What is Excel VBA and its application?
Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is a powerful programming language that can be used to automate tasks in Microsoft Excel. VBA can easily generate user forms, user interfaces, and custom tools that can be used to manipulate and analyze data. VBA can also automate complex tasks such as creating charts, generating reports, and importing and exporting data from databases. It is an essential tool for anyone who wants to unlock the full potential of Excel.
Why use Excel VBA to generate engineering calculation spreadsheet?
VBA can run powerful and efficient mathematical models. With clearly defined variables, equations, and logic operation, VBA can make complex engineering calculations easy to follow.
It can automatedly repetitive tasks and create custom engineering solutions. With proper revision control, VBA can ensure all calculation follows the same standards and use the same equations.
As part of Microsoft Excel, VBA is free. It provides a cost-effective solution for professionals and can be integrated into a wide variety of applications.
Why VBA is the best alternative of Mathcad?
I have been using Mathcad for many years and I like it. Mathcad is easy to use and allows users to create and document interactive calculations, which can be presented in a variety of formats. It can be used to solve complex equations, create charts and graphs, and plot functions. However, all these functions can be done by Excel VBA with free of cost.
How to create a Excel VBA in five simple steps?
1. Open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window: Open Excel > press Alt + F11
2. Create a new module: In the Visual Basic window > on the left hand side > right click on the VBA Project name> select Insert > Module
3. Write the code: In the module window > type in the code
Code structure will be discussed in following paragraph
4. Run the code: In the Visual Basic window > click Run
5. Check the results: Check the results by verifying the output.
How to write Excel VBA code?
In above steps, step 3 is the most difficult part, it does require some coding knowledge. But if you understand the coding structure, it is very easy to code by your self.
Let us use an example of ACME loading calculation to understand how it works.
1. Define sub name:
In this example, we can define the name as ACMEThread, so the code starts as
Sub ACMEThread()
2. Define variables
Variables are the input we need provide to a calculation. To let the program run correctly, we need define type of variables. In this example, I used double and integer in my definitin.
the code is as below:
3. Data input
I prefer to use input box to enter data, so the code is as below:
4. Equation
In this section, you list the equation you need for calculation, the code is:
5. Result output
I prefer to see the result in debug windows, so the code below is used:
End code
End Sub
How to check VBA output?
press Ctrl+G to open immediate window in VBA, Debug.Print will output results in the window. For our code the result is like below:
How to save Excel VBA file?
Excel VBA file can only be saved as .xlsm
