Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) Full

Create a Macro

With Excel VBA you can automate tasks in Excel by writing so called macros. In this chapter, learn how to create a simple macro which will be executed after clicking on a command button. First, turn on the Developer tab.

Developer Tab

To turn on the Developter tab, execute the following steps.

1. Right click anywhere on the ribbon, and then click Customize the Ribbon.

2. Under Customize the Ribbon, on the right side of the dialog box, select Main tabs (if necessary).

3. Check the Developer check box.

4. Click OK.

5. You can find the Developer tab next to the View tab.

Command Button

To place a command button on your worksheet, execute the following steps.

1. On the Developer tab, click Insert.

2. In the ActiveX Controls group, click Command Button.

3. Drag a command button on your worksheet.

Assign a Macro

To assign a macro (one or more code lines) to the command button, execute the following steps.

1. Right click CommandButton1 (make sure Design Mode is selected).

2. Click View Code.

The Visual Basic Editor appears.

3. Place your cursor between Private Sub CommandButton1_Click() and End Sub.

4. Add the code line shown below.

Note: the window on the left with the names Sheet1, Sheet2 and Sheet3 is called the Project Explorer. If the Project Explorer is not visible, click View, Project Explorer. To add the Code window for the first sheet, click Sheet1 (Sheet1).

5. Close the Visual Basic Editor.

6. Click the command button on the sheet (make sure Design Mode is deselected).

Result:

Congratulations. You've just created a macro in Excel!

Visual Basic Editor

To open the Visual Basic Editor, on the Developer tab, click Visual Basic.

The Visual Basic Editor appears.

MsgBox

The MsgBox is a dialog box in Excel VBA you can use to inform the users of your program. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines:

1. A simple message.

MsgBox "This is fun"

Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

2. A little more advanced message. First, enter a number into cell A1.

MsgBox "Entered value is " & Range("A1").Value

Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

Note: we used the & operator to concatenate (join) two strings. Although Range("A1").value is not a string, it works here.

3. To start a new line in a message, use vbNewLine.

MsgBox "Line 1" & vbNewLine & "Line 2"

Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

Workbook and Worksheet Object

 Learn more about the Workbook and Worksheet object in Excel VBA.

Object Hierarchy

In Excel VBA, an object can contain another object, and that object can contain another object, etc. In other words, Excel VBA programming involves working with an object hierarchy. This probably sounds quite confusing, but we will make it clear.

The mother of all objects is Excel itself. We call it the Application object. The application object contains other objects. For example, the Workbook object (Excel file). This can be any workbook you have created. The Workbook object contains other objects, such as the Worksheet object. The Worksheet object contains other objects, such as the Range object.

The Create a Macro chapter illustrates how to run code by clicking on a command button. We used the following code line:

Range("A1").Value = "Hello"

but what we really meant was:

Application.Workbooks("create-a-macro").Worksheets(1).Range("A1").Value = "Hello"

Note: the objects are connected with a dot. Fortunately, we do not have to add a code line this way. That is because we placed our command button in create-a-macro.xls, on the first worksheet. Be aware that if you want to change things on different worksheets, you have to include the Worksheet object. Read on.

Collections

You may have noticed that Workbooks and Worksheets are both plural. That is because they are collections. The Workbooks collection contains all the Workbook objects that are currently open. The Worksheets collection contains all the Worksheet objects in a workbook.

You can refer to a member of the collection, for example, a single Worksheet object, in three ways.

1. Using the worksheet name.

Worksheets("Sales").Range("A1").Value = "Hello"

2. Using the index number (1 is the first worksheet starting from the left).

Worksheets(1).Range("A1").Value = "Hello"

3. Using the CodeName.

Sheet1.Range("A1").Value = "Hello"

To see the CodeName of a worksheet, open the Visual Basic Editor. In the Project Explorer, the first name is the CodeName. The second name is the worksheet name (Sales).

Note: the CodeName remains the same if you change the worksheet name or the order of your worksheets so this is the safest way to reference a worksheet. Click View, Properties Window to change the CodeName of a worksheet. There is one disadvantage, you cannot use the CodeName if you reference a worksheet in a different workbook.

Properties and Methods

Now let's take a look at some properties and methods of the Workbooks and Worksheets collection. Properties are something which an collection has (they describe the collection), while methods do something (they perform an action with an collection).

Place a command button on your worksheet and add the code lines:

1. The Add method of the Workbooks collection creates a new workbook.

Workbooks.Add

Note: the Add method of the Worksheets collection creates a new worksheet.

2. The Count property of the Worksheets collection counts the number of worksheets in a workbook.

MsgBox Worksheets.Count

Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

Note: the Count property of the Workbooks collection counts the number of active workbooks.

Range Object

The Range object, which is the representation of a cell (or cells) on your worksheet, is the most important object of Excel VBA. This chapter gives an overview of the properties and methods of the Range object. Properties are something which an object has (they describe the object), while methods do something (they perform an action with an object). Range Examples Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line: Range("B3").Value = 2 Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Code: Range("A1:A4").Value = 5 Result: Code: Range("A1:A2,B3:C4").Value = 10 Result: Note: to refer to a named range in your Excel VBA code, use a code line like this: Range("Prices").Value = 15 Cells Instead of Range, you can also use Cells. Using Cells is particularly useful when you want to loop through ranges. Code: Cells(3, 2).Value = 2 Result: Explanation: Excel VBA enters the value 2 into the cell at the intersection of row 3 and column 2. Code: Range(Cells(1, 1), Cells(4, 1)).Value = 5 Result: Declare a Range Object You can declare a Range object by using the keywords Dim and Set. Code: Dim example As Range Set example = Range("A1:C4") example.Value = 8 Result: Select An important method of the Range object is the Select method. The Select method simply selects a range. Code: Dim example As Range Set example = Range("A1:C4") example.Select Result: Rows The Rows property gives access to a specific row of a range. Code: Dim example As Range Set example = Range("A1:C4") example.Rows(3).Select Result: Note: border for illustration only. Columns The Columns property gives access to a specific column of a range. Code: Dim example As Range Set example = Range("A1:C4") example.Columns(2).Select Result: Note: border for illustration only. Copy/Paste The Copy and Paste method are used to copy a range and to paste it somewhere else on the worksheet. Code: Range("A1:A2").Select Selection.Copy Range("C3").Select ActiveSheet.Paste Result: Although this is allowed in Excel VBA, it is much better to use the code line below which does exactly the same. Range("C3:C4").Value = Range("A1:A2").Value Clear To clear the content of an Excel range, you can use the ClearContents method. Range("A1").ClearContents or simply use: Range("A1").Value = "" Note: use the Clear method to clear the content and format of a range. Use the ClearFormats method to clear the format only. Count With the Count property, you can count the number of cells, rows and columns of a range. Note: border for illustration only. Code: Dim example As Range Set example = Range("A1:C4") MsgBox example.Count Result: Code: Dim example As Range Set example = Range("A1:C4") MsgBox example.Rows.Count Result: Note: in a similar way, you can count the number of columns of a range. Variables This chapter teaches you how to declare, initialize and display a variable in Excel VBA. Letting Excel VBA know you are using a variable is called declaring a variable. Initializing simply means assigning a beginning (initial) value to a variable. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the code lines below. To execute the code lines, click the command button on the sheet. Integer Integer variables are used to store whole numbers. Dim x As Integer x = 6 Range("A1").Value = x Result: Explanation: the first code line declares a variable with name x of type Integer. Next, we initialize x with value 6. Finally, we write the value of x to cell A1. String String variables are used to store text. Code: Dim book As String book = "bible" Range("A1").Value = book Result: Explanation: the first code line declares a variable with name book of type String. Next, we initialize book with the text bible. Always use apostrophes to initialize String variables. Finally, we write the text of the variable book to cell A1. Double A variable of type Double is more accurate than a variable of type Integer and can also store numbers after the comma. Code: Dim x As Integer x = 5.5 MsgBox "value is " & x Result: But that is not the right value! We initialized the variable with value 5.5 and we get the value 6. What we need is a variable of type Double. Code: Dim x As Double x = 5.5 MsgBox "value is " & x Result: Note: Long variables have even larger capacity. Always use variables of the right type. As a result, errors are easier to find and your code will run faster. Boolean Use a Boolean variable to hold the value True or False. Code: Dim continue As Boolean continue = True If continue = True Then MsgBox "Boolean variables are cool" Result: Explanation: the first code line declares a variable with name continue of type Boolean. Next, we initialize continue with the value True. Finally, we use the Boolean variable to only display a MsgBox if the variable holds the value True. If Then Statement Use the If Then statement in Excel VBA to execute code lines if a specific condition is met. If Then Statement Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim score As Integer, result As String score = Range("A1").Value If score >= 60 Then result = "pass" Range("B1").Value = result Explanation: if score is greater than or equal to 60, Excel VBA returns pass. Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Note: if score is less than 60, Excel VBA places the value of the empty variable result into cell B1. Else Statement Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim score As Integer, result As String score = Range("A1").Value If score >= 60 Then     result = "pass" Else     result = "fail" End If Range("B1").Value = result Explanation: if score is greater than or equal to 60, Excel VBA returns pass, else Excel VBA returns fail. Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Note: only if you have one code line after Then and no Else statement, it is allowed to place a code line directly after Then and to omit (leave out) End If (first example). Otherwise start a new line after the words Then and Else and end with End If (second example). Loop Looping is one of the most powerful programming techniques. A loop in Excel VBA enables you to loop through a range of cells with just a few codes lines. Single Loop You can use a single loop to loop through a one-dimensional range of cells. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim i As Integer For i = 1 To 6     Cells(i, 1).Value = 100 Next i Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Explanation: The code lines between For and Next will be executed six times. For i = 1, Excel VBA enters the value 100 into the cell at the intersection of row 1 and column 1. When Excel VBA reaches Next i, it increases i with 1 and jumps back to the For statement. For i = 2, Excel VBA enters the value 100 into the cell at the intersection of row 2 and column 1, etc. Note: it is good practice to always indent (tab) the code between the words For and Next. This makes your code easier to read. Double Loop You can use a double loop to loop through a two-dimensional range of cells. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim i As Integer, j As Integer For i = 1 To 6     For j = 1 To 2         Cells(i, j).Value = 100     Next j Next i Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Explanation: For i = 1 and j = 1, Excel VBA enters the value 100 into the cell at the intersection of row 1 and column 1. When Excel VBA reaches Next j, it increases j with 1 and jumps back to the For j statement. For i = 1 and j = 2, Excel VBA enters the value 100 into the cell at the intersection of row 1 and column 2. Next, Excel VBA ignores Next j because j only runs from 1 to 2. When Excel VBA reaches Next i, it increases i with 1 and jumps back to the For i statement. For i = 2 and j = 1, Excel VBA enters the value 100 into the cell at the intersection of row 2 and column 1, etc. Triple Loop You can use a triple loop to loop through two-dimensional ranges on multiple Excel worksheets. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim c As Integer, i As Integer, j As Integer For c = 1 To 3     For i = 1 To 6         For j = 1 To 2             Worksheets(c).Cells(i, j).Value = 100         Next j     Next i Next c Explanation: The only change made compared to the code for the double loop is that we have added one more loop and added Worksheets(c). in front of Cells to get the two-dimensional range on the first sheet for c = 1, the second sheet for c = 2 and the third sheet for c = 3. Download the Excel file to see this result. Do While Loop Besides the For Next loop, there are other loops in Excel VBA. For example, the Do While Loop. Code placed between Do While and Loop will be repeated as long as the part after Do While is true. 1. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim i As Integer i = 1 Do While i < 6     Cells(i, 1).Value = 20     i = i + 1 Loop Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Explanation: as long as i is lower than 6, Excel VBA enters the value 20 into the cell at the intersection of row i and column 1 and increments i by 1. In Excel VBA (and in other programming languages), the symbol '=' means becomes. It does not mean equal. So i = i + 1 means i becomes i + 1. In other words: take the present value of i and add 1 to it. For example, if i = 1, i becomes 1 + 1 = 2. As a result, the value 20 will be placed into column A five times (not six because Excel VBA stops when i equals 6). 2. Enter some numbers in column A. 3. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim i As Integer i = 1 Do While Cells(i, 1).Value <> ""     Cells(i, 2).Value = Cells(i, 1).Value + 10     i = i + 1 Loop Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Explanation: as long as Cells(i, 1).Value is not empty (<> means not equal to), Excel VBA enters the value into the cell at the intersection of row i and column 2, that is 10 higher than the value in the cell at the intersection of row i and column 1. Excel VBA stops when i equals 7 because Cells(7, 1).Value is empty. This is a great way to loop through any number of rows on a worksheet. Macro Errors This chapter teaches you how to deal with macro errors in Excel. First, let's create some errors. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: x = 2 Range("A1").Valu = x 1. Click the command button on the sheet. Result: 2. Click OK. The variable x is not defined. Because we are using the Option Explicit statement at the start of our code, we have to declare all our variables. Excel VBA has colored the x blue to indicate the error. 3. In the Visual Basic Editor, click Reset to stop the debugger. 4. Correct the error by adding the following code line at the start of the code. Dim x As Integer You may have heard of the technique called debugging before. With this technique you can step through your code. 5. In the Visual Basic Editor, place your cursor before Private and press F8. The first line turns yellow. 6. Press F8 three more times. The following error appears. The Range object has a property called Value. Value isn't spelled correctly here. Debugging is a great way to not only find errors, but also understand code better. Our Debugging example program shows you how to single step through your code and see the effect of each code line on your worksheet. String Manipulation In this chapter, you'll find the most important functions to manipulate strings in Excel VBA. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the code lines below. To execute the code lines, click the command button on the sheet. Join Strings We use the & operator to concatenate (join) strings. Code: Dim text1 As String, text2 As String text1 = "Hi" text2 = "Tim" MsgBox text1 & " " & text2 Result: Note: to insert a space, use " " Left To extract the leftmost characters from a string, use Left. Code: Dim text As String text = "example text" MsgBox Left(text, 4) Result: Right To extract the rightmost characters from a string, use Right. We can also directly insert text in a function. Code: MsgBox Right("example text", 2) Result: Mid To extract a substring, starting in the middle of a string, use Mid. Code: MsgBox Mid("example text", 9, 2) Result: Note: started at position 9 (t) with length 2. You can omit the third argument if you want to extract a substring starting in the middle of a string, until the end of the string. Len To get the length of a string, use Len. Code: MsgBox Len("example text") Result: Note: space (position 8) included! Instr To find the position of a substring in a string, use Instr. Code: MsgBox Instr("example text", "am") Result: Note: string "am" found at position 3. Date and Time Learn how to work with dates and times in Excel VBA. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the code lines below. To execute the code lines, click the command button on the sheet. Year, Month, Day of a Date The following macro gets the year of a date. To declare a date, use the Dim statement. To initialize a date, use the DateValue function. Code: Dim exampleDate As Date exampleDate = DateValue("Jun 19, 2010") MsgBox Year(exampleDate) Result: Note: Use Month and Day to get the month and day of a date. DateAdd To add a number of days to a date, use the DateAdd function. The DateAdd function has three arguments. Fill in "d" for the first argument to add days. Fill in 3 for the second argument to add 3 days. The third argument represents the date to which the number of days will be added. Code: Dim firstDate As Date, secondDate As Date firstDate = DateValue("Jun 19, 2010") secondDate = DateAdd("d", 3, firstDate) MsgBox secondDate Result: Note: Change "d" to "m" to add a number of months to a date. Place your cursor on DateAdd in the Visual Basic Editor and click F1 for help on the other interval specifiers. Dates are in US Format. Months first, Days second. This type of format depends on your windows regional settings. Current Date and Time To get the current date and time, use the Now function. Code: MsgBox Now Result: Hour, Minute, Second The get the hour of a time, use the Hour function. Code: MsgBox Hour(Now) Result: Note: Use Minute and Second to get the minute and second of a time. TimeValue The TimeValue function converts a string to a time serial number. The time's serial number is a number between 0 and 1. For example, noon (halfway through the day) is represented as 0.5. Code: MsgBox TimeValue("9:20:01 am") Result: Now, to clearly see that Excel handles times internally as numbers between 0 and 1, add the following code lines: Dim y As Double y = TimeValue("09:20:01") MsgBox y Result: Events Events are actions performed by users which trigger Excel VBA to execute code. Workbook Open Event Code added to the Workbook Open Event will be executed by Excel VBA when you open the workbook. 1. Open the Visual Basic Editor. 2. Double click on This Workbook in the Project Explorer. 3. Choose Workbook from the left drop-down list. Choose Open from the right drop-down list. 4. Add the following code line to the Workbook Open Event: MsgBox "Good Morning" 5. Save, close and reopen the Excel file. Result: Worksheet Change Event Code added to the Worksheet Change Event will be executed by Excel VBA when you change a cell on a worksheet. 1. Open the Visual Basic Editor. 2. Double click on a sheet (for example Sheet1) in the Project Explorer. 3. Choose Worksheet from the left drop-down list. Choose Change from the right drop-down list. Add the following code lines to the Worksheet Change Event: 4. The Worksheet Change Event listens to all changes on Sheet1. We only want Excel VBA to do something if something changes in cell B2. To achieve this, add the following code lines: If Target.Address = "$B$2" Then End If 5. We only want Excel VBA to show a MsgBox if the user enters a value greater than 80. To achieve this, add the following code line between If and End If. If Target.Value > 80 Then MsgBox "Goal Completed" 6. On Sheet1, enter a number greater than 80 into cell B2. Result: Array An array is a group of variables. In Excel VBA, you can refer to a specific variable (element) of an array by using the array name and the index number. One-dimensional Array To create a one-dimensional array, execute the following steps. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim Films(1 To 5) As String Films(1) = "Lord of the Rings" Films(2) = "Speed" Films(3) = "Star Wars" Films(4) = "The Godfather" Films(5) = "Pulp Fiction" MsgBox Films(4) Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Explanation: the first code line declares a String array with name Films. The array consists of five elements. Next, we initialize each element of the array. Finally, we display the fourth element using a MsgBox. Two-dimensional Array To create a two-dimensional array, execute the following steps. This time we are going to read the names from the sheet. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim Films(1 To 5, 1 To 2) As String Dim i As Integer, j As Integer For i = 1 To 5     For j = 1 To 2         Films(i, j) = Cells(i, j).Value     Next j Next i MsgBox Films(4, 2) Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Explanation: the first code line declares a String array with name Films. The array has two dimensions. It consists of 5 rows and 2 columns. Tip: rows go first, then columns. The other two variables of type Integer are used for the Double Loop to initialize each element of the array. Finally, we display the element at the intersection of row 4 and column 2. Function and Sub The difference between a function and a sub in Excel VBA is that a function can return a value while a sub cannot. Functions and subs become very useful as program size increases. Function If you want Excel VBA to perform a task that returns a result, you can use a function. Place a function into a module (In the Visual Basic Editor, click Insert, Module). For example, the function with name Area. Function Area(x As Double, y As Double) As Double Area = x * y End Function Explanation: This function has two arguments (of type Double) and a return type (the part after As also of type Double). You can use the name of the function (Area) in your code to indicate which result you want to return (here x * y). You can now refer to this function (in other words call the function) from somewhere else in your code by simply using the name of the function and giving a value for each argument. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim z As Double z = Area(3, 5) + 2 MsgBox z Explanation: The function returns a value so you have to 'catch' this value in your code. You can use another variable (z) for this. Next, you can add another value to this variable (if you want). Finally, display the value using a MsgBox. Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Sub If you want Excel VBA to perform some actions, you can use a sub. Place a sub into a module (In the Visual Basic Editor, click Insert, Module). For example, the sub with name Area. Sub Area(x As Double, y As Double) MsgBox x * y End Sub Explanation: This sub has two arguments (of type Double). It does not have a return type! You can refer to this sub (call the sub) from somewhere else in your code by simply using the name of the sub and giving a value for each argument. Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line: Area 3, 5 Result when you click the command button on the sheet: Can you see the difference between the function and the sub? The function returned the value 15. We added the value 2 to this result and displayed the final result. When we called the sub we had no more control over the result (15) because a sub cannot return a value! Application Object The mother of all objects is Excel itself. We call it the Application object. The application object gives access to a lot of Excel related options. WorksheetFunction You can use the WorksheetFunction property in Excel VBA to access Excel functions. 1. For example, place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line: Range("A3").Value = Application.WorksheetFunction.Average(Range("A1:A2")) When you click the command button on the worksheet, Excel VBA calculates the average of the values in cell A1 and cell A2 and places the result into cell A3. Note: instead of Application.WorksheetFunction.Average, simply use WorksheetFunction.Average. If you look at the formula bar, you can see that the formula itself is not inserted into cell A3. To insert the formula itself into cell A3, use the following code line: Range("A3").Value = "=AVERAGE(A1:A2)" ScreenUpdating Sometimes you may find it useful to disable screen updating (to avoid flickering) while executing code. As a result, your code will run faster. 1. For example, place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines: Dim i As Integer For i = 1 To 10000     Range("A1").Value = i Next i When you click the command button on the worksheet, Excel VBA displays each value a tiny fraction of a second and this can take some time. 2. To speed up the process, update the code as follows. Dim i As Integer Application.ScreenUpdating = False For i = 1 To 10000     Range("A1").Value = i Next i Application.ScreenUpdating = True As a result, your code will run much faster and you will only see the end result (10000). DisplayAlerts You can instruct Excel VBA not to display alerts while executing code. 1. For example, place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line: ActiveWorkbook.Close When you click the command button on the worksheet, Excel VBA closes your Excel file and asks you to save the changes you made. 2. To instruct Excel VBA not to display this alert while executing code, update the code as follows. Application.DisplayAlerts = False ActiveWorkbook.Close Application.DisplayAlerts = True As a result, Excel VBA closes your Excel file, without asking you to save the changes you made. Any changes are lost. Calculation By default,  calculation is set to automatic. As a result, Excel recalculates the workbook automatically each time a value affecting a formula changes. If your workbook contains many complex formulas, you can speed up your macro by setting calculation to manual. 1. For example, place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line: Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual When you click the command button on the worksheet, Excel VBA sets calculation to manual. 2. You can verify this by clicking on File, Options, Formulas. 3. Now when you change the value of cell A1, the value of cell B1 is not recalculated. You can manually recalculate the workbook by pressing F9. 4. In most situations, you will set calculation to automatic again at the end of your code. Simply add the following code line to achieve this. Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic ActiveX Controls Learn how to create ActiveX controls such as command buttons, text boxes, list boxes etc. To create an ActiveX control in Excel VBA, execute the following steps. 1. On the Developer tab, click Insert. 2. For example, in the ActiveX Controls group, click Command Button to insert a command button control. 3. Drag a command button on your worksheet. 4. Right click the command button (make sure Design Mode is selected). 5. Click View Code. Note: you can change the caption and name of a control by right clicking on the control (make sure Design Mode is selected) and then clicking on Properties. Change the caption of the command button to 'Apply Blue Text Color'. For now, we will leave CommandButton1 as the name of the command button. The Visual Basic Editor appears. 6. Add the code line shown below between Private Sub CommandButton1_Click() and End Sub. 7. Select the range B2:B4 and click the command button (make sure Design Mode is deselected). Result: Userform This chapter teaches you how to create an Excel VBA Userform. The Userform we are going to create looks as follows: Add the Controls To add the controls to the Userform, execute the following steps. 1. Open the Visual Basic Editor. If the Project Explorer is not visible, click View, Project Explorer. 2. Click Insert, Userform. If the Toolbox does not appear automatically, click View, Toolbox. Your screen should be set up as below. 3. Add the controls listed in the table below. Once this has been completed, the result should be consistent with the picture of the Userform shown earlier. For example, create a text box control by clicking on TextBox from the Toolbox. Next, you can drag a text box on the Userform. When you arrive at the Car frame, remember to draw this frame first before you place the two option buttons in it. 4. Change the names and captions of the controls according to the table below. Names are used in the Excel VBA code. Captions are those that appear on your screen. It is good practice to change the names of controls. This will make your code easier to read. To change the names and captions of the controls, click View, Properties Window and click on each control. Control Name Caption Userform DinnerPlannerUserForm Dinner Planner Text Box NameTextBox   Text Box PhoneTextBox   List Box CityListBox   Combo Box DinnerComboBox   Check Box DateCheckBox1 June 13th Check Box DateCheckBox2 June 20th Check Box DateCheckBox3 June 27th Frame CarFrame Car Option Button CarOptionButton1 Yes Option Button CarOptionButton2 No Text Box MoneyTextBox   Spin Button MoneySpinButton   Command Button OKButton OK Command Button ClearButton Clear Command Button CancelButton Cancel 7 Labels No need to change Name:, Phone Number:, etc. Note: a combo box is a drop-down list from where a user can select an item or fill in his/her own choice. Only one of the option buttons can be selected. Show the Userform To show the Userform, place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line: Private Sub CommandButton1_Click() DinnerPlannerUserForm.Show End Sub We are now going to create the Sub UserForm_Initialize. When you use the Show method for the Userform, this sub will automatically be executed. 1. Open the Visual Basic Editor. 2. In the Project Explorer, right click on DinnerPlannerUserForm and then click View Code. 3. Choose Userform from the left drop-down list. Choose Initialize from the right drop-down list. 4. Add the following code lines: Private Sub UserForm_Initialize() 'Empty NameTextBox NameTextBox.Value = "" 'Empty PhoneTextBox PhoneTextBox.Value = "" 'Empty CityListBox CityListBox.Clear 'Fill CityListBox With CityListBox     .AddItem "San Francisco"     .AddItem "Oakland"     .AddItem "Richmond" End With 'Empty DinnerComboBox DinnerComboBox.Clear 'Fill DinnerComboBox With DinnerComboBox     .AddItem "Italian"     .AddItem "Chinese"     .AddItem "Frites and Meat" End With 'Uncheck DataCheckBoxes DateCheckBox1.Value = False DateCheckBox2.Value = False DateCheckBox3.Value = False 'Set no car as default CarOptionButton2.Value = True 'Empty MoneyTextBox MoneyTextBox.Value = "" 'Set Focus on NameTextBox NameTextBox.SetFocus End Sub Explanation: text boxes are emptied, list boxes and combo boxes are filled, check boxes are unchecked, etc. Assign the Macros We have now created the first part of the Userform. Although it looks neat already, nothing will happen yet when we click the command buttons on the Userform. 1. Open the Visual Basic Editor. 2. In the Project Explorer, double click on DinnerPlannerUserForm. 3. Double click on the Money spin button. 4. Add the following code line: Private Sub MoneySpinButton_Change() MoneyTextBox.Text = MoneySpinButton.Value End Sub Explanation: this code line updates the text box when you use the spin button. 5. Double click on the OK button. 6. Add the following code lines: Private Sub OKButton_Click() Dim emptyRow As Long 'Make Sheet1 active Sheet1.Activate 'Determine emptyRow emptyRow = WorksheetFunction.CountA(Range("A:A")) + 1 'Transfer information Cells(emptyRow, 1).Value = NameTextBox.Value Cells(emptyRow, 2).Value = PhoneTextBox.Value Cells(emptyRow, 3).Value = CityListBox.Value Cells(emptyRow, 4).Value = DinnerComboBox.Value If DateCheckBox1.Value = True Then Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value = DateCheckBox1.Caption If DateCheckBox2.Value = True Then Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value = Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value & " " & DateCheckBox2.Caption If DateCheckBox3.Value = True Then Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value = Cells(emptyRow, 5).Value & " " & DateCheckBox3.Caption If CarOptionButton1.Value = True Then     Cells(emptyRow, 6).Value = "Yes" Else     Cells(emptyRow, 6).Value = "No" End If Cells(emptyRow, 7).Value = MoneyTextBox.Value End Sub Explanation: first, we activate Sheet1. Next, we determine emptyRow. The variable emptyRow is the first empty row and increases every time a record is added. Finally, we transfer the information from the Userform to the specific columns of emptyRow. 7. Double click on the Clear button. 8. Add the following code line: Private Sub ClearButton_Click() Call UserForm_Initialize End Sub Explanation: this code line calls the Sub UserForm_Initialize when you click on the Clear button. 9. Double click on the Cancel Button. 10. Add the following code line: Private Sub CancelButton_Click() Unload Me End Sub Explanation: this code line closes the Userform when you click on the Cancel button. Test the Userform Exit the Visual Basic Editor, enter the labels shown below into row 1 and test the Userform. Result: