Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA (Mr. Spreadsheet’s Bookshelf): Excel Book Review
This is a review of a book I own which has helped me learn Excel VBA. If you want to learn how to create macros through VBA then this is an essential book to own. Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is fully updated to cover all the new features of Excel 2016. This book will cover everything you need to know on how to build small and large Excel applications to automating your spreadsheets.
If you are completely new to VBA then Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA will cover all the essentials for beginners from introducing you to VBA and its fundamentals to providing you with examples of how to create your first sub and function procedures. Once you have learnt the basics the book will delve deeper into more advanced VBA techniques such as working with pivot tables and charts. You will learn how to automatically create pivot tables and charts, how to loop through charts and how to activate them. It will also cover very comprehensively how to create userforms so users can enter data in fields and press buttons to make the whole experience of using your application more user friendly.
Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA not only comes with useful tips, tricks and best practices it also has access to over 100 online example Excel workbooks and the Power Utility Pak which is found on John Walkenbach’s Spreadsheet Page website.
Understanding VBA and how to programme in Excel VBA can significantly stand you out from the rest. You can become indispensable in the office and can take your career to the next level. Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA will teach you everything you need to know about VBA.
What this Book Covers
This is the table of contents for Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA.
Part I: Introduction to Excel VBA
Chapter 1: Essentials of Spreadsheet Application Development
Chapter 2: Introducing Visual Basic for Applications
Chapter 3: VBA Programming Fundamentals
Chapter 4: Working with VBA Sub Procedures
Chapter 5: Creating Function Procedures
Chapter 6: Understanding Excel’s Events
Chapter 7: VBA Programming Examples and Techniques
Part II: Advanced VBA Techniques
Chapter 8: Working with Pivot Tables
Chapter 9: Working with Charts
Chapter 10: Interacting with Other Applications
Chapter 11: Working with External Data and Files
Part III: Working with UserForms
Chapter 12: Leveraging Custom Dialog Boxes
Chapter 13: Introducing UserForms
Chapter 14: UserForm Examples
Chapter 15: Advanced UserForm Techniques
Part IV: Developing Excel Applications
Chapter 16: Creating and Using Add-Ins
Chapter 17: Working with the Ribbon
Chapter 18: Working with Shortcut Menus
Chapter 19: Providing Help for Your Applications
Chapter 20: Leveraging Class Modules
Chapter 21: Understanding Compatibility Issues
Part V: Appendix
Appendix A: VBA Statements and Function Reference
About the Authors
Michael Alexander
Michael Alexander is a Microsoft Certified Application Developer and author of several books of Microsoft Access and Excel. He has over 16 years’ experience consulting and developing Office solutions. He is also awarded a Microsoft MVP. If you want to learn tips and tricks on Excel and Access then you can visit his page Data Pig Technologies.
Richard Kusleika
Richard Kusleika is also a Microsoft MVP. He has been awarded this for 12 consecutive years. His day job is developing Access and Excel based solutions for clients. He has over 20 years’ experience working with Microsoft Office. You can see his Excel blogs by visiting his website Daily Dose of Excel.
Who Should buy this Book?
Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is for anybody who wants to learn Excel VBA. If you want to learn how to create simple or powerful Excel applications then this book is definitely for you. If you find that you are constantly doing repetitive Excel tasks on a daily basis and want to automate what you are doing then this book will help you create powerful macros which will eliminate manual Excel tasks. This book is also for people who want to streamline their Excel spreadsheets so they become more efficient and user friendly. If you are an advanced Excel user and want to take your Excel skills to the next level by learning VBA then this book is for you.
If you are a business owner who wants to expand your employees Excel and VBA skills then this book would be great. It will be a great reference book for the employees who would want to learn VBA. It will certainly help productivity from the employees.
The Positives of the Book
Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is a great book if you want to learn VBA. It is a very detailed book and covers everything you need to know regarding VBA. Before I started reading this book I knew absolutely nothing about VBA and was concerned that this book might go over my head. However the first part of Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is aimed at people who have no prior knowledge of VBA and never used it before. It explains the basics and fundamentals of VBA very clearly so you get to learn all about the Excel Object Model including the properties and methods which is essentially what VBA is all about. You will record your own macro and it will explain the code behind it and you will create your very first sub routine and user defined function. All this will enable you to gain a thorough knowledge and foundation of VBA which you can then take to the next sections of the book where you will learn more advanced VBA techniques. The first few chapters certainly helped me become more confident with VBA and this enabled me to be more comfortable learning the more advanced features of VBA such as creating userforms.
Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA is well written and explains complex subjects very clearly and concisely. The authors have put in a great effort of writing in my opinion the best VBA book out there. It covers everything you need to know and by the time you have read the whole book you will become an expert in all things VBA. I know I did!
The Negatives of this Book
OK so are there any negatives? Well this is a very comprehensive book, over 700 pages in fact, so if you want something quick and easy to read then this is not the book for you. I would recommend a beginner Excel VBA book by John Walkenbach instead, especially if you want to learn the basics of VBA.
This is not a quick reference book where you can take it around with you in your pocket due to the size of the book. It explains topics in great detail hence it will take a while to go through the whole book. What you get out of it when you have finished though will be worthwhile.
I hope you have enjoyed my review of Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA. If you have any questions or would like to leave a comment regarding the review then please visit my website.