Resources for Learning VBA

This chapter won't teach you how to use VBA. I'm assuming that you already know enough about VBA to create your own simple applications. If you don't already have this knowledge, you can get it from a number of sources. The first place to look is my book, VBA for Dummies , Fourth Edition (Wiley, 2003). This book introduces you to VBA and takes you through examples using all of the major Microsoft Office applications.

Other Companies That Use VBA  

Companies other than Microsoft use VBA, but you might not know about them right now. Corel makes software such as WordPerfect and Draw. WordPerfect is a word processing program, and you'll find that many legal offices still use it. One of my first professional writing jobs required use of WordPerfect. Draw is a drawing program that many professionals enjoy using. It supports a wealth of features. I drew the original versions of all of the line art in this book using Corel Draw. All of my drawing setups are performed automatically using VBA programs.

You'll also want to check out Micrografx's iGrafx Series. This product helps you create flowcharts or organizational charts. Unlike a lot of drawing tasks , both flowcharts and organizational charts are extremely repetitive ”making them a perfect place to use VBA.

Another good product to check for VBA is IMSI's TurboCad. TurboCad is the drawing program I prefer to use. It's relatively inexpensive, and the VBA programs I've created for it automate many of the drawing tasks.

So, how do these products benefit from Google Web Services? Corel WordPerfect and Corel Draw are the easiest matches. You can use them to create reports , charts, and graphs based on information you retrieve from Google Web Services. Likewise, the Micrografx iGrafx product can use input from Google Web Services to create charts of various types. The question remains: how do you use a CAD application with Google Web Services? Actually, I've tried it out as a resource for finding standards. Sometimes I need to locate a particular standard for a project. All I do is highlight the number or the name of the standard that I need and ask Google Web Services to find it for me. The underlying technology is a VBA application that makes a search query from Google.

I also use Google Web Services to locate certain kinds of images. For example, say you need a connector for a drawing. You can perform a site search of the Connectivity Knowledge Platform (CKP) site at http://ckp.made-it.com/. After the search, you'll find a Connector Reference Chart at http://ckp.made-it.com/connectorchart.html. This site contains descriptions of the connectors, as well as images. With a little additional code, you can import the drawing you need into a project such as TurboCad, convert it to a raster graphic, and touch it up so it meets your needs. The process is much faster than drawing the image from scratch. Note, however, that much of the art online is copyrighted , so you need to obtain permission to use the art, in many cases, even if you modify the art to meet your specific needs.

You'll also want to look at some of the resources that Microsoft provides. For example, you'll find a Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/default.htm. This site includes some interesting tools at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/appndx/toolbox.htm. Office 2003 users can find similar information on their product. You can learn about the recently released version at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2003/ and http://office.microsoft.com/home/default.aspx.

It's amazing to see how many third party sources you can find online for VBA. Many sites have free code, specialized examples, chat forums, tutorials, or other offerings that make your VBA experience better. For example, you can download a VBA tutorial at http://freedownloadswindows.com/ windows /Visual-Basic/656996/L-Basic.html. Online Excel VBA tutorials appear at http://lacher.com/toc/tutvba1.htm and http://lacher.com/toc/tutvba2.htm. You might also want to check out the chat forums at http://www.vbforums.com/ and http://www. tek-tips .com/.

Note  

The VBA language has basic concepts that are the same across all products. A loop in Word is the same loop that you find in Excel or Corel Draw for that matter. However, every product has special objects that it includes for working with VBA. These objects vary by product, so it's usually best if you can locate a VBA tutorial for your specific product.

Don't forget to visit newsgroups with your VBA questions. Microsoft sponsors VBA newsgroups at:

• microsoft.public.office.developer.vba

• microsoft.public.excel.programming

• microsoft.public.frontpage.programming.vba

• microsoft.public.office.developer.outlook.vba

• microsoft.public.outlook.program_vba

• microsoft.public.project.vba

• microsoft.public.visio.developer.vba

• microsoft.public.word.vba.addins

• microsoft.public.word.vba. beginners

• microsoft.public.word.vba.customization

• microsoft.public.word.vba.general

• microsoft.public.word.vba. userforms

• microsoft.public.word.word97vba

Tip  

If you ever have a problem finding a Microsoft newsgroup, open your browser and type the name of the Microsoft news server and the name of the newsgroup. For example, if you want to access the microsoft.public.word.vba.addins newsgroup, type news://news.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.word.vba.addins in the browser's Address field and press Enter. The browser will locate the newsgroup, open your newsreader, and display that newsgroup from the Microsoft server. You can also use online resources such as Google Groups (http://groups.google.com/) to locate VBA newsgroups. Simply type the name of the newsgroup in the Search field, click Google Search, and you'll see a list of messages in that newsgroup.

If you noticed the overwhelming number of Word VBA newsgroups, it's because many people develop for this particular product. The microsoft.public.word.vba.beginners newsgroup is an exceptionally good place to start your VBA programming journey. Power-Point doesn't have a specific VBA newsgroup, so you'll need to use the general microsoft.public.powerpoint newsgroup instead. If you want to work with Access, be sure to look at task-specific newsgroups such as microsoft.public.access.formscoding .

You can also find third party newsgroups (often with better peer information, but no Microsoft help) at newsgroups such as alt.comp.lang.vba. Some third party products also sport their own VBA newsgroups such as AutoCAD ( autodesk .autocad.customization.vba ). In some cases, the name of the newsgroup won't be obvious, as with Corel Draw ( corel.developer.draw ).