Macro basics?

  • Thread starter Thread starter P D Sterling
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P

P D Sterling

where can I get some resource about creating macros? I was a top expert
in Lotus 1-2-3, and loved writing little macros to make work go faster
and smoother, but MicroSoft doesn't seem to understands macros the same
way and I am depressed about it.
--

Regards,

P D Sterling
Dallas TX
 
Hi PD

I feel yopur pain. The Excel macro language is VBA, a tailored Visual Basic
6. So it's programming as in computer programming, not a series of commands
mimicking a software user with a keyboard. It takes some time to learn.

But when you get into it, I'm sure you will enjoy it a lot, it is extremely
powerful. I suggest a book, some quiet evenings and buckets of black cofee.
And if I may suggest a book;
http://www.j-walk.com/ss/books/bookxl27.htm

Here is an amusing article on how this thing came to be, written by the
program manager at the time:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html

HTH. Best wishes Harald
 
Microsoft and Lotus use different languages for macros.

Lotus is very crude and MS uses Visual Basic for Applications which is much more
robust.

To while away the time during your depression, visit David McRitchie's "getting
started with Macros"

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

Also hang out in the microsoft.public.excel.programming news group to pick up
some pointers from such notables as Tom Ogilvy, Dave Peterson and Bob Phillips
to name a few.

What the heck...hang around all the excel news groups.

Macros are discussed in all the groups.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP
 
Gord said:
Microsoft and Lotus use different languages for macros.

Lotus is very crude and MS uses Visual Basic for Applications which is much more
robust.
Click to expand...

Gord forgot to mention that that "crude" Lotus macro language was
copied by Excel in it's early days and was much easier to write than
VBA. It takes a long time to learn VBA, I know because I'm doing it
now. I sorely miss the old Lotus/Excel macro language, almost anyone
who had a little knowledge of spreadsheets could pick up the syntax in
a few hours and write simple macros to do simple repetitive tasks. It
takes much longer than that to begin to understand the Object Model in
VBA, much less write any useful code. MS effectively put macros out of
the reach of the average user and strictly into the hands programmers.
I wish they had kept the macro language, even if they weren't going to
upgrade it anymore, and added VBA separately. Typical MS total
disregard for the needs of the majority of it's users.
 
Hi P D,

Do not despair. I too was once in your position, or one very similar. I used
to use Lotus 1-23 and was quite adroit with the macro language, writing many
applications with it. When my employer at the time started to switch to
Office, I was not impressed. I thought PowerPoint was far inferior to
Freehand, Excel was good but Lotus was better, and Excel macros were non to
my taste. But things moved on and Office it was, so I got to use Excel quite
a bit, and even got to like it. But I still did not like the macro language,
even though I did use it. And then along came VBA ... Well that was a whole
new ball-game. I started to use it, and got to really appreciate the power
and flexibility of the language. It isn't Lotus macros, but in many ways,
that is a good thing. Remember your programming disciplines (design, logical
thinking, test, re-test, structure et al), but throw the rest away, and
revel in the learning opportunity, it's what stops us going senile. Gord has
given you lots of good advice on how to get started, follow that up and
enjoy it.

Best of luck.

Bob
 
P D,

A good way to learn the language is by recording and reviewing the
code, but Excel does record some junk code too and many times you can
delete a lot of what it records, but it helps. I learned the Excel
object module (and I learn more each project) through the use of F1
(VBA and Excel Help) and searching for code examples and explanations,
mainly on www.mrexcel.com. I recently found this group and I'm sure
there's a lot of great code examples and support here too. I love what
I can do with VBA and Excel, but I did take a VB 6.0 class in 2001, so
learning VBA was a bit easier thatn if I came from something else.
Have fun!

Shidan
 
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