Discontinued support for VBA

[Valerie M]

I've read that Office 2004 is to be the last version of Office (for
Macintosh) that will support Visual Basic for
Applications directly. I'm having difficulty finding out more about
this and it's implications businesses that are using automated
templates. Can anyone suggest some links?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Here are some links, blog posts from one of the MS MacBU developers:
http://www.schwieb.com/blog/?s=VB

There may be more, but that's a good authoritative place to start.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Valerie,

What you have heard is correct. There will be no Visual Basic for
Applications editor or compiler in Office 2008.

The Visual Basic objects will be accessible to 3rd party programming tools
via something called OLE automation. OLE automation is what lets Word
control PowerPoint and Excel, for example, so that each office application
can be controlled programmatically by the other. This used to be called an
"executive" technique where one program can execute commands for another.

I know of two products that have the potential to control Office 2008:
AppleScript and RealBasic. Each is a programming editor and can compile its
own code independently of the VBA editor and compiler.

No existing VBA macros or modules will run in Office 2008 as-is. If you want
to use them you'll have to port them to AppleScript or possibly Realbasic.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

I've read that Office 2004 is to be the last version of Office (for
Macintosh) that will support Visual Basic for
Applications directly. I'm having difficulty finding out more about
this and it's implications businesses that are using automated
templates. Can anyone suggest some links?

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[Valerie M]

Thanks Daiya & Jim. That helps a lot ... I think... (sigh...)

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Scott:

Unless you are already an AppleScript wizard, I strongly suggest that you
buy a copy

I know the author: he's one of the AppleScript gurus, and specifically, he's
a guru in Microsoft Office AppleScript. He has had a big influence in
getting the AppleScript functionality in Office 2004 and Office 2008 as good
as it is.

Cheers

Note that MacTech is making a big deal about the next issue having a
150-page supplement on moving from VBA to AppleScript in the upcoming MS
Office.

FWIW, I am just finishing a pretty slick integration between a database and
Word 2004, and found that I only had to use a very small amount of VBA. It's
not much of a stretch to hope that improved AppleScript support in 2008 will
fill in the few holes in functionality that required VBA this time around.
Of course, I know that doesn't help you if you already have a large
investment in VBA.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Scott Ribe]

Unless you are already an AppleScript wizard, I strongly suggest that you
buy a copy

Oh, I've had a subscription for more than a decade. Looking forward to it...

 

[Mark Gibson]

Anyone know if Automator support will be improved?

 

[Mark Gibson]

Also the Guide appears to be only for people in the US or Canada, so
the rest of us appeared to be stuffed.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Anyone know if Automator support will be improved?

There hasn't been anything announced, AFAIK, though they certainly have
indicated that they understand the importance of supporting automation.

Whether or not there are more built-in Automator actions, they are
pretty easy to write. I've started creating a library of actions in
anticipation of losing my startup macro capability.

Even if one isn't a programmer, I'd think that there will be a large
number of actions freely available from public sources immediately upon
launch.