1 It takes up a lot of space and
2 Its helpful if you can see the values in other columns that the formula is referring to

Who knows – maybe an excel 2013 enhancement if any of the Microsoft crew are reflecting on what the rest of us are thinking

However, I also think that we can all learn something from this little incident. Be it about charts and Excel, or about how not to respond to criticism

My 2 cents worth anyway.

Regards,
ASM

Under this assumption, though, your code eliminates the IFs and is therefore shorter. Nicely done

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim HalfRows As Long, HalfCols As Long
HalfRows = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Rows.Count / 2
HalfCols = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Columns.Count / 2
ActiveWindow.ScrollRow = 1 - (ActiveCell.Row > HalfRows) * _
(ActiveCell.Row - HalfRows)
ActiveWindow.ScrollColumn = 1 - (ActiveCell.Column > HalfCols) * _
(ActiveCell.Column - HalfCols)
End Sub

Private Sub Worksheet_SelectionChange(ByVal Target As Range)
Dim HalfRows As Long, HalfCols As Long
HalfRows = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Rows.Count / 2
HalfCols = ActiveWindow.VisibleRange.Columns.Count / 2
ActiveWindow.ScrollRow = 1 – (ActiveCell.Row > HalfRows) * (ActiveCell.Row – HalfRows)
ActiveWindow.ScrollColumn = 1 – (ActiveCell.Column > HalfCols) * (ActiveCell.Column – HalfCols)
End Sub

Thanks again!
Kim
Microsoft Office Outreach

Again, no offense taken.

I’ve actually done the meta-programming both ways, for years. Based on that experience I prefer the pro/con matrix of the inline code. It doesn’t even look weird to me anymore.

I do the same thing with javascript from VBA. I often use the web browser control in projects.

GetFieldMarkers() is unfortunately dependent on the daffy HTML used at that site. Other projects have much simpler markers.

Daniel Ferry
excelhero.com

I did not mean to offend. Indeed this example is elegantly written. There’s no hard truth, I’m afraid, since it’s all about our opinions anyway

What I did mean is that in some cases, such meta-programming techniques cannot be written in a way that makes it easy to read and modify. Not because of any person, but rather because of the underlying technology itself.

I gave this a bit deeper thought, and I suppose what bothers me most about it is that there is a certain difference between the resulting VBScript code and the VBA code that writes it.

The difference isn’t only the added s=s&” at the beginning of each line, but also the need to escape the double quotes (in this case two double-quotes), and forcefully add CR/LFs at the end.

Also, whenever there’s a VBA variable embedded in there, it becomes even more non-elegant IMO.

What I would have wanted to be able to do is to write the VBScript code as-is, maybe like it would be in a separate text file, and in order to embed VBA variables, I would replace pre-determined tags in the code.

Something like this, however, would not be elegant either, because of the complications of depending on an external file.

There is no perfect solution, and that is what I was trying to say

BTW, something similar happens in GetFieldMarkers() as well (this time with HTML code)

That’s an interesting take on my work. Please don’t take this the wrong way, because I’m not offended at all, but what is it abut the CreateVBScriptAgentAndLaunch() subroutine that offends your sensibilities?

Is it the repeated quotation marks?

I actually think this example of meta-programming (one programming language used to create a program in another) is rather elegant.

Regards,

Daniel Ferry
excelhero.com

I am a programmer much like yourself, the difference between us is maybe that when I developed custom-made solutions, I worked with a team of about 7-8 other people that worked on QA, Support, customer relations etc.

In the smaller projects, we would give basic training on the product in our offices.

In bigger projects, where there are potentially many end users, we would send a person to give training at the client’s site.

Of course not everyone would have the same kind of grasp of all the features, but it does help alleviate the fear of using the product and the hesitations, because end users have someone appointed by the developer whom they can ask questions directly.

I agree with you that in today’s market it’s not always possible. Training does have a cost. Are you not investing in training because of the cost? Maybe this can be agreed upon in advance, in any contract you sign with the customer (so the cost is added to your fee in some way)?

Also, our manager had his own tactics on how to give the clients the warm fuzzy feel about the product, so they don’t get cold feet when the time comes to deploy. I’m not the best person to talk to about this matter, but maybe you can take a course in that area? It could be the difference between a happy customer and an angry one…

What do you think?

Yes I agree that education is the optimal way to get users to appreciate what you do for them … But that is not always possible in today’s business world and besides I often work with one person who is not the only user of the application. Also when push comes to shove and the user is implementing a solution that they went out on a limb for they can get cold feet when the time comes to go to Production and wish to fall back to something comfortable. That’s the reality I live in I’m afraid…

Regards
Dick
p.s. Who are you???