Hi,

First of all, I'm an experienced programmer in a few languages,
including C#, but have not yet learned VBA or VB.Net beyond
rudimentary code.

However, my new employer is a heavy user of Excel, and it would
behoove me to learn to maximize its capabilities.

I've read a number of web articles indicating that VSTO is the
successor to VBA. However, I've also read it does not work with
Visual Studio Express. Is this still the case with VS Express 2010?
If so, then Microsoft wants me to use VSTO in favour of VBA, yet wants
me to spend $$$ for the high end VS Suite? I don't understand this
marketing - I would think it would limit the uptake of VSTO? There is
no way I will get justification to buy VS just to use VSTO vs. VBA.

I've also read he
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...c3 0ee38f2b52
that VBA can be used to call a .dll.

Given the above, what would you recommend as the best architecture for
me to learn to automate Excel's capabilities?

Thanks,
Scott