Leap Beyond The Macro Recorder With Excel Vba Programming Courses

Most people's first exposure to Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) involves recording a macro

. As the user performs a series of steps (for example opening a workbook going to a particular worksheet, copying some data, etc) Excel faithfully records each step by creating the necessary VBA code. Each time the user runs the macro, the steps are replayed exactly as they were recorded.

Recording macros is great for really simple tasks such as producing a strait-forward report. However, there are distinct limitations to this approach. Firstly, because Excel plays back the steps just as they were originally performed, recorded macros are notoriously slow.

Secondly, recorded macros will only run correctly under the conditions in which they were first recorded. For example, if a certain worksheet needs to be active at a given point and it is not active when the macro is run, there will be an error and the macro will stop running.

This means, effectively, that recorded macros can only really be used by the person who recorded them. They cannot be distributed to one's work colleagues.

One of the first things we do on the Excel VBA training courses that we run at our London training centre is to wean users off the recorder. We give them a good grasp of the Excel object model, a way of programmatically representing each of the elements within the Excel environment such as workbooks, worksheets and cells.

Naturally, there is a bit of a steep learning curve for any users who have done little or no programming. For this reason, we run a five day crash-course in Excel VBA for fledgling macro programmers. We have found that this provides everyone with a chance to gain some degree of confidence with the challenging VBA environment.

Next we teach them the syntax and structure of VBA. How to use variables to store both data and references to Excel objects, how to create logical and iterative structures and how to allow the user of a macro to make choices.

Getting some training on Excel VBA is always worth the effort. It can take the productivity of an Excel user to a new level very rapidly. Monthly procedures and reports which used to take long hours can suddenly be accomplished with astounding ease and lightening speed.

Getting trained on Excel VBA is the only real way of losing one's initial dependency on the macro recorder. However, the recorder will always have its uses. For example, when one is working with an Excel object or procedure which is programmatically complex, recording a few steps then examining code generated is an excellent way to learn new syntax.

by: John Jenkins.

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