VBA macros training

Learn Advance Excel Training in Delhi & VBA

Training from
Investment Banking Institute
Contact us at www.ibinstitute.in

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 VBA is 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 someNumber As Integer
Dim bigNumber As Long
Dim otherNumber As Double
Dim 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
Work ooks. ope

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
Activeworkbook.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
Ra ge F 9:G

" .ele t

To change the background color of the cell

Ra ge A " .I terior. olor = vbRed

To clear the contents of the range of cells

Ra ge A :D

" .ClearCo te ts

To copy and paste the data in range

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

To write data into a spreadsheet

Ra ge F 6" .Value =

To merge the cells

Ra ge F 6:H 6 . erge

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 1 514-257-0734"
End Sub

Error Handling in VBA

Method 2 (When you want VBA to do nothing & continue

with rest of the code)

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 usi g i the co
the comment in green color

Exa ple : This is a o

e t

e t. It ill co ert text of

Nine tips to learn VBA

#1 Think Thru before Coding
#2 Use the Macro Recorder
#3 Break Your Work in to Smaller Chunks
#4 Take up Challenges
#5 Reuse code : Search Google for available codes
#6 Keep a Good Reference Handy
#7 Use VBA only when you need it
#8 Join Excel forums and ask queries
#9 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

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 ?