VBA help won't help when option is followed by (Visual Basic For Applications).

[antmud]

Hi, I'm new here.

I've just started trying to teach myself VBA with Excel 2003. The help part of the editor won't show anything if the search result has '(Visual Basic for Applications)' following it.

For example if I type 'copy' into the search engine then the link to 'Copy Method' will activate however when I press on 'Copy Method (Visual Basic For Applications)' nothing happens. It's a similar non-response to anything that has '(Visual Basic for Applications)' in the results.

Do I need to load anything else or is there something else I should be doing?

Cheers, Ant.

 

[drsarao]

Welcome to Board!
Maybe VBA helpfile is not installed or corrupt.
You can do repair / install with Office 2003 disk.

 

[GTO]

When you are looking for help for vba, are you selecting Help while in VBE (The vba editing window)?

With a new blank workbook opened, right-click on a worksheet tab and click on 'View Code'. VBE will open and the sheet's codemodule who's tab you right-clicked will be on top.

Now, choose Help in VBE's menubar.

Does that help?

Mark

 

[Rick Rothstein]

I find the easiest way to get help on an item in VBA is to type the keyword into any module or into the Immediate Window if it does not already exist somewhere within the VB editor, then click into the word so the text cursor is inside (or next to) the word and then press F1. If there is more than one option for the keyword, then you will get a list box where you can select the keyword location you are interested in.

 

[antmud]

Thanks for your replies.

I've given all your ideas a go. I'm in VBE when doing my searching.

Rick's method appears to work for me in some instances.

Maybe it's the way it is. For example when I do a search for 'copy' I get 88 results. Pressing on 'FileCopy Statement (Vis... )' does nothing but I can access it via Rick's suggestion; however 'CopyFolder Method (Vis ... )' doesn't work with either method. [Rick's method in this instance gives a Keywork Not Found VBhelp response.]

Thanks for your ideas. Ant.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

however 'CopyFolder Method (Vis ... )' doesn't work with either method. [Rick's method in this instance gives a Keywork Not Found VBhelp response.

Technically, CopyFolder is not a VBA keyword (yes, I know when you type it into the search box, it seems to say it is); rather, it is a method belonging to the FileSystemObject which is an external ActiveX object that can be loaded into Excel... similar to how you can load, say, the RegExp (regular expression engine) which VBScript makes available for other programs to load. For example, to load the FileSystemObject in VB, you could do this...

Dim FS As Object
Set FS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Doing the above allows you to access the properties and methods of the FileSystemObject, such as its CopyFolder method (FS.CopyFolder...). For comparison, to load the RegExp engine, you could do this...

Dim RE As Object
Set RE = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")

Doing the above would expose the various properties and methods of the RegExp engine for use in your program.