Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

visual basic posts

Filed under: Software

Office 2004 mainstream support extended to January '12

As you probably recall, Microsoft dropped Visual Basic from Office for the Mac with Office 2008. At the time, I was working for a company that had a huge investment in systems that relied on Visual Basic, and that change was a real blow. In fact, we didn't upgrade past Office 2004 just to avoid trouble and plan our next step.

If anyone else is using Office 2004 for that reason, here's a thin shard of hope for you. This week, Microsoft's Office for Mac Team announced that mainstream support or Office '04, scheduled to end on October 13, 2009, will be extended through January 10, 2012.

Why extend support? As the blog post notes, Visual Basic support will return in the next major release of Office for the Mac, scheduled to hit the stands in 2010. This way, folks reliant on VB will be able to hold on until that new release is available. This is good news for anyone who was wondering how to migrate from a slew of mission-critical scripts.

Filed under: Software

MacTech re-releases VBA to AppleScript Transition Guide

As someone who spent months hand-crafting Visual Basic scripts in Microsoft Office, only to have Microsoft pull the rug out from under me with the release of Office 2008 (they abandoned VB support for the Mac. Grrr.), I'm very grateful to MacTech magazine and longtime AppleScript guru Paul Berkowitz.

MacTech has re-released Paul's 150-page guide for making the transition from VBA to AppleScript (originally printed in the April 2007 issue of the magazine, and also available in modified form on the Microsoft Mac BU site). It's highly detailed, with step-by-step instructions. It looks like I know what I'll be reading next week (and if I run into trouble I can always bug Cory for help).

You can download the guide as a PDF for $9.95US, or get the PDF plus a hardcover version for $19.95US. Both options include a free subscription to MacTech magazine, which is a great bonus for anyone who likes to dig into the underside of Mac OS X. If your wallet is a bit light, you can read the entire thing online for free.

Filed under: Software

No Visual Basic in Office 2008? No thanks.

MacWindows.com recently polled readers on their willingness to upgrade to Office 2008 for Mac, which will not include Visual Basic for macros and automation (as noted on this MacBU developer blog). Several readers said they won't upgrade to 2008 because they depend on VB cross-platform support.

Where I work, we have an intricate system in place that manages and analyzes loads of data on a daily basis-a system that is dependent on homemade VB scripts. So, there's no way we're upgrading. Good job, Microsoft.

By the way, if you're left in a jam by this, check out MacTech Magazine's guide for moving from VB to Applescript, which will be available soon.

Filed under: Software, Freeware, Open Source, Developer

Mono Allows .NET and VB Apps on the Mac

Mono is an interesting Open Source Project, sponsored by Novell, that "provides the necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server applications on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix." The most recent version, 1.2.3, adds support for a Visual Basic 8.0 compiler meaning that Visual Basic applications can now be run on the Mac. The Mono project has an active Mac community already, and if you're looking to investigate you might start with this Xcode tutorial. Now, of course, the question of whether it's a good thing that it is easy to compile a VB application for the Mac is something else entirely. Nonetheless, Mono now seems to represent an inexpensive alternative to REALbasic for writing cross-platform applications.

[Via MacNN]

Tip of the Day

Holding the Command key (aka the Apple key) and pressing Tab will cycle through your open applications. It's easier to Cmd-Tab if you are Copy (Cmd-C) and Pasting (Cmd-V) to and from various applications.


Follow us on Twitter!
 TUAW [Cafepress]

Featured Galleries

DNC Macs
Macworld 2008 Keynote
Macworld 2008 Build-up
Google Earth for iPhone
Podcaster
Storyist 2.0
AT&T Navigator Road Test
Bento for iPhone 1.0
Scrabble for iPhone
Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer Briefcase
Apple Vanity Plates
Apple booth Macworld 07
WorldVoice Radio
Quickoffice for iPhone 1.1.1
Daylite 3.9 Review
DiscPainter
Mariner Calc for iPhone
2009CupertinoBus
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
MLB.com At Bat 2009
Macworld Expo 2007 show floor

 

More Apple Analysis

AOL Radio TUAW on Stitcher