Monthly Archives: August 2009

Excel: Dynamic formulae

By | August 15, 2009

I was asked yesterday if there was a way to populate a worksheet with formulae as the user (third party) was adding data. This would stop the need for the worksheet to be pre-populated with formulae or require the user to add the formulae – especially if there were a data input clerk only. So… Read More »

Sean’s Problem Number 1

By | August 14, 2009

Well Sean, here a solution to the first of your problems :-). I’ll explain the code (although you can just use the spreadsheet attached at the end of this article). For those not familiar with this, Sean has a simple problem, in that while entering part numbers for OLE equipment in on worksheet he wish… Read More »

Chapter 2: A simple custom menu (AutoSave)

By | August 13, 2009

I thought that this time I would give you something useful for a change, so while implementing a simple custom menu we’ll create a wizard that provides an auto save feature for the IDE. With this second chapter I’m changing tact and instead of screen shots I’ll include the source code (syntax highlighted). This means… Read More »

Excel VBA Functions

By | August 12, 2009

It occurred to me after I had written the previous article that I didn’t explain to those who don’t know, how to write the VBA function – so there’s the solution. First you need to open the Visual Basic Editor by either selecting it from the menu (Tools | Macros | Visual Basic Editor) or… Read More »

Future Open Tools API Topics

By | August 7, 2009

I thought that I would write out a list of topics that I can cover, although there isn’t necessarily any meaning in the order of this list. So here’s the list: IDE Menus (including shortcuts); Useful Open Tools Utility functions; Reading editor code; Writing editor code; Syntax Highlighters; Editor Notifiers; Keyboard bindings; Dockable forms; Project… Read More »

Chapter 1: Starting an Open Tools API Project

By | August 7, 2009

Before You Start Think about your audience  Before you start, its a good idea to think a little about the management of the project files. Although you may think that you’ll build this add-in for you current version of the IDE, if you up grade and require backward compatibility (or choose to distribute your add-in)… Read More »

T-Mobile Broadband – Part 2

By | August 6, 2009

Having come home from work on the wrong train and ending up in Coventry I thought I would try the mobile broadband again. There are 3G networks available from all the other major competitors but no T-Mobile network. I’ll keep trying until Sunday evening and if the situation hasn’t changed I’ll cancel the thing 🙁