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Excel 2010 Macro Object Browser

 

In VB Editor, press F2 to open Object Browser, which lets you browse and search the entire Excel object library. A 409-page book is available that is a reprint of this entire object model from the Object Browser. Fear not, you won’t need this book because the built-in Object Browser is much more powerful and always available at the touch of F2. Press F2 and the Object Browser appears where the code window normally appears. The topmost drop-down currently shows <All Libraries>. There is an entry in this drop-down for Excel, Office, VBA, each workbook that you have open, plus additional entries for anything that you check in Tools, References. For now, go to the drop-down and select only Excel.

A list of all classes available for Excel 2010 is on the left. Click the Application class in the left window. The right window adjusts to show all properties and methods that apply to the Application object. Click something in the right window, such as ActiveCell. The bottom window of the Object Browser tells you that ActiveCell is a property that returns a range. It also tells you that ActiveCell is read-only (an alert that you cannot assign an address to ActiveCell to move the cell pointer). You have learned from the Object Browser that ActiveCell returns a range. When you click the green hyperlink for Range in the bottom window, you will see all the properties and methods that apply to Range objects and, hence, to the ActiveCell property. Click any property or method. Then click the yellow question mark near the top of the Object Browser to go to the help topic for that property or method. Type in any term in the text box next to the binoculars, and click the binoculars to find all matching members of the Excel library.

Methods will appear as green books with speed lines. Properties will appear as index cards with a hand pointing to them. Search capabilities and hyperlinks available in the Object Browser make it more valuable than an alphabetic printed listing of all of the information. Press F2 to use of the Object Browser in the VBA window. Click the lower X in the upper-right corner to close the Object Browser and return to your code window.