Professional Excel development the definitive guide to developing applications using Microsoft Excel, VBA, and .NET

What it’s about

Professional Excel Development is the essential guide for developers who want to elevate their Excel skills from basic automation to building sophisticated, mission-critical applications. The authors, all seasoned professionals and Microsoft MVPs, share their real-world experience, guiding you through best practices in application architecture, user interface design, error handling, and performance optimization. Moving far beyond typical VBA tutorials, this book delves into advanced topics like creating add-ins, leveraging class modules and interfaces, integrating with databases like Access and SQL Server, and extending Excel's capabilities with VB.NET and the Windows API. By following the step-by-step construction of a sample timesheet application, you'll learn how to build robust, maintainable, and secure Excel-based solutions that stand on par with those built on traditional development platforms.

The through-line

Who it’s for

An Excel power user, VBA developer, or in-house developer who creates complex workbooks and automates tasks, but struggles to build truly professional, robust, and maintainable applications. They want to be recognized as a serious developer and create solutions that are reliable, scalable, and secure, moving beyond the 'hobbyist' perception of Excel.

The problem

Their Excel applications are often brittle, slow, hard to maintain, and difficult to deploy or update without breaking things or losing user data. They lack a structured approach to building mission-critical solutions. They feel frustrated that their skills aren't taken as seriously as those of developers using 'real' platforms. They are uncertain about the 'right' way to structure a large project and worried their applications will fail under pressure, reflecting poorly on them.

The plan

1. Master the fundamentals of professional application architecture and best practices.
2. Learn advanced techniques for building user interfaces, handling data, and integrating with databases and other applications.
3. Extend Excel's capabilities by leveraging the power of the Windows API and the .NET framework to build state-of-the-art solutions.

The payoff

The reader becomes a confident, professional Excel developer, capable of architecting and building sophisticated, mission-critical applications. · Their applications are robust, fast, easy to use, maintainable, and secure. · They are recognized as a serious developer, delivering high-value solutions that solve complex business problems.

See our guide

• Measure And Improve Software Delivery →

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Additional reading

• Excel VBA Programmer's Reference · John Green, Stephen Bullen, Rob Bovey, et al.

  The book is positioned as a prerequisite text. It covers the foundational knowledge of the Excel object model and VBA syntax that 'Professional Excel Development' builds upon for advanced application architecture.

• Excel Power Programming with VBA · John Walkenbach

  Mentioned as another foundational text that provides the necessary prerequisite understanding of VBA development before tackling the advanced, professional-level topics in this book.

• Pro SQL Server 2005 Database Design and Optimization · Louis Davidson, et al.

  Recommended for developers who need a deeper understanding of database design and SQL, which is introduced in the book as a key technology for integrating with Excel applications.

• ADO 2.6 Programmer's Reference · David Sussman

  Cited as a comprehensive reference for the ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) object model, which is the primary technology the book uses for connecting Excel VBA to external databases.

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• Measure And Improve Software Delivery →Cited source