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VBA for Excel Lesson 1: The Visual Basic Editor in Excel (VBE)

The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that the security level of Excel is set at either
"Low" or "Medium" so that you can use the macros (VBA procedures) that you develop. See how
to do this in lessons 10 on Excel VBA Security.

The VBE is integrated into Excel and you can open it from the Excel menu bar "Tools/Macro/Visual
Basic Editor".

Open Excel and on your keyboard click on the "ALT" key (left of the space bar), hold and click on
the "F11" key (the F11 key is at the top of your keyboard). Here is the Visual Basic Editor. Click
again and you are back to Excel. Nothing to install it has been there all the time nobody has cared
to tell you so.

The Visual Basic Editor (VBE from now on) is the friendly programming environment within Excel.

The Three Windows in the Visual Basic Editor

When you want somebody to do some work for you you open your Email program and you send
him a message in a language that he understands (English, Spanish, French...). When you want
Excel to do some work for you you open the Visual Basic Editor and you write the instructions in a
language that Excel understands VBA ( Visual Basic for Application).

You will develop, test and modify VBA procedures (macros) in the Excel Visual Basic Editor (VBE).
It is a very user friendly development environment. The VBA procedures developed in the Excel
Visual Basic Editor become part of the workbook in which they are developed and when the
workbook is saved the VBA components (macros, modules, userforms. etc.) are saved at the
same time. When you send the workbook to the "Recycling bin" the VBA procedures are gone.

The Excel Visual Basic Editor

When you work with the VBE there always should be 3 windows that are showing. The Project
window (1), the Code window (2) and the Properties window (3) like below.
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You might not see the 3 windows on your screen. We will fix that right now and it can be a little
tricky. But once you have set them they will stay in their position always. So the following exercise
is a ONE TIME only exercise bear with me.

If there are any widow open under the tool bars close them. On the menu bar of the VBE choose
"View" and select "Properties Window". The window can appear minimized, it can be full width at
the top of the screen or many other ways. You want it from top to bottom on the right of the screen.
To do so click on its blue line at the top, hold and drag it to the bottom right corner. It is now
minimized. Click again on its blue header, hold and drag it full left (it will even disappear) toward
the vertical middle of the screen. It is now in the following position:

Then go back to the menu bar and select "Project Explorer". From wherever it is click on its blue
header, hold and drag it all the way down in the bottom right corner. It is now free.
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Reduce the size of the "Project Explorer" to about the width of the "Properties Window" and one
third the height by using the double arrows that appear when you move the mouse over the border
of the "Project Explorer". Click again on its blue header, hold and bring the top left corner of the
"Project Explorer" over the top left corner of the "Properties Window". Then let go.

You now have the "Project Explorer" over the "Properties Windows" in the left part of your screen.
The "Code Window" appears when you double click on a sheet name in the "Project Explorer".
You will see later that the "Code Window" also appears when you double click on a userform name
or a module name.

You can resize the 3 windows by placing the cursor over the borders (*) and dragging them right,
left, up or down.

You can use "ALT/F11" to navigate from Excel to the VBE and back.

The Visual Basic Editor Menu Bar

The Toolbars

Here are the two toolbars that should always be visible at the top of the VBE. The "Standard"
toolbar (top) and the "Edit" toolbar (bottom).
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The Object Browser

VBA for Excel Lesson 2: The Project Window in the Visual Basic Editor of Excel.

The Project window shows you all the workbooks that are open. If you have not downloaded the
tutorial just open a new workbook and you will see the following:
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If you click on the minus (-) signs in the Project window you see the objects that are part of the
different workbooks (projects). There are Sheets (usually three in a new workbook) and there is
always the ThisWorKbook object in which you store the procedures that you want to start
automatically when the workbook is opened.

If you go to Excel and add a sheet (right click on the tab and select Inserte) you will see when you
come back to the Visual Basic Editor that there are now 4 sheets in the project window.

You will earn in VBA lesson 14 how to add sheets using VBA:
Sheets.Add

NOTE: If you have a workbook called "FUNCRES.XLA" at the top of the list it is because you have
activated the "Analysis Toolpack " add-in to have more functions in Excel. If you double click on
the name of the workbook you will be asked to supply a password (the password is not available
except to Microsoft's people). Other people develop workbooks and they protect their macros. If
you double click on a workbook name and you are required to submit a password it is because the
developer has decided not to make his macros visible.
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If you click on the minus (-) signs in the Project window you see the objects that are part of the
different workbooks (projects). There are Sheets in a workbook, there is always the ThisWorKbook
object (in which you store the procedures that you want to start automatically when the workbook
is opened) and, there can be Forms (VBA lessons 24 to 33) and Modules (files in which you write
and regroup your VBA procedures (macros) one or many per module).

In the picture above you can see that the project "Book1.xls" comprises 3 sheets and
ThisWorkbook. "excel-visual-basic-editor.xls" has 6 sheets, one userform, two modules plus the
"ThisWorkbook" object. If in the project window you double click on a sheet name, on
ThisWorkbook or on Module1 you will see two things happening. In the "Property window" you see
the properties of the selected objects and in the "Code window" you see the VBA procedures
(macros) stored in the object. In "Book1" you will notice that there are no macros anywhere so the
code window will be blank except for "Option Explicit" that you have discovered in lesson 1.

If you double click on a userform name the form appears over the code window and when you
double click on the form or one of its controls (command buttons, text boxes, combo boxes, list
boxes and others) the code for the object appears in the code window.

VBA for Excel Lesson 3: The Properties Window in the Visual Basic Editor of Excel

The Properties window shows you the properties of the object that is selected in the Project
Window (single click). For example in a new workbook if you single click on "Sheet1" in the
Project Window you see the properties of sheet1 in the Properties Window.
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As you can see a worksheet has 12 properties that you can set in this window but that you can
also modify programmatically. For example if you go to Excel and change the name on the tab
of "Sheet1" (right click on the tab and select Rename) to "Introduction" you will see when you
come back to the Visual Basic Editor that the property "Name" (the one without the parentheses)
has changed to "Introduction

You can also change the name of a sheet that appears on its tab in Excel directly into the
Properties Widow. For example select Sheet2 in the project window and change the property
"Name" (the one without the parentheses) to "Switchboard". GO to Excel and notice that you now
have a sheet named "Switchboard".

You will earn in VBA lesson 14 how to modify the name of a sheet using VBA:
Activesheet.Name = "Introduction"

If you click on "ThisWorkbook" in the Project Window or you will see that this object has 30
properties. If you have downloaded the VBA tutorial and opened the Excel file "excel-visual-
basic-editor.xls" you will see that a modue has only one property (and a very important one, that a
useform has 35 properties and a list box 37.

The "(Name)" property is present for every objects but a lot of properties are very specific to other
objects like the "RowSource" property of the list box.

Setting and modifying properties of objects in the Property Windows is not something that you will
have to do a lot except for certain key properties of userforms and their controls (command
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buttons, text boxes, combo boxes, list boxes and others) . You will see that in section 3, VBA
lesson 24 to 33.

VBA for Excel Lesson 4: The Code Window in the Visual Basic Editor of Excel

90% of the VBA work is done in the Code Window writing VBA sentences, testing your VBA
procedures (macros) and modifying them when needed.

Let's start by creating a small macro in an empty workbook.

- Open a new workbook.

- Go to the Visual Basic Editor,
- Double click on "Sheet1" in the Project Window,
- Place your cursor in the code window at the end of "Option Explicit" and click "Enter" twice to
create two empty lines,
- In the code window copy/paste the following macro after the two empty lines
Note: If "Option Explicit" doesn't appear at the top of the Code Window just copy paste the macro
on the first line.

Sub proFirst()

Range("A1").Value = 34
Range("A2").Value = 66
Range("A3").Formula = "=A1+A2"

Range("A1").Select

End Sub

Now go to Excel and on the menu bar go to "Tool/Macros" select "proFirst" and click on run.

In section 2 VBA lessons 11 to 23 you will learn everything there is to know about writing macros
(coding).

Let's take a better look at this very important window.

NOTE: You cannot change the font or its color in the code window. You input appears in
black, comments appear in green, reserved words in blue and when you make a mistake the
color of the font turns to red.

NOTE: For a lot of users the wheel of the mouse doesn't work in the code window. To
correct this frustrating situation download and install the free fixer offered as part of the
downloadable tutorial.

The code widow shows the procedures that are part of the element of the project on which you
have double clicked in the Project Window (module, sheet, userform, control or ThisWorkbook).

In your new workbook double click on "Sheet2" in the project window and this is what the Code
Window looks like:
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In the Code Window there is a main window in which appears the code and at the top there are
two drop-down lists.

In the left DDList Select "Worksheet". Immediately the first and final lines of a macro appear in the
code window (Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)). If you wanted
to develop a macro that would run automatically when any value in any cell is changed you would
write it between these two lines. Click on the small arrow of the DDLIst on the right and you will
see this:

These are all the events that could automatically trigger a macro that you would write. A macro
could start as the sheet is selected (Activate), as the sheet is calculated (Calculate), etc. You will
learn more on events in VBA lesson 9

In the Project Window double click on "ThisWorkbook".

In the left DDList Select "Workbook". Immediately the first and final lines of a macro appear in the
code window (Private Sub Workbook_Open()). If you wanted to develop a macro that would run
automatically when workbook opens you would write it between these two lines. Click on the small
arrow of the DDLIst on the right and you will see this:
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These are 28 events that could automatically trigger a macro that you would write. A macro could
start when the workbook is opened (Open), before the workbook is printed (BeforePrint), etc. You
will learn more on events in VBA lesson 9

If you have downloaded the VBA tutorial and opened the Excel file "excel-visual-basic-editor.xls"
double click on a module in the Project Window. Now the DDList on the right shows you all the
macros that have been developed in the module. Select one and you are taken to the first line of
the selected macro. To see the events related to a userform or any of the controls double click on
its name in the Project Widow and then double click anywhere on the userform. In the right DDList
you will see all the events.

If you right click in the left margin of the code window a shortcut menu is shown. See how to use
these menu items in the downloadable tutorial and see everything that can happen in this left
margin.

VBA for Excel Lesson 5: Writing new Macros in Excel

Now that you have discovered the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) and its 3 windows you can
build your VBA procedures (macros).

Most macros are developed in the code window of modules. Below "Option Explicit" at the top of
the window you build a macro by writing:

sub proTest()
(don't use a capital "S" before "sub" than click on "Enter" and you get this:
Sub proTest()

End Sub
The VBE adds the line "End Sub" and capitalises the "S" of "Sub". The VBE capitalises letters
when the word is written correctly. This is one interesting feature that you should never forget
about. Make it an habit to never use capital letters in the code and let the VBE tell you that there is
something wrong by not capitalising letters.

Two exceptions to the manual capitalisation are when you declare variables or when you name
macros like above. You will see why in later lessons.

Now what is left is to write a procedure within the two lines of code above. For example your VBA
procedure could look like this:

Sub proTest()

Sheets("Sheet1").Select
Range("C1").Select

Do Until Selection.Offset(0, -2).Value = ""

Selection.Value = Selection.Offset(0, -2).Value & " " & Selection.Offset(0, -1)
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Selection.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop

Range("A1").Select

End Sub

The procedure above will go down column "C" and assemble first names of column "A" and last
names of column "B" with a space in between. It will perform this task all the way down until there
are no more first names in column "A".

VBA for Excel Lesson 6: Testing Macros in the Visual Basic Editor for Excel

Testing the entire procedure

Click anywhere within a VBA procedure (macro) in the code window and click on the "Run" icon of
the toolbar:

and the VBA procedure is executed. You can stop the execution by clicking on the "Esc" key at the
top of your keyboard.

Testing a userform

Bring the userform that you want to test in the code window (double click on its name in the project
window). Click on the "Run" icon of the toolbar:

and the userform starts running. You can stop the execution by clicking on the X (top/right corner
of the userform) unless you have deactivated this X (see how in "vba-form-spin-button.xls" one
of the 25 downloadable Excel spreadsheets).

Testing the entire procedure step by step

Click anywhere within the macro and press the F8 key at the top of your keyboard. The fist line of
code turns to yellow and a small arrow appears in the margin. We are in the execution process.

The line that is highlighted in yellow is the line that will be executed next time you click on F8.

While you are running the macro step by step you can at any time click on the "Run" icon of the
toolbar to run the rest of the macro or stop the execution at anytime by clicking on the stop button
of the toolbar.

Testing parts of VBA procedures

You can add breakpoints to macros by selecting a line and clicking on the F9 key of your
keyboard. The background of the line where a breakpoint is installed turns to brown.

To remove the breakpoint select the line and click on the F9 key again.
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When you click on the "Run" icon of the toolbar the execution will stop at the breakpoint where you
can choose to run the rest of the procedure step by step or click again on the "Run" icon to
complete the execution (after verifying the partial result).

Testing a macro with the Excel split screen function

In no other programming environment can you test a procedure step by step while seeing it at
work on one single screen. Like in the picture below you can see the Visual Basic Editor in half of
the screen and Excel in the other half. You can test your macro using the tips above and see them
at work in Excel.

The image below represents the VBA procedure (macro) "proTest" of the workbook "vba-tutorial-
editor.xls" being tested with the split screen function "On".

Like most people you have only one screen in front of you. There nothing to install, no
programming is needed the Split Screen function is there within Excel and you just need to learn
what button to click on to activate it.

In the image below note that in the Excel window the first name and the last name in cells A11 and
B11 have been assembled in cell C11 and in the VBA window note that the macro is about to
select one cell down from C11 to run the loop another time

You could even step back one line in the macro, modify the names on line 6 and resume testing
the macro step by step. You can change values in Excel and even lines of VBA in the macro while
testing.

Discover the very easy way to do this in the complete version of lesson 6 in the downloadable
tutorial on macros for Excel
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VBA for Excel Lesson 7: The Excel Macro Recorder

One of the tools that makes the programming environment in Excel unique is the Excel Macro
Recorder.

In this section you will work with the Macro Recorder and you will run the macro that you have
recorded.

With the Excel macro recorder you cannot develop a macro that will damage Excel or your
computer. The bolder you are in your trials the more you will learn.

Even after more than 15 years of programming I still use the macro recorder daily. Not to learn
anymore but to write code (VBA words and sentences) for me. For example why would I write the
following sentence when the Macro Recorder will do it for me without any typos:

Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteValues, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks _

:=False, Transpose:=False
Application.CutCopyMode = False

To reproduce the sentence above in your own workbook open a new workbook go to
"Tools/Macros/Record New Macros...". In the window that appears click on "OK". Select a cell ,
click on "Edit/Copy" and then on "Edit/Paste Special/Values", click on "OK" and finally click on the
"Esc" key.

You will use often the few lines of code above when you want to copy/paste cells without carrying
the format or the formulas, when you want to add while pasting or when you want to paste in
columns what you have copied in rows.....

You record a single version of this piece of code and you change manually the components like:
xlPasteFormulas instead of xlPasteValues
xlPasteFormats instead of xlPasteValues
xlAdd instead of xlNone
xlMultiply instead of xlNone
Transpose:=True instead of Transpose:=False

The Excel macro recorder is the best teacher that you can have and will remain the best assistant
for the rest of your VBA developer's life.

The Excel Macro Recorder has tendencies to overdo it sometimes. We will see how to modify a
recorded macro in the next lesson.

VBA for Excel Lesson 8: Modifying a Macro in Excel

You have started using the Macro Recorder to write code for you and noticed that sometimes the
MR overdoes it. For example when I develop tables and reports I will often select a set of cells and
use the icon to add small borders around all cells:

Range("D4:F10").Select
Selection.Borders(xlDiagonalDown).LineStyle = xlNone
Selection.Borders(xlDiagonalUp).LineStyle = xlNone
With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeLeft)
.LineStyle = xlContinuous
.Weight = xlThin
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeTop)
.LineStyle = xlContinuous
.Weight = xlThin
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeBottom)
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.LineStyle = xlContinuous
.Weight = xlThin
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
With Selection.Borders(xlEdgeRight)
.LineStyle = xlContinuous
.Weight = xlThin
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
With Selection.Borders(xlInsideVertical)
.LineStyle = xlContinuous
.Weight = xlThin
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With
With Selection.Borders(xlInsideHorizontal)
.LineStyle = xlContinuous
.Weight = xlThin
.ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
End With

You notice that this is a series of "With/End With" statements (4 for the edges and 2 for the
insides. You can copy this code anytime you need it but make sure that you are not generating an
error. For example if you use this piece of code on a single row of cells make sure that you remove
the section about "xlInsideHorizontal" and if you use this code on a single column of cells make
sure that you remove the section about "xlInsideVertical".

You can remove the lines of code about the "xlDiagonal..." and any of the statement that you don't
really need. Formatting is time consuming so slim down your code.

VBA for Excel Lesson 9: Starting a Macro in Excel (events)

When does the VBA procedure (macro) start? When an EVENT happens. The event is what
triggers the VBA Excel procedure.

Clicking on a text box on the worksheet

95% of the VBA procedures that you develop are triggered by a click on a button located on a
worksheet.

I prefer using text boxes rather than VBA command buttons because they are much easier to
maintain and allow much more creativity in the design. You can use the font that you like and the
background color that fits your needs. If you are a little creative you can add 3D effects, special
borders and the likes.

A few note on Excel text boxes:

I always keep the Excel drawing toolbar visible at the bottom of my screen

You create text boxes by a left click on the icon , let the button go, then go to the worksheet
left click, hold and stretch the text box. When the border of the active text box is made of diagonal
lines you can work the text inside the text box. If you click again on the border it becomes a set of
dots and you then can work the text box itself. Right click on the border in any of the two states
and you will see that the menus are different.
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First you develop a macro in a module in the VBE. Then you click ob the text box and when the
border becomes a set of dots right click on it and select "Assign a macro" . Select a macro from
the list that is offered to you. A simple macro to call a userform would look like this:

Sub proUserFormWeighing()
frmWeighing.Show
End Sub

You can assign a VBA macro to a text box and also to a WordArt, a picture or any other shape
from the "Drawing" toolbar.

Once a button (image, word art or text box) has been assigned a macro or an hyperlink you need
to select it with a right click to modify it.

Download one of these buttons (right click on it in your browser and choose "Save image as").
Save it on your desktop:

Insert the image that you have imported on the first sheet "Insert/Picture/From
File/Desktop/..........gif" . Once the image has been added to the sheet, right click on the image,
select "Assign Macro" and select a macro from the list. Click "OK" .

Now click on the image.

You can "borrow" all kinds of buttons from the Internet or create your own from the "Design"
toolbar and use them as triggers for your VBA procedures.

From the Excel Menu

In Excel you can run an Excel VBA macro by going to the menu "Tool/Macro/Macros.." then select
the macro from the list and click "Run" .

Open many workbooks with macros in them. When you go to the menu "Tool/Macro/Macros.."
you will notice that you have access to all the macros from all the open workbooks. This means
that you can store ALL your useful Excel macros in a single workbook (call it myMacros.xls) and
have access to them while the workbook is opened. Let's say for example that you have designed
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a macro that multiplies the content of a cell by 2. If "myMacros.xls" is open you can call this Excel
macro from any cell in any other workbook that is open. No need to copy your essential macros in
all your workbooks just open myMacros.xls and put them to work.

Clicking on a Key of your Keyboard

First you need to program a key. To do so go to "Tool/Macro/Macros.." then select a macro from
the list. Click on "Options" and follow the instructions. A suggestion, assign your macros to upper
case keys ("Shift/A" instead of "Shift/a for example) to make sure that you don't use one of the
many lower case keys that are already used by Excel. You can also assign a macro to a key when
you use the Excel Macro recorder.

VBA for Excel Lesson 10: VBA Security and Protection in Excel

Sometimes you send a workbook with macros to a colleague. If he can't get them to work it is
probably because his security setting is at "High" . Just tell him how to change his level by going to
the menu bar "Tools/Macros/Security" and follow the instruction.

Each time you open a workbook that contains macros the following dialog window will appear.

Adopt the same attitude as you have with documents attached to Emails. If you know the origin of
the file you may enable the macros if not click on "Disable Macros" and you are fully protected.
You can look at the workbook but the VBA procedures (macros) are not operational. You can go to
the Visual Basic Editor to take a look at the macros. If nothing looks suspicious close the workbook
and re-open it enabling the macros.

Password Protecting the code

As an Excel-VBA Developer you might want to protect your code so that nobody else may modify
it. In the VBE editor go to "Tools/VBAProject Properties/Protection". Check the box and submit a
password. Make sure that you save the password somewhere that you will remember because
cracking Excel VBA passwords is expensive.

VBA Lesson 11: VBA Code General Tips

-Always write your code in lower case letters. If the spelling is right, VBE will capitalize the
necessary letters. If it doesn't capitalize any letters.... check your spelling.

- If you want to enter the name Peter in a cell you will write:
Range("A1").Value= "Peter"
But if you want the name "Peter" (between quotes) you need to double the quotes write:
Range("A1").Value= ""Peter""
This tip applies to message boxes and userforms.

Add comment to your VBA procedures to make them easier to understand. Any line of code that
starts with an apostrophe is considered a comment and the font will be green in the code window
like in:
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' In this section we do this and this
You can also add a comment at the end of any line of code by adding a space at the end of the
line then a comment preceded by an apostrophe like in:
Range("A1").Value= ""Peter"" ' Entering a first name between quotes

- All VBA procedures (macros) start with Sub with a set of parentheses at the end
Sub proWhateverName()
I always use the prefix "pro" at the beginning of a procedure and I use upper case letters at the
beginning of a new word in the name of the procedure like in proWhateverName above or like in
proAddData

- A VBA procedure always end with End Sub but you can always exit a procedure at any point
with:
Exit Sub

- All VBA sentences must be on a single line. When you need to write long sentences of code and
you want to force a line break to make it easier to read you must add a space and an underscore
at the end of each line. Here is an example of a single sentence broken into 3 lines:

Range("A1:E9").Sort Key1:=Range("C2"), Order1:=xlAscending, Header:= _

xlGuess, OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom, _
DataOption1:=xlSortTextAsNumbers

VBA Lesson 12: VBA for Excel for the Application

Application is a VBA object, IT IS EXCEL. For example:

Application.Quit
will close Excel all together.

ScreenUpdating
When you don't want to see your screen follow the actions of your VBA procedure (macro), you
start and end your code with the following sentences:
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Then at the end:
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

DisplayAlerts
When you don't want Excel to ask you things like "A file already exists....." or "Do you wan to save
this file..." you will use the following line of code at the beginning of your VBA procedure.
Application.DisplayAlerts = False
Then at the end:
Application.DisplayAlerts = True

You can also use the DisplayAlerts method anywhere within your macro. If for example you don't
want to see a specific alert but you want to see the other ones use the False just before one line
and the True just after.

NOTE: If you use the False argument Excel will never save any workbook that you close. So if you
want to save a workbook before closing it you will need:
Activeworkbook.Save

CutCopyMode
After each Copy/Paste or Copy/PasteSpecial operation, you should empty the clipboard with the
following line of code to make sure that the computer memory doesn't overload.
ActiveSheet.Paste
Application.CutCopyMode=False
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VBA Lesson 13: VBA for Excel for the Workbooks

To develop a VBA procedure that is triggered by an event relating to the workbook (when you
open it, when you save it...) see the VBA lesson on events.

ThisWorkbook

ThisWorkbook is the workbook within which your VBA procedure runs. So if you write:
ThisWorkbook.Save
The workbook within which your VBA procedure ( macro) runs will be saved.

If you want to close the workbook within which your VBA procedure ( macro) runs without saving it
you will write these two lines of code:
ThisWorkbook.Saved=True
ThisWorkbook.Close

Workbooks and Windows

When you work with two workbooks you will move from on to the other with:
ThisWorkbook.Activate
Windows("theOtherWorkbookName.xls").Activate

Killing a Workbook

When you have saved a workbook on your disk and you want to remove it you can use the KILL
statement:
Kill " C:\myFile.xls"
Note: You cannot kill any workbook that is opened including ThisWorkbook

VBA Lesson 14: VBA for Excel for the Worksheets

To develop a VBA procedure that is triggered by an event relating to the worksheet (when you
select it, when you leave it...) see the VBA lesson on events.

Sheets

You access a worksheet named "Balance" with:

Sheets("Balance").Select
Note that the word "Sheets" is plural and never forget the quotes within the parenthesis

You cannot select a sheet that is hidden so you will need to write:
Sheets("Balance").Visible= True
Sheets("Balance").Select
and then if you want to hide the sheet again:
Sheets("Balance").Visible= False

The name of a sheet must not have more than 31 characters and cannot include certain special
characters like ? : \ / [ ] . If you don't respect these rules your procedure will crash. The following
lines of code will generate an error message:
Sheets("Sheet1").Name= "Balance and Introduction to Numbers" because there are more
than 31 characters including the spaces
Sheets("Sheet1").Name= "Balance: Introduction" because of the special character :
Sheets("Sheet1").Name= "" because the name cannot be blank

You cannot go directly from a sheet to a cell on another sheet. For example if the active sheet is
"Balance" and you want tot go to cell A1 of a sheet named "Results" you cannot write:
Sheets("Results").Range("A1").Select
You must take two steps:
Sheets("Results").Select
Range("A1").Select
 Page 19 of 38
Dynamic Charting with VBA for Excel

These images present a dynamic chart from the workbook "vba-example-dynamic-chart.xls". The
first chart shows the sales for all the products and all the cities and the second chart shows sales
of selected products in selected cities with a few clicks on the right buttons.

Discover the very easy way to do this in the workbook "vba-example-dynamic-chart.xls" one of the
25 spreadsheets in the downloadable tutorial on macros for Excel

The same chart presenting sales of selected products and selected cities
(Note that the text on the active button is blue and it is black for the others)
 Page 20 of 38
VBA Lesson 15: Moving around the Worksheet in VBA for Excel

A lot of VBA beginners start their career using Cells. For example:
Cells(1,1).Select is the same thing as Range("A1").Select and
Cells(11,31).Select is the same as Range("AE11").Select.

I strongly recommend that you use Range instead of Cells to work with cells and groups of cells. It
makes your sentences much clearer and you are not forced to remember that column AE is
column 31.

The only time that you will use Cells is when you want to select all the cells of a worksheet like in:
Cells.Select
To select all cells and then to empty all cells of values or formulas you will use:
Cells.ClearContents

To select a single cell you will write:

Range("A1").Select

To select a set of contiguous cells you will use the colon and write:
Range("A1:G5").Select

To select a set of non contiguous cells you will use the comma and write:
Range("A1,A5,B4").Select

To select a set of non contiguous cells and a range you will use both the colon and the comma:
Range("A1,A5,B4:B8").Select

Offset

The Offset property is the one that you will use the most with Range to move around the sheet. It
is the very important property that allows you to move right, left, up and down.

To move one cell down (from B2 to B3): Range("B2").Offset(1,0).Select

To move one cell to the right (from B2 to C2): Range("B2").Offset(0,1).Select
To move one cell up (from B2 to B1): Range("B2").Offset(-1,0).Select
To move one cell to the left (from B2 to A2): Range("B2").Offset(0,-1).Select

To move one cell down from the selected cell:

ActiveCell.Offset(1,0).Select

As you notice the first argument between the parentheses for Offset is the number of rows and the
second one is the number of columns. So to move from A1 to G6 you will need:
Range("A1").Offset(5,6).Select

Here is a piece of code that you will use very often. It selects a cell and 4 more to the right to be
copied/pasted somewhere else:
Range(ActiveCell,ActiveCell.Offset(0,4)).Select
Notice the comma after the first ActiveCell and the double closing parentheses before the Select.

VBA Lesson 16: Message Boxes (MsgBox) in VBA for Excel

In VBA for Excel the message box (MsgBox) is the primary tool to interact with the user. You can
use it to inform, alert or ask the user (with a Yes/No message box) if he is sure that he wants a
certain critical procedure to run (deleting things).

The code in VBA for Excel to generate the following basic message box is:
MsgBox "Thank you"
 Page 21 of 38

If you want you want part of your message to be between quotes you need to double the quotes as
in:

The line of code would be:

MsgBox "The result is in cell ""A1"""

If you don't want to show the cell's address but its value as in:

The line of code would be:

MsgBox "The result is " & Range("A1").Value
Don't forget the space after "is".

If you have greater (25,897) number and you want to show the comma you will need to use the
function "Format". See the Downloadable Tutorial.

Input Boxes

You need to declare (create) a variable to receive the answer to a VbYesNo messsage box or an
input box.

For the input box you will write:

varAnswer = InputBox("For how many years?", "Duration")

and for the message box you will write

varAnswer = MsgBox("Do you want to continue?", vbYesNo, "Alert")

See more in the tutorial.

Learn more on message and input boxes:

- If you have numbers greater than 1,000 (25,897) and you want to show the comma you will need
to use the function "Format".

- Learn about VBYesNo, VbYesNoCancel, VbAlerts,VbExclamation and other message boxes

 Page 22 of 38

VBA Lesson 17: VBA Excel to work with Databases

To really get the most out of VBA working with databases you must master these functionalities in
Excel. Visit the website on Excel and study the sections on databases and database
functionalities.

When you work in an Excel database you must first make sure that all filters are off. To this end
you will start your procedure with these two "If" statements. First select any cell within the
database.

Range("A3").Select
If ActiveSheet.AutoFilterMode = True Then
Selection.AutoFilter
End If

If ActiveSheet.FilterMode = True Then

ActiveSheet.ShowAllData
End If

Knowing that a database in a set of connected rows and columns you can select it all with:

Range("A3").Select
Selection.CurrentRegion.Select

Once this is done, you can count the number of rows (records) and the number of columns (fields)
and store these values in variables or in other cells for future reference with the following code:

varNbRows=Selection.Rows.Count
varNbColumns=Selection.Columns.Count

Range("A1").Value=Selection.Rows.Count
Range("B1").Value=Selection.Columns.Count

In fact the number of records is the number of rows minus one (the title row) and here is the code:

varNbRecords=Selection.Rows.Count - 1

I never write the code for filtering a set of data I use the macro recorder and then modify the code.
 Page 23 of 38
VBA Lesson 18: VBA for Excel to Manage Errors

After you have written a macro and VBE has helped you correct most the errors...after you have
tested you macro there might still be error messages generated and you or the user will end up
seeing this window:

This window is no problem if you or close colleagues are the only users of the workbook. But in
other rare cases where you distribute your workbooks to many users you will probably prefer to
have a more useful error message.

Here is the basic way to handle errors.

A VBA procedure usually runs from Sub to End Sub. In a VBA procedure that includes an error
handler it will run from Sub to Exit Sub but if there is an error happening during the execution it
will jump to a special address where the error handler resides.

So to add error handling capabilities to any of your VBA procedures you follow these steps:
1- Add an Exit Sub right before End Sub
2- Between these two lines add an address ending with a colon (addJump: for example)
3- Make room between the address line and End Sub to enter your code handling the error.
4- At the beginning of your code enter On Error GoTo addJump
5- As in the example below the error handler can be a message box giving your coordinates to the
user: MsgBox "An error has occurred, call Peter at 1 613-749-4695 "

Example 1:

Sub proTestErrorHandler()

On Error GoTo addJump

Workbooks.Open "xxxxxx"
Exit Sub

addJump:

MsgBox "An error has occurred, call Peter at 1 613-749-4695 "

End Sub

Copy/Paste the examples in a module of your own and run them. As the workbook xxxxxx can't be
found you will see a message box saying An error has occurred, call Peter at 1 613-749-4695 .

VBA Lesson 19: VBA for Excel Variables

A variable is an object that you create and in which you can store text, dates, numbers or almost
anything else. Why should you use variable? The first good reason is to make your code dynamic,
to avoid hard coding some values.
 Page 24 of 38
Hard Coding vs Dynamic Coding

You are hard coding when you write:

Workbooks.Open "MyFile.xls"

You are dynamically coding when you enter the name of the file in a cell (A1) of your excel sheet
and you write.
varWorkbook=Range("A1").Value
Workbooks.Open varWorkbook
At this point you or the user can change the value in cell A1 and open any workbook.

You will create variables to count the number of rows, store the result in a variable and then do
something as many time as there are rows. In a new workbook enter values in cells A1 to A10
then Copy/Paste the following procedure in a module and try it (Go to "Tools/Macro/Macros"
select "proTest" and click on "Run"):

Sub proTest()
Dim varCounter
Dim varNbRows

Range("A1").select
varNbRows=Selection.CurrentRegion.Rows.Count

For varCounter = 1 to varNbRows

Selection.Value=Selection.Value*2
Selection.Offset(1,0).select
Next

End Sub
Enter numbers in cells A1 to A:1000 or A1 to whatever row and try it again

I use variables in 99% of my procedures and you will do the same to reduce the number of hard
coded values. Maintenance becomes so much simpler.

The Variable of the type VARIANT

As I was writing above you can store almost anything in a variable. You can even store an entire
sheet with all its data. And why would you do that?

When you have very large sets of data using formulas can become a problem because the
calculation time becomes unbearable.

The solution is to send the sheet into a variable execute the calculations within the variable and
bring back the results.

One of the Resource Workbooks in the Downloadable Tutorial shows you an example where
1,000,000 cells are calculated in less than 2 seconds.

VBA Lesson 20: VBA for Excel Statements

A lot of visitors ask me how they can delete the entire lines when a certain cell is empty. First enter
xxx where you want the loop to stop. Select the cell at the top of the column and run this macro.

Sub proDelete()

Do Until Selection.Value = "xxx"

If Selection.Value = "" Then
Selection.EntireRow.Delete
Else
Selection.Offset(1, 0).Select
 Page 25 of 38
End If
Loop

Range("A1").Select

End Sub

Exiting a Loop

If in the loop above you want the loop to stop when it finds the value 99 you can add this line of
code within the loop:
If Selection.Value = 99 Then Exit Do

Exit allows you to get out of almost anything like:

Exit Sub
Exit For
Exit Do

VBA Lesson 22: External Data and SQL in VBA for Excel

SQL is the language used to extract data from a database through a query. Do you need to learn
SQL....the answer is NO.

Here is a basic piece of code to connect to an Access database and extract data using SQL.
Detailed explanations follow the code and you can download the database for FREE to test the
procedure:

Sub proSQLQuery1()
Dim varConnection
Dim varSQL

Range("A1).CurrentRegion.ClearContents

varConnection = "ODBC;DBQ=C:\test.mdb;Driver={Driver do Microsoft Access (*.mdb)}"

varSQL = "SELECT tbDataSumproduct.Month, tbDataSumproduct.Product,
tbDataSumproduct.City FROM tbDataSumproduct"

With ActiveSheet.QueryTables.Add(Connection:=varConnection,
Destination:=Range("A1"))
.CommandText = varSQL
.Name = "Query-39008"
.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False
End With

End Sub

In the first two lines I create two variables. I will later store the connection to the database in
varConnection and I will store the SQL sentence in varSQL.

I then clear the old data with: Range("A1).CurrentRegion.ClearContents

If you connect to an Access database use the varConnection above changing "C:\test.mdb" for
the path and name of you database. You can also use the Macro Recorder while connectint to an
external data source with Excel. You will find varConnection for SQLServer, text files and other
Excel workbooks in the Downloadable Tutorial.

For the varSQL the best way is to make friends with your Database Manager (DBA) who will write
them for you. If he is a good friend he will even develop a stored procedure (that runs more rapidly
because it runs on the main server). If you don't have a DBA or cannot make friends with him/her
you can use the macro recorder again. You can also use Access as SQL writer.
 Page 26 of 38
The 5 lines starting with With and ending with End With are the lines that you will use in ALL your
procedures just changing the "Name" of the query.

Click here to download (FOR FREE) the small Access database. Save it on your "C" drive.
Copy/Paste the VBA procedure above in the visual Basic Editor of a new workbook and try it.
Make sure that the line starting with "varSQL=" is on a single line without any break.

I have been using this very procedure for all the projects where I have to get data from an outside
source. I modify the connection, I modify the SQL sentence, I modify the name and that is it.

With Excel 2007 I add two extra lines not to have to enable the links when I open the workbook
and to remove the new "Table" functionalities that I don't use for now and that give me problems
with my SUMPRODUCT functions. Don't forget to change the name of the ListObjects.

ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Query-39008").Unlink
ActiveSheet.ListObjects("Query-39008").Unlist

Copy/Pasting SQL Sentences

If you try to copy/paste an SQL sentence from Access or any Query Analyser the result is a mess

Sees how easy it gets when you use NotePad to prepare the copy/paste step in "vba-sql-
1.xls" one of the 25 Resource Spreadsheets (Excel VBA Download)

Dynamic Criteria

In the procedure above the criteria for the month "January" and for the product "Skates" are hard
coded. You would like to use a drop-down list in the Excel workbook to select a criteria and
execute the query with the selected value.

VBA Lesson 21: VBA for Excel Functions

Three topics in this lesson:

- using Excel functions within macros,
- using VBA functions within macros,
- creating new Excel functions with VBA.

Excel Functions

Some of the functions that you find in Excel are available through macros in this form:
Range ("C1").Value= Application.WorksheetFunction.Sum(Range("A1:A32"))
this sentence sums the values of cell A1 to A32 and stores the total in cell C1.

VBA Functions

Here are two VBA functions that you will use within your Excel macros:

LCase, UCase
The "If" statements are case sensitive. When you test a string of characters and you don't know if
the user will enter upper case or lower case letters, use the LCase or UCase functions within your
"If" statement so that however the user enters his answer the statement will work.

If LCase(Selection.Value)= "yes" then...

or
If UCase(Selection.Value)= "YES" then...

New Excel Functions

You can create new functions in Excel. For example the function created by the code below will
simply multiply the value of a refered cell by 2.
 Page 27 of 38
Function fctDouble(varInput)
fctDouble = varInput * 2
End Function

Once this code is in a module in your workbook you access the new function the same way that
you access the other functions in Excel by clicking on the icon function on the tool bar or from
the menu bar "Insert/Functions".

Add the above new function to a new workbook. Enter 6 in cell A1 and insert the new function in
cell B1 (in the dialog box select the "User Defined" category and select the new function
("fctDouble") and enter A1 as varInput. The result is 12.

If you need a new function that will transform $49.95 into "Forty nine dollars and ninety five cents"
see how it is done in the spreadsheet "vba-template-numbers-letters.xls" one of the 25 Resource
Spreadsheets

VBA Lesson 23: Working with other Programs in VBA for Excel

API

API stands for Application Programming Interface and consists of a collection of functions that
provide programmatic access to the features of the operating system (Windows). When you use
API's within VBA for Excel not only do you control Excel but all other parts of Windows.

Discover a few API's (CopyFile, DeleteFile and others) in the To delete a file from a disk you
can also use the Kill statement that is not an API.

Kill "C:\" & "myWorkbook.xls"

Working with other Microsoft programs using VBA within Excel

Within Excel you can open another program and even act within it using VBA. For example here is
a short macro that opens Word, then a new document to copy/paste the content of 2 cells from
Excel to word and save the word document in the same directory as the workbook in which the
macro runs:

Sub proWord()
Dim varDoc As Object

Set varDoc = CreateObject("Word.Application")

varDoc.Visible = True
Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:b1").Copy
varDoc.documents.Add
varDoc.Selection.Paste
varDoc.activedocument.SaveAs ThisWorkbook.Path & "/" & "testWord.doc"
varDoc.documents.Close

varDoc.Quit

End Sub

Notice that you use VBA for Word within the object varDoc. If you don't know VBA for Word
remember that there is also a Macro Recorder in Word. The object varDoc can be visible or you
can work within it without bringing it on screen with:
varDoc.Visible = False

So from Excel you can work with Windows (API's) and with Word, Access, Project, NotePad,
Power Point, etc.
 Page 28 of 38
VBA Lesson 24: Forms (Userforms) in VBA for Excel

When the message box or the input box are not sufficient anymore to communicate with the user
you need to start developing userforms.

The form or userForm is also known as a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The form is used to
require values, parameters and information from the user to feed the VBA procedure. Different
basic controls can be added to the userform they are called: Label, TextBox, ComboBox,
ListBox, CheckBox, OptionButton, Frame, CommandButton, SpinButton and Image . You
can find all kinds of other controls on the Internet but the problem is that if you send your workbook
to other people and the new control is not installed on their computer it wont work. This problem
might even occur with the calendar. To learn more about all the controls see lessons 26 to 33.

Creating a userForm in VBA for Excel

In lesson 3 you have learned how to add userforms to your workbooks from the project window of
the Visual Basic Editor and this is what you see over the code window the userform itself and
the toolbox:

You can close the toolbox by clicking on its "X" and call it back by clicking on the toolbox icon on
the toolbar

Testing the Userform

Anytime that you want to see your userform (finished product or work in progress) at work or when
you want to test it select the userform by clicking in ay part of it that is empty (and not one of the
controls), click on the "Run" button on the toolbar. Your userform will show with Excel in the
background and you can play with it. To return to the VB Editor just click on the "X" of the
userform.

Adding Controls

The toolbox offers you 15 controls. They are (starting with the most used): Label, TextBox,
CommandButton, ComboBox, ListBox, CheckBox, Frame, OptionButton and other ones that you
will not use often the ToggleButton, TabStrip, MultiPage, ScrollBar, Image and RefEdit. You can
find and download all kinds of controls from the Internet but remember that if you use one of
these controls and the person who uses your workbook hasn't installed it on his own computer it
will not work.

To add controls to the form you left click on whatever control that you want in the Toolbox. You
then go to the userform, click and hold the left button of your mouse and stretch the control to the
right dimension.
 Page 29 of 38
Once all your controls are on the form you left click on each of them and you can change
the properties of the selected control in the properties window. Each type of control has tens of
properties but only a few ones are important. You will discover these properties for each of the
types of controls in lesson 26 to 33.

To add many instances of the same control you double click on it in the toolbox and you do the
stretching part on the useform as many times as you want. BUT don't forget to go back to the
toolbox and click on the control one more time to deactivate the "multiple controls" functionality.
WARNING: if you want to modify the properties of a control before multiplying it you will add a
single copy of the control, you will modify its properties in the properties window and then you will
use the copy/paste functionality by right clicking on it. Notice that when you do that the caption of
the control (what is written on it) and its name (in the properties window) are not the same. Don't
get confused when you start working with them.

Tab Order

Once you have added the controls here is an important feature. The user can use the mouse to
move from one control to the other but he should also be able to move from one control to the
other by entering a value in one and clicking "Enter"or "Tab" and the focus will be set on the next
control where he is supposed to enter a value not on a label. More importantly when the user
enters a value in the final control you ant the focus to be on the right command button (Submit)
and not on another one like "Close Form".

To make sure that the user moves from one control to the next one in a set order you need to set
the tab order. To do so, right click on the form itself and select the "Tab Order" item. Follow the
instructions. The first control in the list will be the one that is active (flashing cursor within) when
the form is activated. Bring the controls that are not to be used by the user (labels) at the end of
the list. For the controls that are not to be used you can also set the "TabStop" property of the
individual control to "False" in the properties window.

Managing Controls

You can move the controls by clicking on them holding and moving them around. You can resize
them by selecting them and using the different handles around them. You can copy or cut them by
right clicking on them and choosing the right menu item.

Once you have added your controls you might want to align a few of them or resize a few so that
they are all the same size. To do so you first need to select many controls at the same time. To do
so left click on the form near one of the controls that you want to select. Hold and drag drawing a
frame that includes many controls.

When you let go of the button all the controls that are touched by the frame are selected.
 Page 30 of 38
Right click on any of the selected controls and this contextual menu appears:

You can then align the controls (7th menu item) or make them the same size (8th menu item).

Discover the userform properties and the VBA code to work with it in lesson 25 so that among
other things when you activate the userform all the list boxes and combo boxes get initialized.

VBA Lesson 25: Userforms Properties and VBA Code

The UserForm Properties

As you have seen in lesson 1 on the Visual Basic Editor you double click on the userform's name
in the Project window and its properties appear in the Properties window:
 Page 31 of 38
In the Properties window of the VBE you MUST change the name "(Name)" of the form, its
caption (the name in the blue band at the top of the UserForm) and you can also modify the default
setting of any of the 32 other properties of the form.

When you name a form always use the prefix "frm" like in "frmDatabase" and be as descriptive as
you can be so that your code will be easy to read. Always use one or more upper case letters in
the name. When you write "frmdatabase.show" in lower case letters Excel will capitalize some
letters "frmDatabase.Show" letting you know that the name is spelled correctly.

The caption is what your users will se at the top of the userform. Be as informative as possible and
complete the information with a label if necessary.

Else than the Name and Caption there are just a few properties that you might want to modify. You
can select a different color for the background with the property "BackColor" .

By default the userform appears in the center of the screen. If you want it to show somewhere else
set the "Start" property to "0-Manual" and use the "Top" and "Left" properties to set a new position.

The Code

Opening and Closing the Userform

The first thing to do is to create code to call your userform. Here is a basic line of code doing so:
frmCity.Show

See lesson 9 on Events to learn how to assign macros to a text box or other button that you place
on the sheet.

The line of code to close the userform is:

frmCity.Hide or Me.Hide "Me" being the general name of the active form

The "Hide" sentence is usually part of the code of a command button on the form. A user clicks on
a "GO" , "SEND, "SUBMIT" or "CANCEL" button and part of what must happen is that the
userform disappears from the screen.

VBA Lesson 26: The Labels in VBA for Excel

In the toolbox the label has this icon . The label is a passive control meaning that the user
never really acts on it. It is there to inform the user and to label other controls like text boxes,
combo boxes or list boxes.

Properties

The other interesting properties of the label are:

 Page 32 of 38
- TabStop: To make the control invisible for the "Tab" and "Enter" keys (see Tab Order) set this
property to "False" .
- WordWrap: If you want to write more than one line of text in a label set this property to "True" .

Code

There is not much coding developed for the labels although there are 8 events related to the label.
For example there is an event named "MouseMove" . If you develop code within this event it is
executed when the mouse moves over the label. If the code is the following:
MsgBox "Don't forget to..."
a message box will appear when the user moves the mouse over the label.

You can stack many labels one over the other and make their "Visible" property to "False" . You
can then make any of the label visible from an event related to another control. For example if a
user chooses a certain value in a combo box a certain label appears.

Labels are useful to create help files for other userforms like in the example below where the user
has clicked on the "Help" button of the "Pricing Tool" to see the userform "Help on Pricing Tool"
appear:

VBA Lesson 27: The Text Boxes in VBA for Excel

In the toolbox the text box has this icon .

The text box is the simplest control to require an entry from the user. The user types something in
it and this value can then be used in your VBA procedure. You will usually add a label to
accompany the text box.
 Page 33 of 38
For most controls including the VBA for Excel text box there are general properties that allow you
to set the font, the color of the font, the color of the background, the type of background, the type
of border and other design features. Using the 3 windows in the Visual Basic Editor you will see
the following properties in the "Property" window when the text box is selected.

Properties

The other interesting properties of the text boxes are:

- WordWrap to be able to write more that one line on a button,

- ControlTipText which generates a small comment box when the user moves the mouse over the
control. You can use this property to give explanations and instructions about the command
button,
- Enabled and Visible are properties that you can change programmatically to disable or render
invisible a command button following a previous selection in another control of the userform,
- TabIndex is a property that you change through the "Tab Order" functionality as shown in the
UserForms section.
- MaxLength to limit the number of characters entered by the user,
- Value or Text which is the text show in the text box when the userform is activated ("Enter your
Name" for example)

To ask users to submit a password to run certain macros develop a userform with a text box and a
command button. In the text box you can modify the "PasswordChar" property so that when the
user enters the password nobody around can read it. Use an asterisk, an ampersand or any other
character in it.

Code

The most important ting to remember is that a text box is what its name says it carries text. So if
you want to send a numerical value from a text box to a cell you must use the "Value" thing:
Range("A1").Value=tbxInput.Value

When you want to create calculated text boxes you must use the "Val()" thing::
tbxInputTotal= Val(tbxInput1) + Val(tbxInput2)

In "vba-form-spin-button.xls" (one of the 25 downloadable spreadsheets) you will discover a

pricing tool. You will learn how to format text boxes to show currencies and percentages and how
to create easy help files for small tools like this pricing tool. Also discover the VBA code to disallow
the use of the "X" to close the form.

VBA Lesson 28: The Command Buttons in VBA for Excel

In the toolbox the command button has this icon . The command button is a very active
control and there is always VBA code behind it.

The command buttons are usually placed at the bottom of the form and serve to complete the
transaction for which the form has been created. The caption of these buttons are usually "Go" ,
"Run" , "Submit" , "Cancel" , etc.
 Page 34 of 38
Properties

The other interesting properties of the command button are:

- WordWrap to be able to write more that one line on a button,

- ControlTipText which generates a small comment box when the user moves the mouse over the
control. You can use this property to give explanations and instructions about the command
button,

For advanced users there are the:

- Enabled and Visible properties that you can change programmatically to disable or render
invisible a command button following a previous selection in another control of the userform.

Code

Name your command button before developing your code. VBA uses the name of the command
button when it creates lines of code related to events. So if you don't name your command button
VBA will create the private sub::
Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
as if you name the command Button "cmbSubmit" for example the private sub will start with:
Private Sub cmbSubmit_Click()

If you name your command buttons after private subs have been created they won't work
anymore.

A very simple VBA procedure for the command button would look like this:

Private Sub cmbSubmit_Click()

Sheets("Code").Range("F1").Value = cbxInput.Value
frmPassword.Hide
End Sub

The content of the combo box "cbxInput" is entered in cell "F1" of the sheet "Code" and the form
(frmPassport) is closed.

VBA Lesson 29: The Combo Boxes in VBA for Excel

Before we begin on the Combo Box

The difference between a combo boxes and the list boxes is that the combo box is a drop-down list
and the user can submit a single value from the drop-down list. The list box shows a certain
number of values with or without a scroll bar and the user can select one or more values.

Combo Box List Box

If you are looking for a drop-down list (also called pull-down lists) to use on a regular worksheet
see the much easier and user friendly Excel drop-down lists in the website on Excel.

When you double click on the combo box in the Visual Basic Editor you will see all its properties
in the Properties window .
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No programming is needed to submit the list of values that will be offered to the user within the
combo box. Look for the RowSource property.

The RowSource Property:

The values that should appear in the drop-down list of the combo box are submitted in the
RowSource property. For example if the value of the RowSource property is Balance!A1:A12
The values residing in cell A1 to A12 of the sheet named Balance will be offered as choices to the
user who clicks on the small arrow of the combo box.

The rules to submit the RowSource property is the name of the sheet where the list resides
followed by an exclamation point (!), the address of the first cell, a colon and the address of the
last cell.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if there is a space or a special character within the name of the sheet where
the list resides you must surround it with simple quotes like in 'New Balance'!A1:A12.

Cascading Combo Boxes

You want the second combo box to offer a choice of values that differs based on the first combo
box. We call it cascading combo boxes.

VBA Lesson 30: The List Boxes in VBA for Excel

Before we begin on the List Box

The difference between a combo boxes and the list boxes is that the combo box is a drop-down list
and the user can submit a single value from the drop-down list. The list box shows a certain
number of values with or without a scroll bar and the user can select one or more values.

Combo Box List Box

If you are looking for a drop-down list to use on a regular worksheet see the much easier and user
friendly Excel drop-down list.

In the toolbox the list box has this icon .

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Properties

- RowSource The values that should appear in the drop-down list of the combo box are submitted
in the RowSource property. For example Sheet1!A1:A12 will feed the list with the values residing
in cells A1 to A12 of the sheet with the Caption "Sheet1" . The rules to submit the RowSource
property is the caption of the sheet where the list resides followed by an exclamation mark (!), the
address of the first cell, a colon and the address if the last cell. IMPORTANT NOTE: if there is a
space or a special character in the caption of the sheet where the list resides you must surround it
with simple quotes like in 'This sheet'!A1:A12.
- MultiSelect is set to 1 if you want the user to be able to select many values from the list.
- Height The number of values shown in the list will depend on the height of the list box. You can
set the height here or on the userform itself by stretching it. If the number of values in your
RowSource is greater than what can be shown in the list box a scroll bar is added automatically.
- Text should contain the value shown in the combo box when the userform is activated (Select a
City, for example).
- ControlTipText which generates a small comment box when the user moves the mouse over the
control. You can use this property to give explanations and instructions about the combo box.

- ColumnCount is the number of columns of values that you want shown in the list box. For
example if you want to show part number and part name in the list you will submit a RowSource
like Sheet1!A1:B12 with the part numbers in column A and the part names in column B
- ColumnWidth is the width of all the columns shown in the drop-down list of the combo box.
- BoundColumn is the column from which the value is drawn for the final value of the combo box.
For example if the part number is in column A of the RowSource and the part name is in column B
of the RowSource when the user select a value only column A or column B will become the final
value of the combo box . So if you set the value of BoundColumn to 1 the part number becomes
the final value. If you set BoundColumn to 2 the part number becomes the final value.

VBA Lesson 31: Option Buttons, Check Boxes and Frames

In the toolbox the option button has this icon , the check box has this one and, the frame
this one .

You don't need to add a label to accompany the check box or the option button because they
come with their own.

The check boxes and the option buttons are both used to offer the user a choice. The main
difference between check boxes and option buttons is that if you have 5 of each on a form a user
can check all 5 check boxes but can only select one of the option buttons.

If you want to create two sets of option buttons read below on frames and option buttons. If you
don't want to use frames to create groups of option buttons you will need to use the "GroupName"
property of the option buttons. All option buttons with the same GroupName work together.

Properties

- WordWrap to be able to write more that one line in the caption,

- ControlTipText which generates a small comment box when the user moves the mouse over the
control. You can use this property to give explanations and instructions about the option button or
the check box.
- Enabled and Visible are properties that you can change programmatically to disable or render
invisible an option button or a check box following a previous selection in another control of the
userform.

Frames

Frames are also a passive control. Frames are used to improve the layout of the userform. You
can use them around a group of controls that have something in common.
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Frames become more important to manage option buttons. If you have two sets of option buttons
on a userform and you don't place them within a frame they all work together and you can choose
only one. If you put each set within a frame you can choose one in each set.

When you move a frame all its controls move with it.

VBA Lesson 32: Spin Buttons

Spin Button

In the toolbox the spin button has this icon .

You can ask a user to enter a value directly in a text box but you can make things a little fancier by
using a text box and a spin button.

The spin button is not really used by itself. Because the spin button doesn't show its value it is
usually used with a text box. The text box shows a number and by clicking on the arrows of the
spin button the value in the text box is increased (or decreased) by 1, or 5 or 10...by whatever
value that is set within the properties of the spin button.

Properties

The other interesting properties of the spin buttons are:

- Min is the minimum value of the spin button. It can be negative

- Max is the minimum value of the spin button. It can be negative
- Small is the value of the change when the user clicks on the arrows
- Large is the value of the change when the user clicks on the scroll bar of the spin button

In "vba-form-spin-button.xls" (one of the 25 downloadable spreadsheets) you will discover a

pricing tool. The user selects a percentage of increase (or decrease) and a new price is
calculated. The step by step instructions will show you how to program the relation between the
spin button and the percentage text box. You will also learn how to format text boxes to show
currencies and percentages and how to create easy help files for small tools like this pricing tool.
Also discover the VBA code to disallow the use of the "X" to close the form.

VBA Lesson 33: Image Controls

Image Control

There is a control in the toolbox called "Image". Within this control you can show all kinds of
pictures. You set an image control on a userform and you submit a picture in the property
"Picture". The picture becomes part of the control and userform.

Fitting the Picture

The first thing that you want to do is to fit the picture in the image control to make the size of the
control adapt to the size of the picture.
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When you are in the Visual Basic Editor and you single click on an image control a frame appears
around it with 8 stretchers (picture below). If you double click on the middle stretcher (when a two
tips arrow shows) of the right side or on the middle one at the bottom or on the bottom right corner
stretcher the image control will adapt to the size of the image. Double clicking anywhere else will
take you to the VBA code and will not adapt the control size to the picture size.

PictureSizeMode Property

Another interesting property of the image control is the PictureSizeMode.

If the property is set to the default value 0-frmPictureSizeModeClip the control size can be
changed without the picture size being modified. So you can see only part of the picture or there
can be a background behind it which color you can change at will.

If the property is set to the 1-frmPictureSizeModeStretch the picture is resized as the control is.
The image fills the control.

If the property is set to the 3-frmPictureSizeModeZoom the picture is resized as the control is but
the picture and background are present.

See how you can do that with all the step by step programming instructions in "vba-form-image-
control.xls" one of the 25 downloadable spreadsheets. Coupled with a combo box you can
develop an interesting selector using pictures to make the choices easy (image below).