Excel VBA Programming For Dummies

by John Walkenbach

Having Excel and just using it for standard spreadsheets is a little like getting the ultimate cable system and a 50” flat panel plasma HDTV and using it exclusively to watch Lawrence Welk reruns. With Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming, you can take advantage of numerous Excel options such creating new worksheet functions; automating tasks and operations; creating new appearances, toolbars, and menus; designing custom dialog boxes and add-ins; and much more. This guide is not for rank Excel amateurs. It’s for intermediate to advanced Excel users who want to learn VBA programming (or whose bosses want them to learn VBA programming). You need to know your way around Excel before you start creating customized short cuts or systems for speeding through Excel functions. If you’re an intermediate or advanced Excel user, Excel VBA For Dummies helps you take your skills (and your spreadsheets) to the next level. It Author John Walkenbach is a leading authority on spreadsheet software and the author of more than 40 spreadsheet books including Excel 2003 Bible and Excel 2003 Power Programming with VBA. While this guide includes tons of examples and screenshots, Walkenbach knows there’s no substitute for hands-on learning. The book is complete What are you waiting for? Sure, learning to do VBA programming takes a little effort, but it’s a Very Big Accomplishment.

Genres: Programming, Reference, Nonfiction, Technical, Computers, Software, Computer Science

408 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Daniel Heckmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Walkenbach gives an excellent introduction to Excel VBA programming. As an engineer with very little programming background, I found his explanations of basic programming concepts to be clear and easy to understand. His humor is a bit corny but a topic like programming needs some comedic relief, so I appreciate it. For anything that isn’t covered in this book, John points you in the right direction.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who uses Excel regularly and desires to improve their Excel capabilities.

[Staszek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am dealing with MSExcel spreadsheets in my day job on a daily basis and have been dreaming of introducing a few improvements here and there. I turned to the promising "for Dummies" series, bec. I thought I'd start reading from perhaps something less scary. It seemed noncommittal enough. Still when I started, being a total programming newbie (IT geeks would use the term noob), I got pretty much discouraged by the overwhelming nature of the task of learning something which seemed much beyond my humanistic grasp.

I gave it some time, and when I have come back to it recently, with some perspective, I realized the book's aim was only (or just) to make me understand that programming comes down to experimenting, asking questions, making research, and still asking some more questions. You obviously have to learn some basic rules (all of which are neatly outlined, emphasized and repeated several times in the book), but the rest is pretty much based on your intuition. And after you write your first macro that is small and simple, you get it that the sky's the limit. I am still no programmer, and my code is rather clumsy, but it works beautifully.

Recommending it!

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A life saver, i used this to learn VBA from scratch for my MSc project. Highly recommend.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it's difficult

[Elio · Rating 5 out of 5]

It`s a good introduction to programming. I honesetly find everything super helpfull

[Mike Burrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not read this book cover to cover but it was useful initially. Then it got difficult and boring.

[Philip Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot. This is an excellent book for getting started.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Looking to take your Excel skills to the next level? Look no further than this book! This book is an excellent resource for those looking to harness the power of macros and VBA programming in their Excel work.

The author, Alexander, provides clear and concise explanations of complex concepts, making this book easy to follow even for beginners. Whether you're looking to automate repetitive tasks or create custom functions, this book will guide you through the process with step-by-step instructions.

While some may find the material a bit advanced, especially if they're new to programming, the book is still an excellent resource. Alexander's expertise shines through, and you'll come away with a solid understanding of Excel VBA programming.

Overall, this book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to maximize their productivity in Excel. So why wait? Check it out and start taking your Excel game to the next level!

3.9/5

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Computers and me - a so-so relationship. My joy comes through creating i.e. the arts. Having said as much, I enjoy Windows vs a standard typewriter for making the writing process easier, Publisher is fun for putting together accordion books (once the format is finally set up!), Excel ... is ... not my forte. Thus Excel for Dummies plus my son's patience in guiding me along over the telephone has saved me some frustrations in working with a gawd-awful treasurer's program the past year. For that I am thankful.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My exposure to VBA has been to ignore it whenever I can or to copy code from forums and try to make it work without really knowing what I was doing. I got this book from the library hoping that it would give me a better overall view of how the code needs to be constructed and what the vocabulary and syntax needed to be.
I read this almost cover to cover and it taught me almost exactly what I expected it to. I learned a few things that got me through a current project and gave me a much better feeling for the environment that I can hopefully build on in the future.

[kurp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Przydatna i lekko napisana, ale nierówna. W zasadzie nie wiem, do kogo adresowana, bo kogoś z zerową wiedzą programistyczną szybko rzuci na głęboką wodę, a kogoś z niejakim pojęciem na ten temat raczej rozczaruje płyciznami. Dziwnie też dobrano tematy - po podstawowych elementach składni i najczęściej używanych operacjach ledwie przemknięto, a są np. trzy rozdziały samych UserFormów. Dziwnie trochę albo to kwestia tego, że każdy trochę inaczej korzysta z VBA i inne rzeczy wydają mu się kluczowe lub elementarne.

[Devon Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good beginners book for Excel VBA Programming. It should perhaps be made more obvious to readers that you have to have quite a reasonable knowledge of Excel to begin with before reading this book. It might also be worth pointing out that as this book is written for a now outdated version of Excel, there are quite a few notable differences to the written examples- so a lot of the example coding doesn't work. However, it is a good book to improve your VBA programming and updating the examples actually helps you learn!

[Xon · Rating 5 out of 5]

VBAing made relatively straightforward

This text is well laid out, well thought out, and well organized. Each chapter introduces new topics that builds on previous chapters. The technical details are accurate, and the code works!

Sometimes, code written in technical books either contain errors or just not correct. This text gets an A+. I followed all the code, writing myself, and all of the code worked as described.

The text was clear and concise.

All in all, very well done. Higly recommended. You'll learn how to VBA your way thru Excel, and other office applications.

[Steven Rider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a pretty good VBA background before reading this, but this was a good "starter' book for people looking to get into VBA. I found the section on custom functions most insightful as this was an area I was a little weak on before reading this.

Anyone wanting to make that "next step" to becoming a VBA guru would do well to invest in this book and plow through it.

If you're just starting out in Excel, this probably isn't for you.

[LAMONT D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I PURCHASED THIS BOOK TO SUPPLEMENT MY LEARNING AT WORK FOR VBA. THE RESOURCES THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED LOOK TO BE HELPFUL TO GIVE YOU THE VBA CODE ILLUSTRATED IN THE BOOK. THE BOOK IS LAID OUT IN A LOGICAL ORDER AND APPEARS TO GIVE YOU ENOUGH OF THE BASICS TO LAUNCH INTO THE WORLD OF VBA CODING. I LIKE TO KEEP IT AT MY DESK AS I EMBARK ON OTHER TRAINING CLASSES TO OVERCOME MY TOTAL LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF THIS PART OF EXCEL.

[SamAnnElizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walkenbach does a wonderful job of making a daunting task (programming) manageable. I read the book cover-to-cover, but it would work as a reference book as well. I was able to find answers to my questions to improve my work and also found some nuggets of information I've tucked away for later.

I highly recommend this for anyone new to using VBA at work. It's a great starting point!

[Ameriga Vespucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned how to do a Loop Macro!

This guy is so funny! If you’re going to read a boring subject, why not make it funny, right?! He did just that. Honestly, I read way more than I would have otherwise.

Thank you, Mr. Walkenbach, for making this read so much more tolerable! It was comprehendible while also highly entertaining.

Highly recommended!

[Alberto Tebaldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book though I had to read about half because I did not need to go so deep with vba coding. Now I have a better understanding of vba in excel and can use it to make some research in case the need rises. Really well done and mixing teaching with humor. Recommended.

[Karen Grothe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a little nervous about reading a "for Dummies" book for work, but this book has some excellent tips and a few useful example macros that could help me both at work and with personal spreadsheets. The added humor is a bonus.

[May Ling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. If you actually go through the whole book and figure out how it's laid out, then it can be very helpful. Otherwise, it's pretty painful to navigate.

[Radical · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess this just wasn't the place to look for what I needed.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, clear introduction to Excel VBA programming. I skimmed a few chapters on topics that I didn't have much use for (yet).

[Isabelle Lavoie · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent!

[Carlos Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great explanations, examples, and humor.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read. Ready to create some powerful tools.

[Jozef Melichár · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice comprehensive overview of VBA.

[Nadine P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Für Einsteiger in die VBA Programmierung genau richtig. Sogar schwierige Zusammengänge werden top erklärt und wer hätte gedacht dass solch ein Buch sogar Humor bietet?

[Klauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should´ve read this long ago.

[Rodrigo Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful and easy.

[Naveen Singh]

Good but lengthy. should've added some chapter wise challenges or projects to evaluate the skills at the end.