Excel 2010 Bible

795

CHAPTER

Introducing Visual

Basic for Applications

IN THIS CHAPTER

Introducing VBA macros

Creating VBA macros

Recording VBA macros

More about recording VBA

macros

Writing VBA code

Learning more about VBA

T

his chapter is an introduction to the Visual Basic for Applications
(VBA) macro language — a key component for users who want to
customize and automate Excel. This chapter teaches you how to
record macros and create simple macro procedures. Subsequent chapters
expand upon the topics in this chapter.

Introducing VBA Macros

In its broadest sense, a macro is a sequence of instructions that automates
some aspect of Excel so that you can work more efficiently and with fewer
errors. You may create a macro, for example, to format and print your
month-end sales report. After the macro is developed, you can then execute
the macro to perform many time-consuming procedures automatically.

You don’t have to be a power user to create and use simple VBA macros.
Casual users can simply turn on Excel’s macro recorder: Excel records your
actions and converts them into a VBA macro. When you execute this macro,
Excel performs the actions again. More advanced users, though, can write
code that tells Excel to perform tasks that can’t be recorded. For example,
you can write procedures that display custom dialog boxes, add new com-
mands to Excel’s menus, or process data in a series of workbooks.