info overload (officexp 2002)

[alexanderd]

i have recently started to use word forms and needing to push forward from the most mundaine form i look to learning a language .

jscript seems ok , html? java? or is it javascript? any help given would be appreciated to many and i've only mentioned a few. i am not intent on becomming the king but better at my job.

[HansV]

It depends on what you want to do. The Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Access) all use Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). If you want to create userforms in Word, you need to know VBA.

If you want to design web pages, you need to learn HTML. That is not a programming language, but a layout language for web pages.

If you want to program things in web pages, you can choose between JavaScript and VBScript.

If you want to create stand-alone applications, there are C++, VB6, VB.net, ...

[jscher2000]

Despite the introduction of new technologies, both Visual Basic (stand alone and "for Applications") and VBScript have a lot of life left in them for Office development and general computer administration. For intranet or web, be aware that VBScript requires Internet Explorer, so you might venture into JavaScript, but it has lots of nits (like being cAsE sEnSiTiVe), so there's a whole extra level of debugging hassle...

[alexanderd]

your opening statement really puts into perspective what i am looking for
my interest in the programming aspect is so that i can devise better word forms for sending as Email attachments or as a printed form. at present and for the for-seable future i have no interest in using the web for such forms.
i would appreciate your input and any suggestions for books which have a direct bearing on what i would like to do.
many thanks to you and jscher2000 for your input

[HansV]

If you want to automate Word, you need Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), with emphasis on the Word object model. This includes simple ways of sending e-mails from Word. If you use Outlook, and if you want to do sophisticated things with e-mail, you can program Outlook from Word in VBA too; you would have to learn about the Outlook object model in addition to the Word object model. Although all Office apps use the same general language VBA, each has its own special features.

There is no need to learn Java, C++, Delphi, ... if you want to concentrate on automating Office applications.