ISO: Free VBA tutorials

[Johnny C]

I've been asked to train some co-workers in VBA. They have no knowledge of VBA at all (except 1 chap), and can't edit code. I have little experience of training and what I do have is limited to people who already knew a lot about Excel (and that wasn't VBA).

First they need the basics - editting a macro, sub structure, basic object and data types. They need to learn to programme to interact with data on a worksheet, the three simple process types (assignment, loops, conditional statements).

What else would I need to consider?

I know that in the 2hour slot I've been given the first 10 things will be remembered and the rest forgotten probably (there will be follow-up classes to firm that up) but I'll give them a simple automation exercise to do

Are there any online resources I could use as a basis? I've got an old John Walkenbach book CD which I'll have a look at but I think that the exercise will need to be tailored to subjects with which they are familiar (retail banking).

Any advice gratefully received

 

[jeffreybrown]

Here are a few of places to start...

http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=339643&page=2
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352116
http://www.functionx.com/vbaexcel/index.htm
http://www.anthony-vba.kefra.com/vba/vbabasic1.htm
http://www.tushar-mehta.com/excel/vba/beyond_the_macro_recorder/index.htm

They need to learn to programme to interact with data on a worksheet, the three simple process types (assignment, loops, conditional statements)

Specifically for the above look at DataPig Technologies

 

[Johnny C]

Thanks - plenty of stuff for me to look at here!

 

[Domski]

That's a big ask. I was asked to do the same and I politely refused. Mainly because I still don't think my VBA skills are good enough but also I didn't want to spend the next year putting all the code they'd written right.

Good luck!!!

Dom

 

[Norie]

Johnny

Are you getting paid for this?

You certainly should be since it sounds as though you will be putting a lot more than 2 hours into the thing.

Perhaps you should suggest that a consultant/trainer is brought in, and then see the raised eyebrows when they see what that would cost.

 

[Johnny C]

I'm contracting and my brief is quite vague. I am happy to have a go as the prep will be done in paid time and it will look good on my CV... if I'm any good it may be a job opportunity in the future, I'd love a slice of what 'professional' trainers get paid!

I'm also keen to have a go because there are models that need building that must be maintainable when my contract expires and I move on. If I build the models in normal Excel then they'll be a nightmare to maintain (the models are all about scenario modelling for multiple changes in bank base rates over periods of time). My preferred option is that I build a robust VBA solution which will be quite simple in VBA terms, a page of scenario parameters and a simple loop to run through them and chuck the results out to an output workbook. I can get probably 2 members of the team up to speed whereby they could maintain them if they had to. Obviously I'd build the VBA such that all input/output parameters came from an input sheet and they'd not need to maintain the VBA but I can understand the boss's reluctance to be dependant on something they couldn't fix at all.

He doesn't understand VBA and doesn't believe my argument that they wouldn't ever need fixing even though there's similar models I built a year ago that haven't needed touching.

It's a large organisation and there are online training courses for VBA but for some reason they all shy away from them, they need hand-holding.

 

[Norie]

Johnny

I'd love to see the online training courses.

Bet you the tests are multiple choice.

 

[Johnny C]

True, unless it's very simple VBA people can write completely differently so you couldn't really automate it. My programming background is (ahem) pre-Windows so I tend to reinvent the wheel, when I look on here there's a very simple windows object that would do the trick.

For some reason the VBA e-course one has been taken way but the rest aren't even multiple choice, just PDFs.

 

[Norie]

Johnny

My programming background, if you want to call it that, is pre-PC.

I suppose there's no harm in having some sort of online training available but I can't see it being of much use realistically.

 

[Johnny C]

I was lucky. My first programming job was programming Basic on this thing called an Olivetti M20. It was smaller than a minicomputer but bigger than a BBC, it was designed for business's and based oni this new IBM one and given the title of 'Personal Computer'. The following year a chap called Bill Gates brought out this op system called 'MS-DOS' which was far superior to the original Olivetti system (GCOS), it easily coped with the 64K Ram and 10Mb disk of the Olivetti.

So this is progress; I've now got a degree (I didn't then), I'm a chartered accountant, and here I am, 26 years later, still banging out Basic on a PC. The PC is better, the Basic is better, but alas what I was doing with them then (graphics) was far more interesting.