1. Start Microsoft Excel
2. From the resources that accompany these lessons, open the CPAR1 workbook
3. To save it, press F12
4. In the Save As Type combo box, select Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm)
5. Accept the name of the file and click Save
6. On the ribbon, click Developer
7. In the Controls section, click Insert
8. In the ActiveX Controls section, click Command Button (ActiveX Control)
9. Click the empty area in the lower-left section of the worksheet
10. Right-click the newly added button and click Properties
11. Change its properties as follows:
    (Name): cmdNewAutoRepair
    Caption: New Auto Repair
12. Move and enlarge the button
     
    
13. Right-click the button and click View Code
14. Write the code as follows:
     

    Option Explicit Private AutoRepairExists As Boolean Private Sub cmdNewAutoRepair_Click() AutoRepairExists = False End Sub

15. Return to Microsoft Excel

In the VBA language, a workbook is an object that belongs to a collection called Workbooks. Each workbook of the Workbooks collection is an object of type Workbook, which is a class.

As seen in the previous lesson with regards to collections, each workbook of the Workbooks collection can be identified using the Item property. To programmatically refer to a workbook, access the Item property and pass either the index or the file name of the workbook to it.

After referring to a workbook, if you want to perform an action on it, you must get a reference to it. To do this, declare a Workbook variable and assign the calling Item() to it. This would be done as follows:

Private Sub cmdSelectWorkbook_Click()
    Dim SchoolRecords As Workbook
    
    Set SchoolRecords = Workbooks.Item(2)
End Sub

When it starts, Microsoft Excel creates a default blank workbook for you. Instead of using an existing workbook or while you are working on another workbook, at any time, you can create a new workbook.

As mentioned already, a workbook is an object of type Workbook and it is part of the Workbooks collection. To support the ability to create a new workbook, the Workbooks collection is equipped with a method named Add. Its syntax is:

Workbooks.Add(Template) As Workbook

You start with the Workbooks class, a period, and the Add method. This method takes only one argument but the argument is optional. This means that you can call the method without an argument and without parentheses. Here is an example:

Private Sub cmdNewWorkbook_Click()
    Workbooks.Add
End Sub

When the method is called like this, a new workbook would be created and presented to you. After creating a workbook, you may want to change some of its characteristics. To prepare for this, notice that the Add() method returns a Workbook object. Therefore, when creating a workbook, get a reference to it. To do this, assign the called method to a Workbook variable. Here is an example:

Private Sub cmdNewWorkbook_Click()
    Dim SchoolRecords As Workbook
    
    Set SchoolRecords = Workbooks.Add
End Sub

After doing this, you can then use the new variable to change the properties of the workbook.

After working on a new workbook, you can save it. After programmatically creating a workbook, if you want to keep it when the user closes Microsoft Excel or when the computer shuts down, you must save it. You and the user have the option of using the Save As dialog box.

When the user starts saving a file, the Save As dialog box displays, showing the contents of the (My) Documents folder. To find out what the default folder is, you can click the Office button and click Excel Options. In the Excel Options dialog box, check the content of the Default File Location text box:

To support the ability to programmatically change the default folder, the Application class is equipped with a property named DefaultFilePath. Therefore, to programmatically specify the default folder, assign its string to the Application.DefaultFilePath property. Here is an example:

Private Sub Exercise()
    Application.DefaultFilePath = "C:\Georgetown Dry Cleaning Services"
End Sub

When this code has executed, the Default File Location of the Excel Options dialog box would be changed.

To visually save a workbook, you can click the Office Button and click Save. You can also press Ctrl + S. If the document was saved already, it would be saved behind the scenes without your doing anything else.

To support the ability to programmatically save a workbook, the Workbook class is equipped with a method named Save. Its syntax is:

Workbook.Save()

As you can see, this method takes no argument. If you click the Office Button and click Save or if you call the Workbook.Save() method on a work that was not saved yet, you would be prompted to provide a name to the workbook.

To save a workbook to a different location, you can click the Office Button, position the mouse on Save As and select from the presented options. You can also press F12. To assist you with programmatically saving a workbook, the Workbook class is equipped with a method named SaveAs. Its syntax is:

Workbook.SaveAs(FileName,
		FileFormat,
		Password,
		WriteResPassword,
		ReadOnlyRecommended,
		CreateBackup,
		AccessMode,
		ConflictResolution,
		AddToMru,
		TextCodepage,
		TextVisualLayout,
		Local)

The first argument is the only required one. It holds the name or path to the file. Therefore, you can provide only a name of the file with extension when you call it. Here is an example:

Private Sub cmdNewWorkbook_Click()
    Dim SchoolRecords As Workbook
    
    Set SchoolRecords = Workbooks.Add
    
    SchoolRecords.SaveAs "SchoolRecords.xlsx"
End Sub

If you provide only the name of a file when calling this method, the new workbook would be saved in the current directory or in My Documents (Documents in Windows Vista). If you want, an alternative is to provide a complete path to the file. 

1. In the Controls section of the Ribbon, click Insert
2. In the ActiveX Controls section, click Command Button
3. On the worksheet, click under the previously added button
4. Using the Properties window, change the characteristics of the button as follows:
   (Name): cmdSaveAutoRepair
   Caption: Save and Close Auto Repair
5. Move and enlarge the button appropriately:
    
   
6. Right-click the button and click View Code
7. Write its code as follows:
    

   Private Sub cmdSaveAutoRepair_Click() ActiveWorkbook.Save End Sub

8. Return to Microsoft Excel

1. In the Controls section of the Ribbon, click Insert
2. In the ActiveX Controls section, click Command Button
3. On the worksheet, click on the right side of Invoice #
4. Using the Properties window, change the characteristics of the button as follows:
   (Name): cmdOpenAutoRepair
   Caption: open Auto Repair
5. Move and enlarge the button appropriately:
    
   
6. Right-click the button and click View Code
7. Write its code as follows:
    

   Private Sub cmdOpenAutoRepair_Click() Workbooks.Open = "1000.xlsm" End Sub

After using a workbook or to dismiss a document you don't need, you can close it. To support this operation, the Workbook class is equipped with a method named Close. Its syntax is:

Public Sub Close(Optional ByVal SaveChanges As Boolean,
		 Optional ByVal Filename As String,
		 Optional ByVal RouteWorkbook As Boolean)

All three arguments are optional. The first argument indicates whether you want to save the changes, if any have been made on the workbook since it was opened. If no change had been made since the time the workbook was created or since the last time it was opened, this argument is not considered.

If the first argument is set to True and the workbook has changes that need to be save, the second argument specifies the name of the file to save the workbook to.

The third argument specifies whether the workbook should be sent to the next user.