Excel/Access/VBA courses??

[slay0r]

Hey Guys,I've got a new job recently that includes me automating previously manual reports. These aren't simple reports and with my limited knowledge of macro's and coding it's really hampering my efforts and it's like a blind person searching google for tips on it..Anyone got any decent courses that they can suggest I get up to speed on? I can use all of excel apart from the VBA stuff I just can't get my head round the dimensions and strings etc it just makes no sense to me. To be honest I'd rather have just stayed in accounts!Please bear in mind I've not got TOO much cash to spend on this, some of the courses were £1000 each that I looked at and they had 3 levels, I just can't afford that. Even if it's just the basics that I can work on from there that would be great!

 

[Derek Brown]

You didn't say which version of Office is being used, although that is not particularly important for my comments.
Whether it is an online course or local course, I think that it is unlikely that it would provide you with what you want fast enough for the task currently being undertaken. I have learnt from books and various web sites, just searching for solutions for what I need to do at the time. However, I do have the advantage of a programming background.
Knowing what can be done is probably half the battle of finding a solution so you may want to consider possible benefits of linking Access and Excel data. I do this in my Data Warehouse having Excel workbooks and various databases as linked tables (in an Access database) with Access queries/views providing the data for reports and/or themselves being linked to Excel workbooks for reports to be created in Excel. The workbook can be set to automatically update on opening.
Although I do use quite a lot of VBA, a lot can be achieved without it.
Two books that you may want to consider are:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Excel-Access-Integration-Office/dp/0470104880
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integrating-Excel-Access-Michael-Schmalz/dp/0596009739
They do include some VBA and also integrating with other applications such as Word, PowerPoint and (Outlook in one and MapPoint in the other). Check the Contents and Indexes in those books using the 'Look Inside' feature.
In addition to this message board, have a look at:
http://chandoo.org/
http://www.exceluser.com/

 

[Derek Brown]

I should also have said, look at the VBA/Macros 'Live Lessons' DVD at http://www.mrexcel.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=168 (also available at Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Excel-Macro...9380/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322523065&sr=8-1).

 

[slay0r]

It's for future projects too, I'm doing ok at the moment, just need to get a bit more knowledge, I know what I want to do and how to do it through excel etc, it's just getting VBA to replicate it.