Contents

1 Getting started 7
Introducing Excel VBA 8
Recording a macro 10
Viewing macro code 12
Testing a macro 14
Editing macro code 15
Referencing relatives 16
Saving macros 18
Trusting macros 20
Summary 22

2 Writing macros 23
Exploring the Editor 24
Creating a macro 26
Adding toolbar buttons 28
Adding Form Controls 30
Recognizing hierarchy 32
Identifying a range 34
Addressing cells 36
Summary 38

3 Storing values 39
Creating variables 40
Defining data types 42
Managing strings 44
Producing arrays 46
Describing dimensions 48
Representing objects 50
Declaring constants 52
Summary 54
4 Performing operations 55
Doing arithmetic 56
Making comparisons 58
Assessing logic 60
Joining strings 62
Understanding precedence 64
Summary 66

5 Making statements 67
Choosing a branch 68
Branching alternatives 70
Selecting branches 72
Performing loops 74
Looping while true 76
Breaking from loops 78
Iterating for each 80
Including with 82
Summary 84

6 Executing procedures 85
Calling subroutines 86
Modifying scope 88
Passing arguments 90
Adding modules 92
Fixing values 94
Debugging code 96
Handling errors 98
Summary 100
7 Employing functions 101
Defining a function 102
Calling a function 104
Scoping a function 106
Passing array arguments 108
Stating options 110
Returning errors 112
Debugging functions 114
Describing functions 116
Summary 118

8 Recognizing events 119

Creating event-handlers 120
Opening workbook events 122
Changing workbook events 124
Closing workbook events 126
Spotting worksheet changes 128
Catching worksheet clicks 130
Listening for keystrokes 132
Observing the time 134
Summary 136

9 Opening dialogs 137

Acquiring input 138
Showing messages 140
Importing files 142
Saving files 144
Producing data forms 146
Executing Ribbon commands 148
Summary 150
10 Providing UserForm dialogs 151
Inserting a UserForm 152
Adding controls 154
Comparing control types 156
Adjusting properties 158
Naming controls 160
Displaying forms 162
Handling form events 164
Managing lists 166
Summary 168

11 Developing apps 169

Ignoring modes 170
Indicating progress 172
Controlling MultiPages 174
Tabbing data pages 176
Showing chart info 178
Creating Add-ins 180
Installing Add-ins 182
Adding Ribbon buttons 184
Summary 186

Index 187
 1 Getting started

Welcome to the exciting 8 Introducing Excel VBA

world of Excel VBA (Visual 10 Recording a macro
Basic for Applications). This 12 Viewing macro code
chapter demonstrates how 14 Testing a macro
to create a VBA macro for 15 Editing macro code
Excel workbooks. 16 Referencing relatives
18 Saving macros
20 Trusting macros
22 Summary
Getting started

Introducing Excel VBA

Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the programming language
that is built into the Excel spreadsheet application and other
Microsoft Office applications. It extends Excel so it can perform
tasks that can’t be done with standard Excel tools, and provides
the capability to automate many routine tasks.
The examples in this book assume the reader is an experienced
Excel user who can accomplish these fundamental operations:

• Create workbooks and insert worksheets

If you’re just starting out • Navigate around a workbook and worksheet
with Excel, please refer
to our companion book • Use the Excel Ribbon interface
Excel 2019 in easy steps.
• Name cells and ranges
• Use the Excel worksheet functions
All examples are demonstrated using Excel 2019, although most
examples are also applicable to earlier versions of Excel.

Enabling VBA
8

Before you can get started using the capabilities of VBA, it must
first be enabled in your Excel installation:

l 1 Launch Excel, then choose to open a Blank workbook

All the examples in this

book are available for
free download at
www.ineasysteps.

l
com/resource-centre/
downloads 2 When the workbook opens,
choose the File item on the
Excel Ribbon
...cont’d

l 3 Next, select the Options

item – to open the “Excel
Options” dialog box

l 4 In the Excel Options dialog,

choose the Customize Ribbon item on the left-hand pane

You can also open the

Excel Options dialog box
by pressing the Alt + F
+ T keys.

9
In the Excel Options
dialog you can click

l 5 Now, check the Developer option box in the right-

hand pane
the + button beside
the Developer item
to reveal the groups it

l
contains. If you right-
6 Click the OK button to apply the change and to close click on any group, a
the Excel Options dialog box context menu offers you
options to modify the

l 7 See that a Developer tab has been added to the Ribbon

groups that will appear
on the Developer tab.

l 8 Choose the Developer tab to see a Visual Basic button in

the Ribbon’s “Code” group – VBA is now enabled
Getting started

Recording a macro
Having enabled VBA, as described on pages 8-9, you can create a
simple app by recording a “macro” to store actions:

l 1 Open a blank workbook in Excel,

then select worksheet cell A1

l 2 On the Developer tab, click

the Record Macro button in
the Code group to launch the
“Record Macro” dialog box

l 3 Type a name of your choice in the dialog’s Macro name

field – for example, type “BookTitle”

l 4 Next, type a letter in

the dialog’s Shortcut
key field – for
example, type “T”, to
In the Record Macro create a Ctrl + Shift
10

dialog you can add a + T shortcut

Description of what the

l
macro will perform.
5 Now, choose to
store the macro
in This Workbook

l 6 Click the OK button to close the Record Macro dialog,

and to begin recording actions

l 7 Type the title of this book into previously selected cell

A1, then hit Enter – to enter the title text into the cell

A macro is a set
of programming
instructions stored in
VBA code.
...cont’d

l 8 Notice that focus has

moved, so cell A2 is now
automatically selected after
you hit the Enter key

l 9 Now, click the Stop

Recording button in the
Code group on the Developer tab – to stop recording
The Record Macro
button changes to
Stop Recording when
recording is taking place.
your actions

l10 Click the Macros button in

the Code group to launch
the “Macro” dialog box and
choose to see macros in
This Workbook

l11 Select the

“BookTitle”

11
macro, then click
the Run button
to execute the
macro and see You can also use the
shortcut keys Alt +
the book title
F8 to open the Macro
text appear in dialog box at any time.
the automatically
selected cell A2
Getting started

Viewing macro code

Having created a macro, as described on pages 10-11, the VBA
programming instructions that were written when the macro was
created can be viewed in the Visual Basic Editor:

l 1 On Excel’s Developer tab, click the Visual Basic button

in the Code group – to launch the Visual Basic Editor

You can also use the

shortcut keys Alt + F11
to open the Visual Basic
Editor at any time.

l 2 In the Visual Basic Editor, select View, Project Explorer

– to open the “Project Explorer” window
12

The Project Explorer

window may already be
visible when the Visual
Basic Editor opens, and
the project may already
be expanded, but it
is useful to practice
opening and closing
these items to become
familiar with the Visual

l
Basic Editor interface.
3 In Project Explorer, click the
+ button beside the Book1
project to expand its contents
...cont’d

l 4 Now, in Project Explorer, double-click the Module1 node

within the “Modules” folder – to see the macro VBA code

Code analysis

• “subroutine” (
Sub BookTitle ( ) – This declares the beginning of a
Sub) with the same name you gave to the macro
(BookTitle) and was written when it began recording.

• subroutine is for a–macro

13
This is a comment, confirming that this
‘ BookTitle Macro
of your chosen name.

• describing the shortcut keys you chose

The ( ) parentheses that
– This is another comment,
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+T appear in the first line
to run this macro. of code can contain a

• an instruction that was written when you typed the–book

parameter list. This is
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = “Excel VBA in easy steps” This is demonstrated later, on
title page 90.
into the cell and hit the Enter key.

• focus moved to cell–A2Thisafter

Range(“A2”).Select is an instruction that was written as
you hit the Enter key.

• was written
– This denotes the end of this macro subroutine, and
End Sub
when you stopped recording.
The color used in the code is the default syntax highlighting that All lines that begin with
the Visual Basic Editor automatically applies for easier reading. an apostrophe are simply
Blue is applied to “keywords” that have special meaning in Visual ignored when the macro
Basic code, and green is applied to comments describing the code. is executed.
For clarity, the same color syntax highlighting is also used in the
example code listed in the steps provided throughout this book.
Getting started

Testing a macro
Before starting to record the macro, as described on page 10,
shortcut keys were specified in the Record Macro dialog and these
can now be tested to ensure they can run the macro:

l 1 With the Visual Basic Editor open, select View,

Microsoft Excel, or click the button on the toolbar to
return to the Excel interface

You can use the shortcut

keys Alt + F11 to close
the Visual Basic Editor.
l 2 Next, select empty cell A3
14

l 3 Now, press the Ctrl + Shift + T shortcut keys to test run

the macro – the book title should appear in the cell you
selected and the focus returned to cell A2 as instructed
in code
If you try to specify
a shortcut key that is
already designated for
use by another macro
in the same workbook,
a dialog will appear
requesting you to specify
an alternative shortcut
key – so you cannot
accidentally duplicate.

It is important to remember that cell A1 was selected before the

macro recording began, otherwise the action of selecting that cell
would be written as an instruction in the macro. This would mean
the book title could only be written into cell A1 each time the
macro was run.
Editing macro code
Now you are sure the macro can be run by both the Run button
in the Macro dialog, and by the Ctrl + Shift + T shortcut keys
you specified, but you probably will not need it to return focus
to cell A2 after each run. The code can be edited to remove the
instruction to return focus, and also to style the text it writes:

l 1 On Excel’s Developer tab, click the Visual Basic button

in the Code group to launch the Visual Basic Editor

l 2 In Project Explorer, double-click the project’s Module1

item to see the macro VBA code
As you type instructions
a pop-up box will often
appear when you type a
period/full stop, to offer

l 3 Next, delete this instruction line that returns focus

Range( “A2” ).Select
a list of suggestions from
which you can choose
an item.

l 4 Now, add these instructions anywhere within the

subroutine to style the text in bold red
ActiveCell.Font.Bold = True
ActiveCell.Font.Color = vbRed

15
l 5 Click
the
Save
The eight Visual Basic
color constants are
vbRed, vbGreen, vbBlue,
button vbYellow, vbMagenta,
vbCyan, vbBlack, and
vbWhite – see pages
52-53 for more on
constants.

l 6 Return to Excel and select any cell – press the Ctrl +

Shift + T shortcut keys to run this edited macro

Although the lines of

VBA code are executed
from top to bottom, their
order is unimportant in
this macro – the cell’s
styling can be set before
or after its content is
added.
Getting started

Referencing relatives
Excel has two macro recording modes that differ in the way they
refer to cells on the worksheet. The default recording mode, used
in the previous examples, refers to cells by their “absolute” position
on the worksheet – cell A1, A2, A3, and so on. The alternative
recording mode refers to cell locations by their position on the
Macros recorded using worksheet “relative” to other cells – offset by a specified number
relative referencing are
of rows and columns from another cell. The difference between
often more flexible, as
they can be applied
the two recording modes is important, as macros that use absolute
anywhere in a workbook. referencing always reference the same cell locations regardless
of the currently selected cell, whereas macros that use relative
referencing reference cells at locations offset from the selected cell:

l 1 Clear all worksheet cells, then select cell A1 and begin a

macro named “AbsoluteBookTitle”

l 2 Type this
book’s topic,
then select cell
B2 and type
16

this book’s
series name

l 3 Hit Enter,
then click Stop
Recording

l 4 Clear all
worksheet
cells, then
select cell A1
Shortcut keys might also and click the
be specified to run these Use Relative
macros – for example, References
Ctrl + Shift + A button in the
(Absolute) and Code group
Ctrl + Shift + R

l
(Relative).
5 Begin a macro named “RelativeBookTitle”, then repeat
Steps 2 and 3 to complete the macro
...cont’d

l 6 Click the Visual Basic button to open the Visual Basic

Editor, then compare the VBA code of each macro

Empty comment lines

are removed from this
screenshot to save space.

When selecting cell B2, absolute referencing refers to it by name,

17
but relative referencing refers to it as offset by 1 row and 1
column from the initially selected cell. To compare performance:

l 7 Clear all cells, then select cell A2 and run the macro
named “AbsoluteBookTitle”

In this example, the

macro using absolute
referencing writes the
book series name in the
cell named B2, whereas

l
the macro using relative
8 Again, clear all cells, then once more select cell A2 and referencing writes the
book series name in cell
run the macro named “RelativeBookTitle”
B3 – as it is offset by 1
row and 1 column from
the initially selected cell.
Getting started

Saving macros
Since Excel 2007, workbook files have had the standard file
extension of “.xlsx”, but these cannot contain Visual Basic
macros. In order to save an Excel workbook and its macros, it
must instead be saved as an Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook
that is given a file extension of “.xlsm”. If you save a workbook
containing a macro as a standard “.xlsx” file, all macro code will be
lost – but Excel will warn you before this happens:

l 1 In Excel, select File, Save As, then type “BookTitle” as

the workbook name and click the Save button

Choose a folder location

where you want to save
workbooks. Here, it’s
a folder named “Excel
Workbooks” within the
system’s Documents
folder.

l
18

2 If the workbook contains a macro, a warning dialog will

appear asking if you wish to proceed – unless you want to
save the workbook without its macro, click the No button

l 3 Change the file type to Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook,

then click the Save button to save the complete workbook

Click the button to

reveal a drop-down list
of file types from which
to choose.
...cont’d

Although most macros are intended for use in a specific

workbook, general-purpose macros that may be useful in many
workbooks can be saved in the special Personal Macro Workbook.
This is a file named “personal.xlsb” that automatically opens in the
background when Excel starts up – so the macros it contains are
available to any other workbook. To save a macro in the Personal The Personal Macro
Workbook runs in a
Macro Workbook, simply choose that option in the Record Macro
hidden window that you
dialog before you begin recording a macro: can reveal by selecting

l 1 Click the Record

Macro button
and call the macro
the View tab, then
choosing Unhide in the
Window group.

“Name”, then choose

the Personal Macro
Workbook option

l 2 Type your name

into the selected
cell, then select Stop
Recording and close Excel

19
l 3 A dialog will appear
asking if you wish to
save changes made to
the Personal Macro
Workbook – click the
Save button to retain the macro

l 4 Next, start Excel

and begin a new
Blank workbook,
then click the
Macros button in
the Code group

l 5 Now, choose the

saved “Name”
macro and click
Run to write your
name into a cell
Getting started

Trusting macros
Excel Workbook files (.xlsx) are regarded as safe, as they merely
contain data, whereas Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook files
(.xlsm) may pose a potential threat, as they are executable.
Recognizing this, Excel automatically disables the macros in an
Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook until the user consents to trust
Both .xlsx and .xlsm file their safety. On opening a workbook that contains macros, a
types store workbook
security warning offers the user the option to enable macros. If
data in XML format.
Excel also supports
the user consents to enable macros, the workbook is regarded as
.xlsb files that store trustworthy and the security warning will never appear again.
workbook data in binary
As an alternative to enabling macros in individual workbooks, a
format. This is favored
by some users, but
folder can be nominated as a trusted location. This then allows
workbook content is Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook files to be placed inside that
more accessible to other folder and run without security restrictions:
software when stored as
XML data.
l 1 Navigate to the folder containing an Excel Macro-
Enabled Workbook, and open it in Excel
20

l 2 Click the Enable Content button if you consent to

permanently enable macros in this workbook

Macros have been used

to distribute malware
– be wary of enabling
macros in a workbook
from an unknown
source.
...cont’d

l 3 Next, click the Macro

Security button in the
Code group to open the
“Trust Center” dialog box

l 4 In the Trust Center dialog, select the

Trusted Locations item in the left-
hand panel

l 5 Now, click the Add new

location... button to open
the “Microsoft Office
You can also use
Trusted Documents to
nominate a workbook
Trusted Location” dialog so it will run without
security restrictions.

l 6 Browse to
select the
folder you
wish to
nominate

21
as a trusted
location
for Excel
Macro-
Enabled
Workbooks

l 7 Click the OK button to see your nominated folder added

to the list of Trusted Locations in the Trust Center

All workbooks in
Trusted Locations will
run without security
restrictions.
Getting started

Summary
• VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is the programming
language built into Excel that extends its capabilities beyond
the standard Excel tools.

• The Excel Developer option enables VBA and adds a

Developer tab to the Excel Ribbon.

• Macro
The Code group on the Developer tab contains a Record
button with which to create VBA macros.

• The Macros button in the Code group lists available macros.

• Basic
The Visual Basic button in the Code group opens the Visual
Editor to inspect macro programming instructions.

• Macro subroutines are stored in a project’s Module1 node.

• Subroutines contain programming instructions and comments.
• dialog,
Specified shortcut keys, or the Run button in the Macro
can be used to run a macro.

• Recorded
22

macro programming instructions can be edited in

the Visual Basic Editor to change the macro’s behavior.

• Excel’s default macro recording mode references cells by their

absolute position.

• enables
The Use Relative References button in the Code group
Excel’s alternative macro recording mode, which
references cells by their relative position.

• AExcel
workbook that contains macro code must be saved as an
Macro-Enabled Workbook and “.xlsm” file extension.

• General-purpose macros can be saved in the Personal Macro

Workbook so they are available in other workbooks.

• Excel automatically disables macros in an Excel Macro-

Enabled Workbook until the user consents to trust them.

• AMacro-Enabled
folder can be nominated as a trusted location where Excel
Workbooks can be placed and run without
security restrictions.