John W. Colby
jcolby at ColbyConsulting.com
Tue Apr 1 18:10:50 CST 2003
Susan, I have to agree with Drew on this one. VBA means Visual Basic for Applications. It is a subset (mostly) of VB. What you are saying is that you have no clue how to open the VBA IDE to do development in other Office Applications. However, once you get that IDE open and learn how to use it (and it's supposed to be identical now between all Office Apps from 2K on), VBA itself is the same from app to app, at least from A2K onwards. Access 97 and backwards used it's own "kinda sorta VBA". Now it is the real banana. And then, like Drew is saying, on top of VBA is SOME object model that is native to the Office Application environment that you happen to be in - Access, Word, Excel etc. That object model is nothing more than a bunch of classes that create objects specific to that application, whether it is a paragraph in Word, a cell in Excel or a subform in Access. Regardless of that object model, strip that object model away, and you are left with VBA which IS IDENTICAL from app to app. Modules, Classes, Functions, Subs, Collections, arrays, if/then/else, where wend, integers, strings, the Error object - all THAT stuff is VBA. ALL THAT stuff is identical from App to App. The object model is NOT VBA, it is a layer on TOP of VBA. An integrated set of objects that know how to be a Word document, a spreadsheet, or a database FE. Once you reference the word object inside of Access, you have the same capabilities that you have inside of Word directly. Reference that Word object inside of Excel and you have the same set of capabilities as you had in Access (or Word) - to manipulate DOCUMENTS. So, you have VBA which is the same exact set of keywords and structures. VBA is available from all of the Office applications. Inside of each application, you have an object model which is NATIVE to that application, which is not part of VBA but is called from VBA. AFAIK, these object models, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint etc are also available to call from VB (the REAL VB programming language). Which further demonstrates the interface line which separates the Office Application object model from the VBA language. To make this crystal clear, try PROGRAMMING the object model without the language. You can't! If you dim a variable you are using VBA. Since you can't even set a variable to an object from the model without a DIM, you are dead in the water without VBA (or VB). John W. Colby Colby Consulting www.ColbyConsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Susan Harkins Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 4:13 PM To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [AccessD] VBE I think Charlotte's point is, and in Fuller Fashion, I agree -- you can be an expert at VBA in Access and not know cr*p about using VBA in Word or Excel. Susan H. > I still disagree with you on this Charlotte. If you are in Access, Excel, > or Word, and you write this: > > Dim strTemp As String > strTemp="Hello" > msgbox InStr(1,strTemp,"l") > > You are going to get a message box that says '3' no matter what Office > program you are in. > > Now, when you are in Access, and you write: > > DoCmd.Quit > > Yes, that code only works in Access 'as is'. But that is because you want > to have the object model of the application you are running, already loaded, > and acting as a 'default'.....wouldn't you? > > The reason I am being so adament/argumentative on this thread, is because I > feel it is FAR more important to understand the principles of programming in > VB/VBA (or whatever language you choose), then it is to understand the > details of the object model you are in. By that, I mean that once you have > learned what events are, how functions and subs work, how a class module > works, etc. You have the understanding of VB/VBA, which is universal no > matter what you are in for a development tool. I hardly ever write code > within Excel, and I have only written code within Word once, but I had/have > no problem doing so, because the language and principles are the same, it is > only a matter of finding what properties and methods are available for the > current object model, and what special objects I will be dealing with. > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: Charlotte Foust [mailto:cfoust at infostatsystems.com] > Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 10:07 AM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > I know that, Drew. The point is that the object model is entirely > different, so aren't writing the same code at all, regardless of which > VBE you use. > > Charlotte Foust > > -----Original Message----- > From: Drew Wutka [mailto:DWUTKA at marlow.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 6:48 PM > To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > Actually, you're still using VBA. The language is still the same. > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: Charlotte Foust [mailto:cfoust at infostatsystems.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 7:47 PM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > But when you program Word from within Access, you still have to use the > Word object model. You aren't programming Access, you're programming > Word. It isn't the same thing at all. > > Charlotte Foust > > -----Original Message----- > From: Drew Wutka [mailto:DWUTKA at marlow.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 4:58 PM > To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > It is the same, you just have a different 'default' object. You can > program stuff for Word within Access, and Access within Word, right? > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: Charlotte Foust [mailto:cfoust at infostatsystems.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 6:45 PM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > That's like saying that programming Word and Access is the same, you > just have a different object model to deal with! <vbg> > > Charlotte Foust > > -----Original Message----- > From: Drew Wutka [mailto:DWUTKA at marlow.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 2:23 PM > To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > The language is almost identical, you just have a different object model > to deal with. > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: Charlotte Foust [mailto:cfoust at infostatsystems.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 4:07 PM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > To learn what in, Drew? Access VBA programming isn't the same as VB > anyhow. > > Charlotte Foust > > -----Original Message----- > From: Drew Wutka [mailto:DWUTKA at marlow.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 1:46 PM > To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > I think the VB 6.0 'look' in A2k and up feels funny in Access because it > appears to 'seperate' the code from the objects. In VB 6.0 itself, you > work on the VB forms in the same environment, so there is no disconnect. > Same with Access 97. However, in A2k and up, you have this 'split', > where the code is worked on 'seperately'. Personally I think it's a bad > environment to learn in. > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim DeMarco [mailto:Jdemarco at hshhp.org] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 3:00 PM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > I thought it was just me. Love the IDE in VB 6.0 but feels weird in > Access! > > Jim DeMarco > > -----Original Message----- > From: Drew Wutka [mailto:DWUTKA at marlow.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 3:57 PM > To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > Me too. > > In fact, when I started using VB 6.0, and was presented with an > interface slightly different from what I was used to in Access 97, it > took a little to get used too, but I learned to like VB 6.0's VBE. > However, when I then started messing with Access 2000, I found that I > didn't like that same 'VBE' style in Access....I prefered the way Access > 97 handled things. One thing that I love being able to do in Access 97, > is to have a form open, with it's code page just beneath it. Let's you > edit or run your code without having to flip flop windows. > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dan Waters [mailto:dwaters at usinternet.com] > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 2:35 PM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > I always called it Nice! > > Dan > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Drew Wutka > Sent: Monday, March 31, 2003 2:13 PM > To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > Really? I would consider the code environment in 97 to be a VBE. You > get VB like menus, it is a VB environment. Sure, it doesn't show up > exactly like VB, but I have always called it the VBE. > > Just curious, have I been wrong all this time, and if so, what do you > call the VB environment in 97? > > Drew > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: John W. Colby [mailto:jcolby at colbyconsulting.com] > > Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 8:13 PM > > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > > Subject: RE: [AccessD] VBE > > > > 2k > > > > John W. Colby > > Colby Consulting > > www.ColbyConsulting.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Susan > > Harkins > > Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 8:51 PM > > To: AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > Subject: [AccessD] VBE > > > > > > Did the VBE first show up in 97 or 2000? > > > > Susan H. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > > Is email taking over your day? Manage your time with eMailBoss. 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