Microsoft Excel VBA: Workbooks

	Workbooks

Workbooks Fundamentals

Introduction

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.

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

Creating a Workbook

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.

Saving Workbooks

Introduction

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.

The Default File Location

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.

Saving a Workbook

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.

Managing Workbooks

Opening Workbooks

The ability to programmatically open a workbook is handled by the Workbooks collection. To support this, the Workbooks class is equipped with a method named Open. Its syntax is:

Workbooks.Open(FileName,
	       UpdateLinks,
	       ReadOnly,
	       Format,
	       Password,
	       WriteResPassword,
	       IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended,
	       Origin,
	       Delimiter,
	       Editable,
	       Notify,
	       Converter,
	       AddToMru,
	       Local,
	       CorruptLoad)

FileName is the only required argument. When calling this method, you must provide the name of the file or its path. This means that you can provide a file name with its extension. Here is an example:

Private Sub cmdOpenWorkbook_Click()
    Workbooks.Open "SchoolRecords.xlsx"
End Sub

If you provide only the name of a file, Microsoft Excel would look for it in the current directory or in My Documents (Documents in Windows Vista). If Microsoft Excel cannot file the file, you would receive an error:

Error

As you can imagine, a better alternative is to provide a complete path to the file.

Microsoft Excel as an MDI

To support the ability the programmatically access a workbook, the Workbook class is equipped with a method named Activate. Its syntax is:

Workbook.Activate()

This method takes no argument. Therefore, to call it, you can get a reference to the workbook you want to access, then call the Activate() method. Here is an example:

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

You can also do this with less code by applying the index directly to the Workbooks collection. Here is an example:

Private Sub cmdSelectWorkbook_Click()
    Workbooks(2).Activate
End Sub

Viewing Many Workbooks

To programmatically refer to a workbook, access the Item property and pass either the index or the file name of the workbook to it. Here is an example:

Private Sub cmdSelectWorkbook_Click()
    Workbooks.Item (2)
End Sub

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