Learning VBA for Excel

[Fake Boris]

I'd like to start learning VBA for Excel but alas I'm new to programming. Can I expect reasonable progress if I invest ~20h a week for like two months?

Advice, books, etc?

[Fake Boris]

bump just in case

[Urban Ranger]

Use a database...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Use a database...

Do you know what VBA does....?

Apparently not.

You're clearly not informed to answer this question. Why don't you sit this one out.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
Do you know what VBA does....?

Apparently not.

You're clearly not informed to answer this question. Why don't you sit this one out.

Asher and his stereotypical knee-jerk post. The man always wants to show that he is better than anybody else, and is annoyed by the fact that he isn't.

Asher, you clearly did not comprehend my answer. You don't understand the role of spreadsheet versus that of database. IBM made a mistake hiring somebody who lacks an understanding of something fundamental.

[Asher]

I comprehended your answer because it was useless and displayed your complete ineptitude with what we like to call the "real world".

1) A database isn't always a suitable replacement for a spreadsheet.
2) It is certainly almost never something that you can control, as it either already exists or that's not your frickin' job
3) People use Microsoft Office in the real world. People use VBA in the real world. VBA knowledge is a useful skill and marketable asset in the real world.

IBM hired someone like me because I can see things outside from the black box of geekdom, which is something very hard for a lot of geeks like you to do. That's why you'll spend your career imaging drives and configuring networks.

I understand the role of a spreadsheet versus that of a database, apparently more than you do. If you're going to give the man advice, give him useful advice. You're in no position to be giving this kind of advice out, it's clearly not your field.

[Asher]

For what it's worth, some examples of VBA functionality:

• Send mail message using Outlook from inside Excel
  
• Create a Word document from inside Excel
  
• Add graphical interfaces to collect or configure information
  
• Configure print macros and automation

VBA is a very useful tool for workflow automation in Microsoft Office and Windows in general.

Your answer of "use a database" should now obviously be an absurd suggestion.

[alva]

Re: Learning VBA for Excel

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
I'd like to start learning VBA for Excel but alas I'm new to programming. Can I expect reasonable progress if I invest ~20h a week for like two months?

Advice, books, etc?

Yes. It's not that difficult.

Find a couple of tutorials on-line, there's probably a lot of them.



----
Weren't they going to to VB.net for Excell though? Thought I read something about it.

[DeathByTheSword]

visual basic for excel? i learned it in 1 week...just use the record macro option to learn how the program issues commands...i get for my work a excel sheets with 1500+ cells with different data and need to sort and count them for statistic purposes (what first took me 1 day) now takes me 1 push of a button and 5 minutes of letting the computer work....VB causes braindamage but is it handy for excel

[Pekka]

Depends from where you are starting.. what your experience is.. if you are total newbie to computers (which you aren't), 1 week would be pushing it, but you don't need to invest 20hours a week for 2 months to get what you want out of it. Except if you are slow learner or if you need to have some in depth knowledge. You should be just fine. Online tutorials... find them. NOW!

[Fake Boris]

UR, I'm working with financial data, so basically what I need to do is:

1- do something to replace manual entries of account values with an automatized process (the data can be exported to Excel from the firm's databases)

2- automatically keep updated the list of the customers' positions with the transaction data (that would have to be exported everyday to Excel), and calculate the rate of return on their investment.

I'm affraid Asher is right... a spreadsheet is required.

And thanks for the other answers; I didn't even think online tutorials would exist.

[DeathByTheSword]

1.

export file.
search cell with account
add new value

this can be done very easily

2.
this is as simple as making a interest function in a cell next to the value of the account

[Fake Boris]

#1 is quite easy, I agree.

# 2 isn't as easy... because between two account values at any given date (for instance, today and the date of opening), there are many transactions to be considered: if the guy withdraws money, converts money, makes a substitution, is charged management fees, etc, it has an effect on the final rate of return.

So I need to do something that stores ALL transactions, then sort the ones that are relevant, then calculate the appropriate rate of return.

Doable, I'm sure, but I need to thread carefully, because a mistake here can cost the boss a lot.

[DeathByTheSword]

well mark (or find a mark already in exsitance) the relevant transactions types then find the marks with the find command
(set mark = 'x'
mark.find) (something like that)
and then use all previous data for a temp rate of return do that for all relative transactions (find next mark) and then use the temp rate of returns to make the final one with a amounts key)