Rapid Application Development / Advanced Excel Development

VBA Best Practice

There is a lot of information floating around about how to get various things done in VBA, how to make the best use, or sometimes just the most use of VBA and Excel.
This section aims to add an element of Quality and Best Practices. These are just general guidelines, a professional developer will always assess the options and make the appropriate choice in their specific situation.
These suggestions are specific to Excel VBA in commercial settings, many will not translate to other technologies or other settings.

VBA Best Practice Series

High Quality Code - Excel 1

• It is usually dangerous to hardcode a range reference in VBA.
• Use range names to connect code to worksheet ranges
• Choose a single cell range name as a start point
• Choose a multi-cell range to allow the user to insert/delete rows/columns
• Use in cell text where possible, closely ties the mechanics to what the user uses.
• Always check cell text thoroughly before depending on it
• Note data validation is easily bypassed
• Give sheets meaningful code names and use them
• Take the first few rows and columns for system use, hide them if necessary
• Check the selection type with typeOf if you are going to use it.
• Generally avoid selecting and copying - set values instead where possible.
• Be clear and explicit which workbook and worksheet code should operate on, especially ThisWorkbook v ActiveWorkbook for add-ins.