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Will VBA Die? (2019)

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Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#101

Post by fbender »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #83
markus_zhang wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, it would take a lot of effort to maintain that 30K+ lines of VBA application. But I think that's because the infrastructure at that time was archaic. If it's today you would probably ditch Access for SQL Server and build reports with something more modern.

Maintaining VBA code is probably easier than maintaining C code. You have all the tools to structure things nicely. You even have classes. One problem is that you can’t version control Excel or Access code. I think that’s the biggest weakness.

I found this gem: https://www.xltrail.com/ – I have not used it yet but from the looks it‘s a great solution to our vicious circle of (no) maintenance at work :D

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#102

Post by atesti »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #21
sn_master wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they break that recently ?

They keep compatibility but abandon a lot of stuff. If they switch to JavaScript VBA development will slow to almost nothing and it will take years for the JavaScript stuff to catch up, if ever. Something similar happened with visual studio. 2008 was really nice, very customizable and fast. Then they redid everything in 2010 and the result was slower with way less capability. And even now there are still a lot of fea…

I also love vs2008 over vs2010 and still use it for some projects just because it feels so nice and snappy.

But which features exactly are missing in vs2010 that were in vs2008 (except the snappy feeling)? I have not actually noticed anything missing and would like to know more

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#103

Post by tonyedgecombe »

flomo wrote: post #88
animalnewbie wrote: post #82

I wish Microsoft would just make a CSA already, c# for apps. This would be a huge win on so many fronts that I am shocked they havent done it already. Increase C# mindshare. Better Lang means a better ecosystem. It's a free win. It's also an ad for office. I started appreciating Outlook and Excel once I had vba filters and maps

Very surprised after all these years (decades?) they have not done something like this. Basic has been a low priority at MS for a long time now.

It could have made for an interesting alternative to PowerShell as well.

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#104

Post by nikanj »

dokka wrote: post #27

I'm working on an excell addin right now. It doesn't use VBA (it uses microsoft interop libs for .NET) And I have zero interest in using VBA, but I will admit, it would have been much easier to do this project in VBA instead of C#. Debugging would have been easier. I could debug inside the VBA code-behind instead of Attaching to the excel process in Visual Studio. Deployment would have been easier. I could make an .x…

I'm curious, what's the upside of not using VBA? Aside from being cool, obviously :)

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#106

Post by buybackoff »

With ExcelDna, which is open source .NET library, has very fast C API and rich COM API, I don't know why one would use VBA for new dev. One commenter here said debugging of interop libs is hard, but my experience is quite opposite - it works nice from Visual Studio with normal F5.

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#107

Post by KineticLensman »

_bxg1 wrote: post #92

It's weird to me that we haven't settled on a common, stable, purpose-built high-level language specifically for business logic. Stuff that doesn't change much, that doesn't need to concern itself with the platform, only the business. That code should be portable to whatever shiny new underlying system gets invented; why does it keep having to be re-expressed every few years? The situation is much better (though stil…

Yes, and with an English-like syntax for ease of use by non-sw professionals. It could be called something like Common Business Oriented Language...

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#108

Post by stormdennis »

If they killed it today, then if VB6 is anything to go by, it will still be chugging along unconcernedly in 2050. VBA was a huge component of VB6, so it would be relatively easy ( I think) for MS to produce a 64 bit VB7.

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#109

Post by clausok »

kevas wrote: post #63

Nah... why should it? It works and it does what it needs to do and more if you decide to hook into the Windows API or Mac’s API. Want to parse 500mb structured XML file? Okay. Takes 3 seconds or so. I had a lot of fun creating a full featured & modern look & feel application using Excel’s VBA runtime as my platform. Sure... I had to create everything from scratch, but learned so much while doing it. Kind of miss it a…

Your Excel+vba application’s features remind me of when I joined an investment bank in 2000. I had come from an insurance company where I was considered the Excel\vba wizard, and I was impressed, in the extreme, by my new colleagues’ approach to Excel development. Even during the interview process I had realized that, when it came to vba, I was but a babe in the woods. They had auto-updating code (when you “published” code, all client workbooks downloaded the latest version), code-generated collection classes, interface inheritance, tests, error detection, higher-level functions via Application.Run(), self-contained worksheets with embedded vba code that would operate even if moved to a new workbook.

Inevitably, new hires would be unhappy that they did, in fact, have to write vba code all day and would argue for switching to a better language. Our team manager would say, "Vba gives us a superpower no other language does: we can deploy whatever we want, whenever we want, to whomever we want. In any other language, getting 'Hello World' in front of a user is a six month project."

Re: Will VBA Die? (2019)

#110

Post by animalnewbie »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #103
flomo wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very surprised after all these years (decades?) they have not done something like this. Basic has been a low priority at MS for a long time now.

It could have made for an interesting alternative to PowerShell as well.

Not a PS1 expert by any means but you have to spend some time with it to appreciate the design decisions. It's a very "wholesomely" designed language.

Try eg. The for each parallel construct which made me realize why the output in PS1 behaves how it does.

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