VB and VBA

[krishhi]

Hello

Can any one tell me, if i learn vb is it helpful for excel programming.?

Because i have searched alot in my city. But no one have clear idea. So i am planning to learn Visual Basic. Is it helpful.?

Please suggest me guys.

 

[RoryA]

It depends whaich version of VB. VB6 is very similar to VBA so will be quite helpful in programming Excel. VB.Net would be much less useful currently, but probably more so in future.
Learning the actual Excel application is just as important, though.

 

[krishhi]

It depends whaich version of VB. VB6 is very similar to VBA so will be quite helpful in programming Excel. VB.Net would be much less useful currently, but probably more so in future.
Learning the actual Excel application is just as important, though.

Thanks for your reply,
I know learning VBA is good. But no one is good at vba, some people even don't know what is vba,

So, i am planning vb 6. Is it similar to vba.?

 

[RoryA]

As I said:

VB6 is very similar to VBA so will be quite helpful in programming Excel.

I also disagree with your suggestion that no-one is good at VBA - I know quite a few people who are!

 

[xenou]

If you wanted to find someone good at VBA, you have come to the right place. VBA is a related to VB6, so there's no need to make a clear distinction. The major difference is that VBA is typically hosted by an office application such as Excel, and VB6 programs are usually stand-alone applications that can be run on their own. If you want to program Excel, VBA is a great tool for the job.

VB.NET would be helpful for Excel programming if you are planning on using VSTO (Visual Studio Tools for Office). I believe you could use another .NET language, such as C#, just as readily in this case. As Rorya said, we're likely to see more of this in the future - Microsoft seems to be investing in VSTO in order to bring .NET development tools into the office programming environment.

To sum up, both VB/VBA and VB.NET are excellent choices for Excel programming - you won't go wrong. It really depends on where you want to start out. If you want to work with Excel immediately, choose VBA. If you want to learn Visual Basic generally, then it hardly matters - just dive in.

Alex

 

[Smitty]

I'll second what Rory and Alexander said...

If you want to work strictly within the Excel/Office environment (which probably covers 85% of most work environments), then try working with VBA. It will be especially useful as Microsoft continues to integrate the .NET environment into Office applications. As mentioned, they are, and have been going to great lengths to make it easier for programmers to access the power of the Office suite of applications without having to recreate it through custom end-user apps.

On the other hand, if you want to create stand-alone applications then go with learning .NET and whatever language you want (VB/C, etc.).

VB is more complicated, but also more robust and detailed than VBA. If you have a good grounding in VBA however, you'll be able to understand a lot of what's going on in .NET.

In the end, it's going to be personal preference based on what your end goal is.

 

[krishhi]

If VBA relates to VB6, then shall i jump into VB6?

Because i didn't find no one to teach me the vba. I have downloaded many books on VBA, but some times i stuck at some portions. Because i even don't know the basics.

So, shall i learn VB6 (Is it Useful for VBA Coding.?)

Waiting for your replies,

Krish

 

[xenou]

1) For Excel programming, use VBA. Alternatively, you can invest in Visual Studio with the VSTO add-in and program Excel using .NET tools.

2) If you intend to create stand-alone applications, you can't use VBA. In this case, I'd prefer VB.NET over VB6 as the .NET platform overall is used a lot now, and you'll find more resources for learning and programming in .NET. But there's many good VB6 developers who could program my socks off, so take that with a grain of salt.

Does that help?

Alex

Note, as far as learning VB6 in order to learn VBA, its probably going too far. Just learn VBA

 

[Fazza]

Because i didn't find no one to teach me the vba. I have downloaded many books on VBA, but some times i stuck at some portions. Because i even don't know the basics.

Hi, Krish

Suggest you post specific questions - in the Excel forum - to overcome the times you are stuck. As you already have the books, maybe the best approach is to focus on doing programming? Much practice is required for proficiency. Just start programming and asking questions when you need to. For sure progress will initially be slow: after some months you will learn the syntax and objects and other details and improve from there.

regards, Fazza

 

[Norie]

Why not just learn programming?

What I mean is learn the basics that are common to most languages.

I think I started using Basic on a ZX-Spectrum trying to use code from magazines to create games.

That was quite hard as at that time the Internet didn't really exist - not for me anyway, had to type everything in manually.

I then got a book about machine code, and if you think writing VBA/VB code is hard try that.

I then ended up at various universities and found out the best method of programming - top-down.