1 ) Provide instructions for the user.

If others will be using our Dialog Form they may need some guidance. When you first open the Form there is no way for a user to know the right place to start. We can show a short message when the form first opens by adding the message on a Label. Add the Label as shown in the next image and type in some instructions on the Label. We have set the back color to draw the user's attention immediately. Name the Label "lblStartInfo". Next, open the Label's Properties, click on the "Format" tab and set the "Visible" Property to "No". Then add the following code to the Form's On Current Event:

If a date has not been chosen the txtDateSelection TextBox will be empty. Since selecting a date is the first step in using our Dialog Form our code will make the label visible when the Form opens but invisible when a date has been selected. We need to move the "Export By Dates" Button over to make some room. When our Form is opened it should look like this:

Providing a way to clear the Form and start over would be helpful and it is not hard to do. Add a Button on the right side of our information label and name it "btnClearAll". Add the following code to the Button's On Click Event:

3 ) Add a Button to add all selected Appointments to Outlook.

Place the Button as shown in the image above and set the Caption to "Export Selections to Outlook". Name the Button "cmdLstBoxToOutlook".

4 ) Enter the code to add all selected Appointments to Outlook.

Now we get to add some interesting code. The code has plenty of comments to help you understand what it is doing. This code will get the ID of all the selected Appointments in the ListBox, build a SQL string, use it to open a Recordset, add all of the Appointment information to Outlook, set "Added to Outlook" to True, and then tell us how many Appointments were added to Outlook.

We build the SQL "WHERE" String by using a Loop to go through all rows in the ListBox and get the ApptmntID of the rows that have been selected. The ListBox contains an Array. An Array is basically data that is arranged and defined in a specific manner. It can consist of just a list of items, but is usually arranged in rows and columns like the Appointments in our ListBox.

Because an Array's dimensions are known, we can easily get specific data from our ListBox. A ListBox Array has a 0 based index. That means the index number of the first item in our ListBox is 0. We will use code to Loop through every Row in the ListBox starting at 0 until the last index number is reached. We use the ListCount Property to know when to stop looping. We need to subtract 1 from our ListCount because ListCount started at 1 instead of 0. This is done in our code like this: For i = 0 To Me.lstAppointments.ListCount - 1.

Now we know how to get a specific Row using the variable "i". But getting the Row is not enough. We need to get the ID number of each Appointment selected. We do this by using the Column Property. Each Row in the ListBox contains Columns. Our ID information is in the first Column. The Columns are also 0 based so our code is ".Column(0, i)". The "0" indicates the first Column in the Row and the "i" is our Row's index number.

We want our "WHERE" String to look like this ...IN(3, 14, 26). We must separate our ID numbers with a comma, which our code adds at the end of this line: strWhere = strWhere & lstAppointments.Column(0, i) & ", ". So our code will loop through the rows in the ListBox getting the value of the first Column of all rows that are selected, and separate the ID numbers with commas and a space.

At this point as the code runs our completed strSQL statement will look like this:
strSQL = SELECT tblAppointments.* FROM tblAppointments WHERE tblAppointments.ApptmntID IN(10, 12, 16);

We will use our strSQL to open a Recordset which will only contain the Appointments that have been selected. Then we will then loop through those Appointments, creating a new Appointment in Outlook with each loop.

We can now select individual Appointments in our ListBox and add them to Outlook. But what if an Appointment is canceled and we need to delete it? We can do that.

5 ) Add a Button to Delete selected Appointments in our Access Database.

Place the "Delete Selections" Button on the Form according to the image below and add an appropriate caption. Name the Button "cmdDeleteSelected".

6 ) Enter the code to Delete the Access Database Appointments we select.

It is important to understand that this will delete our Appointments in our Database but not in the Outlook Calendar. We will use the MsgBox as a reminder. Most of the remaining code we have examined previously and it needs no further comment except for one very important line of code, which we will examine.

Most of the code here we have seen previously. However, the line of code that actually did the work is an important snippet of code that we should discuss.

That important line of code is db.Execute strSQL, dbFailOnError. The Execute Method, when coupled with the dbFailOnError Constant protects our data by rolling back the SQL's changes if there are any errors executing the SQL. Our Database ends up exactly the same as it was before the Rollback. This is especially important if you are doing payroll or taxes!

If you have followed these articles and completed your Appointment Dialog Form then you have a valuable tool that can increase your productivity and save time. Even more important is the knowledge and ability you have gained. This Dialog Form handled our Appointments in our Access Database. Our next Dialog Form will help us manage our Appointments in Outlook.

To download the code used in this article visit our Gaining Access Website. While you are there, you can download the Free Access Pop-up Calendar--the easiest calendar I have ever used. It has no "Reference" problems because it is an Access Form.

Find out how you can get the full Appointment Management Database here.

Here is how our Appointment Dialog Form appears now:

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Our Completed Appointment Dialog Form"][/caption]

Happy computing,
Patrick (Pat) Wood
Gaining Access
Church Management Software Solutions

We are naming or are renaming our Form "frmDBApptDialog" for Database Appointment Dialog. We will have another form later named "frmOLApptDialog" for Outlook Appointment Dialog. Here is how our frmDBApptDialog appears so far.

1 ) First we will add 4 CheckBoxes to the Form.

Open your Form in Design view and place the CheckBoxes below the Date TextBoxes. Adding an informative Label and a Rectangle around them gives the Form a nice look and makes it easier for the user.

Enter the Label Captions you see in the image above. Add a name for each of the CheckBoxes in the Properties Sheet under the Tab "Other". Name them according to their Captions:

Label Caption: "Exclude Holidays", CheckBox Name: "chkHolidays"

Label Caption: "Exclude Other", CheckBox Name: "chkOther"

Label Caption: "Exclude Business", CheckBox Name: "chkBusiness"

Label Caption: "Exclude Personal", CheckBox Name: "chkPersonal"

2 ) Add an Unbound ListBox to the Form.

It should look something like this:

[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Our Form after adding CheckBoxes and a ListBox"][/caption]

Name the ListBox "lstAppointments". Copy the following into the RowSource because we do not want to see anything there when the Form is opened: SELECT tblAppointments.ApptmntID FROM tblAppointments WHERE ApptmntID = 999999999;

Click on the Properties Sheet "Other" tab and in the Multiselect Property select "Extended" from the Drop Down List. This will enable us to select any or all of the Appointments in the ListBox.

3 ) Add the code for each of the CheckBoxes.

OptionsSet is a Sub that builds a SQL "Where" Statement that we will use to filter out the dates that we do not want. For example, if you do not want your Personal Appointments in the list they are instatly removed. Each time a CheckBox is clicked the OptionsSet Sub is run and it sets the RowSource for the ListBox and requeries it so the right Appointments appear in the ListBox.

4 ) Add the OptionsSet code.

You can place this sub anywhere in the Form. The first part is the declaration of the SQL string Variables.

Now we are really getting somewhere! We can filter the Appointments and see the exact Appointments we want to select. Now we can set up some time-saving features.

5 ) Add a Toggle Button to Select all or Deselect all Appointments.

Open the form in Design View and add a Toggle Button centered directly above the ListBox. Name the Toggle Button "tglSelectAll". On the Button's AfterUpdate Event add the following code:

Now we can select the exact Appointments we want in the ListBox. We can select all with one click and then deslect them all.

Our next step is to add code that will process the Appointments. In our next article, we will add the ability to Export the selected Appointments to Outlook or to Delete them from the Database.

To download the code used in this article visit our Gaining Access Website. While you are there, you can download the Free Access Pop-up Calendar--the easiest calendar I have ever used. It has no "Reference" problems because it is an Access Form.

To download the full Appointment Database become a Premium Member with Total Access.

Here is a preview of the Dialog Form we will complete with our next article:

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Our Completed Appointment Dialog Form"][/caption]

Happy computing,
Patrick (Pat) Wood
Gaining Access
Church Management Software Solutions

]]> http://cathychua.wordpress.com/?p=1023 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:48:04 +0000 cathychua http://cathychua.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/lesson-1-wherein-smug-comes-undone/ Playing Justin Stark and Martin Willcox at the VBA last night, this hand came up:

Dlr: West
Vul: NS

	NORTH S J852 H AKJ975 D Q C K3
WEST S Q93 H 3 D K108743 C A107		EAST S K1076 H Q108 D J2 C Q952
	SOUTH S A4 H 642 D A965 C J864

West, Martin, passed but then over 1H 2H he backed in with 3D over which 4H ended the auction. Justin began with the jack of diamonds and I won the ace. You can't make unless the club ace is onside. Meanwhile in the majors you are on a guess of sorts. If hearts are 3-1 you can make by taking 2 spade ruffs in dummy, eventually conceding a trump to go with the club and spade tricks. If trumps are 2-2 and East has the queen you need to draw two rounds of trumps, losing 2 spades and a club. If you try to ruff the fourth spade West will be able to win and promote a trump trick via the diamond suit.

Mull over that as you will, you have to do something. I played ace and another spade, West giving count which suggested three. East won that and he could force me to guess how trumps are divided by continuing with a spade or a diamond. Instead, however, he shifted to a club, won by West who reverted to diamonds. Now you are able to find out exactly what shape West is. Ruff the diamond, cash the king of clubs, ruff a spade and play a club off dummy. If West follows, then he has only one heart. If he shows out he has two hearts. As it is, he followed, so I cashed one heart and took the second spade ruff.

I like this hand. It's neat. It gives you that nice feeling you get when you fill in a Sudoku number without guessing. And frankly, I was smugly thinking about it a couple of hands later when I found myself declarer, again in 4H, on the following deal. We're not talking as smug as smug can be here...more like if it were prefacing a TV show it would say 'Warning, low level smugness. Parental guidance recommended'. About that much smug. Still, it was there and it meant I was thinking about that hand when I should have been thinking about this one:

	NORTH S AK5 H AKJ1094 D 8 C 742
WEST S Q862 H 8765 D AKQ9 C 8		EAST S 7 H Q2 D J10732 C KQJ103
	SOUTH S J10943 H 3 D 654 C A954

This time East opened 2N, majors or minors, West tried 4D and I ended matters with 4H. Justin shot out the seven of spades, I covered, West ducked, I hooked a heart, two down. Oh yes, dear reader. I'd just gone down in a coldie, I realised a second later. East's hand is entirely known. 1?55. He can only have two hearts and therefore the only way to make it is to play hearts from the top, hoping the queen is doubleton.

]]> http://annuca.wordpress.com/?p=181 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:16:15 +0000 annmucc http://annuca.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/and-my-studies-commence/ After an enjoyable weekend, at last I started doing some research for stuff for my PhD project. Yesterday I started checking out a bit of what stock modelling is all about and also a bit of visual basic for applications? (VBA) (hmmm, you are probably saying, isn't she a chemistry and biology student and now doing sustainable heritage, so what do these have to do with that?)...Well, my supervisor told me that I should check them out since I will need this knowledge in some aspects of my research. Oh well...we will try. I THINK I got a bit of the hang of what stock modelling is all about...but VBA I am still a bit doubtful O:). We will see how it goes.

Yesterday evening and today I was then looking up stuff about colour photographs, the history, how it developed, and basic information, since of course this is very relevant to what I want to do. I think I am getting the basic consepts involved in it...tomorrow I will continue on what I did today, getting one aspect and trying to start going a bit more in depth.

Yesterday I had asked MCA to suggest me some software programmes I could use to organise my thougths...I had actually asked him for something with cards and stuff, which is what he mainly provided me with, but he also sent me this programme called FreeMind -Mind Map, which I actually found works very well for me, especially to set out the basic thoughts in an ordered way, so when I need to I can just look at them and remember what the basic principles were...so here is a summary of what I have done so far :D

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="344" caption="Colour Photographs Mind Map"][/caption]

This evening one of the girls organised a 'spaghettata' here at the residence...woohooo! I got some spaghetti at last :D. And it was good to at last meet some of the girls and socialise a bit :)

]]> http://accesstips.wordpress.com/?p=157 Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:50:52 +0000 Patrick Wood http://accesstips.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/get-the-dates-you-want-with-your-own-microsoft-access-dialog-form/ Today you will be able to use your own Date Dialog Form to export your Access Appointments to the Outlook Calendar after you follow the steps in this article. You will also learn one of the most import tasks in programming Access. You will learn how to create and loop through a Recordset, exporting the Appointments within your selected dates to Outlook. But first, let us consider the benefits of using a Custom Dialog Form.

The Date Dialog Form we have been making is a great help to the user. But it is far more than just window dressing. Not only does it make certain tasks easier, the user can get results more quickly, it gives the user more choices and control, and it also helps to avoid errors. The Pop-up Calendar and the Select Dates Combo Box eliminate typing errors that the user might make if the dates had to be typed in. Our code also checks to make sure the selected dates do not cause an error. So there are many benefits to using our Custom Dialog Form. When we are finished with this form (we will have at least two more articles about it) it will be an even more user friendly and powerful tool which you can also use in other Databases.

Here is how our Form appears now.




All of the controls are in place and named and we just have to finish adding code to make it work. We will go step by step.

As I was going through the code I found that we could save a little bit of coding if we modified our existing code just a little.

1) Find the following Sub:  Private Sub txtOneDate_GotFocus()
     and change this code:

' Clear the other textboxes         Me.txtStartDate = vbNullString         Me.txtEndDate = vbNullString

to this:

' Put the Single Date in the other textboxes so         ' we can use them in our SQL "WHERE" Statement         Me.txtStartDate = Me.txtOneDate         Me.txtEndDate = Me.txtOneDate

So that your sub looks like this:

Private Sub txtOneDate_GotFocus()     ' If txtOneDate has a value     If Len(Me.txtOneDate & vbNullString) > 0 Then         ' Put the Single Date in the other textboxes         ' so we only have to build one SQL statement         Me.txtStartDate = Me.txtOneDate         Me.txtEndDate = Me.txtOneDate         'Add the Formatted Date to the DateSelection textbox         Me.txtDateSelection = "#" & Me.txtOneDate & "#"     End If End Sub

2) Add a Procedure to the "Export By Dates" button's On Click Event.

To do that Open the Form in Design view and right-click on the "Export By Dates" button. Select "Properties" at the bottom of the shortcut menu. Click on the "Event" tab. Find the On Click line and click one the ... on the right like this:


Select "Code Builder" in the Pop-up Window and click OK. The Code Editor should open and you should see the following lines of code:

Private Sub btnExportApptByDates_Click() End Sub

3 ) Declare the Variables to be used in the Procedure

' Declare a variable for the Database     Dim db As DAO.Database     ' Declare a variable for the Recordset     Dim rst As DAO.Recordset     ' A variable for Recordset's SQL Statement     Dim strSQL As String     ' A variable for our "WHERE" statement     Dim strWhere As String     ' A Variable used to count the number     ' of Appointments added to the Outlook Calendar     Dim intCount As Integer

We are using DAO (Data Access Objects) code instead of ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) code for two reasons. DAO is Access's native language. It is what Access uses to process data. That means DAO is a little faster. Plus it has the added benefit of being a little easier to use because there is less code to write. If you are using Access 2000 or 2002 you may need to set a Reference to the Microsoft DAO 3.6 Library Reference. Other versions have the Reference set by default.

DAO and ADO both have Database and Recordset Objects, but the code for using them is different. If you do not specify DAO or ADO then Access "guesses" at which one you are using and it can cause errors. So always make sure you Declare which one you are using whenever you use a Database or Recordset in code.

4 ) Use late binding as before to create an instance of Outlook.

' Use late binding to avoid the "Reference" issue     Dim objOutlook As Object 'Outlook.Application     Dim objAppointItem As Object 'olAppointmentItem     If isAppThere("Outlook.Application") = False Then         ' Outlook is not open, create a new instance         Set objOutlook = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")     Else         ' Outlook is already open--use this method         Set objOutlook = GetObject(, "Outlook.Application")     End If

5 ) Build the SQL Statement

To do this we must use the values selected in the Textboxes as a part of our SQL. We add the dates to the SQL statement by concatenating (Geek Speak for "putting together") the controls (which automatically gets the control's value) with the SQL statement by using the & character.

We must also use the # delimiters for the dates so Access will recognize them as dates. Do not worry if you do not understand all of that now as long as you know that this is needed for the code to work.

' Start building the SQL "WHERE" Statement     strWhere = "WHERE ApptDate >= #" & Me.txtStartDate & "#" _     & " AND ApptDate <= #" & Me.txtEndDate & "#"     ' Finish building the SQL string     strSQL = "SELECT * FROM tblAppointments " & strWhere & ";"     'Debug.Print strSQL

The "WHERE" statement filters the data so we only get the records that we want. ApptDate is the Field in the Table which we see on the Form as Start Date. So our "WHERE" statement tells us that we only want Start Dates the are Greater Than (>) or Equal To (=) the date contained in our StartDate Textbox. Likewise, we only want End Dates that are Less Than (<) or Equal To (=) the date contained in our EndDate Textbox.

The * is a wildcard character meaning "all". So we are Selecting all records from the Table tblAppointments. We do not want all of the records, just the ones that fall within the dates we select. Our "WHERE" statement does that for us.

We also enclose our SQL Statement in Quotes because it is a string. However, whenever we use the Control Names in our SQL statement, we must not enclose them in Quotes because in Access Dates are really numbers. Access does not recognize numbers within quotes as numbers, but rather as Strings. When we are finished we have: strSQL = "SELECT * FROM tblAppointments " & strWhere & ";". Now we have it all together so we can open our Recordset.

6) Open the Recordset

'Instantiate database     Set db = CurrentDb()     ' Create Recordset based on strSQL     ' Note: You cannot open a Recordset using SQL           ' with Parameters or criteria if the values           ' of the Parameters are not provided. That is           ' why we built the complete SQL string and used the           ' Text Boxes to supply the values for the criteria.     ' Open the Recordset and use dbOpenDynaset so we can modify records.     Set rst = db.OpenRecordset(strSQL, dbOpenDynaset)

With most Recordsets some type of Loop is used to cycle through each record and get or set the values. There are a number of ways to do this.

' Move to the first Record in the Recordset     rst.MoveFirst     ' Begin a Loop and keep looping     ' until the last record is reached.     Do Until rst.EOF

We have instructed Access to keep doing commands until it reached the last record in the recordset. Think "End of File" when you see rst.EOF.

7) Add a New Appointment Item with each loop through the Recordset

' Create the New Appointment Item each loop through the Recordset         Set objAppointItem = objOutlook.CreateItem(1) ' olAppointmentItem = 1         ' Add the data to the Appointment Properties         With objAppointItem             ' Set the Start Property Value             ' ApptDate is Required by the table no need to check it             ' The Nz Function can handle a Zero Length String or a Null             .Start = Nz(rst!ApptDate) & " " & Nz(rst!ApptTime)             ' Set the End Property Value             .End = Nz(rst!EndDate) & " " & Nz(rst!EndTime, "")             .Duration = Nz(rst!ApptLength, 0)             .Subject = Nz(rst!Appt)             .Body = Nz(rst!ApptNotes)             .Location = Nz(rst!Location)             If rst!ApptReminder = True Then                 If rst!ApptDate < Now() Then                     ' No Reminder is needed                     .ReminderOverrideDefault = False                     .ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 0                     .ReminderSet = False                 Else                     ' Use the Reminder data                     If Not IsNull(rst!ReminderMinutes) Then                         .ReminderOverrideDefault = True                         .ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = rst!ReminderMinutes                         .ReminderSet = True                     End If                 End If             End If             ' Add the Category if it exists             .Categories = Nz(rst!Categories)             ' Save the Appointment Item Properties             .Save         End With         ' Get the number of Appointments added to Outlook         intCount = intCount + 1

8 ) Set the AddedToOutlook Field to True for each Appointment added to Outlook

We have been using the Recordset to add data to Outlook. Now we will change that and use the same Recordset to add data to the Appointment Table.

' Set the AddedToOutlook Field to True         rst.Edit ' We want to edit existing records         rst!AddedToOutlook = -1 ' True         rst.Update ' With DAO we must remember to use Update         ' Move to the Next Record         rst.MoveNext     ' Here is where you loop back to the     ' beginning of the Recordset     Loop

9 ) Release Memory

' The Loop is finished so release the     ' memory used for the variables.     Set objAppointItem = Nothing     Set objOutlook = Nothing     Set rst = Nothing     Set db = Nothing

10 ) Inform the User

If we did not let the user know that the Appointments were added to Outlook then would see no sign that they had been added to Outlook. They would have to open their Outlook Calendar to verify that the Appointments had been added. Since we are trying to save the user time we keep them informed.

' Tell the user how many Appointments were Exported     MsgBox intCount & " Appointments were added to Outlook.", vbInformation End Sub

We have shown you how to create, open, and use a DAO Recordset to get data from Access and also use the same Recordset to Add data to Access. Recordsets are a popular and powerful feature of Access for which you can find many uses. Now you can use the Dialog Form with other Forms, Reports, and Databases.

Our next article will feature making our Dialog Form more powerful and giving the user more choices. We will build a more complex SQL "WHERE" Statement and use a ListBox to select the exact Appointments we want to Export.

To download the code used in this article visit our Free CodeSamples Page. While you are there, you can download the Free Access Pop-up Calendar--the easiest calendar I have ever used. It has no "Reference" problems because it is an Access Form.

To download the full Appointment Database become a Premium Member with Total Access.

Happy computing,
Patrick (Pat) Wood
Gaining Access
Church Management Software Solutions

]]> http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/?p=357 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:50:20 +0000 dougaj4 http://newtonexcelbach.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/drawing-in-excel-6-getting-shape-properties/ Previous post

One of the less than useful new "features" of Excel 2007 is that its macro recorder no longer records operations on shapes, which removes the easiest way to discover the exact names of shape properties, and how to manipulate them.  The file ShapeProps.zip contains a spreadheet with a User Defined Function (UDF) that will return a list of property names, and the values for each property, for any named shape.  In addition it will generate VBA code to read aditional properties if the correct property names are inserted in a list on the spreadsheet.

 

The UDF currently reads 94 different properties, which can either be returned as a column array of all 94 values, or if a list of property numbers is entered only the listed property values will be returned.  See the screen shot below for examples.

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="468" caption="ShapeProp() Output"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_359" align="aligncenter" width="468" caption="ShapeProp() code generation sheet"][/caption] ]]> http://experibiz.wordpress.com/?p=17 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:21:28 +0000 experibiz http://experibiz.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/writing-chemical-equations-in-excel-the-easy-way-no-ions/ I find it very tedious to write a chemical formulas and equations because of the subscripts, so I decided to create a VBA code in Excel which handles just that. It worked fine, until I realized that it won't have any benefit since I've done it in Excel, and lesson plans and the likes are almost always done in Word.

Well, recently, I showed this to my colleague and he suggested pasting the transformed equation from Excel to Word with the hope that the right format will be preserved. Guess what, it worked. That's why I'm sharing it now.

My code however, won't work with equations that involve ions, and fractional coefficients but I'm already working on it. Hopefully, I can post another set of code in the future which could be used for both ionic and non-ionic chemical formula.

Here is an example of a chemical equation that can be formatted automatically. Just take note that the spaces between the compounds, + and -> are required to be formatted properly.

CH4 + 2O2 -> CO2 + 2H2O

Here are the steps (MS Excel 2003).

1. Open a blank worksheet.
2. If the Visual Basic Toolbar is not visible do the following: View ->Toolbars->Visual Basic
3. On the Visual Basic Toolbar, click on Visual Basic Editor
4. On the Menubar of Visual Basic, click Insert ->Module
5. Copy the code below and paste inside the module.

Sub write_chem()

For Each rng In Selection
mystring = rng.Value
Length = Len(mystring)
For i = 1 To Length
char = Mid(mystring, i, 1)
If i <> 1 Then
charfound = found(Mid(mystring, i - 1, 1))
Else
charfound = True
End If

On Error Resume Next
x = Int(char)
If Err <> 13 And charfound = False Then
rng.Characters(i, 1).Font.Subscript = True
Else
rng.Font.Subscript = False
End If
Next i
Next rng

End Sub

Function found(char As String) As Boolean
Dim mylist As Variant

mylist = Array(" + " , " . " , " - ", Space(1))

For i = 0 To 4
If mylist(i) = char Then
found = True
Exit For
Else
found = False
End If
Next i
End Function

6. Close the Visual Basic Editor
7. On the Visual Basic Toolbar, click Control Toolbox -> Command button
8. Draw a command button on the worksheet
9. Double-click the command button to open again the Visual Basic Editor.
10. Within the Private Sub and End Sub, type write_chem. Your code should look something like the one below

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()
write_chem
End Sub

11. Close the Visual Basic Editor
12. On the Visual Basic Toolbar, click Exit Design Mode
13. Type  Chemical Equations or formula in Excel.
14. Select the cell/s and click the command button to format it correctly. Try H2SO4 and 2CCl4 as examples
15. For the 2CCl4, notice that the number 4 became a subscript while the number 2 was preserved.
16. You can now paste the formatted equations or formula in MS Word.
17. When you are using this code, write all the chemical formulas/equations first in Excel then format everything before you paste them to Word.

I'll be working on the code for the superscripts next time. For now, please enjoy.

By the way and as always, please feel free to comment. And if you need the worksheet please give me your email address so I can send it to you. Cheers!!!

]]> http://excelling.wordpress.com/?p=36 Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:53:15 +0000 parkercpa http://excelling.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/referring-to-rows-columns/ In the previous post I spoke about referring to cells and ranges of cells, but in the instance you need to refer to an entire row or an entire column you can do so with what was learned previously, but it would be rather cumbersome. Visual Basic has a way for us to so simply. The format is just like what we used when referring to a range, but instead of the word Range we'll use the word Rows or Columns. A couple of examples are:

[sourcecode language='vb']
Rows(1) 'refers to row 1
Columns(1) 'refers to column 1 or you can use...
Columns("A") 'again refers to the 1st column and has to have the quotes
Columns 'no numbers or letters refers to ALL columns on the worksheet
[/sourcecode]

You can also select multiple rows or columns by separating with commas like the following examples:

[sourcecode language='vb']
Rows("1:1,3:3") 'refers to multiple non-contiguous rows, i.e. row 1 AND row 3
Rows("1:3") 'refers to multiple contiguous rows, i.e. rows 1 THROUGH 3
[/sourcecode]

In my next post I'll show you a shortcut notation for referring to cells.

]]> http://excelling.wordpress.com/?p=32 Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:06:58 +0000 parkercpa http://excelling.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/referring-to-cells-and-ranges-of-cells/ Now that you've got a workbook open, it is very likely that one of the first things you'll need to do is to refer to a cell or a range of cells in order to put data there or to manipulate the data that is already there. It takes one simple line of code to do so and the format is as follows: Range("cell range"). Following is a number of variations to select a number of different ranges.

[sourcecode language='vb']
Range("A1")  'select cell A1
Range("A1:B2") 'select cells from A1 through B2
Range("A1:B2,A3:B3")  'select a non-contiguous range of cells
Range("A:A") 'select column A
Range("1:1") 'select row 1[/sourcecode]

The hardest part for me to remember is the quotation marks. It is very similar to using a 'sum' formula in the way you present the cells in the parenthesis...just remember the quotes. This is the most common way you will see a range of cells or a single cell referred to when looking at VBA code. This is called the A1 notation obviously because it refers to cells using the letter (for the column) and number (for the row).

Sometimes it makes sense to refer to cells in a different way using index numbers. What that means is using numbers to refer to both the column and the row.  The confusing part for me is that the notation gets reversed from what you are used to when using the A1 notation. A1 notation starts with the letter, i.e. the column, and then the number, i.e. the row. Using the index number reverses that, referring to the row first and then the column. Other than only seeing numbers to clue you in that the index numbers are being used as opposed to A1 notation, the word 'range' is also not used. Instead the word 'cell' is used.

The reason for this type of notation is that it is useful when using a counter or other method, such as looping to increment the cell location you are referring to. Below is an example used in Excel's help file to show the use of the Index Notation:

[sourcecode language='vb']
Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(6,1).Value = 10[/sourcecode]

This line of code tells Excel to find the cell that is in the 6th row and 1st column (Cell A6 using A1 notation)on Sheet1 and make its value equal to 10. Excel's help file goes on to show an example of how this would be used if it were looped by showing the following code:

[sourcecode language='vb']
Sub CycleThrough()
    Dim Counter As Integer
    For Counter = 1 To 20
Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(Counter, 3).Value = Counter
    Next Counter
End Sub[/sourcecode]

If you were going through the help file this would show you a number of things that would be completely new to you that wouldn't make any sense but I think it is simple enough that you could get the jist of how it would be used.  Since I've put the code out there I will explain the steps that this code is running through in English.

Sub CycleThrough() is the opening of the VBA code. All code starts with the word Sub and then the name of the macro followed with the open and closed partenthesis.

Dim Counter As Integer. This tells Excel to create a variable called Counter and make that variable an integer.

For Counter = 1 To 20. This starts a For Next loop and tells Excel that for every time you go through this loop find the variable named Counter and assign it the value of 1 until you get to the 'Next' line. Then use the value of 2, then 3, then 4 and so on until 20 is reached.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(Counter, 3).Value = Counter.  This is where the value of the Counter plays its part. The first time through the loop Excel has assigned the value of 1 to the variable Counter.  In essence you can invision this line of code rewritten with the number 1 in the place of the word Counter.  The first time through this loop Excel will find the cell that is in the first row down and third column over (this would be cell C1) on Sheet1 and make it value equal to 1, which is the value currently being held for the variable Counter. The next time the loop runs through it will move to cell C2, the 2nd row down and 3rd column over, and make its value equal to 2.

Next Counter. This moves the code back up to the For Counter line and increments the number up by one.

End Sub. This ends the code.

That gets off the topic a bit, but it does show how and why you would use this variation of notation to refer to a cell.

]]> http://accesstips.wordpress.com/?p=141 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:03:12 +0000 Patrick Wood http://accesstips.ar.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/how-to-get-a-date-build-a-microsoft-access-date-dialog-form/ In our last Article we showed you how to export custom data from a Form to an Outlook Appointment in the Outlook Calendar.  But what if we want to save time and export several appointments to the Outlook Calendar?  If we just used a Recordset and exported them all, there would be duplicate Appointments.  We may not need to send last Month’s Appointments to Outlook.  It would be very nice to be able to select the Appointments we want to put in Outlook.  But how can we do that?

 We will show you how you can create a Custom Dialog Form to select exactly the Appointments you want to put in your Outlook Calendar.   When the series is finished you will have 3 different methods to drill down to just the data you want.

 If you have never created a dialog form, you are reading the right article.  We will take it step by step so you can do this again when you need a dialog form to handle other data.  First, we will show you how to make it easy for the user to select Appointments by selecting a single date or a range of dates.  Second, we will show you how to filter a specific field so you do not see categories of Appointments you do not want. Then we will show you how to use a Multi-select ListBox to pick each Appointment you want.  We will show you how to make a Dialog Form to filter your data by dates.  This is something that you can use many times as you use and develop Access Databases.

 Next, add an unbound combo box, and put "Select Dates:" in the label.  Name the combo box " cboDateRanges".  In the combo box’s property sheet, click the Data tab, change the Row Source Type to Value List and paste the following into the Row Source line:

All;Today;Yesterday;Last Sunday;This Month;This Quarter;This Year;Last Month;Last Quarter;Last Year;Month to Date;Quarter to Date;Year to Date;Last 12 Months;January ;February ;March ; April ;May ;June ;July ;August ;September ;
October ;November ;December

 Then set the Limit To List Property to "Yes".  Later we will add some code to this combobox’s AfterUpdate Event that will get all of these date selections for us.

Now add three unbound textboxes and change their labels to match this image:

Leave a little extra space above and below the Single Date textbox.

Next we need to add 3 Calendar buttons to our form which open the Pop-up Calendar when clicked.  We can use the little Calendar images by themselves or add the image to a command button.   You can copy the image from here and use it yourself if you like.   We will need to place the Calendar Buttons like this:

And above the first textbox we need to add a command button.  After you put the button on the form the Wizard opens up.  Click the "Cancel" button.  Name the button "btnExportApptByDates" and change the caption to "Export By Dates".

After changing the Form’s Caption to "Export Appointments to Outlook" and adding some labels with solid backgrounds and some lines and rectangles it makes our Form more pleasing to the eye and easier to use.  Now we can begin adding code.

Open the "Dates Selected" textbox’s Properties Sheet. Click the other tab and name the textbox txtDateSelection.  We will display the dates selected there. 

Name the "One Date" textbox txtOneDate and the image or button beside it btnOneDate.   Name the "Start Date" textbox txtStartDate and the image or button beside it btnStartDate and name the "End Date" textbox txtEndDate and the button btnEndDate. 

For the Calendar Buttons we will first get a global variable to add the date to the textbox control—in this case the txtOneDate textbox. 

The first line of code sets the variable and the second line of code opens the Pop-up Calendar Form.  The Calendar is actually an Access Form so you do not have to worry about versions, broken References, and dll files.  You can find the link to my site to download the free Calendar along with the code and Module at the end of this article.

If we have previously left dates in the other textboxes we want to clear them.  So the procedure will look like this:

We are using vbNullString instead of "" because vbNullString does not use as much memory and it makes it clear exactly what we are doing.

You can set the code for the other two Calendar buttons similarly.

After the Calendar adds the date to the textbox, it sets the focus on it also.  This gives us an opportunity to do some necessary work with code.  The most important things we need to do is format the date for use in a query and add it to the Date Selected textbox.

Dates in Access require the # "delimiters".  This tells Access that the value between the # characters are dates or time values. 

After dates are added to the Start Date or the End Date, there is a little more work to do before we can use the dates.  We want to be sure that the Start Date is not later than the End Date.  The CDate Function converts the textbox's String to a DateTime DataType so we can make sure that the Dates will work correctly.  If we did not convert the string into a date, we would be geting the alphabetical String order instead of the numeric Date order. 

Almost identical code is used after the End Date is added to the textbox.

I saved the best code for last.  When you make a selection in the Select Dates combobox it adds the right dates to either the One Date textbox or the Start Date and End Date textboxes.  We named the combobox cboDateRanges.  It uses a very helpful bit of code that you may need to use many times.  We use the combobox's AfterUpdate Event to get the right dates in the right places.

You may wonder how the code can get the last day of a certain month or the date of last Sunday for example.  Actually it is not very hard at all.  The code gets the first day of the next Month and subtracts one day to get the last day of the Previous Month.  It works similarly to get last Sunday or any day of the week.  For more information about the code look up DateSerial in Access VBA Help.

The Dialog Form is almost ready to use with Date Selection.  In our next article in this series we will show you how to build a SQL "Where" string and how to loop through a Recordset to add Appointments from the selected Date Range to the Outlook Calendar.

You can download the Free Pop-up Calendar used in this article from our Gaining Access website's Free Downloads Page.

Premium Members get Total Access to download the databases used in the articles as well as other free downloads. 

Happy computing,
Patrick (Pat) Wood
Gaining Access
Church Management Software Solutions