Customer Reviews

Word 2000 VBA Programmers Reference

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is curious because it's too simple for an experienced programmer and it makes too many assumptions for a beginner. For those in between there are a few things worth looking at in the book, but by and large it's a waste of money. There's almost 300 pages of material that comes packaged with VBA--it's the entire Word object model, accessible through the Object Browser. Why did Mackenzie include this? Perhaps because a 270 book on Word VBA doesn't look nearly as impressive as a 600 page book on VBA.

A better reference for Word development is Guy Hart-Davis' "Word 2000 Developer's Handbook," which is not a stellar book but is MUCH better than Makenzie's. For general VBA development, Ken Getz' "VBA Developer's Handbook" is a good resource, though it's really just a bank of ready-made functions.

This book didn't go into nearly the depth for Word that I needed. The first 4 chapters (~100 pages) were too basic - covering VBA fundamentals (not Word 2000 specific). Chapter 8 & 9 discussed linking to databases which was a useful but any inter-Office programmng book would do better. The last 250 pages is strictly a listing of the object models for Word and ADO (with very little elaboration).

It contains very few programming tricks; a few programming practice recommendations; medium amount of simple examples; no troubleshooting or common mistakes section.

This book is OK for someone that doesn't like to use the object browser & help file because it doesn't give you much more than that.

I found this book very usefull for writing a parser of a Microsoft Word Document. It included references to all the objects that Word Library has availible. I recomend it as a reference. I wouldn't recomand it for somebody who is new to programming.

I like this book, but it shouldn't pretend to be one designed for experienced VB programmers. The early chapters look like they are taken straight out of an "Introduction to Visual Basic 6" type book. The back half of the book is a listing of the Word Object model. The best parts are in the middle which show how use Word with an Access database among other things. There's no examples of using Word with a SQL 7.0 database (focus is on Access). The book needs to talk about the pros and cons of placing code in a Word template instead of a separate VB project.

I Found the examples very easy to learn from. This is one of those books that you get the most out of if you code the examples yourself which I think is top shelf programmer to programmer writing.

For the first time I am disappointed in a WROX programming book.

The book description states it is for the "experienced developer." Which I could live with but why take 4 chapters to cover the programming fundamentals and only 1 chapter for Word fundamentals. The book was confusing in it's description of the template hierarchy; it didn't cover the ThisDocument property at all; blew through the confusing VB Editor manipulation; and then printed the Object Model in GREAT detail. Why wouldn't I just press F1 and get the context sensitive help or use the Object Browser.

I don't need a printout of the Object Model, I need to know the techniques for effectively creating Word Solutions.

Pick your audience -- is this book for VB Programmers who typically need to know the tricks of Word objects or is this for Word users who need to know how to program. If the books aim was to satisfy both it fell way short because for me it did neither.

By the way -- 10 of 14 VB6 books on my shelf are by WROX, I truly do love the books they publish which is why I was deeply disappointed when I received this book.

This is the only paper book I have seen that is useful to a VBA programmer who wants to learn the VBA-Word interface.

This book helps you transform Word into a database platform! It was the book that helped me write and distribute a patient database (electronic medical record, or "EMR") using fancy VBA techniques. I highly recommend it- there's no other book that comes close to the comprehensive nature of the author's writing.

For the first time I am disappointed in a WROX programming book.

The book description states it is for the "experienced developer." Which I could live with but why take 4 chapters to cover the programming fundamentals and only 1 chapter for Word fundamentals. The book was confusing in it's description of the template heirarchy; it didn't cover the ThisDocument property at all; blew through the confusing VB Editor manipulation; and then printed the Object Model in GREAT detail. Why wouldn't I just press F1 and get the context sensitive help or use the Object Browser.

I don't need a printout of the Object Model, I need to know the techniques for effectively creating Word Solutions.

Pick your audience -- is this book for VB Programmers who typically need to know the tricks of Word objects or is this for Word users who need to know how to program. If the books aim was to satisfy both it fell way short because for me it did neither.

By the way -- 10 of 14 VB6 books on my shelf are by WROX, I truly do love the books they publish which is why I was deeply disappointed when I received this book.