Excel macro is extremely convenient for repeated tasks. In Excel, macros are written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). For those who cannot write VBA code, Excel allows you to record a series of steps – using keyboard and mouse – that Excel then converts into VBA.

1. Selecting the Active Workbook

ThisWorkbook.Activate

In case you want to select an opening Excel document, the file extension is necessary.

Windows(”Example.xls”).Activate

2. Selecting a Worksheet

Sheets(”Balance”).Activate

3. Selecting a Cell

Range(”A1″).Select

4. Selecting Continuous Cells

Range(”A2:F8″).Select

5. Selecting Non-continuous Cells

Range(”A2,C6,D9″).Select

Range(”A1,B5:B10,F9″).Select

6. Move/Offset the Cells

ActiveCell.Offset(12, 16).Select

Selection.Offset(-1, -6).Select

Range(”D8″).Offset(-2, -8).Select

7. Selecting the Entire Worksheet

Cells.Select

8. Selecting the Range Where the Active Cell Locates

Range(”A1″).CurrentRegion.Select

9. Select a Row or Column

Rows(”1″).Select

Columns(”A”).Select

or

ActiveCell.EntireRow.Select

ActiveCell.EntireColumn.Select

10. Select Contiguous Rows or Columns

Columns(”A:C”).Select

Rows(”1:10″).Select

11. Select Non-contiguous Rows or Columns

Range(”A:A, C:D, E:F”).Select

Range(”1:1,5:8,9:9″).Select

12. Select a Range downwards from the Active Cell

Range(”A1″, Range(”A1″).End(xlDown)).Select

Range(ActiveCell, ActiveCell.End(xlDown)).Select

13. Select a Range upwards from the Active Cell

Range(”A32″, Range(”A32″).End(xlUp)).Select

Range(ActiveCell, ActiveCell.End(xlUp)).Select

14. Select a Range rightward from the Active Cell

Range(”A1″, Range(”A1″).End(xltoRight)).Select

15. Select a Range leftward from the Active Cell

Range(ActiveCell, ActiveCell.End(xltoLeft)).Select 

16. Select the first blank cell from the active row

Range(”A1″).End(xltoRight).Offset(0,1).Select

17. Macros about “If..Then…EndIf”

 If there’s only one condition and action, you can write code as follows:

If Selection.Value > 10 Then

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 100

End If

 Or:

If Selection.Value > 10 Then Selection.Offset(1,0) = 100

For more conditions and actions, you should do the following:

If Selection.Value > 10 Then

If Selection.Value = 12 Then

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 100

End If

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 20

End If

18. Macro about “f..Then…And…EndIf”

For bio-conditions:

If Selection.Value = 10 And Selection.Offset(0,1).Value = 20 Then

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 100

End If

19. Macro about “f..Then…Or…EndIf”

For bio-conditions:

If Selection.Value = 10 Or Selection.Offset(0,1).Value = 20 Then

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 100

End If

20. Macro about “if..Then…Else…EndIf”

If Selection.Value > 10 Then

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 100

Else

Selection.Offset(1,0) = 0

End If

21. Macro about “If..Then..ElseIf…EndIf”

If Selection.Value = 1 Then

Selection.Offset(1, 0) = 10

ElseIf Selection.Value = 2 Then

Selection.Offset(1, 0) = 20

ElseIf Selection.Value = 3 Then

Selection.Offset(1, 0) = 30

ElseIf Selection.Value = 4 Then

Selection.Offset(1, 0) = 40

ElseIf Selection.Value = 5 Then

Selection.Offset(1, 0) = 50

End If

22. Macro about “Select Case”

Sub Test()

Select Case Selection.Value

Case Is >= 85

Selection.Offset(0, 1) = “A”

Case Is >= 75

Selection.Offset(0, 1) = “B”

Case Is >= 65

Selection.Offset(0, 1) = “C”

Case Is >= 50

Selection.Offset(0, 1) = “D”

Case Else

Selection.Offset(0, 1) = “F”

End Select

End Sub

23. Example of LCase, Now() and UCase Functions

To convert uppercase to lowercase using LCase function:

Select Case LCase(Selection.value)

To show the current time in cell A1:

Range(”A1″).Formula = “=Now()”

To show current time in cell A1 as fixed value that doesn’t change until you execute it once more:

Range(”A1″).Value = Now()

To convert lowercase to uppercase:

Select Case UCase(Selection.value)

1. Opening an Excel Documents
Here we use Workbooks.Open method to open an Excel Document.

Workbooks.Open(FileName, UpdateLinks, ReadOnly, Format, Password, WriteResPassword, IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended, Origin, Delimiter, Editable, Notify, Converter, AddToMru, Local, CorruptLoad)

FileName is necessary; it’s the file name of the workbook to open. For the other 14 optional arguments, Password is used a little commonly.

Example:

Workbooks.Open “F:\MyExcel.xls”

This code could open MyExcel.xls from the Local Disk (F:).

2. Opening Text Files
You could use Workbooks.Open method to open a text file also, however, OpenText method is recommended. The complete syntax is as below.

Workbooks.OpenText(FileName, Origin, StartRow, DataType, TextQualifier, ConsecutiveDelimiter, Tab, Semicolon, Comma, Space, Other, OtherChar, FieldInfo, TextVisualLayout, DecimalSeparator, ThousandsSeparator, TrailingMinusNumbers, Local)

The OpenText method could load and split text data into columns and store them in a single worksheet in a workbook.
However, in actual situation, it’s unnecessary to set complicated arguments. You’d better record a macro to load text data into Excel. Here are the simple steps.

a. Click Office Button and select Open.

Microsoft Excel Text Import Wizard

b. Select Text Files (*.prn;*.txt;*.scv) as the filter and choose the text file. Click Open to continue.

Microsoft Excel Text Import Wizard

c. The Text Import Wizard is ready and in just 3 steps you could finish it.
Determine fixed width of text data:

Microsoft Excel Text Import Wizard

d. Set filed width (column breaks):

Microsoft Excel Text Import Wizard

e. Select each column and set the data format:

Microsoft Excel Text Import Wizard

But how to record macros in Microsoft Excel 2007? Please review this recipe: Record macros in Excel. Be sure to change some parameters in macro code to fit different usages.

3. Opening other Types of Files

It is possible to read XML or Access database files using Excel’s objects. (Note: you have to install Microsoft Excel 2003 or higher to deal with XML files). The OpenXML syntax is here:

Workbooks.OpenXML(Filename, Stylesheets, LoadOption)

FileName (String type) is the necessary argument.
Stylesheets (Variant type) specifies the XLS to convert XSLT.
LoadOption (Variant type) determines the mode to read XML. LoadOption could be one of the constants of XlXmlLoadOption.
XlXmlLoadOption could be one of the following contstant: xlXmlLoadImportToList, xlXmlLoadMapXml, xlXmlLoadOpenXml or xlXmlLoadPromptUser.

Here’s an example of VBA code to open “MyXML.xml” and display the contents in XML list.

Sub UseOpenXML()
Application.Workbooks.OpenXML _
Filename:=”MyXML.xml”, _
LoadOption:=xlXmlLoadImportToList
End Sub

The OpenDatabase syntax is:

Workbooks.OpenDatabase(FileName, CommandText, CommandType, BackgroundQuery, ImportDataAs)

FileName (String type) is the necessary argument to stand for connection string.
CommandText (Variant type) is the command text for query and it’s optional.
CommandType (Variant type) is the query type. It’s also optional. CommandType may be Default, SQL or Table.
BackgroundQuery (Variant type) is the query background.
ImportDataAs (Variant type) defines the query format.

An example to open MyAccess.mdb database file in Excel.

Sub OpenDatabase()
Workbooks.OpenDatabase FileName:=”C:\northwind.mdb”
End Sub

4. Saving Files

To save a file, you could use the Save or SaveAS method in Workbook object.

The syntax of Save method is simple:

OneWorkbook.Save ‘OneWorkbook is a workbook object.

Example:

ActiveWorkbook.Save (Save the active Workbook)

To savesas a workbook ,you should use SaveAs method and specify the new file name.

OneWorkbook.SaveAs(FileName, FileFormat, Password, WriteResPassword, ReadOnlyRecommended, CreateBackup, AccessMode, ConflictResolution, AddToMru, TextCodepage, TextVisualLayout, Local)

An example to create a workbook and prompt user to enter name and save it.

Set NewBook = Workbooks.Add
Do
fName = Application.GetSaveAsFilename
Loop Until fName <> False
NewBook.SaveAs Filename:=fName

Here, Application.GetSaveAsFilename could call the standard “Save As” dialog box and get the file name; Application.GetOpenFileName could call the standard “Open” dialog box.

5. Closing Files
To close a file, you can use the Close method of the Worbooks collection or Workbook object. Close method of the Worbooks collection can close all the active workbooks, Close method of the Workbook object can aloes specific workbook.

An example of the Colse method of Workbook object:

OneWorkboook.Close(SaveChanges, Filename, RouteWorkbook)

Here, the argument of SaveChanges is to prompt user to save it or not, usually it’s set as False to avoid the dialog box.

An example to close Book1.xls and discard all the changes:

Workbooks(”BOOK1.XLS”).Close SaveChanges:=False

Another example to close all active workboos and prompt user to save changes or not:

Workbooks.Close

6. Summary
Using Workbooks and Worksheets Objects to access data is the most simple and convenient way for beginners of Excel VBA. This method is also the top choice to only read data from Excel spreadsheets. So, the next post is on how to do file operations using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)’s build-in functions.

Microsoft has launched Office Web Apps Technical Preview on Sep 17, 2009, which contains four free components (Word Web App, PowerPoint Web App, Excel Web App, OneNote Web App). In this preview of online version of Microsoft office, view and share of Word documents, view, editing and creation of Excel spreadsheets, view & editing of PowerPoint presentations are allowed; however, OneNote Web App will be available at a later date.

If you don’t have an invitation to test OWA, please get access to Web-based Microsoft Office Apps with a Special Way.

Word Web App
You need to upload a word document to the Skydive firstly. There are only basic view functions in Word Web App.

From the File menu, you can print the online document. After you select Print, Word Web App will try to connect to your default printer to prepare the printing (The Print feature is only available in Word Web App).

Word Web App File Menu

Beside, you can search text in the document through the convenient Find feature. The document parts which matched with your items will be listed in the sidebar, and keywords will be highlighted in the body at the same time.

There is also a simple zoom tool to set different zoom level.

PowerPoint Web App
You can directly upload or create a PowerPoint presentation. In the slide show mode, you could click Start Slide Show to view slide show and PowerPoint Web App will open a new Window to show the presentation.

PowerPoint Web App also provides an Outline View to view the presentation as a text-only outline, just select File -> Outline View.

The editing features of PowerPoint Web App are relatively rich. It supports create, duplicate, hide slide, insert picture, SmartArt or link (however, picture or SmartArt could only be added to the slide with picture or SmartArt layout). Also you can apply basic text or paragraph formatting.

PowerPoint Web App also allows you to switch between several view modes. Click View tab and here you can select Editing View, Reading View or Slide Show.

To add a new slide, click New Slide link from the Home group, there are nine slide layout available.

You can change the picture style via the similar Picture Tools, there are 28 picture styles totally.

The SmartArt Tools is also a wonderful feature. You can change layouts, text, or color scheme of your SmartArt graphics.

Be attention, in PowerPoint Web App, there is no save button because your presentation is being saved automatically.

Excel Web App
In view mode, you can find, download copy/snapshot and basic filter.

Click Edit to switch to editing mode. Excel Web App does not support editing files in this format (XLS). To convert this workbook to a supported format, open the workbook for viewing and select Save a Copy from the Office button.
You can add functions, table and link in the Excel Web App editor. Number formatting is very handily to apply. However, chart is not available in current Excel Web App.

Excel Web App is the only application in Office Web Apps that supports document collaboration. All the changes will be shown synchronously and you could check who are editing the document from the editing mode.

OneNote Web App
OneNote Web App is not currently available. But it may be a revolution in the information gathering area. I myself is very look forward to the OneNote Web App.

Conclusion
Office Web Apps are cloud document sharing & collaboration services and let multiple users access or edit office documents online. Office Web Apps is unquestionable a strong catalyst on the Cloud Office. For example, Google Docs has enabled user to share entire folders recently in order to response to Office Web Apps’ more flexible sharing policies. Interfaces are a great advantage. Office Web Apps has a long way to go; however, as the cloud computing will burst with growth, Office Web Apps get an opportunity to grow up. And finally, you’d better install Microsoft Silverlight to make documents load faster and text looks clearer.