An introduction to Word VBA programming. The text shows experienced Word users how to create timesaving, productivity-enhancing macros based on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). It includes information on how to debug macros, and use loops and conditional statements. A CD is included.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Comprehensive Book for the Serious Developer,
By Tim Naff "Tim" (Huntsville, AL USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Word 2000 Developer's Handbook (Paperback)
I bought this book after doing some serious VBA programming for Excel and having been in and out of software development for many years. It's tough to write a book for all users, novice and experienced. This book falls in between those two extremes.
If you've never done any programming, you'll likely be frustrated by the slow start into actual programming. Some readers will need a "Hello world" routine up front. On the other hand, if you're an experienced programmer, you'll find that 60 to 70 percent of the book is way below your level and needs. But wait a minute, we're talking about a 1200+ page book! If just 10 percent is on target for you and you can find what you need, it's a steal. The content of the book is far, far, far beyond what Microsoft provides with built-in menus and help. Anyone who claims otherwise simply hasn't done any serious VBA programming. A large percentage of the commands and structures covered here absolutely cannot be generated by automated recording. For example, I wrote a code that scans a document, finds all the acronyms, determines whether the acronym definitions are provided, and builds and/or updates an acronym table at the end. It flags all undefined acronyms and it color-codes duplicate definitions and out-of-order definitions. It includes a toolbar for helping navigate the document. It also includes a capability for combining acronym tables from multiple sources. You have to really get immersed to code a task even as conceptually simple as this one, and this book is what you need to get through it. The most challenging thing about being productive with VBA is the horrendously large object model. Some of the best programmers I know -- and I'm talking guided-missile engineers and the like - have turned away from VBA because the object model required too much of a learning curve. This book does a good job of laying most of the object model out in logical order. (If you're unfamiliar with the term "object model," don't be intimidated - it's not that it's all that hard to master in small steps; it's just big; and you may be able to find what you want and apply it quickly.) The book isn't perfect: I've found two errors, but that's not bad, considering its size. Overall, it's very authoritative. While using this book, I occasionally needed to turn elsewhere for additional information. My favorite companion book is Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic for Applications 5, which has a strong orientation towards Excel. The bad news about both of these books is that they're getting old. I wouldn't yet call them "dated," but the authors/publishers will need to produce updated editions in the next few years. I, for one, really hope they do. That's the (selfish) reason for writing this review. I have to wonder, though, how many Word users will ever need a book this advanced. I'm giving the book five stars, because it is, by far, the best ever written on its subject. I wouldn't want to do without it. Post Script: I wrote this review in 2004. Now in 2010, I still use this book, although not as often. The online help has gotten better, much better than Excel's, by the way, and many new VBA features have accumulated over the years. There has not been a legitimate follow-on to this book. Hart-Davis has authored some other books, but their coverage of Word VBA isn't even a shadow of what's in this book. I've written my own book on Word, most of which is VBA. It's about 150 pages, but the bad news is that I wrote it as a reference for myself. It's a sad state of affairs when we have to resort to that. The mainstream publishers just must not have the market for this kind of thing. If you have a chance to pick up one of these cheap, I still recommend it. I had worn mine out and bought a replacement just last year! I have to add one more point. If you had custom toolbars in Word 2003 or earlier, you may think you lost them when Word 2007 came along. Convert your old .doc files to .docm files. An Add-Ins tab will appear on the Word 2007 ribbon, and you'll find your toolbars on it. You can even convert your old normal.dot to normal.dotm and accomplish the same thing there! I have all of Microsoft's latest books on Word 2007, and none of them tell about that feature. I'm personally indebted to the Microsoft employee who put the feature in. There's a special place in heaven for that fine soul!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great book,
By "rick_in_texas" (Cypress, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Word 2000 Developer's Handbook (Handbook) (Paperback)
I bought this book because I needed to learn VBA for my job. The author does an excellent job explaining things and doesn't wander off into theory like many other books do. There are plenty of examples to learn from and after about three days of reading I had enough of an understanding of VBA to begin using the book as a reference to look up things I wanted to do. I saw another review state this book was her bible, I have to agree because this book stays by my side and has helped me learn what I needed to. If you need to learn VBA quickly and you don't have a background in programming buy this book!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
some extra info,
By Daniel V. Gomes "Daniel V. Gomes" (Osasco-SP Brazil) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Word 2000 Developer's Handbook (Paperback)
The code of all programs, forms and templates are now available from the Sybex web site.
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