VBA Masters

  • Thread starter Thread starter Todd Huttenstine
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Todd Huttenstine

Just curious... There are about 10 or so people who I notice always answer
the questions. There are some others but I usually notice about 10 and you
all know who you are. Just wondering if you could give me an idea of where
you guys gained the knowledge and how long yall have been doing it??? I use
Excel allot and VBA is always needed. I am learning by examples and
experience but its a slow process. Each day something else clicks.

Anyway, this is great resource.

Todd
 
Todd,

I hope that I am not being presumptuous in assuming that I am one of the 10,
so ignore this if you didn't think so<vbg>!

Personally, I have used Basic in many forms in the past, first with the
Apple, then with the old BBC machine. I migrated onto Pascal in the mid
80's. In the late 80's I started to use Excel (switching from Lotus), but I
didn't use it's macro language much (the VBA predecessor) , found it too
clunky, and thus didn't really build Excel type applications. By the time
VBA came out I was pretty conversant with Excel, and had started to use VB
for applications, so a switch to using VBA was relatively painless, although
understanding the object model was the key to use it to any effectiveness.

As I said, I had VB experience, so my main problem at the start of using VBA
was the Excel object model (and I must admit I still find the Word and
Outlook models a challenge, and the Visio model almost incomprehensible). To
help me with that, guess where I looked - you've got it, these NGs. From
here I also learnt that the MS KB articles are very useful, I found Chip
Pearson's site which has always been an inspiration, and various other
learning resources. The only VBA book I have ever bought is John Green's
Programmer's Reference Manual which is great, but other people also say good
things about some of John Walkenbach's books, and Kent Getz''s book is well
regarded.

The other aspect that took some understanding was APIs. I used the Allapi
site here to get me kick started, and although it is not maintained anymore,
it can still be found at http://www.mentalis.org/index2.shtml.

As VBA is a subset (or is it a superset?) of VB, many of the VB resources,
books and websites, can also be very useful in getting particular problems
solved.

The amazing thing is how mushy free information there is out there, although
there is no substitute for practice, and trial and error. I do often think I
am writing code purely for the sake of having some code that does 'xyz', not
to solve a problem I have today<vbg>.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips
... looking out across Poole Harbour to the Purbecks
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)
 
I replied to Todd's question on this group, but it is now reporting as not
being available on this server. Can anyone else see it, and anyone know why
it is not available?

Regards

Bob
 
I replied to Todd's question on this group, but it is now reporting as not
being available on this server. Can anyone else see it, and anyone know why
it is not available?
Click to expand...

I see it just fine - no clue why it's N/A.
 
Just curious... There are about 10 or so people who I notice always answer
the questions. There are some others but I usually notice about 10 and you
all know who you are. Just wondering if you could give me an idea of where
you guys gained the knowledge and how long yall have been doing it??? I use
Excel allot and VBA is always needed. I am learning by examples and
experience but its a slow process. Each day something else clicks.

Anyway, this is great resource.

Todd
Click to expand...

If you just count sheer numbers of posts, there's actually 14 (or 13). I
did a quick count of posts that I could retrieve from the server. Here's
everyone with at least 100 posts in that time (47 days):

Tom Ogilvy 1627 (that's not a typo - one thousand six hundred plus)
Chip Pearson 347
Ron de Bruin 280
Don Guillett 264
Dave Peterson 249
steve 231 (probably more than one person)
Bob Phillips 195
J.E. McGimpsey 142
Harald Staff 129
Dick Kusleika 120
Todd Huttenstine 116 (yes, you're on the list)
Vasant Nanavati 104
Bernie Deitrick 103
keepitcool 100

Compare with me: 18 posts (including this one) and among the people I
know, I'm the "answer person". I just hope that these people get paid
for it.
 
John,

That's all groups (at least it is on Debra's site), not just programming
group.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips
... looking out across Poole Harbour to the Purbecks
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

John Wilson said:
Auric,
did a quick count of posts that I could retrieve from the server
Click to expand...
No need to do a manual count. There are at least two sites where
that information is already compiled.
http://www.contextures.com/xlngstats.html
or click on the Newsgroup Statistics link on Tushar's site:
http://www.tushar-mehta.com

John



I
Click to expand...
 
John,

But I see all of my other posts, so why should this one be different? Is it
a known intermittent bug?

It actually appeared fleetingly and then gave the not available message.

Regards

Bob
 
Auric,

I just counted up in Google, and Tom has posted 46,100 (sic!) to this group
since it started.Chip has posted 8,010, and Dave (Peterson) has posted
7,880.

Staggering when you think about it.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips
... looking out across Poole Harbour to the Purbecks
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)
 
Bob,
That's all groups
Click to expand...
Knew that...
Tushar's site is a lot more comprehensive.
http://www.tushar-mehta.com/
If you haven't seen it, it's well worth a visit.

John

Bob Phillips said:
John,

That's all groups (at least it is on Debra's site), not just programming
group.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips
... looking out across Poole Harbour to the Purbecks
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)
Click to expand...
 
You can get a lot of interesting newsgroup statistics at
http://netscan.research.microsoft.com


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com


Bob Phillips said:
Auric,

I just counted up in Google, and Tom has posted 46,100 (sic!) to this group
since it started.Chip has posted 8,010, and Dave (Peterson) has posted
7,880.

Staggering when you think about it.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips
... looking out across Poole Harbour to the Purbecks
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

notice always
answer about 10 and
you an idea of
where doing it??? I
use
Click to expand...
 
no idea, really - I've never used OE (though I do use its
supercharged cousin, Entourage, for mail). I just know that when
news articles start disappearing, it's more than likely that OE is
involved. The MS news server going down is a minor exception, but
switching over to another server fixes that.
 
Chip,

Had seen that one a while ago but it wasn't being updated on
a timely basis, so I lost track of it.
It's amazing how many different ways you can manipulate data.
Anyway, thanks for reminding me about the site.

John

Chip Pearson said:
You can get a lot of interesting newsgroup statistics at
http://netscan.research.microsoft.com


--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
Click to expand...
 
Todd Huttenstine said:
Just wondering if you could give me an idea of where
you guys gained the knowledge and how long yall have been doing it???
Click to expand...

Hi Todd

Except for the usual "practice, practice" (I write code for a living); right
here. Since 5-6 years ago I spend 30 to 90 minutes a day in these
newggroups, reading, testing and learning from real life problems &
solutions.
 
I just counted up in Google, and Tom has posted 46,100 (sic!) to this group
since it started.Chip has posted 8,010, and Dave (Peterson) has posted
7,880.
Click to expand...

This is great. I just cant even think that so much efforts were put
just to help others without any reward. I joind this NG just one
month back and found it very useful. Currently I spend around two hrs
on NG and then another 2 hrs on trial and error on what I learned from
the NG. Solving others problems always takes more time then learning
for own problems.

Cheers ! ! !
 
Shetty,
just to help others without any reward
Click to expand...
The reward is in knowing that you *have* helped others and there is
absolutely no better way, in my opinion, to broaden your knowledge
than active participation in the ng's.
You can study all the books that you want with example spreadsheets
of widgets, wingdings and whatnot, but here in the ng's you get to
deal with 'real world' examples and problems.
When I first happened upon the ng's I thought that I knew about 75%
of what could be done with Excel. I quickly learned that I was actually
in the 5% to 10% range. I venture to guess that I'm up near the 50%
range now but there's no way that I could have learned as much as I
did without trying to help others here.

John
 
John Wilson said:
Shetty,

When I first happened upon the ng's I thought that I knew about 75%
of what could be done with Excel. I quickly learned that I was actually
in the 5% to 10% range. I venture to guess that I'm up near the 50%
Click to expand...

Really? Do you think you could take a look at this problem I have ... only
kidding<vbg>.

What I have found from these NGs is that I often don't know what I thought I
knew <doh!>.
 
Bob,
I venture to guess that I'm up near the 50%
Click to expand...
For fleeting moments?? Maybe?? <vbg>
Of course, when I read some of the replies from Tom,
Chip, Dave and yes, Harlan, I'm quickly humbled into
maybe 1% (and that's a very big maybe).

The point I was trying to convey is that while active
participation in the ng's can be a humbling experience,
the knowledge that you gain through that participation
is invaluable.
Do you think you could take a look at this problem I have
Click to expand...
Why, sure!!! How else can I ever get to 51% ???
(just kidding)

John
 
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