Learning VBA 1

[lgvelez]

The company I work for will probably stay with Access 97 for quite sometime. I have not learned VBA, but do need to start using it now. I would love to use CDT, since at the hour that I get to finally do training, books and videos put me to sleep; however, all of the CDTs that I can find are for Access 2000. Is the difference between VBA5 and VBA6 that great?<br>Also, are VB5 and VBA5 related? (I do understand that VBA is a subset of VB.) I would really appreciate any suggestions. Thank you. <p>Laura Velez<br><a href=mailto:lauravelez@home.com>lauravelez@home.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[DougP]

Not sure of the differences between VBA5 and 6<br>If you use Access '97 then it's VBA is built in you can't upgrade it. Access 2000 uses a separate program called VBA 6. <br>As far as VB5 and VBA5 <br>VB5 Professional has the ablity to connect to Access .MDBs and so forth and create a .EXE which means you don't need anything like Access to run your appication. It will run from a Icon click on your deshtop. VBA on the other hand needs to be started from its parent app or works with that app only. Visual Basic 5 or and 7 is on its way. Can work with several Apps. You just need to add the refernces to work with each app. <br><br>The only thing I have come across is Access (VBA) cannot open a Serial Port.<br><br>VBA comes in, or with a certain applications (Hence VB for Apps or VBA) It comes in various flavors designed specifically for that application. AutoCAD for example has commmands that deal with drawing. Access does not have those commands nor Does Excel. By the same token AutoCAD VBA does not have coammdns to save to an Access database<br>Excel has the ablity to refer to a Cell in its VBA.<br>Access has no cells so it cannot work.<br>&nbsp;<br>Actually today since everthing is Plug-in the line between the VBA's is getting hazy.<br>If you have AutoCAD, Visual Basic, and Access on the same machine then you can add the missing peices by going into 'Tool' menu 'References' and adding what ever you like.<br>So for example I created an application in Access that get's information out of an AutoCAD drawing. So it's a Drawing management system.<br>Throw in barcodes on all of your drawings and Access reports and you have a really fast system.<br><br>So that's my 2 cents worth.<br><br><br> <p>DougP<br><a href=mailto: dposton@universal1.com> dposton@universal1.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> Ask me how Bar-codes can help you be more productive.

 

[lgvelez]

Thanks, Doug, for a terrific answer. One more question: if I use Keystone's CDs for Access 2000 development (and get my employer to pay for them), would that be too far off base from Access 97 development?<br><br>Again, Thanks very much. <p>Laura Velez<br><a href=mailto:lauravelez@home.com>lauravelez@home.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[elizabeth]

One important diff I'm aware of is that ADO is the default for 2000 and DAO is the default for 97.&nbsp;&nbsp;It is better to learn ADO for the reason that it will make DAO obsolete. You can set a reference (see help for set a reference) to ADO in your 97 apps and it is supposed to work fine. However, if any Wizards you use in 97 create DAO-specific code you will want to rewrite them. The other option is to allow references to both DAO and ADO and qualify the objects so that Acess can tell the diff, but why make a big mess... The FAQ tab in the Access General Discussion forum, in the &quot;Conversion or Version Related&quot; section lists sources of information to help you understand the differences in case you have to rewrite any wizard code. Finally, VB 6 and VBA 2000 are supposed to be 100% compatible, but earlier versions were not.

 

[edrest]

Igvelez......<br><br>It's not cbt but as far as books are concerned I've found the Access 97 Developers Handbook 3rd edition by Paul Litwin, KenGetz and Mike Gilbert published by Sybex to be full of all kinds of VBA code that addresses real life stuff.<br><br>Hope this helps..... <p>Tom Gahagan<br><a href=mailto:edrest@alltel.net>edrest@alltel.net</a><br><a href= > </a><br>REST<br>
<br>
Your my reason for reason.... Carlos Santana