Using Hidden Worksheets In Microsoft Excel 2007
April 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment
A Microsoft Excel workbook is essentially a container, a bit like a folder. Each Excel workbook can hold one or more worksheets and it is the worksheet that is the actual container of one’s information. Worksheets are identified by a tab which shows the name of each sheet. Clicking the appropriate tab activates a particular sheet.
In exactly the same way that Microsoft Excel allows you to hide columns, it is also possible to hide entire worksheets. Hiding a worksheet is particularly useful where you have a workbook that contains a lot of sheets. Naturally, hidden worksheets can be made visible again by using the Unhide command. It is possible to hide either an individual sheet or to hide a group of sheets. However sheets can only be unhidden one sheet at a time.
To hide a single sheet, just right-click on the sheet tab and choose Hide. The corresponding worksheet will then vanish. There is also a ribbon command which achieves the same thing. First, select the sheet by clicking on its tab and then, in the Cells section of the Home Tab of Excel Ribbon, choose Format-Visibility-Hide and Unhide-Hide.
To hide more than one sheet, simply highlight the sheets by clicking on the first holding down the Control key and clicking on each of the others. Next, right-click on one of the highlighted sheet tabs and choose Hide.
To make a hidden worksheet visible once more, you can right-click on any sheet tab and choose Unhide. The Unhide dialog will then appear. Unfortunately, it is not possible to select more than one sheet to unhide; if you try Control-click or Shift-click, you’ll soon find that only one sheet can be highlighted. Highlight the name of the sheet that you wish to make visible and click OK.
If you prefer, you can also use the Excel Ribbon command Format-Visibility-Hide and Unhide-UnHide Sheet. When the Unhide dialog box appears, highlight the sheet you would like to unhide and click OK. You will notice that when sheets are unhidden they very conveniently return to the position that they originally occupied.
You can find out more about Excel training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering Excel Classes in London and throughout the UK.
What are The Returns of Working with Dreamweaver?
April 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The benefits of using Dreamweaver over plain html coding from scratch are endless. Dreamweaver creates a lot of the code for the user already, which makes it incredibly useful for those who have no idea what they are doing and, for the people who do know how to code html, they can always add it to the written code a lot easier.
You have several standard views to work with. You can toggle between code view and the design view or you can combine both in a single page view. If you use both views in the same window you can track any of the changes you made immediately. Dreamweaver also has the option instantly view your webpage in Firefox and Internet Explorer and you don’t have to be online for this.
If you do edit any code, there are tools on Dreamweaver that help to correct any mistakes in the syntax. There are so many great features in Dreamweaver that you would not get in ordinary html editors.
Another great tool in Adobe Dreamweaver is the layout instrument tool. Dreamweaver will give an idea where you can place your navigation, your menus, your images, etc. Dreamweaver really helps you to get the most out of the internet.
The vast majority of professional Web Developers wouldn’t dream of using Dreamweaver Dreamweaver’s code view because it generates the XHTML / CSS code for you, and this results in code that is at best adequate and at worst bloated and over-complicated.
There is no replacement for having a solid understanding of standards-compliant XHTML / CSS and writing the coding yourself, when you use a editor you’ll need to feel comfortable with it, whether this is Dreamweaver’s own code view or something else.
Adobe Dreamweaver is like a plaything and it is very useful when you are starting out with web design. Starters might find the design view instinctive. And even the controls for connecting to a database might be practical for basic tasks and also the FTP software in Adobe Dreamweaver which synchronizes local and remote copies of a site’s files is very useful. Surely Dreamweaver is handier than most of the other famous FTP clients out there.
You can’t really compare Adobe Dreamweaver with any product. Dreamweaver can be put into a class of itself as a kind of application you use before you learn how to code properly. Drag & drop interfaces for coding just don’t feel right for me - if you can’t build the system yourself, then you don’t know how it will actually behave when it goes live.
The Advantages of using Adobe Dreamweaver over basic html coding from scratch are enormous. Adobe Dreamweaver really can be put into a class of itself. There are so many fantastic features that you will not get in other standard editors. Adobe Dreamweaver really out performs all other HTML editors.
What you just learned about Dreamweaver Video Tutorials is just the beginning. To get the full story and all the details, check us out at Dreamweaver Video Tutorials.
Using Microsoft PowerPoint’s Audience Handouts Feature
April 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Audience handouts are a way of giving the attendees of your Microsoft PowerPoint presentations something to remember you by. They normally consist of printouts of the presentation; one, two, three, four six or nine slides to a page. Naturally, however, whether or not the essence of your presentation can be captured by this kind of printout depends on the nature of the presentation.
You will almost certainly want to personalize the look and feel of your handouts. To do this, click on the View tab of the PowerPoint ribbon and then click on the Handout Master button. In PowerPoint, masters allow you to determine the format of the three main elements within a presentation; slides, speaker notes and handouts. When you are in handout master mode, the Handout Master contextual tab appears. It contains a Page Setup section which allows you to choose the orientation of both the page as a whole and of the individual slide miniatures. It also contains buttons for activating or deactivating the header, footer, date and page number as well as for formatting the background of the slide.
Given that Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to produce three separate elements (slides, speaker notes and handouts), when the print command is used, you need to specify which of these elements you wish to print. This is done by choosing an option from the Print What drop-down menu. In addition to the three elements mentioned above, you can also print the outline of the presentation.
If you have created a presentation with a fair amount of important detail, it may be more useful to print out the slide outline and distribute it to the audience in place of PowerPoint’s usual handouts. Better still, you can export your presentation into Microsoft Word and then customise it for your audience. To export an outline, from the Office button, choose Publish and then Create Handouts in Microsoft Word.
Using the Create Handouts in Microsoft Word command brings up a dialogue box which allows you to choose one of five page layout options. Firstly, you can have speaker notes next to slides. This will create a two column layout with a slide miniature in column one and speaker notes next to it in column two. If you have used the speaker notes feature in your presentation, this may be a useful solution. The second option is Blank Lines Next to Slides: this produces the same two column layout as the first option but the right hand column is blank, so that you can enter notes next to each slide.
The options we have seen thus far don’t offer you much room for text. If you have made or wish to make extensive notes on each slide, options three and four (Notes below Slides and Blank lines below Slides) provide a layout with the text below the slide miniature and leaves approximately 60 percent of the page free for notes.
Perhaps your main aim is for the audience to take away a summary of the content of the presentation. In this case you can choose the final option: Outline Only. This simply exports the text on each slide into Microsoft Word.
As is often the case when transferring data from one Microsoft Office application to another, you have the choice of activating the Paste Link option. This will create a link between the exported file and the original PowerPoint presentation, such that, if the presentation is modified, the exported Word file will also be updated.
You can find out more about Microsoft PowerPoint training courses, visit On-site Training Courses . Com, a UK IT training web site offering PowerPoint training courses in London and throughout the UK.
Microsoft Excel Charting Basics
March 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Charts are a quick and easy way of graphically illustrating trends within your data. One glance at a chart can make it very plain where there is a dip in sales figures, a surge in visitor numbers and a host of other trends in whatever data is being represented. In this article we will examine the various components of an Excel chart.
The first requirement is a set of data which can easily be converted into a readable chart. It is normally best to plot data which is a summary of your information. It is also useful if your data is arranged in columns or rows with headings at the top of columns or on the left of rows.
An example of information which would be easy to convert into a chart is a selection containing two columns with data on the left and the corresponding values on the right. When the chart is created, the labels are placed on what is variously known as the category axis, horizontal axis or x axis; while values are arranged on the y axis. When your data is arranged in this format, the chart that Excel plots will not need much modification.
Charts may either be standalone or embedded. A stand-alone chart has an Excel sheet dedicated simply to the chart. Embedded charts are placed directly on the worksheet, often alongside the data being plotted. This is known as a chart sheet; in contrast to a worksheet.
Whether embedded or standalone, the main components of the chart are always the same. First of all, you have a chart area. This is the background to the chart as a whole. Next, we have the plot area. This is the area where the graph or chart is actually plotted. Then, as we have seen, we have two or more axes. In a typical, “no frills” chart, there are two axes: the horizontal, or category, axis and the vertical, or value, axis.
Next, we have one or more series of data. In the example cited above, where we select a column of labels and one column of values, there would be only one series of data. Whenever a chart contains more than one series, it is necessary to clarify what each column represents. This is done by using a legend. The legend acts as a key which tells us what each colour within the chart actually stands for.
As well as the text labels associated with the axes and with the legend, Excel also allows to create chart titles. As well as the main chart title, we also have the option of placing titles on the axes. Within the plot area, we can also choose to display grid lines. These make it easy to read the value associated with each point on the chart.
So, there we have the main elements within a chart. However, Excel allows you to customise each of these elements and add other elements which enable you to create charts which convey exactly the message you have in mind.
You can find out more about Excel VBA training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Excel VBA Classes in London and throughout the UK.
Understanding Object Methods In Excel VBA
March 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment
When writing code in Microsoft Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), you need to programmatically manipulate the objects inherent in Excel, such as worksheets, charts and pivot tables. In VBA, each of these objects has properties and methods which can be used to manipulate the object and make it do what you need it to. Properties are the attributes or characteristics that the object possesses, whereas methods are actions associated with the object. For example, a workbook has a “name” property and an “open” method.
Methods are a little more sophisticated than properties in that they normally, though not always, require amplification in order to get a particular object to perform a particular action. This amplification is provided through the arguments which the programmer has to supply when using the method. Thus, in order to exit Excel altogether, we would use the “quit” method of the “Application” object, thus: “Application.Quit” without supply any arguments.
However, if we want to open a workbook, we need to supply at least one parameter: a string specifying the workbook to be opened. As you write your code, Excel will furnish a useful prompt: having entered the method, if you type an opening parenthesis, a “QuickInfo” tool tip will appear with a list of the parameters required by the method. This facility is much the same as the display of parameters when you enter a function in Excel.
Those parameters which are shown in square brackets are optional while those not in square brackets are obligatory. Thus, for example, when using the “Open” method of the “Workbook” object, the “Filename” parameter is obligatory while the “ReadOnly” parameter is optional.
The “QuickInfo” tool tip displays all possible parameters, separated by commas, which the method can accept in the order that they must be supplied. If you do not wish to supply a given (optional) parameter, then you must still insert a comma to mark the position of the omitted argument. Thus, for example, if you wanted to use the “Open” method of the “Workbook” object and supply the “Filename” and the “ReadOnly” parameters, you would type “Workbooks.Open(”c:\reports\main.xlsx”, , True)”. Since the “ReadOnly” parameter is the third, a comma is inserted to mark the position of the missing second parameter.
VBA offers a very useful alternative method of entering arguments. You can enter the name of each parameter followed by “:=”. Using this technique, the order of parameters becomes unimportant and no reference has to be made to omitted parameters. Thus, in the example above, we could type “Workbooks.Open(FilePath:=”c:\reports\main.xlsx”, ReadOnly:=True)”.
To learn more about Excel VBA training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, a UK IT training company offering Excel VBA Classes at their central London training centre.
Declaring Variables In Excel VBA
March 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The use of variables is common to all programming languages and are named areas of memory in which you can store data required by your program for its execution. To create a variable, you declare it, in other words, you notify Visual Basic of your intention to use a variable of a given name to store a given type of data. The keyword “Dim” (short for “Dimension”) is used to declare variables; thus, to declare that you will be using a variable called “strDepartment” to hold string (text) data, you would write “Dim strDept as String”.
VBA does not insist that you declare the variable type when declaring a variable; but it is useful to do so, since this prevents you from accidentally placing the wrong type of data into the variable. The “String” data type is used to hold text. For whole numbers, the “Integer” (small whole numbers) and “Long” (large whole numbers) are used. For real numbers (with decimals) “Single” (large real numbers) and “Double” (very large real numbers) are used. There is also the “Currency” data type which is used for large real numbers with exactly four decimal places. Then we have “Boolean”, a data type which always returns true or false and “Date”.
In addition to these primitive (proper) data types, Excel VBA also allows you to place Excel objects into variables. Thus, if you want to perform a number of operations on a given worksheet, you could put a reference to that worksheet into a variable and manipulate the worksheet to your heart’s content simply by using the name of the variable. To declare the worksheet variable, you would use a statement like “Dim wks As Worksheet”. Then, to place a reference to a particular worksheet into your variable, you would use a statement like: “set wks = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(”Data”)”.
The location, within the module, where you declare a variable determines its scope: if you declare a variable inside a sub routine, then it will be local to that sub routine and the data it contains can only be used inside that sub. If you declare it at the top of the module, above all of the subs, then it can be accessed by all the subs within the module.
If your Excel VBA application contains several modules and you want all modules to share certain variables, you can also make variables global. Global variables need to be declared at the top of any module but they use the keyword “Public” instead of “Dim”. Thus to declare a global date variable called “dtStartDate”, you would enter “Public dtStartDate As Date” at the top of one of your code modules.
You can get up to date information on Excel VBA training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Excel VBA Classes at their central London training centre.
Be A Good Player With The Titan Poker Bonus Tutorial
March 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment
There is an economic crunch globally and right now everybody needs that extra dollar. Luckily, unlike during the great depression of the 1930’s, today the internet has come to the world’s rescue with online poker. But you can only do so well as the next bloke if you hit the tables without training first. That is why Titan Poker Bonus Tutorial becomes the most useful tool for the ambitious new poker player who has his eyes on the big money.
The initial stage is to identify an appropriate site. If you are pleasantly surprised at what you find, no one will sneer at you. The site presents you with a number of unique strategies on how to transform a novice poker player to a pro who is assured of ruling in Texas Hold’em. By using flash and video in learner-friendly interactive tutorials, you are guaranteed to be a major player in big-bucks bouts at the tables.
The two major benefits that come with online tutorials include 1. A rather simple and learner friendly guide that interacts with you, and 2. A game that allows you to practice for free.
Other than horizontal growth among peers, mentors are also available online. These practiced veterans will coach your game and raise your ability. As you progress and your game grows, walk into rooms where games are played for low wagers. This way, you gain valuable experience without necessarily going bankrupt.
Practice at the table is important. Among the things that you must never do is show emotion. Lose a round or win, your face must be one. It is the blandest face that turns the greatest bluffer into the hand that clinches the jackpot.
Although this is not a license for bluffing especially repeated bluffing. Watch your opponent’s faces for any emotion or the slightest change whatsoever. It could be the clue you need to raise your stakes.
Practice your poker and sharpen your skills. That is the key rule in poker as in any other serious game. While the tutorials serve to introduce you into online poker playing. Actual practice is the one that gives you the edge over other players.
With the Titan Poker Bonus Tutorial being an unparallel learning aid to a poker player, it is just a matter of time before you forget that there is an economic recession.
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Understanding Object Properties In Excel VBA
March 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment
When you first start learning Excel VBA, one of the first concepts you need to grasp is that in order to automate Excel, you have to refer to the various components and features which the program contains. In order to do this successfully, you need to know the name VBA name assigned to each element and the correct syntax to use in order to accomplish a certain task. Each component which forms part of Excel is an object with a specific name, usually a fairly obvious name, such as workbook, worksheet or range.
Excel offers a kind of dictionary to check the correct syntax to use when working with Excel objects; it’s called the Object Browser. Simply choose View - Object Browser in the Visual Basic Editor. Choose “Excel” from the drop-down menu in the top left of the Object Browser window which is initially set to “All Libraries”. The Object browser will then display a list of all the objects within Excel. Clicking on the name of an object will display the members relating to it; in other words, the syntax which can be used when working with that particular object.
The two main types of syntax used to manipulate Excel objects are properties and methods. Properties are attributes which the object possesses while methods are actions which can be performed on the object. If we compare this syntax to English grammar, you could say that properties are like nouns and that methods resemble verbs.
Certain properties of an object are referred to as read-only; you can check to see what they are but you cannot change them. For example, we could check the version of Excel being used with the syntax “Application.Version”; but we could not set the version. By contrast, we can both read and alter other properties. Thus we could verify the users preferred number of sheets in each new workbook with the code “Application.SheetsInNewWorkbook” and we can alter alter this number with the statement “Application.SheetsInNewWorkbook = 12″, for example. Properties which can be modified in this way are referred to as read/write.
Each object property can only be set with a value of the correct data type. Thus, in the example above, an integer has to be supplied. Some Excel VBA objects also have properties which require an enumeration, one of a fixed number of set keywords beginning with “xl”. For example, if you want to set the location of a chart, you would use one of the three built-in “xlChartLocation” enumerations: “xlLocationAsNewSheet”, “xlLocationAsObject”, or “xlAutomatic”.
If you want more information Excel VBA training courses, visit Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Excel VBA training courses at their central London training centre.
Customizing Column Charts In Microsoft Excel
March 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
In this tutorial will look at the creation and customisation of a column chart. The first step is to select the data that we want to plot, taking care to include any column and row headings. Row headings will be used as the names of the chart series and will be displayed in the legend. Column headings will be used as category labels. If the selection includes two sets of column headings, Excel will automatically recognize this and create two sets of headings on the category axis for us.
The next step is to click on the Insert ribbon tab and from the Column drop-down menu choose the option that we require. The very first option is the omnipresent scattered column chart. Excel creates our chart and places it in the worksheet as an embedded chart. If we want to change it to a standalone chart, click on Move Chart in the Location section and then choose New Sheet and enter a name for the new chart sheet.
Having selected a chart, you can of course customise it to suit your requirements. To change the colour of the columns, simply click once on any column to highlight the whole series and then choose a colour from the Shape Fill drop-down menu in the Format contextual tab. As well as Shape Fill, the drop-down also offers Shape Outline and Fill Effects. The Fill Effects includes preset effects such as shadow, glow and bevel.
There are quite a few subtypes available within the column chart type. The most basic and probably the most widely used is the clustered column chart type. To change the chart type, go to the Design contextual tab and click on Change Chart Type.
In the Stacked Column chart type, it is the overall total of all series within each category which takes precedence over the individual value of each series. The second type of stacked column is 100% Stacked Column. Here, the height of each column becomes 100% and so all columns have exactly the same height. This type of chart shifts the emphasis away from the number or quantity represented by each series to the percentage split between series.
Excel also offers 3-D versions of its three different column chart types. You will notice that these chart tpes are not strictly 3-D charts; they simply have a 3-D effect on the columns. It is the 3-D Column option which gives us an actual three-dimensional chart. Here, Excel adds depth to the chart and places the series along the z axis (the third dimension). The remaining column options are simply variations on these basic themes. For example, if we want to go for a 3-D chart, we might choose to have pyramids instead of rectangular blocks.
The The writer of this article is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering Microsoft Excel 2007 training courses at their central London training centre.
Excel VBA Can Be Mastered With The Right Training
March 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Almost all computer users know Microsoft Excel to some degree and most are aware of macros and VBA. However, the vast majority shy away from VBA assuming it to be the preserve of Excel gurus and professional programmers. Nothing could be further from the truth: having Excel VBA training is a natural progression for anyone who knows Excel well and want to take their knowledge to the next level.
It is important to stress, however, that it’s no good attending Excel VBA training classes if your knowledge of Excel is poor. You need to know Excel itself very well before you undertake any form of Visual Basic excel training; otherwise, the applications you create are bound to be flawed.
If you are going to be able to develop decent Excel applications, you need to create functionality which complements the features built in to the program. Excel applications created by people who are not Excel specialists or simply do not know the program very well tend to perform actions which could be accomplished by using Excel’s own set of features.
If you are fortunate enough to know Excel very well and you can spare the time, attending Excel VBA courses may be a very rewarding experience. You will discover that Excel VBA is not terribly difficult to learn and that there is a great variety of learning materials available. After all, Excel has been around for a couple of decades and it is installed on most business PCs.
One of the reasons why Excel VBA is worth learning is that the applications you write never have to be built from the ground up. All you are doing is leveraging and automating the powerful capabilities inherent in the program. It’s a bit like walking on those long moving walkways that you get at airports. Any effort you put into walking is immediately amplified and you move much faster than you do when walking on static ground.
If you end up becoming serious about developing applications, you will have a guaranteed audience; since there are so many people using Excel. Finding a decent Excel VBA training course can help your career or even help you get a pay rise in your current job. The skills you will learn will stand you in good stead for years to come.
The author is a training consultant with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering Microsoft Excel VBA Classes in London and throughout the UK.