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SQL with Excel

M

mrzoogle

Member
Hi All,


I would like to extend my excel skill by being able to use SQL in excel & VBA in more advanced way. I have no idea about SQL and not sure if that would be a good time investment. I was looking for some basics stuff on the net and couldn't find something interesting. Can you guys help me with some books or where to begin.


About VBA I have some books I've been reading (VBA for dummies,). Can you help me with some books or website where i can do step by step learning basics to advanced.


Thank you everyone.
 
For both SQL and VBA, I'd recommend a sort of hands on approach. For me, it's easier to learn something if it's something that I'm actually using. With that said, for VB, try recording macros of yourself doing different actions. Then, look through the coding, and try to follow along with what's going on. Tweak the coding...see if you can figure out what variables do what.


Similarly, SQL is usually used for queries. You can use the Query wizard to build a basic query, and then ask to look at the SQL language used.


If you want to stick w/ books & websites, I'd recommend anything by John Walkenbach (he has written several extensive books), www.dailydoseofexcel.com, or www.spreadsheetpage.com
 
I would definitely agree with Luke about the hands on approach to learning. Learning by necessity is great advice! Build a model in Excel that uses macros. Record macros (don't forget about the stop recording button!!) and then learn how to add looping to your code for example. Macro recorder is very basic but gives you some insights into the syntax. There is a ton of vba sample code on the internet (i.e. google: "Excel vba"). Get 1 or 2 good books to or take some online training (I believe Chandoo has a vba course). Concerning SQL, learn the basic concepts (i.e. what a join is, what a where clause is, what a group by query is etc.) and then import some data and start thinking of ways to cut the data using queries. http://www.w3schools.com/sql/ is a great resource for syntax examples.
 
Hi ,


Both Luke and Kevin have given sound advice ; my comment is more in the way of clarifying your objectives in learning SQL.


SQL is related to databases ; if your work is as an end-user , and not really connected with databases , SQL may not be a good investment.


If you are not an end-user , but into developing applications for others , then SQL would give you more options. But even here , I would say that marrying SQL and Excel is not justified , unless you need the computational power and ease of Excel. SQL and Access go hand in hand , so if you really want to shift to Database Management , you need to learn about DBMS in general ( Access can be a good starting point ) and SQL.


Narayan
 
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