Which of these books do you recommend?

[Ian]

I have to learn a lot more about Word VBA, and have found these books
mentioned on the Internet:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Word 2000 VBA Programmers Reference (Mackenzie & Martin)

2. Word 97 Macro & VBA Handbook (Hart-Davis)

3. Writing Word Macros (Roman)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It looks as if they are all out of print.

I need a good solid reference book for all the Word-specific VBA
functionality, and there must be lots of examples.

Recommendations anyone?

 

[Peter Hewett]

Hi Ian

I've not come across any of these publications. However, here are some online references:

1. Make sure you have the Word VBA online help installed, if not - Do it now!
2. Make use of and familiarise yourself with the VBA IDEs Object Browser (F2)
3. Use the MVP website: http://word.mvps.org/index.html
4. Use the Google News Group search feature

http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=22
Part 1: Learn to create professional looking forms in Word.
by Dian Chapman
[Copyright (c) Logical Expressions, Inc.]
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=46
Part 2: Add Automation to your Word forms.
by Dian Chapman
[Copyright (c) Logical Expressions, Inc.]

http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=119
Part 3: Learn more VBA (macros) to automate your forms.
by Dian Chapman
[Copyright (c) Logical Expressions, Inc.]

http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=127
Part 4: Lean how to use dialog boxes in your Word forms.
by Dian Chapman
[Copyright (c) Logical Expressions, Inc.]

http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=136
Part 5: Connect your AutoForm to a database to save input time and keep
better records!
by Dian Chapman
[Copyright (c) Logical Expressions, Inc.]


Also:
http://www.microsoft.com/worddev/w-a&sa.htm

there is a huge amount of info on the Microsoft site, its just a case of finding what you
need.

HTH + Cheers - Peter

 

[Ian]

Hi Peter. Thanks for all the input. However, a quick question before you
go to bed ) ....

1. Make sure you have the Word VBA online help installed, if not - Do it now!

Is this the Help button that you see when editing VBA code (i.e.
following ALT-F11)? If so, that was installed automatically when I
installed Word (and I don't find it overly helpful).

Or is there some other online Help function I should know about?

 

[Charlie]

I have to learn a lot more about Word VBA, and have found these books
mentioned on the Internet:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Word 2000 VBA Programmers Reference (Mackenzie & Martin)

2. Word 97 Macro & VBA Handbook (Hart-Davis)

3. Writing Word Macros (Roman)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It looks as if they are all out of print.

I need a good solid reference book for all the Word-specific VBA
functionality, and there must be lots of examples.

Recommendations anyone?

Of the three, I have only the third one you mention. However, I would
recommend Word 2000 Developer's Handbook by Guy Hart-Davis. It is
probably also out of print, but you should be able to find it or any
of the three you list on-line either new or used at Amazon or other
locations.

Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

 

[Peter Hewett]

Hi Ian

The online help for all it's limitations is useful in determining what an objects property
or method does and what are valid arguments for it. Take a lot of the sample code with a
pinch of salt - as you've probably discovered they're frequently crap. Do use the F1 key
when typing statements to get help on a particular property or method.

Likewise the VBA IDE object browser (F2), this allows you to explore the object models of
any referenced library and once you get used to it is extremely useful. The macro
recorder is also helpful but does not always generate code you would want to use and
sometimes it actually generates code that does not work, but as a generalisation it's
useful to see which objects Word is using. It can be a handy first reference point.

To explore ideas about how things might work create small chunks of code in dummy
procedures to test your ideas out. Likewise use the VBA IDE's Immediate window to explore
the object model and your documents/templates. You can do very useful things with the
immediate window like this:

x =1 : Do : ?Environ$(x) : x=x+1 : Loop while Len(Environ$(x)) > 0

Copy and paste the above line into the Immediate window (as is) and press Enter. The
colons represent end-of-line characters, so the above line actually contains 5 statements!

Likewise when debugging you code, get used to setting break points and stepping through
your code. Also use the Locals window as this will let you explore the objects your code
uses.

HTH + Cheers - Peter

 

[Ian]

Hi Ian

The online help for all it's limitations is useful in determining what

[Big snip]

Peter, many thanks for all these tips -- very helpful.

Likewise when debugging you code, get used to setting break points and
stepping through
your code.

Understood, but in many cases I don't even know how to even start
*writing* the code, so debugging it is an issue that is well down the
line )

 

[Charlie]

Hi Ian

The online help for all it's limitations is useful in determining what

[Big snip]

Peter, many thanks for all these tips -- very helpful.

Likewise when debugging you code, get used to setting break points and
stepping through
your code.

Understood, but in many cases I don't even know how to even start
*writing* the code, so debugging it is an issue that is well down the
line )

LOL. Actually, you'll probably find debugging very useful as soon as
you start to write code. <VBG>

Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

 

[Word Heretic]

G'day Ian <[email protected]>,

1 - Almost a reprint of Help

2 - Never heard of

3 - Very popular

There is also the Word VBA Spellbook I sell through my site.

Steve Hudson - Word Heretic
Want a hyperlinked index? S/W R&D? See WordHeretic.com

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)


Ian reckoned:

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Steve,

Interesting evaluation. I'd have reversed the evaluations
of 1 and 3, though. I found the Wrox book quite good...

1 - Almost a reprint of Help

2 - Never heard of

3 - Very popular

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update
Sep 30 2003)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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