Mastering VBA for Office 2010 [Paperback]

What 1,000 page programming guide can you get new for under $30? OK, this covers ALL the office applications, and you might wonder if it would be better to learn macros and Visual Basic program by program. That depends on your needs. If all you ever do is Excel or Word, you could pay $30 or more for just ONE of those applications of macros/VBA, and get a LITTLE more depth in terms of specific examples.

BUT-- here's an idea. GET THIS BOOK INSTEAD. It covers all the Office applications, and by the time you've scanned it, you'll have a really good feel for the whole field of VB as applied to customizing office tools. THEN, if, for example, you want to know how to script or record a macro that will convert hyperlinks to end notes in Word, just Google that phrase, and use this reference/text to figure out what the web is telling you to do for that specific task.

With Windows 8 coming out and Office 2013 to 2020 etc., it this a good time to buy this book? An unqualified YES. The VB code and macro recording info are backward compatible to 07 and forward compatible indefinitely. Why? Because the script IS script, and Microsoft has made a 20 year commitment to OOP, including both C# and VB. They are still writing their programs in both as we speak! I'm a developer on the search side of C#, and all their advanced info shows a continuing commitment to both platforms, so don't fret the usual out of date before it's printed routine (although you are smart to wonder about it!).

Very well contented and indexed, so you can use it both as a study guide and reference. There are other books that give general info on VB and are better for learning the language from the ground up, but even beginners will find this easy to use for specific tool creation, because the authors assume you're looking for specialized applications and macros, not a general education in VB. That said, what better way to learn a language than actually creating tools right off the bat with it?? Will save you time surfing, money on more expensive books, and be a lot of fun seeing how to make many tasks a lot easier in Office, the way professional application developers do, but without needing years of background to do it.

If you're new to scripting, you should also realize that Visual Basic and VBA are different in that VBA is a specific subset of VB written primarily for developing custom APPLICATIONS (the "A") for Office. This is a good thing, because you'll also learn both macros and the VB underneath them. Usually (not always), there are simple ways to execute tasks with macros alone, and in those cases you won't have to use VBA, as it will be running in the background. This book DOES attempt to use Office tools to teach you VBA specifically (and a lot of VB along with it), and does a great job in doing so, whether you're a seasoned developer and macro writer, or just really good at Word and Excel and wanting to expand your ability to automate tasks and customize mini applications, or even create your own plug ins.

I was a little apprehensive at first because programming books are often much more expensive than this but I am pleased with the information in it. The author does a great job of not only informing the reader of how to program, but what practices are useful in making programming easier. It is easy to see after each chapter that you are making progress, yet I felt I didn't have to wade through all that information. All in all, very happy with this book.

Being a newbie to VBA, I was trying to understand the structure of VBA and then move on to learning the specific commands. This book moves rapidly into commands and it left me wanting to understand the basics better. Although the editor in Office programs gives you hints as to what the appropriate sequences might be, it's still unclear to me. Even after creating many subroutines successfully, I still feel like I'm walking around in the dark. I kept hoping that I'd see the light once I did more of it but that's not the case. I do find myself referring to the book frequently but without web searches, I would have been unable to the work I needed successfully using only this book. There is a lot in the book in that it covers all office applications and is reasonably priced, however, that matters not if you can't get a solid understanding of the fundamentals. I'm looking for something better. It would be helpful to understand when some of the commands would be used and why. A single example is inadequate to really understand what a command can do.