This Project is an (as yet incomplete) series of Excel Visual Basic for Applications (or VBA) Tutorials that will hopefully be useful to anyone with an interest in this subject, regardless of their current skill level
A basic level of computer literacy (eg knowing how to cut and paste, or Google things) IS assumed, but that's about all
We hope you are interested in trialing it, and providing some feedback to help us decide whether or not to continue developing it
We think it's fair to say that the average Excel User is blissfully unaware of the horsepower available to him with VBA; people seem to prefer to use (what we regard as) the more complex and less powerful Worksheet Functions to achieve any level of automation
Microsoft is arguably it's own worst enemy in this regard with it's constant redecoration, reorganization and help-revision of a stable product that has (to their credit) remained backwards-compatible for some 20 years
A quick web-search for "excel vb tutorial" recently returned over 100 million hits; it would seem that competition is fierce, and yet the subject seems to remain the preserve of (us!) computer nerds
Most of the ones we've reviewed at suffer from at least one of the following criticisms, in that they
• focus on the conceptual
• don't start from first principles
• are lengthy
• don't define technical terms in plain english
• don't have detailed and/or coherent step procedures
• don't have video, as well as written step-by-step, procedures
• lack hands-on, build from scratch, content
• omit important tips that cause "stuck-on's"
• are expensive
• are plastered with ads
This Project has been designed to avoid these shortcomings
What This Project Is
After having completed these Tutorials we hope that you will have become inspired, and technically proficient, enough to
• understand how VB Applications work
• start writing your own Projects from scratch
• debug and/or Modify New or Existing Projects
We also hope to familiarize you with the Standards and Styles that we have developed over many years, and have tried to adhere in all our VB Projects
Many of these Standards and Styles are detailed as the Tutorials progress, though they remain to be formally documented
The Style of the Tutorials themselves is also unique (revolutionary we hope!) and we contend that it is Generic enough to be applied to a multitude of other topics
We also hope to start dispelling some widely held beliefs about VB (and Programming in General). Namely that
• it's not very useful for everyday tasks
• learning it takes a long time, and is beyond most people's capabilities
• it should be left to specialists who know what they're doing
• it changes so fast that whatever I learn today will be useless tomorrow
• it isn't enjoyable or rewarding, other than as a means-to-an-end
We're strong believers in
• OpenSource Software
• The KISS Principle
• Conciseness without loss of Detail
• Hands-on Learning by Example
• Explaining and "De-Mystifying" Concepts using Plain English
• Orderly, Holistic, Top-Down AND Bottom-Up Learning and Design
Having said all this, there are still no doubt a lot mistakes and potential improvements
We genuinely welcome constructive feedback, both positive and negative, especially about frustrations, mistakes, missing definitions and places where you got stuck
What This Project is Not
• Capable of making you an Expert VB Programmer
• Finished!
• Funded!
Media Player
This Project works best if you have VLC Media Player installed on your PC, but this is not essential
You can Download VLC Media Player from here; it's good and it's (really) free
System Requirements
This Project should run on most Windows PCs that have Excel Installed, or access to Excel Office 365,
without the need for any Setup
Below is a list of Systems for which this has been verified
Windows Platform Excel Version