The Office/Visual Basic Relationship

Visual Basic for Applications is a combination of an integrated programming environment (the Visual Basic Editor) and the Visual Basic programming language. This combination allows you to easily design and develop Visual Basic programs. The term "for Applications" refers to the fact that the Visual Basic programming language and the development tools in the Visual Basic Editor are seamlessly integrated with all Office applications so that you can develop custom functionality and feature solutions using these applications.

How Does Visual Basic for Applications Relate to Visual Basic?
Visual Basic for Applications (also known as Visual Basic, Applications Edition) isn't the same as—and shouldn't be confused with—Microsoft Visual Basic. Office features the Visual Basic language and exposes the ability to control Office functionality through a set of programmable objects. Using the Visual Basic Editor and the different objects exposed by Office (which are integrated with all Office applications) you can create specialized programs for Office. You can store these programs in an Office document or in a separate file called an add-in. In Chapters 13 and 14, you'll learn how to build add-ins (called COM add-ins) using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0.

The tools and graphical user interface provided by the Editor are consistent with the Microsoft Visual Basic version 6.0 development environment. Visual Basic 6.0, however, provides much more advanced programming tools and functionality, so you can create complex programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system and components for other Windows programs. You can develop self-contained executables (.exe files) as well as application extensions (.dll files) for Office using the tools in the Visual Basic 6.0 programming system.

The Visual Basic Editor

Each document, workbook, presentation, or database you open in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access respectively has an associated Visual Basic for Applications project. When you open a workbook in Excel, for example, an associated Visual Basic project is listed in the Project Explorer window of the Visual Basic Editor. To write Visual Basic code in the Excel workbook's Visual Basic for Applications project, you must display the Visual Basic Editor. One way to display it is to point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Visual Basic Editor on the submenu.

All the applications in Office provide the same integrated development environment. The Visual Basic Editor contains all the programming tools you need to write Visual Basic code and create custom solutions. For example, you can switch to the Visual Basic Editor window from PowerPoint the same way you do from Excel (from the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor).

Although the Editor is a separate window in all Office applications, it looks and functions identically in each one. Thus, you can potentially have three Visual Basic Editor windows open at one time, each one associated with a separate application. When you close a given application, its associated Visual Basic Editor window closes automatically.

Examining the Elements of the Visual Basic Editor

The Visual Basic Editor provides a number of advanced programming and development tools that were once found only in development programs like Microsoft Visual C++.

Project Explorer This window displays a hierarchical list of the projects and all of the items contained in and referenced by each of them. When you open a document in Word, for example, a Visual Basic for Applications project is associated with it in the Project Explorer. The items in a Visual Basic for Applications project can be any number of code modules or UserForms.

Properties Window This displays an alphabetical or categorized property list of an ActiveX control in a UserForm, a UserForm itself, or a code module. An item's list of properties is on the left side of the window and its list of corresponding values is on the right.

Object Browser Think of this as a map for navigating through the objects, methods, properties, and events provided by an ActiveX control or an application such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, or Outlook. As you'll learn later in this chapter, the Object Browser will be an invaluable tool for determining how you can program a specific object provided by Office.

Code Module This is where you write all of your Visual Basic code. (You see the code in a code module through the Code window.) There are three types of code modules: standard, class, and form; each type serves a specific purpose. Code modules allow you to group together code with common functionality.

UserForm Window This window contains a UserForm that allows you to create custom dialog boxes for use in your Visual Basic for Applications programs. With a UserForm (and the ActiveX controls in the Toolbox), you can re-create any dialog box you've interacted with in Office and add your own customizations. You can also create your own dialog boxes to suit the needs of your Visual Basic for Applications program.

Toolbox Listed here you'll find a set of ActiveX controls. Like the Control Toolbox in the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint windows, controls in the Visual Basic Toolbox can be dragged and dropped. However, in the Visual Basic Editor, you can drag and drop controls only onto a UserForm.

Immediate Window Here you can enter and execute one line of Visual Basic code and immediately see its results. You commonly use the Immediate window when you debug Visual Basic code.