VBA Noooobs

[hoshino]

Hi

Just thought I'd ask for some perspective and direction....

I have a position now where the scope to implement better reports etc is large, I could become this office's excel hero (there isn't much competition honestly), I have a head full of ideas, but googling how to pull these off too often returns a lot of VBA that I know nothing about.

Where would you recommend to get started with VBA? (All I know is it makes no sense to me...)

How long has it taken you to become proficient? (and do you ever become proficient?)

and is it really worth learning, can it take me places, such as VB, C#, those kind of things....?

Any kind words, or kick-up-the-*** words, much appreciated.

 

[Trevor G]

You will get a number of responses to this thread, but one way to consider learning about VBA is to record MACROS to perform a number of tasks you already do, but find it to repetative.

As you know the tasks then when you start to explore the code behind the recorded MACRO you will recognise certain words and details.

I would also consider attending a VBA introduction course, it will give you the basic grounding.

You will learn better once you start trying to apply and create solutions to things people want etc. It will take you to places like VB and C etc, there is a demand for VBA programming/programmers.

The more you do the quicker you learn (and frustration will be there also).

I hope this helps a little.

 

[rs2k]

I recomend the 'Live Lessons' in the Mr Excel store;
http://www.mrexcel.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=168

It's an easy to understand tutorial in VBA. One bit of advice I can give is that VBA is not the 'be all and end all' and at times formulas can be quicker, and one last thing, VBA can be very unforgiving, so always test on a copy of your workbook.

HTH
Colin

 

[ADAMC]

Hi mate,

As Trevor says the best way I found to learn was to simply hit the record macro button...play around in excel inputting text in cells changing colours etc etc then looking at the code which was produced.
I would then take this code and line by line try and re - write it so its streamlined/ cleaner/ faster.

I am by no means an expert but I learnt an awful lot by just searching posts on this forum playing about with code and if i got stuck posting a question. But I would only post a question when I was absolutely at my wits end...this seemed to aide my learning quicker than usual as i would be determined to find a solution without asking for one in the first instance.

one thing id note which i learnt the hard way
ALWAYS run your macros on test data or copies of workbooks youd be amazed how many times i messed things up which I couldnt undo when I was learning (which i still am every day)

Have a look at this link think its what started me off.......

http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2676997&postcount=5

 

[Ruddles]

I've been a programmer since 1978, using Basic since 1981 and VB since 1990-ish (I think), and I'm still learning all the time. However you can become 'proficient' (whatever that means) fairly quickly if you're prepared to put the time in.

A fair amount of my code is cobbled together from snippets I find on the Web and my own personal code library. Solving a problem isn't necessarily knowing how to do it, it's often knowing where to look up the information you need.

I don't disagree with any of the above suggestions. Online tutorials are good - and free! - whereas paying for tuition is rather expensive and is probably left until you're over the beginner stages of the learning curve.

As far as online tutorials are concerned, I happen to like http://www.w3schools.com/.

If you're looking to apply VBA to Excel, learn the simpler functions and processes first: how to cycle (loop) through a series of worksheet cells, keep running totals, manipulate numbers and characters strings. Learn about IF..THEN and CASE SELECT, DO WHILE/UNTIL and FOR..NEXT. Make sure you know the difference between the various data types and objects such as workbooks, worksheets, cells, ranges, rows and columns.

Macros are an invaluable source of code. I often record myself performing just one or two steps purely to save myself the bother of writing the code myself - and of course to make sure I get the syntax correct!

Watch this forum for code snippets - a lot of them do remarkably simple things but they're posted because the requesters can't write them themselves. Copy them and test them yourself, then look at them and see if you can work out how they work. Ask questions - the forum is remarkably friendly and you will receive a reply within minutes or even seconds, and the variety of the replies will show you the various ways a problem can be solved.

Save any code you write because one day you may need to recycle it. if you export your code modules to text files when you've finished developing them, you can re-import them easily into future projects.

See you around!