learn visual basic -- 2, the IDE

the IDE, or the user-interface of VB and VBA are almost the same. perharps the only difference is that VB is more functional. if you have VB, then use the VB IDE in this "learn visual basic" series. if not, VBA environment will do. but one thing please...don't resort to buying pirated VBs...if you want quality stuffs, please don't discourage the people at Microsoft.

anyway...continue. a visual basic program consist of a userform (in VB it's just -- form). if you followed chapter one, you would know how to open the VBA editor. take a look at the toolbar(may differ if you changed t). some important buttons are:

run sub/userform -- a blue triangular button
stop (running) -- blue square
pause -- the blue "11"
add form/modules/class module/procedure -- a button beside the save button(i am sure you know that save button)

there are also some important windows. select and open them from the view menu:

properties window
project explorer
toolbox
code window

so i'll explain one by one of their uses.

the run button
after typing all of you codes, you want to test if there are errors or if the program is ready for compile, you click on this button to run the codes, or procedures you written. i'll talk about procedures and codes later.

the stop button
the stop button is to stop running the procedures. quite obvious.

the pause button
it is also called the break button. it is used to pause the running, and break up the codes so that you can examine the variables and so on. i'll explain variables later. the pause button will bring you back to the code window.

add form/module/class module/procedure
i felt abit irritated, typing such a long name...well...it is for adding a new form/modules... etc. (not again!) to your existing project. so that your program's funtionality is increased. i'll talk more of it later.

properties window
shows the properties of the elements or objects or tools (whatever you call it). you can change them here or you change them when the program is running. anyway, that is the main thing in VB changing of properties.

toolbox
as it's name suggest, it contains many useful controls for use in a form. they include command buttons, labels, text boxes, image boxes, etc. they are the little things which make up your programs.

code window
this is where you type your codes. examine and debug. you may not see it anywhere. but if you double click on any form or control, the code window will pop up and you'll see something like private sub ... end sub. i'll talk more about subs later.

there are many other things in the IDE or the editor which i will not go through now. i will explain them next time if i need to or even not at all. you should discover on your own or check the help often. i will speak more of english in my articles, rather than computer jargons which would probably make you blur.

continue next chapter