About the Book

Chris Albright’s VBA FOR MODELERS, 4TH EDITION is an essential tool for helping students learn to use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) as a means to automate common spreadsheet tasks, as well as to create sophisticated management science applications. VBA is the programming language for Microsoft® Office. VBA FOR MODELERS contains two parts. The first part teaches students the essentials of VBA for Excel. The second part illustrates how a number of management science models can be automated with VBA. From a user’s standpoint, these applications hide the details of the management science techniques and instead present a simple user interface for inputs and results.

About the Author

S. Christian Albright S. Christian Albright received his B.S. degree in mathematics from Stanford in 1968 and his Ph.D. in operations research from Stanford in 1972. Since then, he has been teaching in the Operations and Decision Technologies Department in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He has taught courses in management science, computer simulation, and statistics to all levels of business students: undergraduates, MBAs, and doctoral students. His current interest is in spreadsheet modeling, including development of VBA applications in Excel®. Dr. Albright has published more than 20 articles in leading operations research journals in the area of applied probability. He has also published a number of successful textbooks, including DATA ANALYSIS AND DECISION MAKING, DATA ANALYSIS FOR MANAGERS, and SPREADSHEET MODELING AND APPLICATIONS.

Table of Contents:
Part I: VBA FUNDAMENTALS. 1. Introduction to VBA Development in Excel. Introduction. VBA in Excel 2007 and 2010. Example Applications. Decision Support Systems. Required Background. Visual Basic Versus VBA. Some Basic Terminology. Summary. 2. The Excel Object Model. Introduction. Objects, Properties, Methods, and Events. Collections as Objects. The Hierarchy of Objects. Object Models in General. Summary. 3. The Visual Basic Editor. Introduction. Important Features of the VBE. The Object Browser. The Immediate and Watch Windows. A First Program. Intellisense. Color Coding and Case. Finding Subs in the VBE. Summary. 4. Recording Macros. Introduction. How to Record a Macro. Changes from Excel 2007 to Excel 2010. Recorded Macro Examples. Summary. 5. Getting Started with VBA. Introduction. Subroutines. Declaring Variables and Constants. Built-In Constants. Input Boxes and Message Boxes. Message Boxes with Yes and No Buttons. Using Excel Functions in VBA. Comments. Indenting. Strings. Specifying Objects, Properties, and Methods. With Construction. Other Useful VBA Tips. Good Programming Practices. Debugging. Summary. 6. Working with Ranges. Introduction. Exercise. Important Properties and Methods of Ranges. Referencing Ranges with VBA. Examples of Ranges with VBA. Range Names and Their Scope. Summary. 7. Control Logic and Loops. Introduction. Exercise. If Constructions. Case Constructions. For Loops. For Each Loops. Do Loops. Summary. 8. Working with Other Excel Objects. Introduction. Exercise. Collections and Members of Collections. Examples of Workbooks in VBA. Examples of Worksheets in VBA. Examples of Charts in VBA. Summary. 9. Arrays. Introduction. Exercise. The Need for Arrays. Rules for Working with Arrays. Examples of Arrays in VBA. Array Functions. Summary. 10. More on Variables and Subroutines. Introduction. Exercise. Scope of Variables and Subroutines. Modularizing Programs. Passing Arguments. Function Subroutines. The Workbook Open Event Handler. Summary. 11. User Forms Introduction. Exercise. Designing User Forms. Setting Properties of Controls. Creating a User Form Template. Writing Event Handlers. Displaying a User Form. Looping Through the Controls on a User Form. Working with List Boxes. Modal and Modeless. Working with Excel Controls. Summary. 12. Error Handling. Introduction. Error Handling with On Error Statement. Handling Inappropriate User Inputs. Summary. 13. Working with Files and Folders. Introduction. Exercise. Dialog Boxes for File Operations. The File System Object. A File Renaming Example. Working with Text Files. Summary. 14. Importing Data into Excel from a Database. Introduction. Exercise. A Brief Introduction to Relational Databases. A Brief Introduction to SQL. ActiveX Data Objects (ADO). Discussion of the Sales Orders Exercise. Summary. 15. Working with Pivot Tables and Tables. Introduction. Working with Pivot Tables Manually. Working with Pivot Tables Using VBA. An Example. Working with Excel Tables Manually. Working with Excel Tables with VBA. Summary. 16. Working with Ribbons, Menus, and Toolbars. Introduction. Customizing Ribbons in Excel 2010. Using RibbonX and XML to Customize Ribbons. Using RibbonX to Customize the QAT. CommandBar and Related Office Objects. A Grading Program Example. Summary. 17. Automating Solver and Other Applications. Introduction. Exercise. Automating Solver with VBA. Possible Solver Problems. Programming with Risk Solver Platform. Automating Palisade Add-Ins with VBA. Automating Other Office Applications with VBA. Summary. 18. User-Defined Types, Enumerations, Collections, and Classes. User-Defined Types. Enumerations. Collections. Classes. Summary. Part II: VBA MANAGEMENT SCIENCE APPLICATIONS. 19. Basic Ideas for Application Development with VBA. Introduction. Guidelines for Application Development. A Car Loan Application. Summary. 20. A Blending Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Forms. The Module. Summary. 21. A Product Mix Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form. The Module. Summary. 22. A Worker Scheduling Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form. The Module. Summary. 23. A Production Planning Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Forms. The Module. Summary. 24. A Transportation Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Access Database. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form and Its Event Handlers. The VBA Code in the Module. Summary. 25. A Stock Trading Simulation Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The Module. Summary. 26. A Capital Budgeting Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form. The Module. Summary. 27. A Regression Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form. The Module. Summary. 28. An Exponential Utility Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form. The Module. Summary. 29. A Queuing Simulation Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The Structure of a Queuing Simulation. The Module. Summary. 30. An Option Pricing Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Form. The Module. Summary. 31. An Application for Finding Betas of Stocks. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Forms. The Module. Summary. 32. A Portfolio Optimization Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Web Queries in Excel. Setting Up the Excel Sheets. Getting Started with the VBA. The User Forms. The Module. Summary. 33. A Data Envelopment Analysis Application. Introduction. Functionality of the Application. Running the Application. Setting Up the Excel Sheets and the Text File. Getting Started with the VBA. Getting Data from a Text File. The Module. Summary. Index