|  | Authors: Rob Bovey, Dennis Wallentin, Stephen Bullen, John Green
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $33.76
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New (34) Used (11) from $32.75
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Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 11618
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Pages: 1176
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7.1 x 2.5
ISBN: 0321508793
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.54
EAN: 9780321508799
ASIN: 0321508793
Publication Date: May 16, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: All orders ship same business day via standard shipping (USPS Media Mail) if received by 1 PM CST. We do not ship to APO/FPO addresses.
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Showing reviews 16-20 of 32
Wisdom Packed into Every Page! Brilliantly Written January 12, 2006
Eric Green (New York City, NY USA)
53 out of 53 found this review helpful
Even if this book was not as well-written and insightful as it is, there is simply no other VBA book that comes close, in content and quality, on building professional-grade Excel applications. If that is your field, you have a lot to lose by not getting it. (I've stalked several large bookstores here in New York City and Amazon, of course.)
THE BOOK:
This book is a goldmine of application-design wisdom for developers seeking to write professional, VBA applications that stand the test of time. Even for none-professionals, like myself, the book contains a plethora of VBA "best practices" that can be put to immediate use. The authors are clearly sharing with you years of personal, professional experience, and top-notch acumen.
Because I am not the most attentive reader, the first thing I find myself looking at is how well-written a book is (a quality which makes me a Walkenbach fan). I am impressed by how "thorough", "well put", and "to the point" most sentences in this book are - from the first to last word!
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FOR ME:
> Imagine building almost bullet-proof applications. The user never sees an ugly VBA error message, and, if an error occurs, the developer usually knows very quickly what the cause is. I do this now...courtesy of the book's excellent chapter 12 on Error Handling and a thorough chapter on Debugging (Chapter 16).
> Chapter 17 - Optimizing VBA Performance (and a little digression on creative thinking) is a must read. This alone is worth the book price!
> Imagine a progress-bar display that you can easily "plug in" to any VBA program you write. Now you can...this book shows you how, in Chapter 11.
> Do you understand how to use API functions, and which ones are most useful for Excel. Read Chapter 9. I first found this chapter online (informit.com), which led me to this book, in the first place. Knowing API, will allow you to tap into the entire windows operating system from VBA.
> Do you really understand classes...do you understand Interfaces and how you can put them to use in VBA?
Chapter 7 on Classes is worth a solid read. (Even if you've read chapter 5 & 6, in Ken Getz's VBA Developer's handbook). Chapter 11, demonstrates the usefulness of Interfaces, with two great examples (Sorting and Progress-Display).
> What if you wish to write code in .Net, C, (or VB6) yet still work with EXCEL or connect with your VBA code? This book shines on this topic with three chapters (20 - 22). I have not yet seen a discussion as thorough in another VBA book. (If I've missed one, please add me to your Amazon buddy list and email me. Thanks.)
> If you are not a database expert but want a good overview of using Excel to work with Databases, I suggest your read Chapter 13.
> How do "you" currently go about building your Application's Menubars and ToolBars? Most books recommend a table-driven system of some sort or another, which is what I was using, and, indeed, this book does, too...but wait until you see the authors' version in Chapter 8. In fact, I made the painful decision to give up my habit of doing things after spending time with this chapter, and the authors' wisdom is paying off!
As a reviewer from California put it, "Finally, The sequel to Walkenbach for developers is here!", and another from New Delhi, "Every line that I have read so far has a meaning. The book is written in a simple fluent language and brings out the point very clearly. It will take me to the next level of programming."
I could not agree more!
ACCESSORIES:
As you would expect, all code examples for the book (and more) are found on an accompanying CD. The excellent commenting of code, aids learning.
I do have one peeve: The book is not available in searchable PDF format. To be fair to the authors...if they did...your grandmother would probably have it by now ;-) (For a fee you can download chapters in html from http://safari.oreilly.com/)
I also use two, must-have, VBA Add-Ins produced by Stephen Bullen and Rob Bovey respectively, free of charge from their respective websites.
Stephen Bullen's Auto-Indenter: with a simple "right click", your VBA code is automatically indented at all the right places (with options to suit your personal preferences). Think of how much time you spend tabbing and moving lines about!
Rob Bovey's code-cleaner: which cleans up your VBA file and shrinks its size significantly. (It also gets rid of a mysterious VBA error, the name of which escapes me now).
Must Read December 17, 2005
Anant Basant (New Delhi, INDIA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have got this book. The comment on cover page says "it is for the serious developer who is creating advanced applications". Well... I say it is a must read for any VBA programmer who wants to write good quality code. Every line that I have read so far has a meaning. The book is written in a simple fluent language and brings out the point very clearly. It will take me to the next level of programming.
I AM SURE ABOUT IT.
A BEAUTIFUL CREATION.
This book is ten times worth its price! December 15, 2005
Armin Kurt
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Working with Excel since ten years and writing add-ins with VBA and also by using the C API, I can claim myself as an experienced user.
In this book the reader may find everything regarding add-in development with VBA, VB6 or C, which cannot be found elsewhere.
This book is REALLY a great source of information for me and I keep it always within easy reach on my desk. If the price for it would be ten times higher, it would be still worth it.
The single best book on programming Excel October 27, 2005
D. Rebnord
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
The typical Excel programming book is often like a VBA cookbook. Just a succesion of VBA code snippets and at the end the reader has a nice collection of VBA recipes, but doesn't really know how to cook. This book will show the reader how to cook.
From chapter to chapter the authors incrementally develop an Excel-based application. As they do this they skillfully introduce and interweave a number of development topics. Some topics are specific to Excel such as user forms, others are general like error handling. Each topic is discussed in isolation as well as it how interacts with the other aspects of the development process.
After just a few chapters I had a much better sense not only of the capabilities of the Excel programming environment but also how you can make it all fit together to achieve a highly functional and maintainable application. Highly recommended.
 High level and professional approach October 19, 2005
Mr. Colnot Yannick
2 out of 15 found this review helpful
Book for no VBA beginners and about professional applications.
A lot of explanations to help us in high level development.
Showing reviews 16-20 of 32
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