How to Write Macros in Excel: Step by Step Tutorial

What is a macro?
A macro is a piece of programming code that runs in Excel environment and helps automate routine tasks. In a
layman's language, a macro is a recording of your routine steps in Excel that you can replay using a single
button.
The importance of macros in Excel
Let's say you work as a cashier for a water utility company. Some of the customers pay through the bank and at the
end of the day, you are required to download the data from the bank and format it in a format that meets your business
requirements.
You can import the data into Excel and format. The following day you will be required to perform the same ritual. It
will soon become boring and tedious. Macros solve such problems by automating such routine tasks. You can use
a macro to record the steps of

 Importing the data

 Formatting it to meet your business reporting requirements.

What is VBA in a layman's language?

VBA is the acronym for Visual Basic for Applications. It is a programming language that Excel uses to record your
steps as you perform routine tasks. You do not need to be a programmer or a very technical person to enjoy the
benefits of macros in Excel. Excel has features that automatically generated the source code for you. Read the article
on Vba for more details.

Macro Basics
Macros are one of the developer features. By default, the tab for developers is not displayed in excel. You will
need to display it via customize report
Macros can be used to compromise your system by attackers. By default, they are disabled in excel. If you need to run
macros, you will need to enable running macros and only run macros that you know come from a trusted source
If you want to save macros, then you must save your workbook in a macro-enabled format *.xlsm
The macro name should not contain any spaces.
Always fill in the description of the macro when creating one. This will help you and others to understand what the
macro is doing.

Step by step example of recording macros in Excel

We will work with the scenario described in the importance of macros excel. We will work with the following CSV
file.

We will create a macro enabled template that will import the above data and format it to meet our business reporting
requirements.

Enable Developer Option

To execute VBA program, you have to have access to developer option in Excel. Enable the developer option as
shown below and pin it into your main ribbon in Excel.
Step 1) Go to main menu "FILE" and selection option "Options."
Step 2) Select "Options" from the menu list as shown in screen shot below.

Step 3) Now another window will open, in that window do following things

 Click on Customize Ribbon

 Mark the checker box for Developer option
 Click on OK button
Step 4) You will now be able to see the DEVELOPER tab in the ribbon

First, we will see how we can create a command button on the spreadsheet and execute the program.

 Create a folder in drive C named Bank Receipts

 Paste the receipts.csv file that you downloaded
 1. Click on the DEVELOPER tab
2. Click on Record Macro as shown in the image below

You will get the following dialogue window

1. Enter ImportBankReceipts as the macro name.

2. Step two will be there by default
3. Enter the description as shown in the above diagram
4. Click on "OK" tab

 Put the cursor in cell A1

 Click on the DATA tab
 Click on From Text button on the Get External data ribbon bar
You will get the following dialogue window
  Go to the local drive where you have stored the CSV file
 Select the CSV file
 Click on Import button
You will get the following wizard

Click on Next button after following the above steps

Follow the above steps and click on next button
  Click on Finish button
 Your workbook should now look as follows

Make the columns bold, add the grand total and use the SUM function to get the total amount.

Now that we have finished our routine work, we can click on stop recording macro button as shown in the image
below

Before we save our work book, we will need to delete the imported data. We will do this to create a template that we
will be copying every time we have new receipts and want to run the ImportBankReceipts macro.

 Highlight all the imported data

 Right click on the highlighted data
 Click on Delete
 Click on save as button
  Save the workbook in a macro enabled format as shown below

 Make a copy of the newly saved template

 Open it
 Click on DEVELOPER tab
 Click on Macros button
You will get the following dialogue window
 1. Select ImportBankReceipts
2. Highlights the description of your macro
3. Click on Run button
You will get the following data

What is VBA?
VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications. Before we go into further details, let's look at what computer
programming is in a layman's language. Assume you have a maid. If you want the maid to clean the house and do the
laundry. You tell her what to do using let's say English and she does the work for you. As you work with a computer,
you will want to perform certain tasks. Just like you told the maid to do the house chores, you can also tell the
computer to do the tasks for you.
The process of telling the computer what you want it to do for you is what is known as computer programming. Just
as you used English to tell the maid what to do, you can also use English like statements to tell the computer what to
do. The English like statements fall in the category of high level languages. VBA is a high level language that you can
use to bend excel to your all powerful will.
VBA is actually a sub set of Visual Basic 6.0 BASIC stands for Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.

Why VBA?

 It uses English like statements to write instructions

 Creating the user interface is like using a paint program. You just have to drag, drop and align the graphical
user interface controls.
 Short learning curve. From day one that you start learning, you can immediately start writing simple
programs.
 Enhances the functionality of excel by allowing you to make excel behave the way you want it to

Personal & business applications of VBA in excel

For personal use, you can use it for simple macros that will automate most of your routine tasks. Read the article on
Macros for more information on how you can achieve this.
For business use, you can create complete powerful programs powered by excel and VBA. The advantage of this
approach is you can leverage the powerful features of excel in your own custom programs.

Visual Basic for Applications VBA basics

Before we can write any code, we need to know the basics first. The following basics will help you get started.

 Variable – in high school we learnt about algebra. Find (x + 2y) where x = 1 and y = 3. In this expression, x
and y are variables. They can be assigned any numbers i.e. 1 and 3 respective as in this example. They can
also be changed to say 4 and 2 respectively. Variables in short are memory locations. As you work with VBA,
you will be required to declare variables too just like in algebra classes
 Rules for creating variables
o Don't use reserved words – if you work as a student, you cannot use the title lecturer or principal.
These titles are reserved for the lecturers and the school authority. Reserved words are those words
that have special meaning in Vba and as such, you cannot use them as variable names.
o Variable names cannot contain spaces – you cannot define a variable named first number. You can
use firstNumber or first_number.
o Use descriptive names – it's very tempting to name a variable after yourself but avoid this. Use
descriptive names i.e. quantity, price, subtotal etc. this will make your VBA code easy to read
 Arithmetic operators - The rules of Brackets of Division Multiplication Addition and Subtraction (BODMAS)
apply so remember to apply them when working with expressions that use multiple different arithmetic
operators. Just like in excel, you can use
o + for addition
o - for subtraction
o * for multiplication
o / for division.
 Logical operators - The concept of logical operators covered in the earlier tutorials also apply when working
with VBA. These include
o If statements
o OR
o NOT
o AND
o TRUE
o FALSE

Enable Developer Option

 Create a new workbook

  Click on the ribbon start button
 Select options
 Click on customize ribbon
 Select the developer checkbox as shown in the image below
 Click OK

You will now be able to see the DEVELOPER tab in the ribbon

VBA Hello world

Now we will demonstrate how to program in VBA. All program in VBA has to start with "Sub" and end with "End
sub". Here the name is the name you want to assign to your program. While sub stands for a subroutine which we will
learn in the later part of the tutorial.
Sub name()
.
.
. End Sub
We will create a basic VBA program that displays an input box to ask for the user's name then display a greeting
message
This tutorial assumes you have completed the tutorial on Macros in excel and have enabled the DEVELOPER tab in
excel.

 Create a new work book

 Save it in an excel macro enabled worksheet format *.xlsm
 Click on the DEVELOPER tab
  Click on INSERT drop down box under controls ribbon bar
 Select a command button as shown in the image below

Draw the command button anywhere on the worksheet

You will get the following dialogue window

 Rename the macro name to btnHelloWorld_Click

 Click on new button
  You will get the following code window

Enter the following instruction codes

Dim name As String
name = InputBox("Enter your name")
MsgBox "Hello " + name
HERE,

 "Dim name as String" creates a variable called name. The variable will accept text, numeric and other
characters because we defined it as a string
 "name = InputBox("Enter your name")" calls the built in function InputBox that displays a window with
the caption Enter your name. The entered name is then stored in the name variable.
 "MsgBox "Hello " + name" calls the built in function MsgBox that display Hello and the entered name.
Your complete code window should now look as follows
 Close the code window
 Right click on button 1 and select edit text
 Enter Say hello

 Click on Say Hello

 You will get the following input box
  Enter your name i.e. Jordan
 You will get the following message box

Congratulations, you just created your first VBA program in excel

Step by step example of creating a simple EMI calculator in Excel

In this tutorial exercise, we are going to create a simple program that calculates the EMI. EMI is the acronym for
Equated Monthly Instalment. It's the monthly amount that you repay when you get a loan. The following image shows
the formula for calculating EMI.

The above formula is complex and can be written in excel. The good news is excel already took care of the above
problem. You can use the PMT function to compute the above.
The PMT function works as follows
=PMT(rate,nper,pv)
HERE,

 "rate" this is the monthly rate. It's the interest rate divided by the number of payments per year
 "nper" it is the total number of payments. It's the loan term multiplied by number of payments per year
 "pv" present value. It's the actual loan amount
Create the GUI using excel cells as shown below
Add a command button between rows 7 and 8
Give the button macro name btnCalculateEMI_Click
Click on edit button
Enter the following code
Dim monthly_rate As Single, loan_amount As Double, number_of_periods As Single, emi As Double
monthly_rate = Range("B6").Value / Range("B5").Value
loan_amount = Range("B3").Value
number_of_periods = Range("B4").Value * Range("B5").Value
emi = WorksheetFunction.Pmt(monthly_rate, number_of_periods, -loan_amount)
Range("B9").Value = emi
HERE,

 "Dim monthly_rate As Single,…" Dim is the keyword that is used to define variables in VBA,
monthly_rate is the variable name, Single is the data type that means the variable will accept number.
 "monthly_rate = Range("B6").Value / Range("B5").Value" Range is the function used to access excel
cells from VBA, Range("B6").Value makes reference to the value in B6
 "WorksheetFunction.Pmt(…)" WorksheetFunction is the function used to access all the functions in excel
The following image shows the complete source code
  Click on save and close the code window
 Test your program as shown in the animated image below

Example 2
Step 1) Under Developer tab from the main menu, click on "Visual Basic" icon it will open your VBA editor.

Step 2) It will open a VBA editor, from where you can select the Excel sheet where you want to run the code. To
open VBA editor double click on the worksheet.
It will open a VBA editor on the right-hand side of the folder. It will appear like a white space.

Step 3) In this step we going to see our fist VBA program. To read and display our program we need an object. In
VBA that object or medium in a MsgBox.

 First, write "Sub" and then your "program name" (Guru99)

 Write anything you want to display in the MsgBox (guru99-learning is fun)
 End the program by End Sub

Step 4) In next step you have to run this code by clicking on the green run button on top of the editor menu.
Step 5) When you run the code, another window will pops out. Here you have to select the sheet where you want to
display the program and click on "Run" button

Step 6) When you click on Run button, the program will get executed. It will display the msg in MsgBox.

Excel VBA Variables, Data Types & Constant

Variables are used in almost all computer program and VBA is no different. It's a good practice to declare a variable
at the beginning of the procedure. It is not necessary, but it helps to identify the nature of the content (text, data,
numbers, etc.)
In this tutorial, you will learn-

 VBA Variables
 VBA Data-Types
 Constant in VBA

VBA Variables
Variables are specific values that are stored in a computer memory or storage system. Later, you can use that value in
code and execute. The computer will fetch that value from the system and show in the output. Each variable must be
given a name.
To name the variable in VBA, you need to follow the following rules.

 It must be less than 255 characters

 No spacing is allowed
 It must not begin with a number
 Period is not permitted
Here are some example for Valid and Invalid names for variables in VBA.

Valid Names Invalid Names

My_Watch My.Watch
NewCar1 1_NewCar (not begin with number)
EmployeeID Employee ID ( Space not allowed)
In VBA, we need to declare the variables before using them by assigning names and data type.
In VBA, Variables are either declared Implicitly or Explicitly.

 Implicitly: Below is an example of a variable declared Implicitly.

o label=guru99
o volume=4
 Explicitly: Below is an example of variable declared Explicitly. You can use "Dim" keyword in syntax
o Dim Num As Integer
o Dim password As String
VBA variable is no different than other programming languages. To declare a variable in VBA you use the keyword
"Dim."
Syntax for VBA Variable,
To declare a variable in VBA, type Dim followed by a name:
Sub Exercise ()
Dim <name>
End Sub
Before we execute the variables we have to record a macro in Excel. To record a macro do the following -
Step 1): Record the Macro 1
Step 2) : Stop Macro 1
Step 3): Open the Macro editor, enter the code for variable in the Macro1
Step 4): Execute the code for Macro 1
Example, for VBA Variable
Sub Macro1()
Dim Num As Integer
Num = 99
MsgBox " Guru " & Num
End Sub
When you run this code, you will get the following output in your sheet.

Excel VBA Data-Types

Computer cannot differentiate between the numbers (1,2,3..) and strings (a,b,c,..). To make this differentiation, we use
Data Types.
VBA data types can be segregated into two types

 Numeric Data Types

Type Storage Range of Values
Byte 1 byte 0 to 255
Integer 2 bytes -32,768 to 32,767
Long 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648
-3.402823E+38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative values 1.401298E-45 to 3.402823E+38 for positive
Single 4 bytes
values.
-1.79769313486232e+308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 for negative values 4.94065645841247E-
Double 8 bytes
324 to 1.79769313486232e+308 for positive values.
Currency 8 bytes -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807
+/- 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 if no decimal is use +/-
Decimal 12 bytes
7.9228162514264337593543950335 (28 decimal places)

 Non-numeric Data Types

Data Type Bytes Used Range of Values
String (fixed Length) Length of string 1 to 65,400 characters
String (Variable Length) Length + 10 bytes 0 to 2 billion characters
Boolean 2 bytes True or False
Date 8 bytes January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999
Object 4 bytes Any embedded object
Variant(numeric) 16 bytes Any value as large as Double
Variant(text) Length+22 bytes Same as variable-length string
In VBA, if the data type is not specified, it will automatically declare the variable as a Variant.
Let see an example, on how to declare variables in VBA. In this example, we will declare three types of variables
string, joining date and currency.
Step 1) Like, in the previous tutorial, we will insert the commandButton1 in our Excel sheet.

Step 2) In next step, right-click on the button and select View code. It will open the code window as shown below.
Step 3) In this step,

 Save your file by clicking on save button

 Then click on Excel icon in the same window to return the Excel sheet.
 You can see the design mode is "on" highlighted in green

Step 4) Turn off design mode, before clicking on command button

Step 5) After turning off the design mode, you will click on commandButton1. It will show the following variable as
an output for the range we declared in code.

 Name
 Joining Date
 Income in curreny
Constant in VBA
Constant is like a variable, but you cannot modify it. To declare a constant in VBA you use keyword Const.
There are two types of constant,

 Built-in or intrinsic provided by the application.

 Symbolic or user defined
You can either specify the scope as private by default or public. For example,
Public Const DaysInYear=365
Private Const Workdays=250
Summary:

 Variables are specific values that are stored in a computer memory or storage system.
 You can use "Dim" keyword in syntax to declare variable explicitly
 VBA data types can be segregated into two types
o Numeric Data Types
o Non-numeric Data Types
 In VBA, if the data type is not specified. It will automatically declare the variable as a Variant
 Constant is like a variable, but you cannot modify it. To declare a constant in VBA you use keyword Const.
VBA Array: Dynamic, Multidimensional with

What is an Array?
An array is a memory location capable of storing more than one value. The values must all be of the same data type.
Let's say you want to store a list of your favourite beverages in a single variable, you can use an array to do that.
By using an array, you can refer to the related values by the same name. You can use an index or subscript to tell them
apart. The individual values are referred as the elements of the array. They are contiguous from index 0 through the
highest index value.
This tutorial assumes you are using Microsoft Excel version 2013. The knowledge still applies to other versions of
Microsoft Excel as well.
In this tutorial, you will learn-

 What are Advantages of arrays?

 Types of arrays
 VBA Array Demonstrated with Example
 Testing our application

What are Advantages of arrays?

The following are some of the benefits offered by arrays

1. Group logically related data together – let's say you want to store a list of students. You can use a single array
variable that has separate locations for student categories i.e. kinder garden, primary, secondary, high school,
etc.
2. Arrays make it easy to write maintainable code. For the same logically related data, it allows you to define a
single variable, instead of defining more than one variable.
3. Better performance – once an array has been defined, it is faster to retrieve, sort, and modify data.

Types of arrays
VBA supports two types of arrays namely;

 Static – These types of arrays have a fixed pre-determined number of elements that can be stored. One cannot
change the size of the data type of a Static Array. These are useful when you want to work with known
entities such as the number of days in a week, gender, etc.
For Example: Dim ArrayMonth(12) As String
  Dynamic – These types of arrays do not have a fixed pre-determined number of elements that can be stored.
These are useful when working with entities that you cannot predetermine the number.
For Example: Dim ArrayMonth(12) As Variant
Syntax for declaring arrays
Static arrays
The syntax for declaring STATIC arrays is as follows:
Dim arrayName (n) as datatype
HERE,
Code Action
Dim arrayName (n) 1. It declares an array variable called arrayName with a size of n and datatype. Size refers
datatype to the number of elements that the array can store.
Dynamic arrays
The syntax for declaring DYNAMIC arrays is as follows:
Dim arrayName() as datatype
ReDim arrayName(4)
HERE,
Code Action
Dim arrayName () 1. It declares an array variable called arrayName without specifying the number of
datatype elements
ReDim arrayName(4) 2. It specifies the array size after the array has been defined.
Array Dimensions
An array can be one dimension, two dimensions or multidimensional.

 One dimension: In this dimension, the array uses only one index. For example, a number of people of each
age.
 Two dimensions: In this dimension, the array uses two indexes. For example, a number of students in each
class. It requires number of classes and student number in each class
 Multi-dimension: In this dimension, the array uses more than two indexes. For example, temperatures during
the daytime. ( 30, 40, 20).

VBA Array Demonstrated with Example

We will create a simple application. This application populates an Excel sheet with data from an array variable. In this
example, we are going to do following things.

 Create a new Microsoft Excel workbook and save it as Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm)
 Add a command button to the workbook
 Set the name and caption properties of the command button
 Write the code that populates the Excel sheet
Let do this exercise step by step,
Step 1 – Create a new workbook

1. Open Microsoft Excel

2. Save the new workbook as VBA Arrays.xlsm
Step 2 – Add a command button
Note: This section assumes you are familiar with the process of creating an interface in excel. If you are not familiar,
read the tutorial VBA Subroutines and Functions. It will show you how to create the interface

1. Add a command button to the sheet

 2. Set the name property to cmdLoadBeverages
3. Set the caption property to Load Beverages
Your GUI should now be as follows

Step 3 – Save the file

1. Click on save as button

2. Choose Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm) as shown in the image below

Step 4 – Write the code

We will now write the code for our application

1. Right click on Load Beverages button and select view code

2. Add the following code to the click event of cmdLoadBeverages
Private Sub cmdLoadBeverages_Click()
Dim Drinks(1 To 4) As String

Drinks(1) = "Pepsi"
 Drinks(2) = "Coke"
Drinks(3) = "Fanta"
Drinks(4) = "Juice"

Sheet1.Cells(1, 1).Value = "My Favorite Beverages"

Sheet1.Cells(2, 1).Value = Drinks(1)
Sheet1.Cells(3, 1).Value = Drinks(2)
Sheet1.Cells(4, 1).Value = Drinks(3)
Sheet1.Cells(5, 1).Value = Drinks(4)
End Sub
HERE,
Code Action
 It declares an array variable called Drinks. The first array index is 1 and the
Dim Drinks(1 To 4) As String
last array index is 4.
 Assigns the value Pepsi to the first array element. The other similar code does
Drinks(1) = "Pepsi"
the same for the other elements in the array.
 Writes the value My Favorite Beverages in cell address A1. Sheet1 makes
Sheet1.Cells(1, 1).Value =
reference to the sheet, and Cells(1,1) makes reference to row number 1 and
"My Favorite Beverages."
column 1 (B)
Sheet1.Cells(2, 1).Value =  Writes the value of the array element with index 1 to row number two of
Drinks(1) column 1

Testing our application

Select the developer tab and ensure that the Design mode button is "off." The indicator is, it will have a white
background and not a coloured (greenish) background. (See image below)

Click on Load Beverages button

You will get the following results
Download Excel containing above code
Summary

1. An array is a variable capable of storing more than one value

2. VBA supports static and dynamic arrays
3. Arrays make it easy to write maintainable code compared to declaring a lot of variables for data that is
logically related.
VBA Excel Form Control & ActiveX Control

Creating VBA Form/GUI controls in Excel

GUI is the acronym for Graphical User Interface. The GUI is the part of the program that the user interacts with. A
GUI is made up of controls. These controls can be used in a Form. The following table shows some of the most
commonly used GUI controls in VBA.
S/N Control Description
1 Command Used to execute code
2 Combo Box Used to present a drop down list to the users
3 CheckBox Used for true or false values. Multiple check boxes can have true value at the same time.
4 List Box Used to present a simple list to the users
5 Text Box Used to accept user input
6 Scroll Bar Used for to provide a scrollbar for navigation purposes.
Used to increment or decrease numeric values by clicking on up or down arrows that appear in the
7 Spin Button
spin button
Option
8 Used for true or false values. Only one option button can have a true value at a time.
Button
9 Label Used to display static text to the user
10 Image Used to display images
Toggle
11 Button that has pressed and un-pressed states.
Button
In the GUI control,

1. Click on the developer tab

 2. Click on Insert Drop down button
You will get the following drop down panel

If you hover the mouse over control, the name of the control will appear as shown below

Adding GUI controls to a spreadsheet

We will now add a command button to our workbook, for that we have to

 Click on Insert drop down

 Click on Command Button (ActiveX Control) as shown in the image above
 Drag and draw the button on the sheet

Setting GUI control properties

We will now set the caption of the button to something more descriptive
 1. Right click on the equal button that we have just created
2. Select properties menu
3. You will get the following properties window

 Set the name property to btnButton. The name property is used to identify the control in the code window. btn
is the prefix for the button.
 Set the Caption property to Click Me. The text in the caption property is what the users will see on the button.
Close the window when you are done.
You will get the following results.
How to use ActiveX control in VBA
In this section, we will see how to incorporate 'commandclick' button in VBA and execute a program using the button.
Step 1) In this step, click the option "insert button" from the Active X Control. Then select the command button
option from it.

Step 2) To insert "clickcommandbutton1" drag the mouse cursor to Excel sheet.

Step 3) Then right click on the command button and select option "View Code".
Step 4) Check you are on the right sheet. A code editor will open. Enter your code.

 In code, we defined range A1 to A10.

 This range defines the cell number in the Excel sheet from "A1 to A10."
 Next, we define the string "Guru99 VBA Tutorial" in code
 So, when you click on "command button" in excel. It should print "Guru99 VBA Tutorial" in the cell range
"A1 to A10."

Step 5) In next step, save code file and then exit the editor. To return to the Excel file click the Excel sheet icon on
the extreme left.
Step 6) In Excel sheet, you will see Design Mode tab is on. Make sure it is "OFF" or else your code will not work.

Step 7) When design mode is off, there will be no green highlight on it. Now you can Click on the command button.
Step 8) Click on "CommandButton1". It will print "Guru99 VBA Tutorial" in the cell range "A1 to A10".

Download the above Excel Code

Prerequisite

Configure Microsoft Excel

As we see in previous tutorial, make sure your ribbon will have "Developer" icon as shown here.
Now, rename sheet1 to "VBA Operator" as shown in screen-shot below. Save the workbook in an Excel Macro-
Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm) file extension. (see the image below).

After that, click on Save button.

VBA Arithmetic Operators: Modulus, Multiplication, Division, Addition
VBA Arithmetic Operators are used to perform arithmetic operations such as adding, subtracting, dividing or
multiplying numbers.
The following table shows the arithmetic operators in VBA
S/N Operator Description Example Output
1 + Addition: This operator is used to add up numbers 2+2 4
2 - Subtraction: This operator is used to subtract numbers 5-3 2
3 * Multiplication: This operator is used to multiply numbers 3*2 6
4 / Division: This operator is used to divide numbers 9/3 3
Exponentiation: This operator is used to raise a number to the power of another
5 ^ 2^3 8
number
6 mod Modulus Operator: Divides a number and returns the reminder 10 mod 3 1
VBA Arithmetic Operators: Modulus, Multiplication, Division, Addition

VBA Arithmetic Operators Example

Add a button to the Excel sheet as we show earlier, and then follow the following points
  Change the name property to btnAdd
 Change the caption property to Add Operator
 Right click on the button
 Select view code
 You will get the following code window

Enter the following code in between Private Sub btnAdd_Click() and End Sub

 Dim x As Integer, z As Integer

 o x=2
o z=3
 MsgBox x + z, vbOKOnly, "Addition Operator"
 Click on save button
 Close the code editor window
Let's now execute our code
On the ribbon bar, look for the button Design Mode

If the button is in active state (green background colour), then it's in design mode. You cannot execute code in this
state. If it is not in the active state (white background color), then it allows you to run the code.
Click on Design Mode button
The button should now appear as follows

Click on Add operator

You will get the following results

Arithmetic Operators Tutorial exercise

The best way to learn is by practicing. Follow the above steps to create buttons for subtraction, division,
multiplication and exponentiation.
Write the code for the buttons and test them to see if the code executes.
VBA String Operators

VBA String Operators

String data is used to hold data that is made up of numbers, characters, and symbols. "Jul-2015" is an example of a
string data. It is made up of

 Characters (Jul)
 Symbol (-)
 Numbers (2015)
String operators are used to manipulate string data. For example, you can concatenate the value of July-2015 from the
first 3 letters of the month and the year like "Jul-2015".
The following table shows the concatenation string operator.
S/N Operator Description Example Output
1 & Concatenate: This operator is used to concatenate strings together "John " & "Doe" John Doe

Example Source Code

MsgBox "John " & "Doe", vbOKOnly, "Concatenate Operator"

Executing the above code produces the following result

VBA Comparison Operators: Not equal to, Less than or equal to, Greater than

VBA Comparison operators

These are operators that are used to compare values. Comparison operators include equal to, less than, greater than
and not equal to
The following table shows VBA Comparison Operators.
Comparison operators are used to compare values for validation purposes. Let's say you are developing a simple point
of sale application. In this application, you want to validate the values entered before you post. In such cases, you can
use comparison operators. This operator will check against the negative numbers or to ensure that the amount paid
does not exceed the billed amount. Comparison operators come in handy in such situations.
S/N Operator Description Example Output
Equal: checks if two values are equal. It is also If x = z Returns true if they are equal, else it
1 =
used as an assignment operator Then returns false
Less than: This operator is used to subtract If x < z Returns true if x is less than z, else it
2 <
numbers Then returns false
Greater than: This operator is used to multiply If x > z Returns true if x is greater than z, else
3 >
numbers Then it returns false
Not equal to: This operator is used to divide If x <> z Returns true if they are not equal, else
4 <>
numbers Then it returns false
If x <= z Returns true if x is less than or equal
5 <= Less than or equal to:
Then to z, else it returns false
If x >= Returns true if x is greater than z, else
6 >= Greater than or equal to:
Then it returns false

Example source code

Equal Comparison Operator
If 2 = 1 Then
MsgBox "True", vbOKOnly, "Equal Operator"
 Else
MsgBox "False", vbOKOnly, "Equal Operator"
End If
HERE,

 "If 2 = 1 Then… Else… End If" uses the if statement to evaluate the condition "2 = 1"
 "MsgBox…" Is a built-in function that displays a message box.
o The first parameter "True" or "False" is what will be displayed in the message box. In our example, 2
is not equal to 1, therefore, it will show "false" in the msg box.
o The second parameter "vbOKOnly" is the button that is displayed in the message box
o The third parameter "Equal Operator" is the title of the message box.
Executing the above code gives the following results

VBA Logical Operators: AND, OR, NOT

Details
Last Updated: 12 July 2018
VBA Logical Operators: AND, OR, NOT

Logical Operators
Let's say you want to process a customer order. For that, you want to first check to see if the ordered product exists or
not. If it does, you also want to check if the quantity on hand is enough. Logical operators come in handy in such
cases. Logical operators are used to evaluate more than one condition.
S/N Operator Description Example Output
AND: This is used to combine more than one condition. If all the
If true = true AND
1 AND conditions are true, AND evaluates to true. If any of the condition is false
false = true THEN
false, AND evaluates to false
OR: This is used to combine more than one condition. If any of the
If true = true OR
2 OR conditions evaluate to true, OR returns true. If all of them are false, OR true
true = false THEN
returns false
NOT: This one works like an inverse function. If the condition is true, it
3 NOT If NOT (true) Then false
returns false, and if a condition is false, it returns true.

Example Source Code

For the sake of simplicity, we will be comparing hard coded numbers.
Add ActiveX buttons to the sheet from the "Insert option."
Set the properties as shown in the image below
The following table shows the properties that you need to change and the values that you need to update too.
S/N Control Property Value
1 CommandButton1 Name btnAND
Caption AND Operator (0 = 0)
2 CommandButton2 Name btnOR
Caption OR Operator (1 = 1) Or (5 = 0)
3 CommandButton3 Name btnNOT
Caption NOT Operator Not (0 = )
Add the following code to btnAND_Click
Private Sub btnAND_Click()
If (1 = 1) And (0 = 0) Then
MsgBox "AND evaluated to TRUE", vbOKOnly, "AND operator"
Else
MsgBox "AND evaluated to FALSE", vbOKOnly, "AND operator"
End If
End Sub
HERE,

 "If (1 = 1) And (0 = 0) Then" the if statement uses the AND logical operator to combine two conditions (1 =
1) And (0 = 0). If both conditions are true, the code above 'Else' keyword is executed. If both conditions are
not true, the code below 'Else' keyword is executed.
Add the following code to btnOR_Click
Private Sub btnOR_Click()
If (1 = 1) Or (5 = 0) Then
MsgBox "OR evaluated to TRUE", vbOKOnly, "OR operator"
Else
MsgBox "OR evaluated to FALSE", vbOKOnly, "OR operator"
End If
End Sub
HERE,

 "If (1 = 1) Or (5 = 0) Then" the if statement uses the OR logical operator to combine two conditions (1 = 1)
And (5 = 0). If any of the conditions is true, the code above Else keyword is executed. If both conditions are
false, the code below Else keyword is executed.
Add the following code to btnNOT_Click
Private Sub btnNOT_Click()
 If Not (0 = 0) Then
MsgBox "NOT evaluated to TRUE", vbOKOnly, "NOT operator"
Else
MsgBox "NOT evaluated to FALSE", vbOKOnly, "NOT operator"
End If
End Sub
HERE,

 "If Not (0 = 0) Then" the if statement uses the NOT logical operator to negate the result of the condition. If
the conditions is true, the code below 'Else' keyword is executed. If the condition is true, the code above Else
keyword is executed.
Excel VBA: Call a Subroutine

What is Subroutine?
A subroutine is a piece of code that performs a specific task and does not return a result. Subroutines are used to break
down large pieces code into small manageable parts.
Let's say you have created a user interface with text boxes for accepting user input data. You can create a subroutine
that clears the contents of the text boxes. A subroutine is appropriate in such a scenario because you do not want to
return any results.
In this tutorial, you will learn-

 Why use subroutines

 Rules of naming subroutines and functions
 Subroutine practical example
 Syntax for declaring subroutines

Why use subroutines

 Break code into small manageable code: An average computer program has thousands and thousands of
source code lines. This introduces complexity. Subroutines help solve this problem by breaking down the
program into small manageable chunks of code.
 Code reusability. Let's say you have a program that needs to access the database, almost all of the windows
in the program will need to interact with the database. Instead of writing separate code for these windows, you
can create a function that handles all database interactions. You can then call it from whichever window you
want.
 Subroutines and functions are self-documenting. Let's say you have a function calculateLoanInterest and
another that says connectToDatabase. By just looking at the name of the subroutine/function, the programmer
will be able to tell what the program does.

Rules of naming subroutines and functions

To use subroutines and functions, there are set of rules that one has to follow.

 A subroutine or function name cannot contain space

 A subroutine or function name should start with a letter or an underscore. It cannot start with a number or a
special character
 A subroutine or function name cannot be a keyword. A keyword is a word that has special meaning in VBA.
Words like Private, Sub, Function, and End, etc. are all examples of keywords. The compiler uses them for
specific tasks.

Subroutine practical example

In this section, we are going to;
 1. Look at the syntax of subroutines in VBA
2. Create a simple program that uses a subroutine. It should display a message box when a user clicks on a
command button.
You will need to enable the Developer tab in Excel to follow along with this example. If you do not know how to
enable the Developer tab then read the tutorial on VBA Operators

VBA Syntax for declaring subroutines

Private Sub mySubRoutine(ByVal arg1 As String, ByVal arg2 As String)
'do something
End Sub
HERE in the syntax,
Code Action
 Here the keyword "Sub" is used to declare a subroutine named
 "Private Sub mySubRoutine(…)" "mySubRoutine" and start the body of the subroutine.
 The keyword Private is used to specify the scope of the subroutine
 "ByVal arg1 As String, ByVal
 It declares two parameters of string data type name arg1 and arg2
arg2 As String" :
 "End Sub"  "End Sub" is used to end the body of the subroutine
The following subroutine accepts the first and last name and displays them in a message box.
Now we are going to program and execute this whole process for the subroutine. Let see this.
Sub-routines demonstrated with Example:

1. Design the user interface and set the properties for the user controls.
2. Add the subroutine
3. Write the click event code for the command button that calls the subroutine
4. Test the application
Step 1) User Interface
Design the user interface as shown in the image below

Set the following properties. The properties that we are setting

Value
S/N Control Property
1 CommandButton1 Name btnDisplayFullName
2 Caption Fullname Subroutine
Your interface should now look as follows

Step 2) Add subroutine

 1. Press Alt + F11 to open the code window
2. Add the following subroutine
Private Sub displayFullName(ByVal firstName As String, ByVal lastName As String)
MsgBox firstName & " " & lastName
End Sub
HERE in the code,
Code Actions
 It declares a private subroutine displayFullName that accepts
 "Private Sub displayFullName(…)"
two string parameters.
 "ByVal firstName As String, ByVal
 It declares two parameter variables firstName and lastName
lastName As String"
 It calls the MsgBox built-in function to display a message box.
It then passes the 'firstName' and 'lastName' variables as
 MsgBox firstName & " " &
parameters.
lastName"
 The ampersand "&" is used to concatenate the two variables and
add an empty space between them.
Step 3) Call the subroutine from the command button click event.

 Right click on the command button as shown in the image below. Select View Code.
 The code editor will open

Add the following code in code editor for the click event of btnDisplayFullName command button.
Private Sub btnDisplayFullName_Click()
displayFullName "John", "Doe"
End Sub
Your code window should now look as follows
Save the changes and close the code window.
Step 4) Testing the code
On the developer toolbar put the design mode 'off'. As shown below.

Step 5) Click on the command button 'FullName Subroutine'.

You will get the following results

Summary:

 A subroutine is a piece of code that performs a specific task. A subroutine does not return a value after
execution
 Subroutines offer code reusability
 Subroutines help break down large chunks of code into small manageable code.
Excel VBA Function Tutorial: Return, Call, Examples
Details
Last Updated: 13 August 2018

What is a Function?
A function is a piece of code that performs a specific task and returns a result. Functions are mostly used to carry out
repetitive tasks such as formatting data for output, performing calculations, etc.
Suppose you are developing a program that calculates interest on a loan. You can create a function that accepts the
loan amount and the payback period. The function can then use the loan amount and payback period to calculate the
interest and return the value.
Why use functions
The advantages of using functions are the same as the ones in the above section on why use subroutines.
Rules of naming functions
The rules for naming functions as the same as the ones in the above section on rules for naming subroutines.

VBA Syntax for declaring Function

Private Function myFunction (ByVal arg1 As Integer, ByVal arg2 As Integer)
myFunction = arg1 + arg2
End Function
HERE in the syntax,
Code Action
 Here the keyword "Function" is used to declare a function named
 "Private Function
"myFunction" and start the body of the function.
myFunction(…)"
 The keyword 'Private' is used to specify the scope of the function
 "ByVal arg1 As Integer, ByVal  It declares two parameters of integer data type named 'arg1' and
arg2 As Integer" 'arg2.'
 evaluates the expression arg1 + arg2 and assigns the result to the
 myFunction = arg1 + arg2
name of the function.
 "End Function"  "End Sub" is used to end the body of the function
Function demonstrated with Example:
Functions are very similar to the subroutine. The major difference between a subroutine and a function is that the
function returns a value when it is called. While a subroutine does not return a value, when it is called. Let's say you
want to add two numbers. You can create a function that accepts two numbers and returns the sum of the numbers.

1. Create the user interface

2. Add the function
3. Write code for the command button
4. Test the code
Step 1) User interface
Add a command button to the worksheet as shown below

Set the following properties of CommanButton1 to the following.

S/N Control Property Value
1 CommandButton1 Name btnAddNumbers
2 Caption Add Numbers Function
Your interface should now appear as follows
Step 2) Function code.

1. Press Alt + F11 to open the code window

2. Add the following code
Private Function addNumbers(ByVal firstNumber As Integer, ByVal secondNumber As Integer)
addNumbers = firstNumber + secondNumber
End Function
HERE in the code,
Code Action
 It declares a private function "addNumbers" that
 "Private Function addNumbers(…)"
accepts two integer parameters.
 "ByVal firstNumber As Integer, ByVal  It declares two parameter variables firstNumber and
secondNumber As Integer" secondNumber
 "addNumbers = firstNumber +  It adds the firstNumber and secondNumber values and
secondNumber" assigns the sum to addNumbers.
Step 3) Write Code that calls the function

1. Right click on btnAddNumbers_Click command button

2. Select View Code
3. Add the following code
Private Sub btnAddNumbersFunction_Click()
MsgBox addNumbers(2, 3)
End Sub
HERE in the code,
Code Action
"MsgBox  It calls the function addNumbers and passes in 2 and 3 as the parameters. The
addNumbers(2,3)" function returns the sum of the two numbers five (5)
Step 4) Run the program, you will get the following results
Summary:

 A function is a piece of code that performs a specific task. A function returns a value after execution.
 Both subroutines and functions offer code reusability
 Both subroutines and functions help break down large chunks of code into small manageable code.
Excel VBA Range Object
Details
Last Updated: 28 June 2018

What is VBA Range?

The VBA Range Object represents a cell or multiple cells in your Excel worksheet. It is the most important object of
Excel VBA. By using Excel VBA range object, you can refer to,

 A single cell
 A row or a column of cells
 A selection of cells
 A 3-D range
As we discussed in our previous tutorial, that VBA is used to record and run Macro. But how VBA identify what data
from the sheet needs to be executed. This is where VBA Range Objects is useful.
In this tutorial, you will learn-

 Introduction to Referencing Objects in VBA

 Refer to a Single cell using the Worksheet.Range Property
 Cell Property
 Range Offset property

Introduction to Referencing Objects in VBA

Referencing Excel's VBA Range Object and the Object Qualifier.

 Object Qualifier: This is used for referencing the object. It specifies the workbook or worksheet you are
referring to.
To manipulate these cell values, Properties and Methods are used.

 Property: A property stores information about the object.

  Method: A method is an action of the object it will perform. Range object can perform actions like selected,
copied, cleared, sorted, etc.
VBA follow object hierarchy pattern to refer object in Excel. You have to follow the following structure. Remember
the .dot overhere connects the object at each of the different levels.
Application.Workbooks.Worksheets.Range
There are two main types of default objects.

How to refer to Excel VBA Range Object using Range property

Range property can be applied in two different types of objects.

 Worksheet Objects
 Range Objects
Syntax for Range Property

1. The keyword "Range."

2. Parentheses that follow the keyword
3. Relevant Cell Range
4. Quotation (" ")
Application.Workbooks("Book1.xlsm").Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1")
When you refer Range object, as shown above, it is referred as fully qualified reference. You have told Excel exactly
which range you want, what sheet and in what worksheet.
Example: MsgBox Worksheet("sheet1").Range("A1").Value
Using Range property, you can perform many tasks like,

 Refer to a Single cell using range property

 Refer to a Single cell using the Worksheet.Range Property
 Refer to an entire row or column
 Refer to merged cells using Worksheet.Range Property and many more
As such it will be too lengthy to cover all scenarios for range property. For scenarios mentioned above, we will
demonstrate an example only for one. Refer to a Single cell using range property.

Refer to a Single cell using the Worksheet.Range Property

To refer to a single cell, you have to refer to a single cell.
Syntax is simple "Range("Cell")".
Here, we will use ".Select" command to select the single cell from the sheet.
Step 1) In this step, open your excel.
Step 2) In this step,

 Click on button.
 It will open a window.
 Enter your program name here and click 'OK' button.
 It will take you to main Excel file, from top menu click on 'stop' record button to stop recording Macro.

Step 3) In next step,

  Click on Macro button from the top menu. It will open the window below.
 In this window, Click on the 'edit' button.

Step 4) The above step will open VBA code editor for file name "Single Cell Range". Enter the code as shown below
for selecting range "A1" from the excel.

Step 5) Now save the file and run the program as shown below.
Step 6) You will see Cell "A1" is selected after execution of the program.

Likewise, you can select a cell with a particular Name. For example, if you want to search cell with name "Guru99-
VBA Tutorial". You have to run the command as shown below. It will select the cell with that name.
Range("Guru99- VBA Tutorial").Select
To apply other range object here is the code sample.
Range for selecting cell in Excel Range declared
For single Row Range("1:1")
For single Column Range("A: A")
For Contiguous Cells Range("A1:C5")
For Non-Contiguous Cells Range("A1:C5, F1:F5")
Range("A1:C5 F1:F5")
For Intersection of two ranges
(For intersection cell, remember there is no comma operator)
Range("A1:C5")
To merge Cell
( To merge cell use "merge" command)

Cell Property
Similarly to the range, in VBA you can also you "Cell Property". The only difference is that it has an "item" property
that you use to reference the cells on your spreadsheet. Cell property is useful in a programming loop.
For example,
Cells.item(Row, Column). Both the lines below refer to cell A1.

 Cells.item(1,1) OR
 Cells.item(1,"A")
Range Offset property
Range offset property will select rows/columns away from its original position. On the basis of the range declared,
cells are selected. See example below.
For example,
Range("A1").offset(Rowoffset:=1, Columnoffset:=1).Select
The result for this will cell B2. The offset property will move A1 cell to 1 column and 1 row away. You can change
the value of rowoffset / columnoffset as per requirement. You can use a negative value (-1) to move cells backward.
Download Excel containing above code
Summary:

 The VBA Range Object represents a cell or multiple cells in your Excel worksheet
o A single cell
o A row or a column of cells
o A selection of cells
o A 3-D range
 To manipulate cell values, Properties and Methods are used
o A property stores information about the object
o A method is an action of the object it will perform like select, merge, sorted, etc.
 VBA follow object hierarchy pattern to refer object in Excel using .dot operator
 Range property can be applied in two different types of objects
o Worksheet Objects
o Range Objects