Is There a Simpler Form of Macros That Can Used With Excel

[sm2200]

Prior to Exce,l I used the spreadsheet in Symphony. It was very similar to Lotus 123. I did not need macros often but when I did I learned how to write programs using Symphony's relatively simple form of macros and it was quite sufficient for the work I did.
Since switching to Excel, I find their macros (VBA) to be very difficult to learn, especially since I infrequently have to use macros.
I believe that Excel should have provided the user with 2 sets of macros, VBA and the simpler form used in Lotus 123.
Is there any way of using a simple form of macros in Excel? Or is there a software program out there that piggybacks on Excel so that the simpler macro programming can be used?

Thanks,

Sam Marx

 

[gwkenny]

The lotus macro language and the old Excel macros were very very similar.

Just a bit more then SendKeys they were. But not much more.

 

[passinthru]

In my experience, most programming books fall into two categories:

• 
  "Dummies" type books that are easy to understand, and leave you with not enough information to do anything useful.
  Expert's books that are too complicated for beginners.

They both have this one thing in common - they dive into the details of the subject without first painting the big picture.

As with any subject, those who can DO, often can't TEACH. Real teaching is a gift that few have.


Then there are those who can't DO, so they take up space as a teacher! :wink:

 

[Zack Barresse]

ROFL!! Oh how true!

I do think if you replace "the big picture" with "real world scenarios" then it works for people much better. It's been my (measly) experience that when people can work this out on their own in real-life scenarios which they can apply to their situation(s), they tend to learn much faster.

Nice comments. Take care!

 

[passinthru]

I think ADDING real life scenarios is needed, but without the big picture, people quickly become lost in details. Learning is like building - you need a foundation first, then a framework, then you do the finish work. Most programming books start with the finish work.

 

[Zack Barresse]

I can't comment on most programming books as I haven't really read any except brushing through a couple. I did read Bill Jelen's and Tracy Syrstad's book though, and will probably get the new Office VBA book with real life examples when it comes out shortly.

I agree that teaching someone is much different than just knowing how to do something. I think what you're talking about is learning the entire application. Programming is only a small portion of the application; as are formulas, conditional formatting, pivot tables, etc. I don't know if I've seen a very good "all encompasing" book on Excel. (Barring the Help files.) But for specific issues within Excel, I think the majority of the books out there serve their purpose well.

 

[passinthru]

No, I'm talking about the programming part. For someone who wants to know how to use VBA, but isn't already a programmer, I have not yet found a decent book. Not even close! The less bad ones have good examples, but even these usually have the examples so narrowly focused that they don't help a person learn to use the language. The big picture is missing.


As for using the APPLICATION, I've found the articles on this site very helpful.


Has Mr. Excel written a book on programming VBA?

 

[just_jon]

{snip}

Has Mr. Excel written a book on programming VBA?

See: http://www.mrexcel.com/sunshop/index.php?action=&id=&subid=

 

[passinthru]

Hmmmm. Looks interesting.... The TOC seems promising. Thanks for the link!