Writing Excel Macros | O'Reilly Media

Writing Excel Macros Automating Excel to Work for You

By Steven Roman, Ph.D.
First Edition May 1999
Pages: 548
ISBN 10: 1-56592-587-4 | ISBN 13: 9781565925878
(Average of 4 Customer Reviews)

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Book description

Writing Excel Macros offers a solid introduction to writing VBA macros and programs in Excel and shows you how to get more power out of Excel at the programming level. Learn how to get the most out of this formidable application as you focus on programming languages, the Visual Basic Editor, handling code, and the Excel object model.
Full Description

Microsoft Excel is an enormously powerful and flexible application. Yet despite its powerful feature set, there is a great deal that Excel either does not allow you to do or does not allow you to do easily through its user interface. And in spite of Excel's reputation as the most widely used spreadsheet application, the majority of its users do not venture beyond the basics of creating spreadsheets and perhaps dabbling with macros. Consequently, these users aren't getting all the power out of this formidable application. With Writing Excel Macros you will learn there are many things you can do at the programming level that you cannot do at the user-interface level, that is, with the menus and dialog boxes of Excel. And learning how to get more power out of Excel will mean you can be more effective in your work. Writing Excel Macros offers a solid introduction to writing VBA macros and programs and provides Excel users and programmers unfamiliar with the Excel object model with an excellent overview to writing VBA macros and programs. The essentials of the VBA language and the Excel object model are covered so that, when you have finished the book, you will know enough about Excel VBA to begin creating effective working programs. In particular, the book focuses on:

Programming languages. Brief overview of programming and programming languages, as well as information on Variables, Data Types, and Constants, Functions and Subroutines, and more.
The Visual Basic Editor. Before tackling the basics of the programming language that Excel uses, the reader is acquainted with the VBA environment--the Visual Basic Editor.
Handling your code. An overview of where to store your code and how to activate it from an Excel spreadsheet.
The Excel object model. An in-depth overview of the Excel object model, including the Application, Workbook, Worksheet, and Range objects.
Appendices. Details on the Shape object; getting the Installed Printers; Command Bar Controls and Face IDs; programming Excel from another application; and more.

The information in this book is written in a succinct, practical manner that is characteristic of Steve Roman's straightforward approach. Readers will find useful examples throughout the book that deal with specific programming problems and allow them to gain hands-on experience in the VBA environment. Whether your interest in Excel programming is so you can be more effective in your work, or you want to learn how to write Excel programs for others to use, this book offers a solid introduction to writing VBA macros and programs and shows you how to get more power out of Excel at the programming level.

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Cover | Table of Contents | Index | Colophon

Featured customer reviews

Writing Excel Macros Review, January 30 2002

Rating:

Submitted by Robert Swift [Respond | View]

I bought this book simply because it was published by O'Reilly. What a mistake. In over ten years, I've collected something like 30 O'Reilly books and every single one of them has been a superb reference or teaching aid.

This book changed everything and from now on I will be reading reviews from a variety of sources before spending another penny on O'Reilly books.

The book needs a decent project that builds up throughout and the examples to provide both simple and complex demonstrations of the language and object model. Most of the examples in the book were exactly what i can find by pressing F1!

It doesn't even cover the entire object model? Why? Another 50 pages and the entire Excel object model could have been fully documented.

All in all, very let down by a publisher that once meant an instant purchse for me.

Writing Excel Macros Review, June 19 2000

Rating:

Submitted by Mike [Respond | View]

Cool book. Spending time with an expert who
knows his stuff really does rub off on the reader.
VBA is not for the faint of heart yet Steven
manages to make the subject matter readable and
understandable. It is Steven's consistent and
incremental disection of Excel and VBA that is
remarkable and useful. :-)

Writing Excel Macros Review, June 14 2000

Rating:

Submitted by CM Wu [Respond | View]

I am only in the middle of the book. But I can't wait to draw other attention that this book is the good stuff I am looking for years. As a beginner (I used Lotus Symphony before) of Excel, I have great difficult to transcript all my macro created under Lotus to Excel. This book give me right guidance to start with and now I can almost make use all my previous

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Writing Excel Macros Review, June 04 2000

Rating:

Submitted by John Carlisle   [Respond | View]

I am a construction estimator by profession and am
studying part time for a computer science degree. I use Excel on a daily basis and have found this book to be of tremendous use in assisting with my comprehension of VBA and in particular the Excel object model. The hands on approach and worked examples are challenging, rewarding and, once mastered, extremely relevant. I look forward to the challenge of further titles from Steven Roman and others published under the O'Reilly banner.

Writing Excel Macros Review, December 01 1999
Submitted by Jett Anderson   [Respond | View]

Don't let the reference to Macros in the title fool you; the bulk of this book is about the Excel object model, so it is very useful for Excel VBA programming.

It's very well done and very useful. I like the style, and the level of information (detail) is just right. I recommend it strongly for anyone doing Excel VBA.

Writing Excel Macros Review, October 19 1999
Submitted by Jonathan Abbey   [Respond | View]

I have a friend who is just diving into a new career as a computer programmer. She has landed a job doing VBA work in Excel while she gets her feet wet with coding. She bought a copy of 'Writing Excel Macros' last night, thrilled that she is getting to have her very own O'Reilly books for what she is doing. Today I received a message from her telling me that she will commit murder before allowing anyone to take this book away from her. It is, apparently, the best thing she has ever read, the ideal book, just what she needed. Of course, I told her, it's an O'Reilly. Kudos to all involved.

Writing Excel Macros Review, July 23 1999
Submitted by Tom Bruns   [Respond | View]

A very useful book for someone developing Excel based business solutions. I found the following sections very helpful:

Custom Menus and Toolbars
Developing Excel Add-ins
The Pivot Table Object

and in general all the Object Model references.

Writing Excel Macros Review, November 17 1997
Submitted by Chris Suzor   [Respond | View]

I write programs for large semiconductors companies, to analyse yield, using data from databases.

I combine analyses using excel, created with the help of this book, with Perl/Tk programs, and my customers keep asking for more!

This is an ideal reference to key concepts of programming excel, I recommend it.

Media reviews "Writing Excel Macros from O'Reilly will help you make sense of this powerful but complex capability. Steven Roman's book makes the basics understandable to help you learn how to write effective macros." --Barry Mishkind, Radio World, Sept 29.1999

"Microsoft Excel can help you find solutions to all kinds of financial, scientific, engineering, and management problems. But most Excel users take advantage of only a small portion of Excel's flexibility. Writing Excel Macros explains how to use the customization features in Excel 97 and Excel 2000 to maximize their usefulness, even if you have no programming experience. Anyone with a bit of Excel familiarity will be able to follow this book." --David Wall, amazon.com, June 1999

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