Computer Programming Made Easy With VBA

As you become more familiar with Microsoft's (MS) software you may begin to think of ways in which it could be better suited to your needs.

Visual Basic for Applications allows you to adapt programmes so they are personally tailored by you, for you. If you have used MS Word, Excel, Access and other products you may have reached the point where you are well-versed in their layout and design. For example, in a MS Word document, you are likely to know exactly how to change the font of your text and which icon will allow you to change its colour and underline it. Likewise, regular MS Excel users may find they can quickly start developing spreadsheets and workbooks to help them with calculations. However, with regular use, you might start to wish there were more functions included in them that could help you with your work.

In MS Word you may want to change the interface so the buttons used the most are more prominent, while MS Excel users making the same calculation constantly might desire a new button that will perform this task for them once it is pressed. These additions can help you to save time when you are creating files and documents. In order for you to be able to tailor its products, Microsoft has integrated Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) into several of its programmes so you can add your preferences to each one and make them work more efficiently for you. Many computers users may be unaware that they have many of the tools they need to change and adapt applications every time they open one.

You do not have to be an expert to take advantage of VBA, although training courses can provide you with skills to make the most out of your MS suites, which can make your working day more productive. No longer the domain of expert computer programmers you can now take control of your documents and make changes as you see fit. Training courses featuring VBA can help you get to grips with the theory behind it and the many functions it has. In simple terms, VBA allows you to write straightforward programmes that can be integrated into documents to provide new functions. It is based on a language that interacts with applications, such as MS Word, so you can make adjustments to suit you.

When it comes to creating your own commands it is possible to make them as uncomplicated or complex as you see fit. For instance, an MS Word document can be described as being made of objects like its menu bar, or a selection of text, and these have different properties. A property can give a description of the state of the object, so if text is an object, a property of this item will be whether the text is written in bold. At this stage you may want to change the colour of the bold text and in order to do this you would click the appropriate icon, which can be thought of as an event.

This is a simple function that is easily accessible from the ribbon on MS Word documents, however if you wanted to make several changes to text, such as its size, colour and whether it is underlined, you may want to set up a button, or macro, that does this all for you with one click rather than more. At this point you can set up a VBA programme that will do this for you, as it will interact with the object - the text - to make the required changes to its properties - the size, colour and underlining. Which can help you save time, making MS Word more suited to your requirements.