Harry said
This is a really good book. I think it's geared for people who are somewhere in between beginner programmer and intermediate programmer. If you're a true beginner, I think the Excel VBA for Dummies book is a better choice. If you're trying to get a bit more advanced, this book is probably right for you.
shancarrick said
This is a fantastic book for learning VBA programming in Excel. The first 70 pages are devoted to programming basics (variables, conditional statements, objects, modules and procedures, etc.) Most of the rest of the book is devoted to glorious Excel tasks and objects. Really, this is quality material.
A mere 30 pages is devoted to .NET. Most of this is simply how to fire up Visual Studio and create a project. Worthless, really. I'm betting that the publisher made the decision to add ".NET" to the title since that was a sexy buzzword back in '03. I'm subtracting a single star for this little piece of marketing deception. In summary, this book is terrific for learning Excel VBA (and general programming principles), but is no good for learning how to marry Excel to .NET.
Graham Jones said
"Programming Excel with VBA & .NET" is certainly a very 'weighty' tome. At around 1100 pages you certainly get a lot of paper for your money! However, do you get value for your money? I have yet to read a book on this topic which is more comprehensive in its coverage in terms of the description of the Object Model and the properties and methods, in many cases complete with useful examples. So in that regard it is an excellent reference. The benefit of the author being part of the Microsoft OLE Automation team when VB was added to Excel is very clear. The book also covers VBA itself in good depth. However, I feel that much of this could have been usefully relegated to a reference Appendix. If you are buying this book to learn VBA as such then there are many other excellent choices. The value in this book is in the application of VBA to Excel. You should not consider this book unless you are already very comfortable with VBA. If you are only just learning VBA but try to go on to read the rest of the book, you might find it hard going.
I have read other books that devote more space to and explain better the use of Ranges in VBA code; "pictures are worth a thousand words". If you cannot assimilate this aspect of VBA programming with Excel then you will struggle. Because of the recursive nature of Range references in Excel it can be a difficult concept to understand. I know personally that when I got the hang of that and how to use relative referencing with the R1C1 notation and to use the Cell object my productivity went up tremendously, and my frustration level dropped accordingly. Excel is probably the most difficult and complex application of the Office products when it comes to the Object Model and accordingly programming in VBA. On balance I would have no hesitation in recommending this book as part of your Excel VBA programming arsenal. Typically no one book can give you all of the insight that you need. Accordingly I feel comfortable in giving it 5 stars.
Cheers
Graham Jones
Brett Merkey said
When you attempt to get into a new area of coding, it is best to have an authoritative reference. Confidence in your source really helps in getting through the inevitable rough spots. "Excel with VBA & .NET" seems to fill the bill. It certainly does not hurt to know that the author was on the Microsoft OLE Automation team when VB was added to Excel.
The "comprehensive" half of my review title comes with the packed 1100 pages. All the programming basics, all the programmable objects, all the usable features are covered. In addition, the book covers extending Excel with add-ins and dealing with security.
My own interest in programming Excel objects is related to my job as a GUI interface developer for browser-based applications. As more information and functionality goes to the Web, the convenience of taking HTML data displays and exporting them to Excel is finding an expanding and demanding market. I was somewhat disappointed that the book did not approach more topics from the perspective of this modern trend.
A friend preparing to teach Excel VBA next fall grabbed the book from my desk and had a look. She was certain "Excel with VBA & .NET" would be an excellent platform and reference for that class. That high recommendation certainly trumps my quibble about not having more material on browser implementations.
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