Funny and hits the mark, dead center!

[NauticalGent]

Give it a read...funny and sad because it is SO accurate!

Microsoft and VBA: A Love(less) Story

Whatever happened to the passion Microsoft once had for VBA? From love story to marriage of convenience, this article is one weird ride.

nolongerset.com

 

[NauticalGent]

As per your comment "Brilliant"!

You guys are really sticking it to me today...

 

[NauticalGent]

If only MS would buy it and integrate it into Office.

The article IS a plug for TwinBasic...I didn't realize it until I went back and clicked the link. Have you used it?

 

[NauticalGent]

Just had a look. Problem is my machine is 64-bit and I think you need 32-bit to run twin basic....

Well that could be a problem...

 

[NoLongerSet]

The article wasn't really intended as a plug for twinBASIC. In fact, the whole thing started as an aside about how hard it is to find in-depth info about VBA because Microsoft has largely ignored it for nigh on 20 years.

The short aside turned into a couple of paragraphs. Before I knew it, I was over 1,000 words into an utterly ridiculous metaphor. At that point, it was about 1:30 AM and I was getting more than a little punchy.

By 2:30 AM I had a 1,500-word article but no idea how to end it. It was in this sleep-deprived state that I had a vision of the frumpy VBA housewife going to the gym to get her "man"'s attention again. The twinBASIC angle just happened to dovetail perfectly with that narrative.

I posted the article after 3 AM local time. I thought about waiting to read it the next day with a clear head before publishing it, but I was afraid I might chicken out. It takes a bit of a twisted mind to write fan fiction about inanimate objects, but I guess that's who I am.

 

[NoLongerSet]

Also, to be clear, I don't have any official ties to the twinBASIC project. I'm a long-time vbWatchdog user (another of Wayne Phillips's projects).

I just happened to start writing a daily blog on Access and VBA about 4 months before Wayne was set to announce twinBASIC. He asked if I would be willing to present the topic at the Access DevCon Vienna conference (held virtually in 2021).

I find the project interesting so I started writing a weekly update article on twinBASIC for two reasons: 1) it's a pretty formulaic thing to write on a Sunday and 2) since the project is so new, there's not a lot of other outlets (none?) covering it on the internet.

 

[NoLongerSet]

Just had a look. Problem is my machine is 64-bit and I think you need 32-bit to run twin basic....

You can compile and run 32-bit twinBASIC projects on a 64-bit machine. You just can't reference a 32-bit twinBASIC library (.dll) from a 64-bit version of VBA/Office.

 

[NauticalGent]

It takes a bit of a twisted mind to write fan fiction about inanimate objects, but I guess that's who I am.

You did an amazing job with it.

 

[NauticalGent]

I showed it to Missy as well. She loved it...went on to say that only a woman could have wrote it. I said maybe he watches the Hallmark channel.

She said that I (me) watch it and I'm still a hopeless male...I told her that I only watch it so I can spend time with her. To this she replied "Yes, but you always sleep through it!"

Today just AINT my day...

 

[NoLongerSet]

Is it possible for me to run twin basic on vs code, on a 64 bit machine?

I had a problem with it, assumed it was the 64 bit version that was the problem, but if it's something else, I will look into it and have another go.

Yep, that scenario should work fine. It's the library integration that will bite you.

There have been numerous stability increases over the past few months. There are probably still some remaining issues that will prevent you from copying and pasting large VBA/VB6 code files, but those have been mostly worked out now, too.

If you do run into issues, Wayne is extremely responsive to bug reports at the twinBASIC issues page:-

twinbasic/twinbasic

The twinBASIC Programming Language. Contribute to twinbasic/twinbasic development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

(note: I'm apparently too new a user to post working links yet)

 

[NoLongerSet]

This is no reflection on any particular user, it's a device for defeating the spam artists! It works very well.

I figured as much. Thanks for confirming (and updating my post to a working link).

 

[Galaxiom]

I still remember when Microsoft threatened to abandon VBA and run off with Javascript and CSS.

 

[NoLongerSet]

And they would have if they could have been certain that the thousands of large companies dependent on Access wouldn't have sprayed Redmond with napalm.

And this is why the reports of Access's death are greatly exaggerated.