Print Book $29.95
Print+PDF
$38.94
Print Book £20.95
By Paul Lomax
October 1998
Pages: 650
Series: In a Nutshell
ISBN 10: 1-56592-358-8 |
ISBN 13: 9781565923584
(Average of 9 Customer Reviews)
For Visual Basic and VBA programmers, this book boils down the essentials of the VB and VBA languages into a single volume, including undocumented and little-documented areas essential to everyday programming. The convenient alphabetical reference to all functions, procedures, statements, and keywords allows programmers to use this book both as a standard reference guide and as a tool for troubleshooting and identifying programming problems.
Full Description
- Its syntax, using standard code conventions
- Differences in the operation of the keyword in a macro environment (e.g., in Office) and in Visual Basic, if there are any
- A list of arguments accepted by the function or procedure, if any
- A description of the data type returned by a function
- The finer points of a keyword's usage that are often omitted from or blurred over by the documentation
- Tips and gotchas that include undocumented behaviors and practical applications for particular language elements -- a section particularly invaluable for diagnosing or avoiding potential programming problems
- A brief, nonobvious example that illustrates the use of the keyword
- Basic VBA programming concepts, such as its data types and its support for variables, constants, and arrays
- Error handling in VBA applications
- Object programming with VBA
- Using VBA with particular applications. Excel and Project are utilized to show how to work with an application's integrated development environment and to take advantage of its object model Regardless of how much experience you have programming with VBA, this is the book you'll pick up time and time again both as your standard reference guide and as a tool for troubleshooting and identifying programming problems.
Register your book | Submit Errata | Author Interview | Paul's VB Tips and Tricks
Browse within this book
Cover | Table of Contents | Index | Sample Chapter | Colophon
Book details
First Edition: October 1998
Series:
In a Nutshell
ISBN: 1-56592-358-8
Pages: 650
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 9 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Excellent Reference, December 10 2004
I've had this book in my collection for well over a year now and it makes for a great reference when programming in VB6. It is organized in a manner that makes looking up the formatting of particular methods quick and easy. It provides examples and programming gotchas that help when implementing a method you haven't previously used or rarely use.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, March 03 2003
This book worked quite well for me as I needed a reference for writing VBA code in MS Access, Word, and Excel. It fills in the large gap where Microsoft help leaves you.
I would definitely recommend this book if you already have learned the basics of Visual Basic. The chapters before the reference section are quite good and it answered many questions I had regarding the use of VBA in the MS Office apps.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, June 23 2002
This book has never let me down. I would have paid 3 times as much for a book like this. A classic reference work.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, June 21 2002
I'm a C++ programmer with lots of experience. I have resisted VB for years until recently when I inherited a very poorly written VB app that needed to be fixed and updated. I understood OOP, what I wanted was quick and dirty straight facts. Give me syntax and no fluff, give the the real world experience and the all the gotchas so I would not pulled the hair out of my head. This book gave me that and much more, in short it saved my skin. I fixed the bad VB app and now I'm the company hero. This book travels everywhere with me and my laptop. It's worth its weight in gold. As much as I hate to admit it I actually like VB now that I have had to dig in. Don't get me wrong I still like C++ as well and now there is room in my life for both. Cannot rate this book highly enough an off the positive side of the scale of truly useful.
Charles :-)
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, July 30 2001
Fantastic book! It bridges the gap between beginner and intermediate/advanced programmer by cutting right to the chase. Excellent reference book! If you learn/find only 1 solution, you'll undoubtedly find many, it would have already paid for itself over and over. When I'm looking for a computer book I always check if O'Reilly has one on the subject before considering any other publisher. Keep up the great work!
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, November 18 2000
This is without a doubt an excellent book on VB/VBA.
It summarized the language in a very concise and
efficient manner. It addresses such vital and
crucial topics as COM/DCOM, error handling, and
function usage.
I recommend this book to anyone who needs to
make use of VB/VBA in a production environment. The
only subject it does not address is calling Win32
API from VB.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, September 23 2000
Great book, supplements VB's Help very well, especially "Gotcha" issues and code samples. Unfortuntely, the code samples are not online.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, July 27 2000
As a VB client-server programmer, I hardly have the time to wait for VB's HTML help to appear,much less search through it! This book is really in a class by itself as far as VB references go. It's the perfect size to keep right at hand, yet it contains the answer to virtually every question I've asked it.
The encyclopedia-type language reference is preceded by exceptional discussions of VB data types, classes, object models, and error handling, and also includes several interesting and useful
appendices. About the only thing I've not found in it is an ASCII chart. The language element entries are peppered with sidebars on relevant topics, all entries are discussed with remote automation issues in mind, and great examples abound (the entry for the Format function runs to 9 pages, mostly examples). If you program VB for a living, you've got to have this book close by.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, May 15 2000
I find this book is good for learning new techniques, or as a reference guide. I can find many, many examples of excellent code in this book. It's an excellent resource.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, October 24 1999
Submitted by Leslie Jones [Respond | View]
This is simply the best reference book for VB(6) on the market. It gives you the facts plain and easy to understand. There's no wads of code, no thousands of unecessary screen shots. There are the type of warnings and gotchas you need to know first up when using a language and not after you have already coded hundreds of lines. An excellent publication. Well done O'Reilly.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, March 11 1999
Submitted by John Fiala [Respond | View]
I was really glad to see a book on VB published by O'Reilly. I've always seen them as a symbol of quality, and this one doesn't disappoint.
As a VB developer, I've been looking for a new VB book that includes VB6 and the details I need, but which doesn't talk down to me. I consider myself fairly hot stuff VB-wise, and I don't need chapters explaining how to use FOR..Next loops.
'VB & VBA in a nutshell' gave me that, and at $19.95, saved me half the price of a lesser book. Having picked it up, I learned subtle things I didn't know about the language very quickly. Things that I could use immediately, such as the detail on the Collection and Dictionary objects.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who programs VB6 professionally.
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language Review, November 07 1997
Submitted by Randy Eastwood [Respond | View]
This is the book that is used after the learning stage is over...the excellent indexing and cross-referencing in this book along with the "Gotchas" and tips make it THE VB dictionary!
Media reviews
"Beginners and experienced programmers alike may find this book easier to use than Visual Basic's new help system. Appendix A alone may be worth the book's remarkably low price." -- Rod Stephens, DevX.com, Dec 1998
"This is a handy quick reference that contains a lot of concise, solid information to keep programmers out of trouble, especially the tips and "Gotchas." --fatbraincom
"this is the kind of book you think you can live without until you have actually used it, after which you consider it a necessity...if you are at all serious about writing VBA code, get this book. It's $24.95 (US retail price) is little in comparison to its value." --Bruce Conradie, Computers in Africa, August 2000
"Every developer needs one meat-and-potatoes reference -- and if you're working with Visual Basic, you can't beat
VB & VBA In A Nutshell. Most entries are accompanied by "Programming Tips & Gotchas" that are pure gold - this book is masterful. --Bill Camarda, barnesandnoble.com
"Like other books from O'Reilly, this work is professional and accurate, with good graphics and text presentation. I would recommend it to programmers interested in the subject." --Claudia Papescu, Computing Reviews, Oct 1999
"What a masterpiece! It's hard to imagine anyone doing a better job on a compact reference. Moreover, considering the number of pages and the amount of information contained in them, this book is a real bargain. I believe every serious VB programmer should have a copy." --Gary Cornell, http://www.fatbrain.com
"VB & VBA in a Nutshell helps fill the void left by Visual Basic's online documentation. VB & VBA In a Nutshell is a reference, not a tutorial. If you are a novice, do not rely on this book to provide a gentle introduction to programming in Visual Basic. However, beginners and experienced programmers alike may find this book easier to use than Visual Basic's new help system. Appendix A alone may be worth the book's remarkably low price. " --Rod Stephens, DevX VB Zone, december 1998
VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Languages 24th Feb 1999
They always say "you can't judge a book by its cover", but when I first [Image] saw this, I thought "that looks cute".... Following the tradition of the "in a nutshell" range of books by O'Reilly, this book by Paul Lomax is probably the best yet. Its 630 pages are split into two sections. The first covers 7 main areas of VB and VBA programming, including program structure, VBA variables and types, classes, automation and error handling. As a seasoned VB programmer, I had initially thought that there was nothing for me to learn from this section, but I was wrong. Despite covering important areas of VB programming which may be of more interest for the beginner, it also manages to squeeze in a few interesting points for the experienced programmer too. Object-orientated programming and also automation (formally OLE) are also documented so if you've ever wanted to write data to an Excel spreadsheet and then save as an Excel file from within VB, then its all here.
The second section is probably of more interest when you are actually programming. Its the reference section and documents every statement, function and keyword that you can use in VB/VBA. Although most of this information is available in the VB online help, the way that Paul has presented the information makes if different, and much better. Not only would each reference include a syntax of parameters, usage etc, it also includes sample bits of code which help explain it a bit more, as well as a concise and succinct description of the statement, keyword or function. Finally, it includes the finer or more details points of the keyword's usage, tips and 'gotchas' which detail undocumented behaviours and practical uses for specific elements of the VB language.
Finally, the book contains a small chapter on "Whats new in VB6", containing some things which I haven't seen elsewhere - even at Microsoft's knowledgebase.
Altogether, this book really is a good buy. Its also very cheap and despite its price, it covers much more than many books which are twice or even three times its price (or size). If you've got the money, buy it - you won't regret it. We've linked up with Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk where you can order the book online at a discounted price and get delivered to your door.
Alternatively, enter our competition to win a copy of VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Languages which the author has personally donated for this competition.
(C)1999 Zarr's VB Web Site. All Rights Reserved.
