This article is part of our VBA Crash Course. Please read the rest of the articles in this series by clicking below links.
- What is VBA & Writing your First VBA Macro in Excel
- Understanding Variables, Conditions & Loops in VBA
- Using Cells, Ranges & Other Objects in your Macros
- Putting it all together – Your First VBA Application using Excel
- My Top 10 Tips for Mastering VBA & Excel Macros
In the part 5 of our VBA Crash Course, let me share you my tips for mastering Excel VBA.
A warning before jumping in to the tips: I am not a VBA expert. I am a learner, just like you. I find VBA quite interesting language to learn and explore. These tips are based on what I have learned writing VBA (and VB code) in the last 12 years.
Tips for using & mastering VBA in short term:
#1 Think Thru before Coding
The best way to solve even a very complex problem is to think thru. Next time, when you are about to automate that report or clean some imported data using VBA, just write the logic down on a paper. See and understand various aspects of the problem. The solution becomes clear to you. It has worked for me and it works for you too.
Related: Building your First VBA Application using Excel
#2 Use the Recorder
Excel’s built in Macro recorder is a great way to learn about new objects and ways to deal with them. I use it all the time to record parts of my code and then customize the output. Just keep in mind that macro recorder does not produce the best or complete code all the time. But it gives you a damn good idea about how to write code for a set of actions.
Related: Introduction to Excel VBA & Writing your First Macro
#3 Use Immediate Window
Excel VBE has a powerful feature called as Immediate window. Think of this like a sandbox. You can write almost any VBA statements here and get quick results. For example, Open VBE (ALT+F11 in Excel) and go to Immediate window.
- Type ?Activecell.Value
- Press Enter
- And you will see the current cell’s value printed in immediate window
Here is a quick demo of immediate window.
#4 Debug.Print is your Friend
There are 3 things you cannot avoid in life
- your 2 year old daughter thinking it would be fun to throw a stone on your car
- your baby boy running and sitting in your lap suddenly making the hot coffee spill on you
- and of course bugs in your code
Bug is a fancy name given to the situation when your code is not doing what it is supposed to do.
But why?!? Well, we don’t know why unless we examine. And this is where Debug.Print can come handy. In below example, you would see the values of all tasks in the immediate window as your program runs.
#5 There is a method for that!
Just like Apple says There is an App for that!, may be Microsoft should say There is a Method for that! about VBA. I say this because VBA comes with a lot of methods and functions to do lots of things. If you are thinking of writing your own code to reverse some text, split something based on a delimiter, find the intersection of 2 ranges or run something after 10 seconds, may be you should before writing your code. Because, my dear, there is a method for that.
Whenever you feel like you are writing code for a problem that is already solved several times, chances are there is some built-in method or object for that. So just search.
Tips for Using & Mastering VBA in Long-term
While the above tips are good for solving your immediate problems, we should always aim for continuous improvement. Here are my top tips for keeping your VBA in shape.
#6 Break Your Work in to Smaller Chunks
No matter how complex your work situation or problem might be, chances are, it is made up of several smaller problems. So break things in to smaller chunks. This coding technique is called as modularization. Modularization has several advantages:
- Reuse: Once you break a big program to smaller parts, you can reuse a smaller part in several places or in other projects.
- Testable: Smaller code fragments are easy to test and debug.
- Maintainable: You can maintain smaller parts easily. You can upgrade them once you get a better version of Excel without breaking much.
#7 Build Iteratively
Rome is not built in one day, so is your buildRome() macro. Whenever you are attempting to automate a whole department’s work, take a step back and see what is the smallest (but most useful) feature you can have. Implement it and then add new features iteratively. That way, your turn-around time is improved, you look pretty in front of your boss and you feel in control of things.
Iterative development also lets you stop whenever you want and you would still have some working piece of code.
#8 Keep a Good Reference Handy
If you are going to use VBA quite often, then invest in a good reference. I suggest John Walkenbach’s Excel 2010 Power Programming if you are looking for one. Good reference books have lots of information and tips buried in them. For example, I keep Excel 2010 Power Programming book on my desk all the time and refer to it whenever I feel like not doing any work. I always learn something new.
#9 Take up Challenges
“Computers are like bicycles for our mind” said Steve Jobs. I am not sure if hours I put on facebook, twitter and gmail are keeping my mind fit. But any time I invest on programming is worth every second. I feel very sharp, excited and stoked when I solve a tricky problem using a computer program (be it VBA, an Excel Formula or php or anything else).
I think if you want to be good in VBA or Excel, then take up challenging work. Try to automate a report that you (or your team) produce using VBA, Try to simplify a formula or improve a chart.
If you are looking for fresh challenges, then look at our forums. We get dozens of interesting questions everyday.
#10 Use VBA only when you need it
Once you start learning VBA, it is natural to feel excited about the possibilities you have. But keep in mind that overusing it can complicate your work.
My suggestion: Use Excel’s native features as much as possible. Excel has several built in features to solve various day to day problems (conditional formatting, pivot tables, formulas, data validation, form controls to name a few). Only when you feel that there is no easy way to use Excel alone to solve a problem, go for VBA.
Example: Recently, I showed you all how to split text on new line using VBA. I did that because I thought there was no way to do it using Excel’s built in text-to-columns utility. Well, I was wrong. As Debra proved in the comments,
Chandoo, if you want to do this in the Text To Columns dialog box,
Select Delimited, then check “Other”
In the box beside Other, press the Alt key, and type (using the number keypad): 0010That should separate the text on the line break character.
So if you feel like there is no way to do something in Excel without resorting to VBA, well, just keep looking, because there might be a way.
What are your Tips for Learning & Mastering VBA?
Its your turn now. What are your top tips for mastering VBA? Please share using comments because I and many of our readers want to learn. Go ahead and post.
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Thanks
This post concludes our series on VBA Crash Course. I hope you enjoyed these 5 articles and learned something new. I really enjoyed writing this series. Thank you so much for your comments and support.
For more about VBA & Macros, consider enrolling in our online course.
41 Responses to “How to use Excel Data Model & Relationships”
Data is Excel 2013 behaves so much like a OLAP cube when using with PivotTables. And this is actually wow. Consider learning not just DAX but MDX too 🙂 Happy Excel
@Chandoo.. Have a nice and safe time in US. Best Wishes. And when they are publishing your interview in Entrepreneur 🙂
I have been using PowerPivot in Excel 2010. My understanding was (via PowerPivot Pro blog) that Power Pivot would NOT be available in Excel 2013 in all versions; my recollection is that it was only going to be available in certain enterprise subscription editions. Thus, for individual users, it will no longer be available? For that reason I have moved some of my projects to Tableau, and do not expect to upgrade to Excel 2013.
Can you confirm the availability of Power Pivot for all Excel 2013 users , or will it be restricted and unavailable for some users?
@Buzz
I believe that Power Pivot is included with all MS Office installs in 2013.
Have a read of:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/excel-help/version-compatibility-between-powerpivot-data-models-in-excel-2010-and-excel-2013-HA103929426.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/excel-help/whats-new-in-powerpivot-in-excel-2013-HA102893837.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2013#Comparison (Note that Excel isn't listed as having Multiple editions)
This is something that Excel is doing very poorly: letting people know what's available with what. It also doesn't help that they have so many packages and versions.
Excel Professional Plus has Power Pivot and Power View. I went through this last week. Spent 4 days upgrading from 365 Home Premium ($99 for the 1-yr subscription) to an additional $7/month for Professional Plus.
Also, one page on Microsoft's site says that their Sharepoint Online Package 2 has Power View. NO! It's not true. Sharepoint Online Package 2 will INTERACT with a spreadsheet that has PP or PV, Package 1 will not.
Just this weekend I upgraded from Home Premium to Professional Plus and spent time with Power View and PowerPivot.
Up to that point I never saw myself in VLOOKUP Hell, and it may not be going away any time soon. I'm surprised to discover how many of my clients are still on Excel 2003. And then I have Mac users who don't have a lot of this great stuff available to them at all.
These are great features and I'm going to dive into the Data Models. Unfortunately, I suspect, for me, the practical use may be limited to blogposts because I can't teach Power View in my workshops or send a client a spreadsheet that has a Power View in it.
Hi OZ,
I think the Microsoft would only upgrade the excel to a certain level instead of making it so powerful that it might threat their BI product. You know these "powerful" stuff can be easily done with a entry level crystal reports version.
Glad to listen to ur opinion on it.
I spent quite some time and energy on Excel and used it a lot, but now I am focusing energy on BI software like crystal reports.
We both know that based on the technology today. All the time we spend on the Macro and advanced function of Excel can be done easily with other softwares which costs only hundreds of bucks.
@Thondom
I don't think Excel tries to be the solver of all problems
It is a generic tool
Which for about 95% of people will do what they want 95% of the time
There will always be specifics where specific custom software will do better than Excel
It is the commonness of Excel which means that I can send a model to you and it will work , most of the time, that is its strength, of course combined with its flexility in being able to be adapted to suit most needs
Hi Hui,
You are right.
But,
for the business and individual, who spend too much resource on Excel to meet their BI requirements and other processing requests.
Should they open their eyes to other ways to do it, in this age? Especially for many people try too much time to process stuff with thousands lines of macro programming.
It is just as when human being created gun fire, the martial arts would not be that effective.
Ppl need to be prodent when they choose their solution.
Hi guys, I just came across your conversation. I have an example of BI vs. Excel stuff. Here in Russia there is an ERP-system called "1C". It became a defacto standart for accounting, planning and BI / analytics. It is positioned as a flexible and powerful system and it really is.
But its reporting abilities aren't user-friendly (or maybe just not me-friendly).
Many reports require programming and all those SQL things, so that is common for a company to have a couple of programmers who develop and code those reports.
So the common solution is to export data to Excel and then process it to be more suitable for further analysis or reporting.
Well, it's obviously not a rule of thumb that special BI software can outperform Excel in day-to-day routine.
Hi Chandoo, thanks for publishing great Excel information. Pardon the ignorance as I havent used Data Model nor PowerPivot. But having seen your video clip on PowerPivot, how does Data Model differ from PowerPivot - the "process" seems familiar? Have a great day! And Excel to new heights! Regards,
@Tris, one main difference is that Data Model is part of Excel Home Premium. You've got to upgrade to ProPlus to get PowerPivot and Power View.
Also, keep in mind that Data model only lets you combine tables. If you want to create powerful measures (for example show % improvement over last year sales), then PowerPivot is the way to go. For a tour of PowerPivot, visit http://chandoo.org/wp/2013/01/21/introduction-to-power-pivot/
Excellent posting, some pride themselves for having sheets with thousands of formulas or complicated formulas, but in the end the important thing is to work as little as possible.
@Nolberto let's not gloat yet. Some people are forced to have thousands of complicated formulas when they don't have the fancy tools. I'm sad for the 2003 users who have to use SUMPRODUCT when the rest of us have SUMIFS available.
In the end, I think the important thing is clean, trustworthy data--however you arrive at it. People survived more than 300 years with slide rules and paper. No PowerPivot for the Wright Brothers.
hi chandoo,
i added 2 column into sales, 1st column vlookup customer ID to CUST sheet to get the male or female, then 2nd column vlookup Product ID to Product sheet to get the product name, then after that i make pivot table out of sales sheet.
but then the result is really different from yours
the purposes is just try to do the vlookup vs add to data model to see if they get same result
thanks
Hi Koi,
We are using gender vs. category in the report. Can you try with that? I am sure the results will match.
ups sorry, didnt see that you're filtering using slicer..then it is good now the result are same with less effort 🙂
thanks
Hi Chandoo, .I am interested to know whether we can build a star schema or snow flake data models through relations in Excel? (trying to correlate with Qlikview)
Hi there,
You can create a Star schema for sure. Snow-flake is possible too. As long as all relationships are one to many (or one to one) anything is possible.
What if customer.profession change its value after sometime?
Supposed we have monthly data for Sales. What if one customer is a doctor in Feb, then a pilot in October, for example?
How to build data model for such that situation?
Thank you.
[...] Introduction to Excel 2013 Data Model & Relationships [...]
Hello ,
I find this option similar to that of MS Access.
In MS Access as well we have relationship concept and once you create a relationship, you can start creating number of queries based on that.
But MS Access is not so user friendly and basically its database. Good that we are getting those options/functions in Excel.
Thanks for sharing this info.
Regards,
Raghavendra Shanbog
What is star schema and snow flake.??? Can we have next article on that if it is useful for us???
Hi there, can anyone help? I tried testing this out in Excel using two tables. When I go to the Data tab the Relationships button does not appear at all. I am using Microsoft version 14.0.4760.1000, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010. Does this version have this capability? Or is there an add-in required?
[…] even a layperson can perform if they have the almighty Excel 2010 and PowerPivot installed. Or Excel 2013′s Data Model, which lets you mash up data from Excel Tables and serve them up directly as PivotTables with not a […]
Chandoo/Hui,
The dates grouping feature does not seem to work in Data Model. Is that true or am I making a mistake somewhere?
I don't think this is really for "lookups"...
Try creating a pivot with sale ID and customer name in row fields. It will give you ALL customer names per sale ID.
You'd need to use RELATED function in a new column in powerpivot if you want something equivalent to "vlookup"
Please explain the difference between data model and power pivot, the functions of both of them are different and similar
thanks
[…] Handling large volumes of data in Excel—Since Excel 2013, the “Data Model” feature in Excel has provided support for larger volumes of data than the 1M row limit per worksheet. Data Model also embraces the Tables, Columns, Relationships representation as first-class objects, as well as delivering pre-built commonly used business scenarios like year-over-year growth or working with organizational hierarchies. For several customers, the headroom Data Model is sufficient for dealing with their own large data volumes. In addition to the product documentation, several of our MVPs have provided great content on Power Pivot and the Data Model. Here are a couple of articles from Rob Collie and Chandoo. […]
I need to use a slicer to allow a user to select vendor by name. In the background, I need to obtain the vendor ID to link to multiple datasets where the name may not be spelled consistently. Any advice?
@Bernadette
You can use the technique described here:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2016/05/11/apply-conditional-formatting-using-slicers/
I'd suggest try that and then if you have troubles ask the question in the Chandoo.org Forums http://forum.chandoo.org/
Attach a sample file to simplify the response
I've tried this in Excel 2016. It works great.
I can even create Cube Formulas on the Data model after I've inserted the pivot table.
Just for the fun of it, I tried to see if I could do Cube Formulas without creating the pivot table in advance. I can define Cube members, but it seems as if the measure part is playing tricks on me.
I can't get a Cube Value for Chocolates sold to Male customers.
With the Pivot created the formula looks like this (and works fine)
=CUBEVALUE("ThisWorkbookDataModel";"[Customer].[Gender].&[Male]";"[Product].[Category].&[Chocolates]";"[Measures].[Sum of Quantity]")
Does anyone know how I can solve this, or am I asking the impossible?
I want to see the video on this topic
What if customer.profession change its value after sometime?
Supposed we have monthly data for Sales. What if one customer is a doctor in Feb, then a pilot in October, for example?
How to build data model for such that situation?
Thank you.
In such case, you need to make relationships based on two columns. This kind of feature is not supported in Excel. You can use Power Query to merge tables based on multiple columns and return a consolidated giant table to Excel for reporting.
Is it able in MS Access?
I have never used access before.
thanks chandooo your article is very helpfull for troubling peoples' especially in office environment under boss pressure.
Here is an introduction to PowerPivot.
The link above is broken
Hi. This has really taken my interest.. I have huge data tables to work with...and I use vlookup to fetch certain data. I have different data in different sheets...
Like customer sales (customer code, product code,qty, piece rate, total amount, branch code) data in one sheet
Branch details in another (branch code, branch address, state , region)
Customer Geographical Data in third sheet (region, region name)
Product details in fourth sheet (product code, product description and related)
Now I use a vlookup to get branch name, state and product name respectively into my main sheet.
Now what I want is
customer code, product code,qty, piece rate, total amount, branch code) data in one sheet, branch address, state , region, region name, product description
Can't his be done thru data model... I tried but it's not working... Eitherway, I will gonthru thr session on e again and give a try... Any help, is appreciated. Thankyou
Dear All,
i am striving to do reverse relationship in Power pivot ,
example : -
1 - Data sheet
2. - Source data
step to stops - import first data sheet in power piovt and then source data , made relationship with both sheet , after created relationship i am able to do put related formula in source data sheet only (=releted('Source data'[Amount]), if i go to put formula in data sheet , parameter of Source data are not visible ,
could someone educate me how can i do , and utilize related formula in data sheet.