VBA macros training

By Ayush Jain
(Microsoft MVP)

After the course, you will be

able to:
Record / Run Macros
Write Code Manually
Perform Loops, Controls and decision making
Create UDF Functions
Protecting macros
Use Events

Learning Macros
Why VBA Macros An Introduction
Where we write macros Introduction to VB Editor
Recording Macros
Personal Macro workbook
Declaring Variables
Interactive Macros - Msgbox / Inputbox
Decision Making (If, Else)
Looping (Do Loop, For Loop)

Why VBA Macros ?

VBA is "Visual Basic for Application.
It is a programming language that allows users to
program macros to accomplish complex tasks
within an application like Excel, Word, Power Point,
Access, etc.
With VBA for Excel you can develop small procedures
(macros) that will make your professional life
easier and allow you to do more in less time.
With VBA for Excel you can develop a program that
does EXACTLY what you need and VBAis easy to
learn.
Programming background is useful but not
mandatory to learn macros.

Where we write macros ?

VBA macros are written into Visual Basic
editor
Developer Visual Basic

OR [ ALT + F11 ]

Insert a Module in the editor to write the code

InsertModule

All VBA procedures (macros) start with Sub &

end with End Sub
You can run the code by pressing F5 or
clicking the Run symbol on the toolbar

Recording Macros
Excel provides Macro Recorder as the most user friendly
tool.
It is very useful to see what properties and methods belong
to various objects. You can then use this as the basis for
building your own code.
When you record a macro, a module is created and the code
is written into it.
You can view this code and see exactly how Excel has
tackled the problem in VBA. You can modify this code or
use it in other procedures.
You should not assume that a recorded macro will work
under every circumstance.

How to record a macro?

Tools Macro Record new macro
You can give the macro another name and a shortcut key if
needed
Click OK and a small Stop Recording window appears.
Until you click the Stop Recording button, everything that you
do on the spreadsheet is translated into VBA code using the
Excel object model
Look in the code window by pressing Alt-F11, and you will
find that a new module has been inserted that contains the
code for the macro you recorded

How to create variables in

VBA?
Whenever you want to use a variable, you must create them
first. This is your way of telling computer to set aside some
memory units so that your variable can be used.
In Excel VBA, you can do this by the DIM statement.
Examples :
Dim
Dim
Dim
Dim

someNumber As Integer
bigNumber As Long
otherNumber As Double
someText As String

Decisions
Programs usually have to make decisions
according to data retrieved or input by the user.
It specifies what will happen when different
events occur.
We use If-then-end if & Select Case to implement
decisions
Examples
When there is only one condition and one
action, you will use the simple statement:
If Application.ActiveCell = 5 Then
MsgBox "Cell is 5"
Else
MsgBox "Cell is not 5"
End If

Looping
Looping allows a block of code to be repeated until a
condition or a specified value is met.
Without looping facilities, programs would be extremely
tedious and difficult to maintain.
We use For next ,For each, Do Until, While wend etc. to
reduce the code & make it simple
Example
You wanted to display the numbers from 1 to 5. You could write
the program as follows:
MsgBox "1"
MsgBox "2"
Msgbox "3"
Msgbox "4"
MsgBox "5"

This code can be reduced and made easier to maintain by

using the For..Next looping statement as follows:
For n = 1 to 5
MsgBox n
Next n

Early Exit of Loops

Under some circumstances, you may want your
procedure to exit a loop early before it has worked all
the way through and satisfied its criteria.
You exit a loop by using an Exit For statement in a
For..Next loop or a For Each loop
Here is an example:
Sub test_exit()

For x = 1 To 100
If x = 50 Then
Exit For
End If
Next x
MsgBox x
End Sub

The Excel Object Model

In Excel, the whole application is oriented toward a
structure of workbooks and spreadsheets, so the
object model is written around this.
The objects are arranged in a hierarchy.
The Excel object model contains a large number of
objectsfor example Workbooks, Worksheets,
Ranges, Shapes & Charts
Under the Application object is the Workbook
object, and within the Workbook object are
Worksheet objects. Within each Worksheet object
are Range objects, and so on.

The Excel Object Model

Excel beyond Microsoft

The Application object

Whenever you want Excel to do something or you want to change a
property of Excel, you will use the object Application.

Examples

CutCopyMode
After each Copy/Paste 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
DisplayAlerts
When you don't want Excel to ask you things like "A file already exists....." or "Do you
want 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
ScreenUpdating
When you don't want to see your screen follow the actions of your VBA procedure, you
start and end your code with the following sentences:
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.ScreenUpdating = True

The Workbook object

The Workbook object represents an entire workbook loaded into
Excel.
Activeworkbook represents the workbook in the active window (the
window on top)

Examples

To Open a Workbook

Workbooks. open C:\Test.xls

To activate the Sheet3 of workbook book1

Workbooks("book1").Worksheets("Sheet3").Activate

To save the workbook

Workbooks("book1").Save
Activeworkbook.save

To print the active sheet of workbook

Workbooks("book1").PrintOut

To close the workbook

Workbooks("book1").Close

Exercise
Pre-work : Create a blank excel file in C drive with the name
Income.xlsx
Tasks :
1. Open a workbook
2. Copy Incomestatement from current workbook
3. Paste Incomestatement in first sheet worksheet of
Income.xlsx
4. Save workbook
5. Close workbook

The Worksheet object

This object represents the actual worksheet that you work on.
In the hierarchy of the Excel object model, it sits below the Workbook
object because all Worksheets are part of a Workbook.
Examples
To add a worksheet

Worksheets.add

To change the tab color of the sheet

Worksheets("Sheet1").tab.color = vbGreen

To rename a worksheet

Worksheets("Sheet1").Name = "Balance"

To select a worksheet

Worksheets("Balance").Activate

To hide or unhide a worksheet

Worksheets("Sheet1").Visible= True
Worksheets("Sheet1").Visible= False

To delete a sheet

Worksheets("Sheet1").delete

Exercise
Tasks :
1. Add a new sheet
2. Name the sheet as income statement
3. Copy the income statement from previous sheet to new
sheet
4. Change the tab color to green
5. Hide the previous sheet

The Range object

This object communicates with a range of cells or individual
cells and makes changes in them.
Examples:
To select a range of cells in code
Range(F19:G20").Select

To change the background color of the cell

Range(A1").Interior.color = vbRed

To clear the contents of the range of cells

Range(A3:D12").ClearContents

To copy and paste the data in range

Range(" F19:G20").Copy
Range(" H21").PasteSpecial

To write data into a spreadsheet

Range(F26").Value = 10

To merge the cells

Range(F26:H26).merge

Famous ranges and cells

IM21 The legal drinking age cell

AK47 The assault weapon cell
AH:HA The discovery range
AM:FM The radio range
BY:BY The farewell range
IQ100 The average intelligence cell
HO:HO The Santa Claus range
GO2 The destination cell
EX2 The second former spouse cell
AC:DC The electric range
I1:U1 The tied game cell

Exercise
Tasks :
1. Copy and paste the income st. to different range in the
same sheet
2. Color the header of the Income statement in red color
3. Color the particulars in green color
4. Merge the cells on the top
5. Add the title INCOME STATEMENT
6. Color the negative values in red color

User defined functions

A User defined function (or UDF)
- A function accepts some inputs and returns a result
- It can only return a value to the cell when it is called
- It must not modify the contents or formatting of any
cell
Example :
Function Area(Length As Double, Width As Double)
Area = Length * Width
End Function

Exercise :
Create a function to calculate tax by taking income and
investment as input and return tax payable as output
Inputs : Income , Investment
Output : Tax Payable

Error Handling in VBA

VBA tells you when the code is wrong but what if the logic
is wrong or what if the user gives a wrong answer. We have
two methods to handle these errors

Method 1

(When you want VBA to do something if

there is an error)
The first thing you create is an address where VBA will jump if
there is an error. In this example the address is addJump with
the NOT OPTIONAL colon at the end. Below addJump is what is
supposed to happen of there is an error and above is the
procedure that should run if there are no errors.
Example

Sub proTestErrorHandler()
On Error GoTo addJump
Workbooks.Open "xxxxxx"
Exit Sub
addJump:
MsgBox "An error has occurred, call Peter at 1 514257-0734"

Error Handling in VBA

(When you want VBA to do
nothing & continue with rest of the code)
Method 2

If you just want errors to be ignore you write On Error

Resume Next at the beginning of the procedure. Copy/Paste
the following procedure in a module of your own and run it. It
will generate a message box saying An error has occurred but
we have ignored it.

Example
Sub proTestErrorHandlerIgnore()
On Error Resume Next
Workbooks.Open "xxxxxx"
MsgBox "An error has occurred but we have
ignored it."
End Sub

VBA Code General Tips

Do not hesitate to use the Macro recorder to avoid typos.

Write your code in lower case letters. If the spelling is

right, VBE will capitalize the necessary letters. If it doesn't....
check your spelling.

Declare all your variables (Dim) at the beginning of the

procedure, it will simplify the testing of your code.
You can insert a comment using in the comment. It will
convert text of the comment in green color

Example : This is a comment

Nine tips to learn VBA

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9

Think Thru before Coding

Use the Macro Recorder
Break Your Work in to Smaller Chunks
Take up Challenges
Reuse code : Search Google for available codes
Keep a Good Reference Handy
Use VBA only when you need it
Join Excel forums and ask queries
Use F1 for quick VBA help

Pivot Tables
It sums up large amount of information in a
small amount of space
PivotTables allow you to pivot data using
drag-and-drop techniques and receive
results immediately.
You can rotate rows & columns to view the
data in an interactive way.
You can link to external data sources
It helps in organizing, analyzing &
comparing data
Micros oft Office
Excel 97-2003 Works heet

Example

Memory Game
Macro

Pivot table

clearcontents

VBA

For Loop

Add

Inputbox

Do Loop

Value

Msgbox

If condition

Double

Dim

Macro Recorder

Font.color

Long

Function

Tab.color

Integer

Sub

Stop recording

String

Variables

Discussexcel.com

The object model

Personal macro
workbook

User defined
function

Workbooks

Worksheets

events

Range

Active cell

Visible

VB Editor

This workbook

Activate

Module

Merge

Alt+F11

Protection

Interior.color

Alt+F8

Resources
1. www.discussexcel.com
2. http://groups.google.com/group/excel-macros
3. www.ozgrid.com
4. www.cpearson.com
5. www.chandoo.org
6. www.exceluser.com

QUERIES ?