever replacing VBA with Python. It would require the creation of an entirely new development environment that would have to run concurrently with VBA, since VBA isn't going anywhere. Lets not forget that VBA runs within the Excel Environment, with integrated debugging and a whole host of features to make working with Excel easier, not to mention working with windows functions easier. Python may offer shorter code, but its ease of use is nowhere near the level that VBA offers, especially to people just "dipping their toe" for the first time.

What incentive would there be for MS to replace VBA with python?

I'd say that replacing VBA with a .Net based solution, is more likely; but I'm not holding my breath

 

[RoryA]

To the best of my knowledge the RT versions of Office 2013 do not support VBA but do support web apps so from that point of view learning JavaScript may be useful, though I don't know how much of, or how well, the excel object model is exposed to the web apps.

 

[Kyle123]

That's surprised me Rory, have MS gone potty? naughty touchy interfaced OS and no support for VBA in office 2013?

Hmmm, all seems a bit like shooting themselves in the foot, ah well might have to find another pastime than Excel forums though will be interesting to see how they integrate js into Excel, I suspect they must have created an awful lot of libraries.

MSDN seems to imply here that VBA is available in 2013 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg508917(v=office.15).aspx

 

[RoryA]

To the best of my knowledge the RT versions of Office 2013 do not support VBA

The normal versions do support VBA!!

 

[Kyle123]

Oh yeah missed that bit


Actually having read up a bit now, I quite like the sound of these new office "apps", they sound pretty nifty, sound a lot like the ones for google spreadsheets