VB and VBA in a Nutshell: The Languages (Paperback)

by Paul Lomax (Author)
Key Phrases: project properties, boolean flag, function statement, Required Data Type, Programming Tips, Optional Data Type (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Languages documents the latest version of the world's bestselling rapid application development environment. Paul Lomax's explanation of the language comes in two main parts.

First, Lomax explains the structure and syntax of Visual Basic (VB) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programs. He details all the important stuff, including how to work with variables, how to create custom functions, how to create classes, how to handle errors, and how to react to user events. If you're up to speed on general programming concepts and just want to know how to get something done in VB/VBA, you'll find this part of the book especially handy.

The second, and largest, part of the book is a language reference in the classic O'Reilly style. Every function, statement, keyword, and miscellaneous bit of code has a clear, complete entry. Each entry includes a statement of syntax, a description of the function's purpose, a quick example of its use, and some tips for using it successfully. The reference documents the language as it exists in VB6. --David Wall

Product Description
The online documentation of VB/VBA language components follows the 80/20 rule: the basic facts that you need to use a language statement are provided in the documentation. But the additional 20 percent that you need to use it effectively is conspicuously absent. To a professional VB/VBA programmer, this missing documentation isn't a luxury; it is a necessity. In VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language, it's finally available. This book boils down the essentials of the VB and VBA languages into a single volume, including undocumented and little-documented areas essential to everyday programming. The bulk of the book is an alphabetical reference to the statements, procedures, and functions of the VB/VBA language. Each entry includes its syntax, an extended discussion of how the language construct works, programming tips for using the construct effectively, and "gotchas" to avoid in your programming. Regardless of how much experience you have programming with VBA, this is the book you'll pick up time and time again, both as your standard reference guide and as a tool for troubleshooting and identifying programming problems.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 650 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1st edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565923588
• ISBN-13: 978-1565923584
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #248,139 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars O'Reilly Scores Again, January 19, 2001

By	JRK "jkunzvt" (VERMONT) - See all my reviews

Since you may not be familiar with the "Nutshell" series books by this publisher, I will start by telling you that this book is strictly a reference intended for the intermediate or advanced VB programmer. If you are new to the language, do not purchase this book expecting to learn how to program. You already know your If..Then..Else and Select Case statements. What this book does is give you a quick reference to find that date function that you have never used or remind you the exact syntax of a Property Set procedure.

The bulk of the book (80-85%) is the language reference alphabetized and some appendices dividing the language reference up by other methods, such as similar functions/methods, data types, operators, etc. Chapter 4 "Class Modules" contains a concise, 20-page refresher on how to object-orient your VB with classes. I had studied a few other books on OOP VB but still don't have it down pat, this chapter will be my guide until I can do classes in my sleep. Very little covered on API functions but also a great section on ActiveX (creating, registering, unregistering, Controls, EXE vs. DLLs).

Probably the biggest question I faced was: "Why get this book when I have an MSDN subscription at work?" This book is supposed to pick up where that takes off. I hate searching through the whole MSDN for one method. It can take forever. Plus, this book will travel with me.

On a side note, I'm studying for my MCSD and this book has been very valuable. From my past experience with Microsoft exams, you never know when you are going to get a specific question about a particular function, property and method and have to know the default value, or which property would not belong to an object. If you have never used it before, you'll have no idea. It's no fun to actually "study" such a reference book, but this book is very detailed and comprehensive about what everything does and how it could be used. I know the more I thumb through this thing, the better the chance I have of nailing a question on a test. Would make a great complimentary book to the MCSD VB exams 70-156 and 70-155.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Convenient, Concise, Complete, February 27, 2000

By	"1234567890" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

As a VB client-server programmer, I hardly have the time to wait for VB's HTML help to appear, much less search through it! This book is really in a class by itself as far as VB references go. It's the perfect size to keep right at hand, yet it contains the answer to virtually every question I've asked it. The encyclopedia-type language reference is preceded by exceptional discussions of VB data types, classes, object models, and error handling, and also includes several interesting and useful appendices. About the only thing I've not found in it is an ASCII chart. The language element entries are peppered with sidebars on relevant topics, all entries are discussed with remote automation issues in mind, and great examples abound (the entry for the Format function runs to 9 pages, mostly examples). If you program VB for a living, you've got to have this book close by.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Book, February 18, 2000

By	Old Fisherman "Jim" (Orange, California USA) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent book for someone who already knows how to program VB but needs a reference for looking up VB commands and syntax. I especially like the "Programming Tips and Gotchas" that are listed with every command. They contain the little things that you usually only learn about through experience and they really do save you a lot of time. Another helpful thing, after each command there's a list of related commands.

All in all this is a great resource for the professional programmer. And the clincher is that it's relatively inexpensive as far as computer books go.