Managing Data with Microsoft® Excel

Understanding the Macro Recorder's Code

You very likely know that you can record VBA code that, when run, repeats any actions that you took while the recorder was running. The rationale for this is not so much to record a utility that saves you having to take the same keyboard or mouse pointer sequence over and over, although this does happen. The real benefit of recording macros is to learn more about VBA.

If you're not familiar with the macro recorder, try it out. Choose Tools, Macro, Record New Macro. Click OK in the Record Macro dialog box (see Figure 7.8).

Figure 7.8. For something you use frequently, you can store the recorded macro in a personal macro workbook.

Now do something relevant to Excel—enter a value in a cell, or sort a range ...