Visual Basic For Excel3 PDF

Visual Basic for Excel
97/2000/XP
Practical workbook
Aims and Learning Objectives

By the end of these notes, you will know the basics of programming using Visual Basic for
Excel. You will also be able to:
• record macros;
• write small subroutines and functions to automate some of the processes in your
spreadsheets;
• use those functions within workbooks;
• use Excel workbook functions within Visual Basic;
• use Procedures;
• display message boxes and obtain input from the user;
• begin to apply error trapping to your procedures;
• create a simple form that can be displayed and used to input information into a macro
and receive results from a macro.
University of Bristol Information Services document exlvba-t1

Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000/XP (exlvba-t1)
Document Information
Course documents and files

N/A
Related Documentation
Other related documents are available from the web at:
www.bristol.ac.uk/is/learning/documentation/docs-by-category.html#ss
Other books are available:
Writing Excel Macros, Steven Roman, (Excel 97 and 2000) O'Reilly http://www.oreilly.com/
Excel 97 Programming for Windows for Dummies, John Walkenbach
Excel 2000 Programming for Dummies, John Walkenbach
Excel 2002 Power Programming with VBA, John Walkenbach (Wiley and sons)
Keyboard shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts may be of use whilst using these notes:
<Alt><F11> To open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) or switch between the
VBE and your workbook.
<F1> Use within the VBE window to obtain help on VB functions,
objects and properties. Click within the word you require help
with (do not select the word) and press <F1>.
<F9> Toggle breakpoints – position your cursor on a macro
statement within the Visual Basic editor and press <F9> to set
a breakpoint. When the macro is run, processing is
suspended at the breakpoint(s) to allow you to inspect
variable values and see what is going on.
<Ctrl><Shift><F9> To clear all breakpoints.
<F2> Use within the VBE window to display the Object Browser
window.
Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000/XP (April 06)

www.bristol.ac.uk/is/learning/documentation/exlvba-t1/exlvba-t1.doc
If you have any comments or queries about this document mail iser-docs@bristol.ac.uk.
This document may be used wholly or in part by the academic community, providing suitable
acknowledgment is made. It may not be used for any commercial or profit-making purpose
without permission. © 2006 University of Bristol. All rights reserved.
Contents
Keyboard shortcuts
Related documentation
Task 1 Virus protection ........................................................................................1
Task 2 Recording a macro ...................................................................................2
Task 3 Relative reference macros.......................................................................3
Task 4 Editing a recorded macro ........................................................................5
Task 5 Simple loop structures.............................................................................7
Task 6 Debugging a macro ..................................................................................9
Task 7 Using the Range object..........................................................................10
Task 8 Creating a function.................................................................................11
Task 9 Rearrange macro ....................................................................................12
Task 10 Yes/No inputs..........................................................................................14
Task 11 Error trapping and GoTo........................................................................15
Task 12 MsgBox: Text & numerical values ........................................................16
Task 13 Applying formats using macros............................................................17
Task 14 Text functions .........................................................................................19
Task 15 Worksheet functions in VB ....................................................................21
Task 16 InputBox ..................................................................................................22
Task 17 Creating and using a simple form.........................................................23
Appendix A Programming structure..........................................................................26
Appendix B Visual Basic objects...............................................................................32
Appendix C Declaration and scope of variables ......................................................36
Introduction
Excel is the University's recommended spreadsheet product for Windows on PCs.
This document is intended for the more experienced user of Excel who wishes to
make use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).
This document does not intend to teach VBA or even the concepts of object-oriented
programming. Instead the examples in this document have been devised to show
various aspects of Visual Basic for Excel. John Walkenbach's book in the "...for
Dummies" series (see Related Information) gives a good explanation of these.
When attending courses in the training rooms in the Computer Centre the working
files and solutions referred to in this document are located in the directory
C:\User\Excel. If you are working on your own system, you need to download the file:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/learning/documentation/exlvba-t1/exlvba-t1.exe, copy it to
a folder on your hard disk and run it before starting these notes.
In many cases there is continuation from one example to the next. If you wish to skip
a particular exercise you will need to load the solution file to the previous example.
When working through the examples you may also like to try modifying them in order
to make them applicable to your own uses of Excel.
Prerequisites
It is essential that you have grasped the concepts of names and conditional
functions, covered in the document Further Excel XP (document excelxp-t3 - see the
Related Documentation section for the location of this document on the web). Some
experience of structured programming will be an advantage.
Acronyms
VB Visual Basic
VBA Visual Basic for Applications
VBE Visual Basic Editor
Task 1 Virus protection

Objectives To enable/disable Excel’s macro virus protection.
Comments There are many problems with viruses that attach malicious executable files
to applications. These are macros that are designed to cause damage and
are built using all the flexibility and power that a Visual Basic Application
offers the genuine programmer. Excel 97 and later versions have options to
warn you if a spreadsheet or workbook that you are about to open contains
macros.
The solution files used for this practical document and the files you will create
when working through these notes will contain macros that you will wish to
run. You will therefore need to enable macros when opening them. However,
it is not a habit you should get into - always consider each file on an individual
basis and only enable macros if you believe them to be genuine. Incidentally,
a poorly written macro could also cause unintended damage, so always
check your own macros carefully before distributing them amongst
colleagues/research groups.
1.1 Excel 97: From the Tools menu select Options.

Select the General tab and ensure that Macro virus protection is selected.
Click on OK.
1.2 Excel 2000/XP: From the Tools menu, select Macro / Security.
Using the Security Level tab, read the available options and select Medium.
Click on OK.
Note With this option enabled you are prompted to take action if a spreadsheet
contains macros. You can choose to open the workbook with the macros
enabled, disabled or to not open the workbook at all. If you disable the
macros, you will be unable to run any macros or recalculate custom functions.
You can still examine and edit the macros. When you click Save on the File
menu, the macros are saved. You can then close the workbook and open it
again with macros enabled if you want to run the macros.
Enabling the Macro virus protection only offers a warning to the existence of a
macro. It does not scan the workbook for known prank macros.
Additional virus protection software is available for this purpose.
If you wish to know more about viruses and the virus protection available
within the University, please see the online information available from
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/computing/advice/virus/.
1
Task 2 Recording a macro

Objectives To record a simple macro to perform a repetitive task automatically.
Comments Although using macros may seem difficult at first, recording and playing back
macros in Excel is really very easy.
2.1 Using a new (blank) workbook, select cell A1.

2.2 From the Tools menu, click on Macro and Record New Macro.
2.3 In the Macro Name box enter the macro name Company_name.
Assign a Shortcut key by selecting the Ctrl+ box and pressing <n>.
Under Store macro in, select This Workbook.
Edit Description as required and click on OK.
2.4 Select cell A1 and type The University of Bristol
Select A1 and format it as Times New Roman, size 24, Bold and Italic.
2.5 Stop recording the macro (click on the Stop icon on the Stop Recording
toolbar).
Note If the Stop Recording toolbar is not available, you could display it using the
View/Toolbars/Stop Recording. However, this would then be inserted into
your macro and the toolbar displayed every time the macro is run. Use the
alternative method instead:
From the Tools menu, select Macro and Stop Recording.
If you fail to stop recording the macro at this stage, you will create an infinite
loop of record and playback.
2.6 Select Sheet2 and cell A1.
Note If you do not have a Sheet2; from the Insert menu, select Worksheet.
2.7 From the Tools menu, select Macro and Macros.
Select Company_name, click on Run and watch the result.
2.8 Select Sheet3 and click in cell A1.
Run the macro again, this time by pressing <Ctrl>+<n>.
2.9 Insert a new Worksheet and click in a cell other than cell A1.
Run the macro again and observe where the title heading and formatting are
inserted.
2.10 Do not close the current workbook.
2
Task 3 Relative reference macros

Objectives To record a simple macro to perform a repetitive task automatically, relative to
the macro’s starting point.
3.1 Create a new (blank) workbook.

3.2 Select A1. From the Tools menu, select Macro and Record New Macro.
3.3 In the Macro Name box enter the macro name Months.
Assign a shortcut key by selecting the Ctrl+ box and pressing <m>.
Again, store the macro in This Workbook.
Choose OK.
3.4 Click on the Relative reference icon (on the Stop Recording toolbar) to
record your macro relative to its starting position. When this icon has a
sunken aspect, then Relative address mode is set.
Note In any session VBE “remembers” various settings such as these between
“visits” so check the setting is the desired one before starting recording more
macros. It is recommended that you specify the Relative Reference option
so that your macro turns out correctly no matter what cell you start in, relative
to your starting position. If this option is not selected, Excel uses absolute cell
references. This means that the macro always starts in the same cell
reference as in the previous task.
Note If the Stop Recording toolbar does not appear, first stop your macro from
recording:
- From the Tools menu, select Macro, Stop Recording.
Add the Stop Recording toolbar to the list of available options:
- From the View menu, select Toolbars, Customize.
- Select Stop Recording from the list of available toolbars and click on
Close.
You will now need to start recording your macro again from task 3.2.
3.5 Type January then copy (auto-fill) this across the row to cell L1, to get
January:December.
Change the format of the cells; for example, font, size, bold, etc.
Format these cells so that they are vertically aligned (orientation 90 degrees).
Select the columns A:L and AutoFit the column selection to make them best-
fit.
3.6 Click in cell A2 and Stop recording the macro (as in task 2.5).
3.7 Select Sheet2 and click in any cell other than A1.
Run the macro (<Ctrl>+<m>) and watch the result. Do not close the
workbook.
Note These macros have been saved in the relevant workbooks. When the
workbook is closed, any macros available within it will no longer be available
to open workbooks. If you then want to create macros available for use in all
your workbooks you will need to store them in the Personal Macro Workbook.
To do this, select Personal Macro Workbook from the Store macro in the
dropdown box of the Record Macro dialog box (in task 3.3).
3
If you want to make any changes to the macro (as in the next task) you will
first need to unhide personal.xls. From the Window menu, select Unhide and
with personal.xls highlighted, click on OK.
When you quit Excel you will be asked if you wish to save the changes made
to the personal macro workbook. If you click on Yes, the file personal.xls is
opened as a hidden workbook.
Personal.xls is stored in the folder (for a default installation of Windows NT):

c:\winnt\profiles\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLStart
OR: (for a default installation of Windows 2000/XP):
C:\Documents and
Settings\username\ApplicationData\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART.
The personal.xls workbook is opened next time you start Excel and is not
available to other users.
4
Task 4 Editing a recorded macro

Objectives To introduce the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).
Comments Quite complicated macros can be written simply by recording tasks as you
have done above. However, Excel converts these tasks to a programming
language called Visual Basic. More advanced macros can be written in this
language.
4.1 From the Tools menu, select Macro and Macros.

Select Months and click on Edit.
Figure 1 - Visual Basic editor (months macro)
The Microsoft VBE appears similar to Figure 1.

The left-hand pane shows what projects (i.e. workbooks) are being used and
lists the items (Sheets and Modules) in a particular project. In general the
macros you create are stored in a module. Double-clicking on this pane
allows navigation between modules in the same or different workbooks.
The right-hand pane contains the contents of the current module you are
working on.
Your macro is listed in the module window as a subroutine (Sub).
4.2 Take a look at the programming used for your Months macro.
4.3 You may also like to look at the Company_name macro created in task 2 to
see how the relative references make a difference. Using the left-hand pane,
navigate to VBA Project (Book1)/Modules/Module1 (replacing Book1 with
the name of your workbook).
4.4 Return to the Months module and, if you wish, make a small change (such as
the font size). Make sure that you modify the last occurrence of .Size= in the
macro. In some cases, such as the simple macros recorded so far, it may be
quicker to delete and re-record the macro than edit the code.
5
4.5 From the File menu, select Close and Return to Microsoft Excel. If you
made any changes to the code, run your macro again.
4.6 Close any open Excel workbooks, discarding changes.
Note This example shows how some objects are referenced in VBA and illustrates the
WITH … END WITH programming structure. Appendices A and B define other
programming structures, common programming terms, and give more information
about Visual Basic objects. Now would be a good time to take a brief look at
these notes.
Lines that are just text comments and not Visual Basic commands are
preceded with a single quotation mark.
If you forget to assign a shortcut key (such as <Ctrl>+<m>) to a macro at the

time of recording, you can assign one later by returning to the workbook and,
from the Tools menu, selecting Macro/Macros and the Options button.
6
Task 5 Simple loop structures

Objectives To write a macro to enter values into a workbook using a simple loop
structure.
Comments This task uses a single, self-contained subroutine and there is no need to
explicitly declare any variables used. See the note at the end of this task for a
caution on using variables in this manner. It introduces the cells object as a
way of referencing a particular cell
5.1 Create a new (blank) workbook.

5.2 From the Tools menu, select Macro / Visual Basic Editor (or press
<Alt>+<F11>).
5.3 From the Insert menu, select Module.
A new (empty) module appears in the right-hand pane of the VBE (if Option
Explicit is entered at the top of your module, highlight and delete it). This
module will contain your Visual Basic code.
5.4 From the Insert menu, select Procedure.
5.5 In the name box, type myloop and click on OK.
5.6 In Excel spreadsheets we refer to cells by their column letters and row
numbers (for example, A1). In a Visual Basic procedure we can use the cells
object, for example cells(1,”A”) , to refer to cells in the same way – see the
following example.
Enter the code (in bold below):
Public Sub myloop()
Rw = 1
For Numb = 1 To 100
Cells(Rw, “A”) = Numb
Rw = Rw + 1
Next Numb
End Sub
In this example the column used is fixed (A). The first number is entered in
column A, row 1 and increased by 1 until all the numbers (up to 100) have
been entered.
Note In macros it is usually more flexible to refer to columns by a number rather
then by a letter. The cells object allows this, for example cells(1, 2) refers to
the same cell as cells(1,”B”).
5.7 From the Run menu, select Run Sub/UserForm (or press <F5>).
If you had more than one procedure (or form) you would be asked to select
the one you wished to run.
5.8 Switch back to the worksheet to see the results (<Alt>+<F11>).
Note Terminology - your recorded macro has been saved as a subroutine within a
module in your workbook.
Indentation is used in the program loop above. This makes it easier to follow
the various structures within procedures. See Appendix A for a definition of
common programming terms and examples of other ways of getting code to
be repeated.
7
This example makes use of variables that we choose to call Rw and Numb.
They contain temporary values that are changed as the macro is run. We
have not specified what kind of values are to be stored in these variables. As
programming beginners this is probably the best course of action. Visual
Basic treats these variables as of type Variant and is very tolerant of the kind
of information that can be stored in them. Sometimes this tolerance can lead
to undesirable errors. See Appendix C for information on how you can specify
variables more precisely.
8
Task 6 Debugging a macro

Objectives To introduce the Visual Basic debugger.
Comments Some mistakes in coding a program will cause Visual Basic to give an error
message. Clicking on <Debug> will enter the VBE, highlighting the error.
6.1 Using the macro created in the previous task, switch to the VBE (press
<Alt>+<F11>).
6.2 Alter the line Cells(Rw, "A") = Number to: Cells(Rww, "A") = Number
Figure 2 - run-time error message box
Re-run the macro; a runtime error message dialog box is displayed, see
Figure 2.
Click on Debug.
You should now be in the Visual Basic run-time debug mode with the line
causing the problem highlighted.
6.3 Position the mouse cursor over a variable, for example Number. Note that the
current value for the variable is displayed.
6.4 Position the cursor over the misspelt variable, Rww. The text Rww = Empty
is displayed.
6.5 Correct the mistake (remove the extra w).
6.6 From the Visual Basic Run menu, select either:
Continue to resume processing the macro, OR:
Reset and then switch to the worksheet before re-running the macro.
Note When editing a Visual Basic macro you can position the cursor on a macro
statement and set (or unset) breakpoints (from the Debug menu, select
Toggle Breakpoint or press <F9>). When the macro is next run, execution
will stop before the statement and enter into the debug mode. You can then
inspect variables and see what is going on. To restart the macro, from the
Run menu, select Continue. To clear all breakpoints, from the Debug menu,
select Clear All breakpoints (or press <Ctrl>+<Shift>+<F9>).
9
Task 7 Using the Range object

Objectives To format a particular range of cells in a chosen way.
Comments This task introduces the Range and Selection objects and the With… End
With language construct.
7.1 Switch to the VBE.

7.2 Insert the following lines (in bold) immediately above the End Sub statement:
Range(“A1:A100”).Select
With Selection.Font
.Name = “Arial”
.Size = 14
End With
Note We can refer to ranges of cells as Range("A1:J10") or even Range(“A1”,
“J10”). The latter format allows us to specify two arguments which define the
start and end cells respectively. Using the cells object to specify these
arguments enables us to replace actual numbers with variables – For
example: Range(cells(1,2),cells(rw,2)) defines a range in column B that
begins at row 1 and ends at the row rw (i.e. if rw contains 3 the range would
be $B$1:$B$3)
The Select method of the Range object is used to highlight a particular

range. The Selection object refers to whatever range is highlighted.
Cells can have their format attributes set directly. For example,
Range(“A1:A100”).Font.Name = “Arial”
Quite often it is convenient to use the With… End With language construct
so that the attributes of a range of cells can be set without repeating the
range specification each time. NB References to objects within the construct
that begin with “.” are assumed to have the With object as their parent
object.
7.3 Switch to the spreadsheet, delete the contents and run the myloop macro.
Note the effect of the formatting on the cells.
7.4 Close your workbook. There is no need to save it.
10
Task 8 Creating a function

Objectives To demonstrate how user-defined functions can be easily created and used.
Comments Excel has a large number of functions available, but there are times when it is
necessary to create a user-defined function to perform a particular
calculation. These functions cannot be created using the macro record and
playback actions within Excel, but must be entered into the VBE.
8.1 Create a new workbook.

8.2 Open the VBE (use <Alt><F11> as a shortcut).
8.3 From the Insert menu, select Module.
In the Add Procedure dialog box, enter the name times100 and from the
Type section, select Function (Public should already be selected from the
Scope section).
Click on OK.
Note A user-defined function is used in the same way as an Excel function. It has a
name (in this case, times100) and a number of arguments (in some cases,
zero). We will define a function that takes one numeric argument, multiplies it
by 100 and returns the result.
8.5 Place the cursor between the brackets on the first line.
8.6 Enter a variable name for the argument; for example, n.
8.7 Move the cursor to the empty line of the function and enter the command
times100 = n * 100.
Your function should be similar to the one below:
Public Function times100(n)
times100 = n * 100
End Function
8.8 Switch to the worksheet, select cell A1 and enter a value.
8.9 In cell B1, enter the function =times100(A1).
Note Functions and subroutines created in VBA are not case-sensitive.
8.10 Try changing the value in cell A1 and note the result.
8.11 Close and Save this workbook; you will need the function in a later task.
11
Task 9 Rearrange macro

Objectives To create an application to rearrange student marks for processing.
Comments Try typing the subroutine in lower case and notice how the editor formats your
commands.
This task assumes a working knowledge of cell and range names (covered in
document exl00-t3).
It introduces the Set statement that is used to assign a range to a range

object variable. This variable can then be used wherever you would normally
use the range.
9.1 Open the file Exam1.xls (in Computer Centre training rooms, this is in the
folder C:\User\Excel). The worksheet contains some subject results for
fictional students (Figure 3).
Figure 3 - Exam1.xls (fictional table of results)
Figure 4 - sample of rotated data
This task will rotate those results (Figure 4) in order to make use of other
features within Excel such as Subtotals and PivotTables.
9.2 Highlight the range A1:G13 and define a range name, area.
Click in cell I1 and define a name, areaoutstart.
9.3 Switch to the VBE and insert a new module.
Insert a new procedure (subroutine) named rearrange.
12
9.4 Enter the code below (in bold):

Note The following text is available in the working folder as task9_4.txt to copy and
paste if you prefer not to type it. Take a few moments reading through the
code to get an idea of the structure and what might be happening.
Public Sub rearrange()
Set ar = Range("area")
Set arout = Range("areaoutstart")
ncols = ar.Columns.Count
nrows = ar.Rows.Count
aroutr = 2
countblankcells = 0
arout.Cells(1, 1) = "Name"
arout.Cells(1, 2) = "Subject"
arout.Cells(1, 3) = "Mark"
For r = 2 To nrows
For c = 2 To ncols
If Not IsEmpty(ar.Cells(r, c)) Then
arout.Cells(aroutr, 1) = ar.Cells(r, 1)
arout.Cells(aroutr, 2) = ar.Cells(1, c)
arout.Cells(aroutr, 3) = ar.Cells(r, c)
aroutr = aroutr + 1
Else
countblankcells = countblankcells + 1
End If
Next c
Next r
End Sub
Note The variable countblankcells is used to calculate the number of blank cells
encountered when running the macro. The total number will be displayed at
the end of the macro (see task 12).
For programming flexibility we make use of variables (in this case ar and
arout) to point at the input and output ranges. Such variables must be
assigned values using the Set command rather then just using the “=”
assignment statement.
Without any leading range qualifier, cells references all the cells within the
currently active worksheet. But with a leading range object it is made to
reference the cells relative to that particular range. For example,
ar.cells(1,1), references the first cell in whatever range that ar points at.
The solution example, vbexam_a.xls, contains comments to explain the use

of these variables and functions.
9.5 Switch back to the worksheet (click on the icon in the Status bar or use
<Alt><F11>).
9.6 Save your workbook.
9.7 From the Tools menu, select Macro/Macros and with the rearrange macro
selected, click on Run.
13
Task 10 Yes/No inputs

Objectives To display a message box requesting input from the user of the macro and
use that input to determine what actions your macro will take.
Comments If you have not successfully completed the previous task, you will need to
open the solution file vbexam_a.xls before starting.

10.2 At the top of your macro module (immediately below the line
Public Sub rearrange()), insert a new line and add the line
macroname = “rearrange”.
This name will be used for message display in the dialog boxes created
below.
10.3 Insert a new row between nrows = ar.Rows.count and aroutr = 2.
Type the following code (shown in bold):
nrows = ar.Rows.Count
arout.Range(Cells(1, 1), Cells(1, 3)).Select
Msg = "This macro may overwrite cells starting at range shown."
Reply = MsgBox(Msg & vbCr & _
"Do you want to continue?", vbYesNo, macroname)
If Reply <> vbYes Then
MsgBox "Macro abandoned", vbOKOnly, macroname
Exit Sub ' quit the macro
End If
aroutr = 2
Note As you type functions, for example MsgBox, you will notice that the editor
displays the parameters required by that function. Appropriate dropdown
boxes also provide shortcuts as you type your procedures.
The ampersand character, &, is used to string together text strings and text
variables whilst the underscore character, _, allows you to continue a single
line command on the following line for display purposes. Blank spaces are
ignored. Indentation in an application is used to make the program easier to
read and debug.
The standard constant vbCr is used to insert a carriage return into your
dialog box.
The standard constant vbYes is returned if the Yes button is clicked in reply
to the message.
The operator <> is used to denote “not equal to”.

10.4 Switch back to the worksheet and save your workbook.
10.5 Highlight and delete the results of the previous task and from the Tools menu,
select Macro/Macros and with the rearrange macro selected, click on Run.
Test your macro using both No and Yes inputs to your dialog box.
10.6 Take a few moments to read the comments (preceded by a single
apostrophe) in the solution file vbexam_b.xls.
14
Task 11 Error trapping and GoTo

Objectives To introduce some error trapping.
Comments The rearrange macro created in the previous tasks requires that two range
areas be defined before the macro is run. If these ranges are not defined,
Excel will generate an error and the macro will fail. By checking for this error,
you can display a sensible message and exit the macro cleanly.
11.1 Using the macro created in the previous task switch to the VBE.
If you have not successfully completed the previous task, you will need to
open the solution file, vbexam_b.xls, before starting.
11.2 Immediately beneath the line macroname = “rearrange”, insert a new line
and type: On Error GoTo errmsg
If the ranges area and areaoutstart have not been defined in your
spreadsheet, the macro will jump to a point labelled errmsg (defined below in
task 11.4).
11.3 Beneath the lines set ar… and set arout… add the command
On Error GoTo 0. This section of code should now resemble:
On Error GoTo errmsg
Set ar = Range("area")
Set arout = Range("areaoutstart")
On Error GoTo 0
Any errors encountered from this point on in your macro will display the
normal system errors rather than the one you specify in the errmsg section.
11.4 Scroll to the end of the macro and add an errmsg section immediately above
the last (End Sub) line:
errmsg:
MsgBox "Bad input/output range.", vbOKOnly
End Sub
11.5 Immediately above the errmsg: line, add a new line Exit Sub to ensure that
this error message is only reached from the GoTo command entered in task
11.2.
11.6 Switch to the spreadsheet and save your workbook.
11.7 Delete your previous output and check that the macro runs without error.
Try deleting one or both of the range names (from the Insert menu, select
Name / Define) and test the macro again.
Note You may also wish to check that the selected input range ar is sufficiently big
and that the output range areaoutstart is not within the input range, area.
Your macro should then exit after displaying a dialog box.
Open and examine the example spreadsheet vbexam_c.xls for a suggested

solution to this additional checking.
11.8 Close and reopen your workbook without saving any changes.
15
Task 12 MsgBox: Text & numerical values

Objectives To calculate the number of lines output by the rearrange macro and output the
result in a dialog box together with the total number of blank cells encountered
(if any).
Comments The variables aroutr and countblankcells introduced in task 9 contain the
values required for this exercise.
12.1 If you have not completed the previous tasks, first open vbexam_c.xls.
12.2 Switch to the VBE and scroll to the foot of your macro.
12.3 Between the lines Next r and Exit Sub, add the following code:
If aroutr > 1 Then
arout.Cells(aroutr - 1, 3).Select
MsgBox "This macro has output " & _
Str(aroutr - 2) & " lines." & vbCr & _
"It found " & Str(countblankcells) & _
" blank cells.", vbOKOnly, macroname
Else
MsgBox "No lines output!", vbYesNo, macroname
End If
12.4 From the File menu (still within the VBE), select Close and Return to
Microsoft Excel.
12.5 Save your workbook and test the macro.
Note Vbexam_d.xls contains a working solution to this exercise.
12.6 Close any open workbooks. There is no need to save changes.
16
Task 13 Applying formats using macros

Objectives To produce a small Visual Basic Application (VBA) that checks the current
formatting of cells within a worksheet and removes the percentage sign if a
particular format has been used.
Comments This task assumes that you have successfully completed task 8.
13.1 Open the file created in task 8 (Creating a function) and press <Alt>+<F11>
to switch to the VBE.
Insert a new Procedure, named RemoveSign (type = Sub,
Scope = Public).
13.2 We first need to select the last cell in use within the active worksheet. Enter
the following code into your procedure:
ActiveSheet.Cells.SpecialCells(xlLastCell).Select
ir = ActiveCell.Row
ic = ActiveCell.Column
For rw = 1 To ir
For col = 1 To ic
If IsNumeric(Cells(rw, col)) And Not _
IsEmpty(Cells(rw, col)) Then
in_no = Cells(rw, col)
If Cells(rw, col).NumberFormat = "0.00%" Then
Cells(rw, col) = times100(in_no)
Cells(rw, col).NumberFormat = "General"
End If
End If
Next col
Next rw
Note Working through this code from top to bottom:
The last cell in the worksheet is located and the variables ir and ic are set to
the row and column position values of that cell.
The For Rw… and For Col… structures ensure that the procedure loops
through each row and column used in the worksheet.
The first If… End If structure checks to see if the current cell is not empty and
that its value is numerical. If these conditions are not met, the procedure
moves to the next column/row. If the conditions are met, the variable in_no is
set to the value of the current cell and the next If…End If statement looks to
see if the current value is formatted as a percentage with 2 decimal places. If
it is, the value is multiplied by 100 (using the function created in task 8) and a
general format applied.
13.3 Switch to the worksheet view, save your file and enter some values in your
worksheet (ensuring you have one or more numeric values formatted as
percentages with 2 decimal places).
13.4 Test your VBA (vbformat.xls contains a working solution with some sample
values to test it on).
13.5 The second If…End If statement in the above code could be extended to deal
with Percentage formats with different numbers of decimal places (see the
commented out section of vbformat.xls).
17
13.6 Close any open workbooks.
18
Task 14 Text functions

Objectives To create a function to reverse text strings and use this function to extract a
surname from a text string containing a full name.
Comments The application assumes that the surname is the last word in a string. You
may wish to extend this task to take into consideration surnames such as in
“Daphne du Maurier” or “van der …”.
14.1 Start a new workbook.

14.2 In cell A1, enter the text Name.
Enter the names Mr A B Brown, Pat Smith, Dr White and A B C Evergreen
in cells A2, A3, A4, A5 respectively.
Resize column A to fit the text entered.
14.3 In cell E1, enter the text Surname.
14.4 Open the VBE.
14.5 Create the function rev as below:
Public Function rev(t)
rev = ""
ct = Len(t)
For i = ct To 1 Step –1
rev = rev & Mid(t, i, 1)
Next i
End Function
Note StrReverse was introduced as an Excel Visual Basic function with the release
of Excel 2000. If you are using Excel 2000, try the simpler method below:
Public Function rev(t)

rev = StrReverse(t)
End Function
14.6 Return to the worksheet and select B2.
Enter the formula =rev(A2) to calculate the reverse of the string in cell A2.
Resize column B if necessary.
14.7 In cell C2, enter the formula =FIND(" ",B2) to find the location of the first
space character in the text string in cell B2.
As B2 now contains the reverse of the original text string, this locates the
location of the last space character in the original string.
14.8 In cell D2, enter the formula =LEFT(B2,C2-1).
This takes the left hand side of the reversed string up to, but not including, the
space character. In other words, the surname part of the original text string
reversed.
Note If there are no spaces in the original name, then the formula in column C will
produce an error. In this case additional steps can be taken to deal with this
scenario.
14.9 In cell E2, enter the formula =rev(D2) to reverse the string and return the
surname as required.
14.10 Copy the formulae in the range B2:E2 into rows 3 to 5.
19
14.11 Select columns B:D and from the Format menu, select Column/Hide.
Note See vbreverse_a.xls for a working solution.
This function could be extended to include the actions performed by columns

B to E. The next task demonstrates this.
20
Task 15 Worksheet functions in VB

Objectives To extract the surname from a text string containing a name.
Comments This task reuses the text entered in the previous task but not the function rev
nor the formulae.
15.1 If you completed the previous task, unhide columns B:D and delete the
formulae in the range B2:E5.
Otherwise enter the text as described in tasks 14.1 to 14.3 above.
15.3 Create the following VB function:
Function getSurname(t)
backText = rev(t)
spaceLoc = Application.WorksheetFunction. _
Find(" ", backText)
backSurname = Left(backText, spaceLoc - 1)
getSurname = rev(backSurname)
End Function
15.4 Switch to the worksheet and click in cell B2.
Enter the formula =getSurname(A2).
15.5 Copy (drag & fill) this formula into the range B3:B5.
Note The file vbreverse_a.xls contains a working solution.
Application.WorksheetFunction can be used before many (but not all)

Excel Worksheet functions. Occasionally there is a VB function that does
approximately the same job as a worksheet function in which case they will
usually share the same name e.g. trim. Note the use of the word
“approximately” – the operation of VB trim is different from the worksheet
function trim with respect to the treatment of internal spaces in strings!
As you type your code, type Application.WorksheetFunction and examine

the list of options displayed in the dropdown box.
There is a Visual Basic function called InStr that does the same job as the
Excel Find function and would be more efficient to use. This task simply
demonstrates the use of an Excel worksheet function within a Visual Basic
macro.
21
Task 16 InputBox
Objectives To obtain and use input from the user.
Comments You must first have successfully completed task 15.
16.1 With the worksheet created in task 15 open, switch to the VBE.
16.3 Type the name Surname and click on OK.
16.4 Complete the procedure as shown in bold:
Public Sub Surname()
myString = InputBox("What is the full name?")
Msg = "The surname is "
MsgBox Msg & getSurname(myString), vbOKOnly
End Sub
16.5 Run the procedure (press <F5> or from the Visual Basic Run menu, select
Run Sub/UserForm).
16.6 When prompted, enter the name Dr P A Brown and click on OK.
Note See vbreverse_b.xls for a working solution together with additional code for
allowing the user to select the Cancel button (or press the <Esc> key). The
solution also deals with blank and numeric values entered into the dialog box.
Using forms to obtain and display info.
22
Task 17 Creating and using a simple form

Objectives To create a simple form (also called a dialog box) to obtain and display info.
Comments More details about dialog boxes are given in document exlvba-t2.
17.1 Open a new (blank) worksheet and switch to the VBE.

17.2 In the Project Explorer window double click the appropriate project for the new
book
Note This ensures you are going to be working on the new VB project rather than
any other VB projects you may have worked on previously.
17.3 From the Insert menu, select Module
Note You will need this module later to insert the macro code that will display the
form when it has been created.
17.4 From the Insert menu, select Userform
Note Notice that a new kind of item Forms is now displayed in the Project Explorer
window. This is where forms get stored. In the windows to the right you should
see an empty form design window labelled Userform1 and a Toolbox window
17.5 Use the mouse to select the following controls on the Toolbox and drag them
onto the form labelled UserForm1 (once on the form you can still use the
mouse to drag them to suitable positions – avoid overlapping them) :
the RefEdit control

the TextBox control
the CommandButton control
Note In the Toolbox you can determine which control is which by resting the mouse
on a control – it will display the kind of control that it is in a popup window.
If you ever “lose” the Toolbox window you can use the View / Toolbox VBE
menu command to show it again.
17.6 Right click on any of the controls in the form and select Properties from the
drop down list.
Note A list of all the properties that control the behaviour and look of the selected
control is shown. Note that there is a (name) property for each control - this is
used to identify the control in VB code. It and the other properties can be
altered either via the properties window or in VB code. Do not alter any of the
properties now.
17.7 Double click on UserForm1 in the Project Explorer window to re-show the
form currently being designed.
17.8 Right click on the CommandButton1 control in the form design window and
select View Code from the drop down list.
Note A window displaying the code that will be obeyed when the control gets
clicked is displayed. Initially this code is:
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
End Sub
23
17.9 Insert the following line before the End Sub line:
If refedit1.value <> ”” then call doit (refedit1.value)

Note This line tests the refedit1 value against the null string (two consecutive
double quotes) and only calls doit if it has a non-null value. The “<>”
character string means “not equal to”.
17.10 In the Project Explorer window double click on Module1 to bring up the empty
module we inserted previously and type in the following code:
Public Sub doit(add)

Set rngvar = Range(add)
UserForm1.TextBox1.Value = rngvar.Value
End Sub
Public Sub showform()
UserForm1.Show
End Sub
Public Sub hideform()
UserForm1.hide
End Sub
Note You have now provided a macro called showform that will display userform1
and a macro called hideform that will hide the form and a function called
doit that gets called when the command button on the form gets clicked. doit
gets the value from a particular address and copies it into the textbox1
control.
17.11 Display the showform macro. To do this - switch to the Excel Workbook, enter
some value into a cell and then run the showform macro.
The form should now be displayed.
17.12 Click on the right hand part of the refedit1 control (this is a grey rectangle with
a black underscore in it).
Note A small popup window labelled UserForm1 with an icon that has a little red
arrow on it is displayed.
17.13 Use the mouse to locate and click on the cell that you previously gave a
value.
Note Note that the address of that cell has now been entered in the popup window.
17.14 Click on the icon with the red arrow to return to the form.
17.15 Now click the CommandButton1 control on the form. You should find
whatever value was in the cell has now been copied into the TextBox control.
17.16 Run the hideform macro to remove the form.
Note There are many types of controls that do “fancy” things. They are not always
available by default. The controls are stored in special files. In general these
files have to be located or downloaded. The VBE Tools, References menu
item can then be used via its browser to make the object(s) available to the
VB language. The Tools, Additional Controls menu item can then be used
to add the control items onto the Toolbox window so they can be selected.
The RefEdit control may not be available by default in Excel 97. It is

contained in a file called REFEDIT.DLL which is usually stored in the
Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office directory. It can be made available by
24
using the VBE Tools References and Additional Controls menus as outlined
above.
25
Appendix A Programming structure

Comments This appendix includes some definitions of programming terms and examples
of common programming structures (constructs) available to you when writing
VBA code. For further information on their use, please see the online help
system. Where square brackets […] are used, this indicates that this part of
the structure is optional.
For our purposes you can regard a program (or macro) as a number of statements that are
interpreted by the computer according to a set of syntactic rules.
Each set of rules correspond to a particular language – for instance there are languages
called FORTRAN and VISUAL C.
The language that is used in the Excel environment to provide macros is called VISUAL
BASIC FOR EXCEL.
This language is used with slight differences for many other Office applications e g there is
VISUAL BASIC FOR WORD.
These are all grouped together as a product called VISUAL BASIC FOR APPLICATIONS (or
VBA for short). The facilities available are identical except for the objects that are made
available for manipulation. For instance, by default, the ACTIVECELL object would be
available in Excel but not in Word.
They share a common editor (VBE for short) and navigation window environment (called the
PROJECT EXPLORER).
(There is also a stand alone product called just VISUAL BASIC which can be used to create
stand alone executable programs and does not need an Office product to be running – but
this course is not concerned with this).
Before you can start typing new macros or changing old ones you must go to the Visual
Basic Editor (VBE) window, use the PROJECT EXPLORER window to select the project (i.e.
the workbook your macros are associated with), and then either insert a new module or
double click on an existing module - the statements associated with the module will then be
shown in a separate window.
Modules are attached to particular workbooks and used to store macros. There can be more
then one module in a workbook and each module can hold many macros. A Macro will
consist of one or more PROCEDURES.
A procedure is a named set of programming statements. Statements normally get obeyed

one at a time starting at the beginning. However you can use certain language constructs (i
e “special words”) to change what statements get obeyed next and also to instruct the
computer to repeat certain instructions many times over.
The statements themselves are case independent (but sometimes when you enter the
statements into the VB editor it itself changes the case to get a consistent appearance).
In general the amount of spacing between the words used in the language is left up to you
(but you are advised to indent lines with leading spaces to improve the visual presentation of
the program).
Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000 (exlvba-t1) 26

The VB Programming Language

A set of syntactic rules used to create a program. A program is defined by one or more
subroutines and any number of functions. A procedure may be either a subroutine or a
function.
Each subroutine must have specific start and end instructions.
Example Sub My_Program()
.
.
End Sub
Each function must have specific start and end instructions.
Example Function My_Function(arg)
.
.
End Function
Scope of procedures
Functions can be called (executed) from other VB subroutines or functions, or by a call via
the contents of an Excel cell. Subroutines can be called from other subroutines or functions
or via the Excel Tools Macro menu or via the VBE Run menu.
If their scope is Public then the item can be called from any module in the workbook or from
the Excel Tools Macro menu (if a Subroutine) or Excel cell (if a Function). If their scope is
Private then the item can only be called from the module in which the item is defined. By
default the scope is set to Public. Scope can be specifically set by preceding the Sub or
Function definition by the desired scope.
Example Public Function my_calc()
Forms
Besides procedures, VBE can also be used to create forms. These are special windows
(known as custom dialog boxes) that contain a mixture of text and special controls (such as
command buttons, pull down lists etc). These controls can be selected from a special toolbar
called a toolbox and positioned in the window. VB code can be associated with the controls
such that clicking on a control can start off programming activity. A separate course
document called VB Excel 97/2000: Custom dialog boxes (document exlvba-t2 – see
Related Documentation section for the location of this document on the web) is available that
deals with this. Before moving on to this subject you are advised to finish the current course
document.
Comments
It is a good idea to include informative non-executable comments into a program. Any line or
part of a line that begins with the ‘ character is ignored by VB language interpreter.
Example ‘ Putting comments in a program is good practice

Continuation
Sometimes it is convenient to split a single statement over more then one line. To do this the
underscore character preceded by at least one space character is used.
Example Sub _
My_Program()
Constants
Fixed values such as say 12 or TRUE or "THIS IS AN ERROR"
Variables
A named item that can contain some information. There are some rules to the names you
can choose. (No spaces are allowed). For clarity avoid the use of special programming
words such as “if” and special Excel words such as “range” or “cells”.
Declarations
Optionally (in VB) you can list the variable (and its type) before its use, using declaration
statements.
Example dim i as integer
Types of variable
Variables can hold various types of information e.g.
Boolean, Integer, Long (long integer), Single (single-precision floating-point), Double
(double-precision floating-point), Currency, Date, String or Variant.
If you do not specifically declare the type of a variable it will be given the Variant type. VB is
very flexible when dealing with variant variables.
Assigning values to variables

Programming statements such as the following do this:
Example x=12
errmsg="You have made a mistake"
torf=TRUE
Expressions
A mixture of constants, variables and operators that produce a value as their result.
Example x+1
(x+y)/3 +4*z
Objects
Variables can also be "objects" such as Excel workbooks, worksheets, cell address ranges,
type of fonts, charts etc.
Objects have a position in a hierarchy. For example, the Range object is below the
Worksheet object which is below the Workbook object. The VB help system will show this
relationship.
Often when referring to objects they will be defined by listing the parent object first and then
the object itself e.g.
Example Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
A period is used as the separator between objects.
Often if a parent object is not specified a default object will be assumed to be the parent. For
example, the Activesheet object is assumed if a Range object is not qualified by a parent
object.
Properties and Methods of Objects

Objects have Properties that describe certain attributes about them and Methods that
operate on them to change their state.
The size of a Font object for instance is referenced using the Size Property of the Font
object.
Example Range("A2").Font.Size=12
To clear the contents of a particular range you can use the Clear method of the Range
object.
Example Range("Z1:Z4").Clear
A period is used as the separator between the object and the Property or Method.
Quite often the properties and methods of an object will themselves have parameters that
need be specified before getting the desired result.
Example Range("A1").Cells(2,3)
This results in a reference to a cell which is 2 rows down and three columns across from Cell
A1. The Cell property can be given two arguments to qualify it.
More information about objects is given in Appendix B.
Testing variables
You can use the IF .. THEN construct or IF .. THEN ... ELSE constructs to do this.
Example If x=1 then y=1
If ans="YES" Then test="TEST ONE" Else test= "TEST TWO"
You can also use a multi-line IF ... THEN … [ELSE …] ENDIF construct to do testing.
Example If ans="YES" Then
test="TEST ONE"
x=1
Else
test= "TEST TWO"
x=2
Endif

Looping
Various constructs enable you to get a set of instructions performed many times. For
example, the FOR... NEXT construct does this. The complete program that follows
illustrates this:
Example Sub SumCol()
colnum = 2
startrownum = 10
endrownum= 20
sumct = 0
For rownum= startrownum To endrownum
' we now use the CELLS property of the RANGE object to get the value of
‘ a particular cell, and then add it the current value of sumct and store the
‘ new total back into sumct overwriting what was there previously.
sumct = sumct + Range("A1").Cells(rownum, colnum)
If sumct > 5000000 Then Exit For
Next
' sumct will now have the sum of column 2 for rows 10 to 20.
' - Unless of course the sum was greater then 5000000 when
' it will contain whatever sum forced the exit statement from the loop.
MsgBox Str(sumct)
' MsgBox is a standard instruction that will output information to the screen.
' Str is a standard function that takes an argument of type numeric and
‘ converts it to type text , suitable for display purposes.
End Sub
Some Common Programming structures
For… To … [Step …] Next

Example For counter = startval To endval Step 2
tot=tot+counter
if tot >1000 Then Exit For ‘the Exit For instruction if executed causes a
‘ jump to the instruction that follows the
‘ “Next” statement.
Next [counter]
Do… Loop Until

Example ct=0
Do
ct=ct+10
Loop Until ct>1000

If… Then… [ELSE …]

Example If x=1 Then y=1 Else y=0
Alternatively, using the block syntax:

Example If x=1 Then
y=1
z=1
Else
y=0
z=0
End If
For Each… Next

Example For Each cht in Sheets(“Sheet1”).ChartObjects ‘ cht is set in turn to each
‘embedded chart object on Sheet1
cht.Chart.ChartType = XlLine
‘ sets the specified chart type to be a Line Chart
Next cht
Example For Each cl in Selection

‘ The Selection object is the currently highlighted range.
’ “cl” is set in turn to each cell in that range .
cl.Font.Size=10
cl.Value=0
Next cl
With… End With

Example With Selection.Font
.Size=12
.Italic=true
End With
Select Case… [Case Else …] End Select

Example Select Case quantity
‘ Note the different kind of CASE constructs there can be.
Case 0 To 49
discount = 0.1
Case 50 To 74: discount = 0.2
‘to get more then one statement on a line you can use : and follow it
’ by a single statement.
Case Is >= 75
discount = 0.25
Case Else
discount=0
End Select

Appendix B Visual Basic objects

Comments Some of the items referred to in the examples are more complicated than
simple numeric constants and values. Such variables are called objects. For
instance the variables that refer to Excel ranges, worksheets, charts, and
workbooks are objects. This appendix gives a very rough explanation of how
to find out what objects there are and how they interact.
Libraries
Objects are grouped in classes (for example, Excel, Office) and their
definitions stored in specific libraries. Visual Basic for Excel starts with a
default set of libraries. Libraries can easily be added to the set (from the VBE
Tools menu, select References). A reference to an object that is not in the
current set of object definitions will cause an error.
Object hierarchy
Objects have a position in a hierarchy. For example the Range object is below
the Worksheet object which is below the Workbook object. The VB help
system will show this relationship.
Often when referring to objects they will be defined by listing the parent object
first and then the object itself e.g
Example Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
A period is used as the separator character in the hierarchy.
Often if a parent object is not specified a default object will be assumed to be
the parent. For example the Activesheet object is assumed if a Range object
is not qualified by a parent object.
Properties and methods

Each object is defined by having a particular set of properties and methods.
The period character is used as a separator when referring to the properties
and methods of objects. For instance the Range object has a property called
Cells that can be used to refer to a particular subset of the range.
Example Range(“A2:Z11”).Cells(1,1) refers to cell A2 in the currently active
worksheet.
The object created by the use of the Cells property is itself a Range object.
So the Font property of a Range object can be used to generate a Font
object. The Size property of the Font object can then be used to set the size
of the font.
Example Range(“A14:Z14”).Cells(2,1).Font.Size=12 will set the font size of cell A15
to 12 points.
A Range object has a Clear method that will clear all the cells in the range.
Example Range(“A1”). Clear will clear the contents and formatting of cell A1.
• Methods cause acts to be done to the object, while
• Properties return simple values and objects that are associated with the
object

As can be seen from these examples, each property and method has its own
set of rules defining what arguments are necessary to construct a valid
reference to it.
If present, the arguments are enclosed in parenthesis and separated by
commas. Any text constant argument must be enclosed in double quotes.
There is an alternative form of specifying arguments using keywords that is
useful when there are many arguments.
Example Workbooks.Open Filename:="C:\Sales.xls", ReadOnly:=True
Collection objects
There are many objects that are used to control collections of objects of the
same type. For instance the Workbooks object can be used to control all the
Workbook objects. It can be used to create a Workbook, provide the names
of all the Workbook objects, a count of the Workbook objects, etc.
In general the collection objects will share many methods and properties, for
example, Count, Add, Item, Close.
Finding information about objects

If you already know the name of an object and require further help (or you
merely want to browse), then the Object browser tool can be used:
Figure 5 - object browser window (<F2>)
From the VBE View menu, select Object Browser (or press <F2>).
From the Project/Library dropdown box, select Excel (default <All
Libraries>).
Under classes, select a class, (Range in Figure 5).
Right-click the mouse and select Help.
A separate help window will be created (if it does not already exist) containing
information about the chosen item. Quite often there will be Properties and
Methods buttons that can be clicked to get information about all the
properties and methods for the chosen object.

Because it is sometimes difficult to guess whether a particular item is a

property or a method, it is often necessary to look in both lists to find its
definition.
When it is available on the help window, the Example button can be clicked to
give useful information and the displayed example text pasted into your
program to be edited for your own use.
Excel object model

To display the hierarchy of Excel objects graphically:
Start the VBE (<Alt>+<F11>).
From the Help menu, select Microsoft Visual Basic Help.
If the Office Assistant appears you will need to disable it:
Right-click on the assistant and select Options.
Remove the tick from Use the Office Assistant and click on OK.
Select Help / Microsoft Visual Basic Help again.
Select the Answer Wizard tab.
Using the What would you like to do box, type Microsoft Excel Objects
and click on Search.
Under Select topic to display, click on Microsoft Excel Objects.
Referring to worksheets and workbooks

In general, all objects that refer to specific Excel items (such as ranges and
charts) are properties and methods of the Application object. There is a
special subclass of objects called the global subset, which is a set of those
objects that can be used without putting the suffix Application. before them.
ActiveWorkbook and ActiveSheet are such global objects. They refer to the
currently active workbook and worksheet respectively.
If a Range object is used, which is not specifically associated with a particular
sheet or book, then it is assumed to refer to the
ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet object.
If only one Excel workbook is open, then this will be defined to be the
ActiveWorkbook. The sheet selected when the macro is run will be the
ActiveSheet. If all the objects you want to access are in this sheet then there
is no need to associate them with a parent object.
If you want to access objects in other sheets or workbooks, then objects such
as Sheets and Workbooks need to be used.
Example Workbooks(“exone.xls”).Sheets(“Sheet1”).Range(“A1”) refers to cell A1
in Sheet1 of the workbook exone.xls.
Note Workbooks are only differentiated by their filename (including their suffix but
not including their folder name) and names of sheets, folders and files are not
case-dependent.
If the workbook is not already open, then the macro will have to open it using
the Workbooks Open method:
Example Workbooks.Open ("C:\Ex\Large.xls")
A particular workbook may be made the active workbook via:
Example Workbook(“exone.xls”).Activate
A particular sheet may be made the active sheet via:
Example Sheets(“Sheet2”).Activate
Warning! Before the ActiveCell object can be used or a particular range selected using
the Select method, then an ActiveSheet object must have been defined.
Declaring and assigning values to object variables

When making repeated references to the same complex object it is more
efficient to use variables to hold the objects and refer to these instead (see
also Appendix C). It also gives better code readability.
Object variables can be declared just like simple variables using the Dim
statement.
Example Dim Rngx As Range
To assign values to object variables, the Set statement must be used rather
than the simple equals assignment statement:
Example Set Rngx = Range(“A1..Z26”)
Rngx.Font.Size = 16
Note Object variables point to the object rather than are the object.
It is good practice to free such variables when they are no longer required. To
do this set them to the special Nothing keyword.
Example Set Rngx = Nothing
Many objects have a default property or method that is used when the object
has not been fully specified. For a Range variable this property is normally the
Value property.
Example The statement Range(“A1”)=Range(“B1”) will be treated as
Range(“A1”).Value = Range(“B1”).Value

Appendix C Declaration and scope of variables

Comments The examples in these notes introduce variables as they are needed within
the subroutines. However more experienced programmers can choose to
declare your variables before they are referenced in a procedure (subroutine
or function).
By assigning the data type to each variable the program will run faster and
use memory more efficiently.
If a variable is not explicitly declared, it is of type variant. In general, Visual

Basic is very tolerant of the kind of information that can be stored as type
variant.
A variable can be declared in 3 places:
Single procedure only

If a variable is to be used within a single procedure only, declare it with a Dim
or Static statement in the procedure that uses that variable. A static variable
is one that retains its value even when the procedure ends.
Example Sub MySub()
Dim i As Integer,j As Integer
Dim ar As Excel.Range
Dim Surname As String
Static Count As Integer
[Write the VB code here]
End Sub
Module only
If a variable is to be used throughout the procedures within a module, use a
Dim statement before the first Sub or Function statement in that module.
Example Dim First As String
Dim InterestRate As Single
Sub FirstSub()
End Sub
[More functions/subs here]
All procedures in all modules

If a variable is required in more than one module, declare it using a Public
statement before the first Sub or Function statement in a module.
Example Public VatRate as Long = 0.175
Function FirstFunction(i, j)
End Function
[More functions/subs here]

In the examples within this document, only a few procedures are used.
However, as a large program is developed using multiple procedures across
several modules, it becomes essential to declare all variables used.
Efficiency aside, spelling mistakes can occur within variable names leading to
incorrect calculations.
Use the statement Option Explicit as the first line within a module to force
the declaration of variables. The program will stop if a variable name has not
been declared.
Note The VBE can be configured to automatically insert the Option Explicit line in
new modules. From the Tools menu, select Options. Within the Editor tab,
select Require Variable Declaration.
The declaration Dim i, j As Integer will declare j as an integer and i as a

variant.
See the online help facility for more information on declaring variables and
variable types.

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Visual Basic for Excel

Aims and Learning Objectives

University of Bristol Information Services document exlvba-t1

Course documents and files

Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000/XP (April 06)

Task 1 Virus protection

1.1 Excel 97: From the Tools menu select Options.

Task 2 Recording a macro

2.1 Using a new (blank) workbook, select cell A1.

From the Tools menu, select Macro and Stop Recording.

Task 3 Relative reference macros

3.1 Create a new (blank) workbook.

Personal.xls is stored in the folder (for a default installation of Windows NT):

Task 4 Editing a recorded macro

4.1 From the Tools menu, select Macro and Macros.

Figure 1 - Visual Basic editor (months macro)

The Microsoft VBE appears similar to Figure 1.

If you forget to assign a shortcut key (such as <Ctrl>+<m>) to a macro at the

Task 5 Simple loop structures

5.1 Create a new (blank) workbook.

Task 6 Debugging a macro

Figure 2 - run-time error message box

Task 7 Using the Range object

7.1 Switch to the VBE.

The Select method of the Range object is used to highlight a particular

Task 8 Creating a function

8.1 Create a new workbook.

Task 9 Rearrange macro

It introduces the Set statement that is used to assign a range to a range

Figure 3 - Exam1.xls (fictional table of results)

Figure 4 - sample of rotated data

9.4 Enter the code below (in bold):

The solution example, vbexam_a.xls, contains comments to explain the use

Task 10 Yes/No inputs

10.1 Switch to the VBE.

The operator <> is used to denote “not equal to”.

Task 11 Error trapping and GoTo

Open and examine the example spreadsheet vbexam_c.xls for a suggested

Task 12 MsgBox: Text & numerical values

Task 13 Applying formats using macros

13.6 Close any open workbooks.

Task 14 Text functions

14.1 Start a new workbook.

Public Function rev(t)

This function could be extended to include the actions performed by columns

Task 15 Worksheet functions in VB

Application.WorksheetFunction can be used before many (but not all)

As you type your code, type Application.WorksheetFunction and examine

Task 17 Creating and using a simple form

17.1 Open a new (blank) worksheet and switch to the VBE.

the RefEdit control

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

If refedit1.value <> ”” then call doit (refedit1.value)

Public Sub doit(add)

The RefEdit control may not be available by default in Excel 97. It is

Appendix A Programming structure

A procedure is a named set of programming statements. Statements normally get obeyed

Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000 (exlvba-t1) 26

The VB Programming Language

Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000 (exlvba-t1) 27

Assigning values to variables

Properties and Methods of Objects

Visual Basic for Excel 97/2000 (exlvba-t1) 29