VB & VBA in a Nutshell: The Language

1.3. What Can You Do with VBA?

VBA contains all the functions and statements necessary to create robust Windows applications, whether this is done using Visual Basic or a host application. The tasks you can perform with VBA include (but are not limited to):

• Creating instances of OLE (ActiveX) objects within your code

• Creating classes (reusable custom software objects)

• Linking to ODBC databases like Access and SQL Server

• Integrating with the messaging API (MAPI) to create Exchange/Mail applications

• Integrating with Internet and intranet solutions

• Creating custom dialog boxes and forms

• Storing and retrieving data from the Windows registry

• Detecting and handling errors

• Incorporating ActiveX controls into the application interface

• Passing data between VBA-enabled applications with a minimum of programming and fuss

• Driving a second VBA-enabled application from within a first VBA-enabled application

• Controlling the Office applications; in theory, 100% of the functionality of Office products is exposed as objects/properties/methods, which means that, with occasional exceptions, there isn't anything you can't do programmatically that you can do from the application's interface.

• Automating anything that can be done from the keyboard, mouse, or menus

There is also one thing you can't do directly with the VBA language: you can't output to a printer. So how do you print from a VBA application? When hosted in an application, VBA can control the application's own printing functionality; when used ...