[...]... sensationally 5 6 CHAPTER 1 EXCEL AS A DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM Why Use Excel? Many people with only a superficial knowledge of Excel ask the question, “Why develop an application using Excel? ” I say “superficial” because in my own experience, many people claim to be familiar with Excel, but on further qualification or observation, they do not know Excel Because they don’t know Excel, they may have a hard... spectrum in terms of programming skill and general knowledge of Excel If you do not have experience with Visual Basic, I would recommend that you read the first two parts (Chapters 1 10 ) and then those chapters applicable to your situation If you have a fair amount of experience with Visual Basic, I’d advise you to focus primarily on the second part (Chapters 5 10 ), which deals with the Excel object model,... presented in this book using Excel 5.0 in 19 96 INTRODUCTION However, two chapters contain information specific to Excel 2003: the chapter concerning Excel XML functionality (Chapter 17 ) and the chapter covering the development of Smart Documents (Chapter 21) As far as I’m concerned, XML functionality and Smart Document technology are the two most exciting improvements in Excel 2003 Website Extras All of... 10 9 Is That Workbook Open? 11 4 Specifying Specific Collection Objects 11 6 Untangle Links Programmatically (Part I) 11 7 Plain Vanilla Workbook Properties 12 3 Respond to User Actions with Events ... 17 2 Accepting Worksheet Input 17 8 Summary 17 9 Chapter 9 • Practical Range Operations 18 1 Data Mobility with Cut, Copy, and Paste 18 1 Find What You Are Seeking ... initially on the basics of learning VBA If you have a background with another programming language, you’ll find VBA very easy to pick up You’ll need to spend more time becoming familiar with the Excel object model Stop When You See Red Sometimes Excel is not an appropriate solution Well, at least it’s not appropriate as the only com­ ponent of your solution Many times, I see Excel used as a database There... regarding your problem in Chapter 13 SUMMARY A Reflection on the Learning Curve I believe that learning how to develop in Excel using VBA is easy That said, you’ll notice a dramatic improvement in your ability to churn out applications efficiently as you progress When I first started learning VBA in Excel 5.0, I had a significant amount of experience with Excel In fact, I was the Excel guru at work Back then,... Properties window and press F1 to view documentation related to the property You Can’t Do This Using the Normal Excel User Interface In Chapter 1, I mentioned that you can use VBA code to do things that you can’t perform through the normal Excel interface I am excited to tell you about one trick that you can pull off with the Properties window without knowing how to do it using VBA code Well, its not really... 18 3 Don’t Like It? Change It with Replace 18 9 Would You Like Special Sauce with That? 19 3 CurrentRegion: A Useful Shortcut 19 6 Sorting Lists Simplified 19 9 Summary ... as a developer and not just any developer I was an Excel developer, a devel­ oper specializing in developing analytical applications What Is an Excel Application? First of all, I should define what I mean by an Excel application By Excel application, I mean a spreadsheet that you have developed using Excel and VBA for use by yourself or other users VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications, which . 4281book.fm Page i Sunday, February 29, 2004 5 :12 PM Mastering Excel 2003 Programming with VBA This page intentionally left blank 4281book.fm Page iii Sunday, February 29, 2004 5 :12 PM Mastering ™. February 29, 2004 5 :12 PM Mastering ™ Excel 2003 Programming with VBA Steven M. Hansen San Francisco London 4281book.fm Page iv Sunday, February 29, 2004 5 :12 PM Associate Publisher: Joel Fugazzotto. photograph, magnetic, or other record, without the prior agreement and written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Card Number: 200 31 15586 ISBN: 0-78 21- 42 81- 8 SYBEX and the SYBEX logo