Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a long
time before finding Range under Collections.

Keith

Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

Keith,

I usually get better results by typing the word, e.g, "range," clicking on
it, and pressing F1. I don't know why the results are different than the,
often irrelevant, results from doing a search in help, but they are. Maybe
the first is accessing the web and the second isn't?

As an aside, I miss the old "Contents, Index, Find" Help search dialog.
Maybe there's a way to get it back in XL 03 but I haven't stumbled across it
yet.

hth,

Doug

"keithb" wrote in message
...
Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not
know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a long
time before finding Range under Collections.

Keith

Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

I searched for Range and it returend a page with a number of items shwoing
teh Range property as it applies to different objects. This confirms that
range can be a property, and if you clicked the Application, Range,
Worksheet objects item, it explains the usage, quote ...

expression.Range(Cell1, Cell2)

expression Required. An expression that returns one of the above objects.
Cell1 Required Variant. The name of the range. This must be an A1-style
reference in the language of the macro. It can include the range operator (a
colon), the intersection operator (a space), or the union operator (a
comma). It can also include dollar signs, but they're ignored. You can use a
local defined name in any part of the range. If you use a name, the name is
assumed to be in the language of the macro.

Cell2 Optional Variant. The cell in the upper-left and lower-right corner
of the range. Can be a Range object that contains a single cell, an entire
column, or entire row, or it can be a string that names a single cell in the
language of the macro.

which tells you that range can also be an object.

That seems pretty good to me. The difficult is understanding OO and the
object model. Help seems to work quite well within that.


--
HTH

Bob Phillips

"keithb" wrote in message
...
Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not
know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a long
time before finding Range under Collections.

Keith

Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

easiest way for me is to search for the term in the object browser and when
found, highlight it and hit F1.

Hasn't worked as well in xl2003, but has been very useful in earlier verions
(still is pretty good however).

You can also highlight the term in a module and hit F1. I xl2003, for
range, it took me to the range property. I selected

Range property as it applies to the Application, Range, and Worksheet
objects.

I expanded that

this contained useful information, but not exaclty what I wanted - however,

the first line talked about a Range Object. (it was a hyperlink). I
clicked on that and got to the help on the range object.


--
Regards,

Tom Ogilvy

"keithb" wrote in message
...
Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not
know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a long
time before finding Range under Collections.

Keith

Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

hi,
did you click on help from the excel worksheet OR the VBA Project window.
you get different help from each.
excel help return stuff about all the pointing and clicking and how to do
everything manually.
VBA Project help tells you about objects, methods, properties, ect.
sometimes even supplying sample code.

Regards
FSt1

"keithb" wrote:

Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a long
time before finding Range under Collections.

Keith

Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

Doug,

If you can get a copy of the Excel 97 help file "Vbaxl8.hlp",
it should work in all later Excel versions. I use it in xl2002.
I agree, it is far superior to the web type interface that MS went to.
It also helps ensure that code used will work in all xl versions.
I call it this way in WindowsXP (with thanks to Chip Pearson)...

Sub ShowVisualBasicHelp()
'The help file for Excel VBA
Shell "c:\Windows\Winhlp32.exe Vbaxl8.hlp", vbNormalFocus
End Sub

Regards,
Jim Cone
San Francisco, USA


"Doug Glancy" wrote in message ...
Keith,

I usually get better results by typing the word, e.g, "range," clicking on
it, and pressing F1. I don't know why the results are different than the,
often irrelevant, results from doing a search in help, but they are. Maybe
the first is accessing the web and the second isn't?
As an aside, I miss the old "Contents, Index, Find" Help search dialog.
Maybe there's a way to get it back in XL 03 but I haven't stumbled across it
yet.
hth,
Doug


"keithb" wrote in message
...
Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not
know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a long
time before finding Range under Collections.
Keith

Excel VBA Help Gripe
 

Thanks Jim. I used to do what you describe, before a computer reload, but I
guess I'm kind of lazy. I just wander around in '03 Help until I find what
I need, or go to Google Groups.

Doug

"Jim Cone" wrote in message
...
Doug,

If you can get a copy of the Excel 97 help file "Vbaxl8.hlp",
it should work in all later Excel versions. I use it in xl2002.
I agree, it is far superior to the web type interface that MS went to.
It also helps ensure that code used will work in all xl versions.
I call it this way in WindowsXP (with thanks to Chip Pearson)...

Sub ShowVisualBasicHelp()
'The help file for Excel VBA
Shell "c:\Windows\Winhlp32.exe Vbaxl8.hlp", vbNormalFocus
End Sub

Regards,
Jim Cone
San Francisco, USA


"Doug Glancy" wrote in message
...
Keith,

I usually get better results by typing the word, e.g, "range," clicking on
it, and pressing F1. I don't know why the results are different than the,
often irrelevant, results from doing a search in help, but they are.
Maybe
the first is accessing the web and the second isn't?
As an aside, I miss the old "Contents, Index, Find" Help search dialog.
Maybe there's a way to get it back in XL 03 but I haven't stumbled across
it
yet.
hth,
Doug


"keithb" wrote in message
...
Am I the only one having difficulty using Excel VBA help? It would be
ever
so much more useful if documentation for objects, properties, events and
methods were returned in the search listings. As a new user, I did not
know
whether a Range is an Object, Property, or Collection, so I searched for
"Range" which did not return anything useful. As a result I wasted a
long
time before finding Range under Collections.
Keith