Here is a quick macro tip that I stumbled on to while debugging some code yesterday (ya, ya, call me workaholic for coding on a weekend…)
You can select expressions in your code and place mouse pointer on that for a second to find what value it evaluates to (of course, this works only on break-point).
I think the above line has too much jargon, so watch this short animation to understand:
PS: You can add break points to your code by clicking on the left margin next to the line of code where you want a break point, like this:
When you add a break point to your code, excel will stop running the code at that point and brings you back to VB Editor so that you can find out if everything is going alright.
Share your favorite macro debugging techniques:
I use a variety of techniques when debugging macros. Most of the time I use break points, watches. Sometimes I use the msgbox to display the values I want to see while the code is running or print them to immediate window. What about you?
I am thinking of compiling all the debugging techniques people use in one post. So please share your tricks thru comments.
3 Responses to “CP049: Don’t do data dumps!!!”
Your title got me nervous because I'm all about data dumps, but not for attaching graphics to data dumps. My reason for using data dumps is when someone is trying to do analysis and their starting point is a report that's formatted in a way for a human to read. I instruct them to stop with the report and go get a data dump: just rows and columns and rows and columns.
Agreed, nearly all of my reports start with 100+ lines of simple table data.
That way you can build your functionality around pulling information from that tabled information.
Yes yes!