Excel VBA

Introduction To VBA: Macros And Automation Part 1

Visual Basic for applications

What Is VBA?

Visual Basic for Applications is a subset of a programming language which was developed by the Microsoft company for use with its suite of Office products. Originally going by the name ‘Visual Basic’, it was retired and updated to ‘VB .NET’ and then later returned to the original ‘Visual Basic’ moniker in 2005. Each naming iteration came along with increased functionality and integration into a larger suite of tools.

In general, regardless of the naming scheme used, VB and VBA continue to be great starting points for those looking to expand their knowledge and learn to program. They are easier to learn in terms of the syntax it uses, and its legibility compared to some other languages. While still having much of the flexibility of other programming languages in how you can structure the code being written.

Where the ‘A’ in VBA originates from is how this subset of VB is geared towards the Office suite of tools. Excel, Access, Outlook, and Word are among those programs which can benefit from VBA. If you are working on a computer which uses the Windows operating system, then there are additional functions which VBA can utilize to modify information and files on the user’s computer. It was introduced in 2003, and is primarily used in Excel, although it has benefits for other office programs as well.

An important distinction is that VB and VBA should be considered as two different languages. While they share many commonalities between them, VB is a programming language which requires a compiler and can create standalone applications (think .exe files), and VBA is limited to the Microsoft Office product line.

The VBA module is normally installed with every instance of Microsoft Office which is downloaded, although it can be removed during the installation phase by going through a custom install process and unchecking it from the options.