# Best XL-Guru ever?



## XL-Dennis (Jun 25, 2003)

Hi all,

Don´t mix best with most famous because that´s a total different question!

Yes, they are all good but  Stephen Bullen is the #1!

Kind regards,
Dennis


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## Legacy 12630 (Jun 25, 2003)

Why ?


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## dk (Jun 25, 2003)

Hi,

I think all of them have done excellent things for the Excel world - I've used ideas from all of them at one point or another.  Stephen Bullen has produced some amazing examples of using the Windows API to do all sorts of things that aren't possible with VBA alone.  My personal favourite is formfun and well worth a look www.bmsltd.co.uk  Also, I bought the Excel 2000 Programmers reference a couple of years back, and if I remember correctly, he wrote the VBE programming and API chapters.  This book is probably one of the best computer books (of any product, language) I've read and that had a lot to do with his teaching style.

However, I've voted for Chip Pearson.  This is based purely on how often I reference is website and the quality of his posts on the newsgroups.  He doesn't just explain his answers, he WANTS to help the OP understand the why and how of his solution(s).  Also, I asked a question a while back which I thought would never be answered - I wanted to know how do I list members, constant values, enumerated types, etc of a specified type library in a worksheet.  Here's what he came up with...


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## Juan Pablo González (Jun 25, 2003)

I have to vote for Bullen.  He has solved many, MANY problems that we still face, and most of them were solved A LONG time ago ! and after reading his chapters in Excel VBA 2002, well, he's got my vote !


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## Legacy 12630 (Jun 25, 2003)

Re DK's experience with Chip Pearson, I had a similar one with John Walkenbach about two years ago when I was just starting in my attempts to unravel the wonders of Excel.

I sent him an email asking him how to return the number of days in any given month (how embarrassing!!).

He actually replied and in an extremely polite manner - and provided the solution.

A gentleman and a very gracious person!


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## XL-Dennis (Jun 25, 2003)

Ponsonby said:
			
		

> Why ?



Because I got this question from a client   

...and it reflect the influence we have  :wink: 

Kind regards,
Dennis


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## Mark O'Brien (Jun 25, 2003)

I had to go with Mr Bullen.  Some of my favourite code that I've "borrowed" has come from the examples on his site.  I enjoy looking at Chip's code examples too, but I like Stephen's examples like "FormFun".  It's more of a challenge, you almost have to understand everything about the code before modifying it to suit your needs.  

I agree with dk about "Excel 2000 Programmers Reference" especially the chapters he mentioned.  That's what opened up a lot of stuff for me too.

Although, I see that dk used Chip's suggestion for making a shorter link.    (I've used that too, but couldn't resist a dig)


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## Sourdust (Jun 25, 2003)

*In my, admittedly limited, experience with Excel I have had to vote for John Walkenbach. I use his PUP addin all the time and find it extremely useful and I am wading my way through both his exellent books, Excel Formulas and Power Programming with VBA. Also he was very helpful when I was enquiring about the PUP addin and I have to agree with Ponsonby (shock, horror   ) that he is a gentleman of the first degree.*


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## Corticus (Jun 25, 2003)

I'd have to say Walkenbach, myself.

I've never really asked any of them questions, but I really appreciate the loads of JWalk open-source tools out there.  Chip has a bunch of open-source tools too, but JWalk's tools have made it into more of my applications than anybodies.

Among my favorite, the CreateMenu and DeleteMenu macros featured in Colo's HTML maker.  This is an incredibly useful tool.

I need to check more out on Mr. Bullen, looks impressive.


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## NateO (Jun 25, 2003)

I guess it's hard for me to say. It seems as though everyone in the presented list definitely has used Excel before and all bring some skill sets to the table. I'd hate to pick one... 

How about _Other:_ Laurent Longre

 

I've seen more Morefunc solution postings than I can shake a stick at, and here's what Chip Pearson had to say about his Excel knowledge:Post. Tres bien. Again, all great.


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## Corticus (Jun 25, 2003)

I agree Nate,

The morefunc.dll addin is very useful (search: Aladin), but my beef with it is the fact that it is sealed up tight.

I can't ship a spreadsheet out with any of Longre's functions, because that would require me to send the user the add-in as well, and my spreadhsheets have to be one .xls file.  If they were open-source, I could make UDF's out of them and attach them to the worksheets, but as it is... alas!

I agree though, Longre's work is very impressive, and in his defense, at least its free. Locked-up add-ins (of files, or anything) just **** me off.  At least make it an .xla so I can crack it, I can't even decompile an .xll.  Of course, I'm sure that's the idea!


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## NateO (Jun 25, 2003)

Well, and it's not written in VB, so you need to speak the language to do anything with it, never mind if you could crack it:  

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...deovrcomaddinsvsapplicationspecificaddins.asp

Does this make any sense to you:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=38D6A0FB.E79AA3CF@free.fr  

Turns out he's pretty good with Excel concepts other than xll add-ins as well. Examples:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=366730CB.1FB1@wanadoo.fr&rnum=5 

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...lw86StV9GA.240@uppssnewspub04.moswest.msn.net

http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/eee/eee003.txt

http://longre.free.fr/pages/api/couleurs.htm

Etc....


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## XL-Dennis (Jun 25, 2003)

> I'd hate to pick one...



Don´t vote then   

And it´s not what somebody have done for the last years but over the years, i e 10 - 15 years  :wink: 

BTW, Mr Pearson have been educated by the three big B:s. I wonder who they are   

..and I think that reverse engineering is something that You shouldn´t be proud at all with and it also explain why developers are trying hard to protect their work, especially when they try to do it for a living.

Kind regards,
Dennis


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## Juan Pablo González (Jun 25, 2003)

I agree Nate, but, well, if you're going that way, then the list would have to be extended A LOT MORE, I mean, Green, Bovey, Peltier, Ogilvy, Staff, Grove, etc., etc.... so, if you'd pick of the available list... it would be... ?


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## NateO (Jun 25, 2003)

XL-Dennis said:
			
		

> Don´t vote then


I didn't.   


> And it´s not what somebody have done for the last years but over the years, i e 10 - 15 years  :wink:


I don't follow, some of the links I posted are from 1998.   Are you talking about Laurent Longre?   He's clearly been developing in Excel '97 and perhaps earlier versions... 


> BTW, Mr Pearson have been educated by the three big B:s. I wonder who they are


Looks like he was educated by Laurent in two of the threads I linked to. I'm curious, how do you know where Chip gained his knowledge regarding Excel?   And even if you did, why would you share this information?

Juan, I'm not sure there's a right answer or that the list has all of the potentially correct responses on it... If I had to pick one, I'd probably say Laurent Longre, I've learned a lot from all of them, but that's my gut feel. Maybe change the question, e.g., _Best from this list?_


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## Corticus (Jun 25, 2003)

Thanks for the info Nate (boy you're helpful today :D), I didn't know that .xll files were not necessarily VB, but could be C/C++ or whatever.  Very interesting, and no, I most likely don't know enough C++ to understand what Longre's doing anyways.

In defense of cracking/decompiling
I'd say I've learned about 90% of what programming I know from picking apart other peopless work.  I have no shame in that.  If someone makes an add-in available for downloading, and I like it, you bet I'm going to do everything in my power to decompile/crack it.  If you're that scared about people jacking your work, don't post it where millions of people can download it.
I only hope that my code will be good enough that others will try to hack it.

As a musician, I have a deep respect for the concept of intellectual property, but my beats are sitting out there, just waiting to be stolen, and I know this.  That's why I don't post my favorite music online for millions to listen to.

Funny, nobody seemed to have a problem with me cracking Microsoft's Add-ins...


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## XL Pro (Jun 25, 2003)

Juan Pablo González said:
			
		

> I agree Nate, but, well, if you're going that way, then the list would have to be extended A LOT MORE, I mean, Green, Bovey, Peltier, Ogilvy, Staff, Grove, etc., etc.... so, if you'd pick of the available list... it would be... ?


Just to throw one more in the mix (probably included in the Etcetras above): 
Eric Wells


Didn't vote either...they're all equal in their own right!


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## XL-Dennis (Jun 25, 2003)

> ...Maybe change the question, e.g., Best from this list?



You actually mean that the superadministrator at MrExcel should change  the thread   

It looks like You are total out of line here...(as usual when You disagree...)

It crazy to keep doing reverse engineering no matter what Your excuses are and especially when You view The Office Experts in Your avatar...

Have You ever tried a friendly e-mail to creators of an add-ins, especially the free ones? You would be surpriced too see how friendly they can be   

And to get Your hands on the code in commercial add-ins make applications to be a beta-tester   

So instead of sitting in Your chamber and decompile You will get some new friends, more knowledge and better understanding of the works.


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## NateO (Jun 25, 2003)

XL-Dennis said:
			
		

> You actually mean that the superadministrator at MrExcel should change  the thread


No, I don't see a need for Juan to change your thread. But you asked for the board's opinion, and I gave you mine, 'tis the nature of the board. What's wrong with this? Because of my opinion, I can't vote based on the specific question asked, the response list does not allow me answer honestly.


> It looks like You are total out of line here...(as usual when You disagree...)


It's not like I called you names or anything. I just probably wouldn't pin it on one individual, if I were to, I'd probably say Laurent. I guess I don't see why that's out of line. You did want an honest answer? I think it's fair for me to ask you a question regarding statements you make...


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## Corticus (Jun 25, 2003)

I don't think anything I do is immoral, or illegitimate, and I'm sorry if anyone disagrees.  I've probably given a false impression that I try to crack programs...I really have no idea how to do this, I throw around words like crack and hack and decompile a little losely, but I did try to look at the code in Morefunc and was not able to, and I did not pursue it.  I had no real interest in it than a passing curiosity, so it died there.

In order to even realize that something is locked up, you have to try to look at it, and then I quit.

I really don't feel like getting into the whole Office Experts thing, that's a comlicated issue involving my right to say what I want and not get grief from someone I've never done anything to, to the fact that I represent TheOfficeExperts to some extent, and should behave in accordance.  We could go on for days.


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## XL-Dennis (Jun 26, 2003)

Nate,

Ok, I got Your point  and I also agree with You on some part  :wink:  

But I will not argue here why I left out Mr Laurent Longre.

Corticus,



> I've probably given a false impression that I try to crack programs



Yes...




> my right to say what I want ...



Fine with me.



> ...and not get grief from someone I've never done anything to



Wrong, opinions like the one You view here should be and will be critised.


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## Corticus (Jun 26, 2003)

True, fortunately we have You around to keep me straight.  I can't imagine the kind of devotion it must take to patrol the forums and make sure that everybody acts in an appropriate manner.

To the rest of the board, before this gets out of hand.

I threw around the words hack and crack.  This was a mistake.  In my circle of friends, we call cracking and hacking just trying to look at code, or really anything clever.  If our managing agency sends us a spreadsheet with a locked sheet, I use a password buster (like the one conveniently located on The Office Experts) here:
http://www.theofficeexperts.com/VBASamples/Excel02.htm
to try to break (actually the word crack is used) the password to the worksheet.

I have no malicious intent, nor would I have any intent to use copyrighted material.  Ever.

I see here the definition of these words is open to debate:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci212220,00.html

but rest assured, I am not clever enough to hack or crack by the definition I believe you think I am using.  Of course you could have just asked me.

What I should have said was, I tried to view (not crack) the MoreFunc.xll with Visual Basic, but couldn't... that's it.

And I appreciate the lack of criticism from everyone else until I had a chance to explain myself.


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## XL-Dennis (Jun 26, 2003)

Corticus,

Seems like You put a lot of effort in this issue...    

Get a life


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