# vba vs vb6



## aca4life (Mar 4, 2008)

This may be stupid question, what is the difference between VBA and VB6? Is VB6 included in my XL 2003 version or is this a separate software I have to purchase?


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## Norie (Mar 4, 2008)

VB6 is not inclued in Excel or Office.

It normally comes with Visual Studio.

But even then it's actually been superseded by VB.Net as far as I'm aware.

As to the difference, I suppose the main one is the object model.

That is in Excel VBA you have the Excel object model, in Word VBA you have the Word object model etc

These allow you to access objects such as worksheets, ranges etc


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## aca4life (Mar 4, 2008)

thank you for the clarification.

Just out curiosity, will I be able to accomplish what is in this link with my version XL 2003?
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ComAddInInVB6.htm


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## Richard Schollar (Mar 4, 2008)

VBA uses VB6 but it is distinct and tied to the Application.  With VB you can create standalone executables whereas you can't do this in VBA.  VB6 also provides you with Windows Forms.  Syntax wise they are indentical altho you need to appreciate that with VBA you generally use the Object model that comes with your application, whereas with VB you are creating many more of your own classes (objects) with their own properties and methods and events (you can also do this in VBA, but often there is no need as the object model already provides most of the functionality you will need).


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## Norie (Mar 4, 2008)

aca4life said:


> Just out curiosity, will I be able to accomplish what is in this link with my version XL 2003?
> http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ComAddInInVB6.htm


As far as I can see that requires VB6, or some other programming language.

That's not part of Excel.


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## aca4life (Mar 4, 2008)

ok...thank you again for the clarification.


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