Should I use VB 2005 instead

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Mark Olsen - 28 Mar 2006 21:05 GMT

Hi,
I am using VBA in excel to create a program that queries a database and
fills out excel spreadsheets. I have made a list of Classes that I use and
need to be able to use the same classes in several different projects.
Earlier I asked a question about how to create a "library" so I could have
all of the classes in one place. I got a great answer about creating a new
workbook containing the classes that I would reference. However, I still
dont get some of the more object oriented features of the new versions of
Visual Basic. I was wondering if I could use Visual Basic 2005 Express
Edition or the Full Visual Basic .NET to create a library that I could use
from VBA. Is this possible? Is it worth it? It seems that this would make
maintaining and distributing the code a lot easier. Can anyone give me any
input?

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Tom Ogilvy - 28 Mar 2006 22:31 GMT

the .NET components are not native to office.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/vsto/default.aspx

also see

http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/

Signature

Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

> Hi,
> I am using VBA in excel to create a program that queries a database and
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> maintaining and distributing the code a lot easier. Can anyone give me any
> input?

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NickHK - 29 Mar 2006 03:13 GMT

Mark,
Creating a DLL library in VB6 would be much more straightforward as you
already have the classes etc in VBA and much would be just copy/paste. Once
in compiled format though you would need to enforce Binary Compatibility,
otherwise you will break the library's use with each upgrade; assuming you
are setting a reference to the library.
If you want to use a .Net product it will (probably) involve a re-write in a
(essentially) different language.

NickHK

> Hi,
> I am using VBA in excel to create a program that queries a database and
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> maintaining and distributing the code a lot easier. Can anyone give me any
> input?

Reply to this Message

MarkTheNuke - 29 Mar 2006 08:42 GMT

You could create a library in Excel (aka addin), this would give you all of
the functions that you want, and wouldn't require you to learn/use a
different environment. I don't believe you can program the PIA's for office
using VB Express which means you would have to spend the money for Visual
Studio Standard. Either way, you would have to deploy your solution to all
of the desktops that use it. So you don't really 'gain' anything using
Visual Studio. If you do go the Visual Studio route I would recommend Visual
Basic, since it supports optional parameters, which will save a LOT of typing
for some functions. Just my two cents worth.
Good luck
Mark

> Hi,
> I am using VBA in excel to create a program that queries a database and
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> maintaining and distributing the code a lot easier. Can anyone give me any
> input?

Reply to this Message