Why Excel Is Great for Developer's

Good Evening Webies, So all of you enjoyed the weekend ha, as I promised here comes my next article.
Since we had gone through the past its the time for us to check why Excel is great for Developers!!!!!

If you are not gone through the Evolution of SpreadSheets Read it Here>>>>>>

Why Excel Is Great for Developer's

Excel is a highly programmable product, and it’s easily the best choice for developing
spreadsheet-based applications.

For developers, Excel’s key features include the following:
 File structure: The multisheet orientation makes it easy to organize an application’s elements
and store them in a single file. For example, a single workbook file can hold any
number of worksheets and chart sheets. UserForms and VBA modules are stored with a
workbook but are invisible to the end user.
 Visual Basic for Applications: This macro language lets you create structured programs
directly in Excel. This book focuses on using VBA, which, as you’ll discover, is extremely
powerful and relatively easy to learn
Easy access to controls: Excel makes it very easy to add controls, such as buttons, list
boxes, and option buttons, to a worksheet. Implementing these controls often requires
little or no macro programming.
 Custom dialog boxes: You can easily create professional-looking dialog boxes by creating
UserForms.
 Custom worksheet functions: With VBA, you can create custom worksheet functions to
simplify formulas and calculations.
 Customizable user interface: Developers have lots of control over the user interface. In
previous versions, changing the interface involved creating custom menus and toolbars.
Beginning with Excel 2007, it involves modifying the Ribbon. Changing the Ribbon interface
is not as easy as it was in previous versions, but you can still do it.
 Customizable shortcut menus: Using VBA, you can customize the right-click, contextsensitive
shortcut menus.
 Powerful data analysis options: Excel’s PivotTable feature makes it easy to summarize
large amounts of data with very little effort. The data can reside in a worksheet or in an
external database.
 Microsoft Query: You can access important data directly from the spreadsheet environment.
Data sources include standard database file formats, text files, and Web pages.
Extensive protection options: Your applications can be kept confidential and protected
from changes by casual users.
 Ability to create add-ins: With a single command, you can create add-in files that bring
new features to Excel.
 Support for automation: With VBA, you can control other applications that support automation.
For example, your VBA macro can generate a report in Microsoft Word.
Ability to create Web pages: You can easily create a HyperText Markup Language
(HTML) document from an Excel workbook. The HTML is very bloated, but it’s readable
by Web browsers.

Excel’s Role in Microsoft’s Strategy

Currently, most copies of Excel are sold as part of Microsoft Office — a suite of products that
includes a variety of other programs. (The exact programs that you get depend on which version
of Office you buy.) Obviously, it helps if the programs can communicate well with each other.
Microsoft is at the forefront of this trend. All the Office products have extremely similar user
interfaces, and all support VBA.
Therefore, after you hone your VBA skills in Excel, you’ll be able to put them to good use in other
applications — you just need to learn the object model for the other applications.

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