The online documentation of VB/VBA language components seems to follow the 80/20 rule: the basic facts that you need to use a language statement are provided in the documentation. But the additional 20 percent that you need to use it effectively or to apply it to special cases is conspicuously absent. To a professional VB/VBA programmer, though, this missing 20 percent of the language's documentation isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. And in VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language, it finally is available. The bulk of the book consists of an alphabetical reference to the statements, procedures, and functions of the VB/VBA language. Each entry has a standardized listing containing the following information:

• Its syntax, using standard code conventions
• Differences in the operation of the keyword in a macro environment (e.g., in Office) and in Visual Basic, if there are any
• A list of arguments accepted by the function or procedure, if any
• A description of the data type returned by a function
• The finer points of a keyword's usage that are often omitted from or blurred over by the documentation
• Tips and gotchas that include undocumented behaviors and practical applications for particular language elements -- a section particularly invaluable for diagnosing or avoiding potential programming problems
• A brief, nonobvious example that illustrates the use of the keyword

Also included in VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language is a brief overview of the VB/VBA language, including:

• Basic VBA programming concepts, such as its data types and its support for variables, constants, and arrays
• Error handling in VBA applications
• Object programming with VBA
• Using VBA with particular applications. Excel and Project are utilized to show how to work with an application's integrated development environment and to take advantage of its object model Regardless of how much experience you have programming with VBA, this is the book you'll pick up time and time again both as your standard reference guide and as a tool for troubleshooting and identifying programming problems.

VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language is the definitive reference for Visual Basic and VBA developers.

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VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  June 21 2002
Submitted by Charles McAuley   [Respond | View]

I'm a C++ programmer with lots of experience. I have resisted VB for years until recently when I inherited a very poorly written VB app that needed to be fixed and updated. I understood OOP, what I wanted was quick and dirty straight facts. Give me syntax and no fluff, give the the real world experience and the all the gotchas so I would not pulled the hair out of my head. This book gave me that and much more, in short it saved my skin. I fixed the bad VB app and now I'm the company hero. This book travels everywhere with me and my laptop. It's worth its weight in gold. As much as I hate to admit it I actually like VB now that I have had to dig in. Don't get me wrong I still like C++ as well and now there is room in my life for both. Cannot rate this book highly enough an off the positive side of the scale of truly useful.

Charles :-)


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  July 30 2001
Submitted by Joe Federico   [Respond | View]

Fantastic book! It bridges the gap between beginner and intermediate/advanced programmer by cutting right to the chase. Excellent reference book! If you learn/find only 1 solution, you'll undoubtedly find many, it would have already paid for itself over and over. When I'm looking for a computer book I always check if O'Reilly has one on the subject before considering any other publisher. Keep up the great work!


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  November 18 2000
Submitted by Mike   [Respond | View]

This is without a doubt an excellent book on VB/VBA.

It summarized the language in a very concise and

efficient manner. It addresses such vital and

crucial topics as COM/DCOM, error handling, and

function usage.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs to

make use of VB/VBA in a production environment. The

only subject it does not address is calling Win32

API from VB.


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  September 23 2000
Submitted by Bob Heckel   [Respond | View]

Great book, supplements VB's Help very well, especially "Gotcha" issues and code samples. Unfortuntely, the code samples are not online.


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  July 27 2000
Submitted by 1234567890   [Respond | View]

As a VB client-server programmer, I hardly have the time to wait for VB's HTML help to appear,much less search through it! This book is really in a class by itself as far as VB references go. It's the perfect size to keep right at hand, yet it contains the answer to virtually every question I've asked it.

The encyclopedia-type language reference is preceded by exceptional discussions of VB data types, classes, object models, and error handling, and also includes several interesting and useful
appendices. About the only thing I've not found in it is an ASCII chart. The language element entries are peppered with sidebars on relevant topics, all entries are discussed with remote automation issues in mind, and great examples abound (the entry for the Format function runs to 9 pages, mostly examples). If you program VB for a living, you've got to have this book close by.


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  May 15 2000
Submitted by Michael.Welter   [Respond | View]

I find this book is good for learning new techniques, or as a reference guide. I can find many, many examples of excellent code in this book. It's an excellent resource.


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  October 24 1999
Submitted by Leslie Jones   [Respond | View]



This is simply the best reference book for VB(6) on the market. It gives you the facts plain and easy to understand. There's no wads of code, no thousands of unecessary screen shots. There are the type of warnings and gotchas you need to know first up when using a language and not after you have already coded hundreds of lines. An excellent publication. Well done O'Reilly.


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  March 11 1999
Submitted by John Fiala   [Respond | View]



I was really glad to see a book on VB published by O'Reilly. I've always seen them as a symbol of quality, and this one doesn't disappoint.

As a VB developer, I've been looking for a new VB book that includes VB6 and the details I need, but which doesn't talk down to me. I consider myself fairly hot stuff VB-wise, and I don't need chapters explaining how to use FOR..Next loops.

'VB & VBA in a nutshell' gave me that, and at $19.95, saved me half the price of a lesser book. Having picked it up, I learned subtle things I didn't know about the language very quickly. Things that I could use immediately, such as the detail on the Collection and Dictionary objects.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who programs VB6 professionally.


VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review,  November 07 1997
Submitted by Randy Eastwood   [Respond | View]



This is the book that is used after the learning stage is over...the excellent indexing and cross-referencing in this book along with the "Gotchas" and tips make it THE VB dictionary!

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