Free Tools

Baarns is committed to helping you be productive while working in Microsoft Office applications. Baarns Consulting specializes in automation using Microsoft Office Professional applications and Back Office solutions. These tools were written specifically for Developers by Baarns Consultants. Many are available for Office97.

Baarns Developer Jump Start for Excel 97
The BDJS is a subset of the methodology used by Baarns Consulting to create custom VBA solutions for major corporations. We are in the process of upgrading our methodology to Excel 97 VBA. This is the final release of BDJS for Excel 97. A version for Excel 5/95 is also available.

Baarns Developer Jump Start Wizard for Access
The Baarns Developer Jump Start is an Add-in Library which functions as a wizard. It is designed to walk the user through the process of splitting an existing database and then building the foundation for the development phase.

Baarns Password Function
The GetPassword function available in the downloadable workbook below returns the text a user types into an edit box while displaying asterisks for each character. Excel 7 has built-in password support but Excel 5 requires a workaround to simulate a password edit box. The included function calls the same dialog box but configures it for the appropriate version. We have designed this so that the user experience is as similar as possible in both versions.

Baarns Security Reports
There are two (2) security reports contained within SECRPT20.MDB, "Security Report - Group" and "Security Report - User". The reports function by using code to loop through all the Data Access Objects (DAO) to determine exactly which user or group has what specific permissions to every object in the database.

Baarns Query Wizard
The Query Wizard allows the user to create complex queries without using Access's native query design grid. It allows the user to create joins against multiple tables and add criteria where clauses.

Excel Control Positioner
The Control Positioner allows you to automatically size and position controls on worksheets, dialogsheets or charts. In fact, it is not necessarily limited to controls, but will operate on any drawing object that has Top, Left, Width, or Height properties. The program also includes a nudger utility that allows you to move or size single controls or groups of controls in increments of 1 point.

Excel Dialog Converter for Excel 97
With the release of Excel 97, Excel VBA development has changed significantly. One of the most important changes is the addition of a true Forms package to the VBA language. In order to take advantage of this powerful new feature, however, you must convert all of your Excel 5/95 DialogSheets into Excel 97 UserForms.

Excel 97 Calculation Patch  
A calculation problem was recently found in Excel 97. Use the link to access a KnowledgeBase article that describes the problem. In addition to the article, a patch that resolves the issue is available.
The Excel 97 Calculation Patch will install over any SR-1 version of Excel 97 regardless of any previous patches, but you must have the Service Release 1 version of Excel 97 not the original release. 

List Box Example Code
There is an FAQ about List Box control in our Excel Developers FAQ section containing a great downloadable example workbook showing examples of reusable list box routines and more.

VBA - Maximum Performance vs. File Size
Program developers and users alike desire small, high-performance, quick-loading applications. Programmers often go through great pains to reduce their VBA file size. In this white paper we explain some of the little-known secrets of trimming file size without sacrificing performance. A must-read for all VBA developers!

VBA to C DLL Masters Secrets
Excellent sample code revealing the master's secrets for passing a SafeArray to a C-based DLL.

VBA Code Cleaner
During the process of creating VBA programs, a lot of "junk" builds up in your files. If these files aren't cleaned periodically you will start getting strange problems caused by this extra baggage. Cleaning a project involves saving all of it's modules out to text files, deleting the modules, adding new ones to replace them and then reimporting their code from the text files.

VBA Project Documentor
This program automatically documents the "vital statistics" of your VBA project. Statistics include a full module and procedure listing for the project, and a Summary Info page detailing sheet count and breakdown, number of Subs, Functions, DLL declarations and lines of code both for the entire project and by Module. Now includes module file size.

Web Tool
Baarns Publishing presents our Excel-to-Web utility. For Developers and those of you who want to know what's under-the-hood with our Excel-to-Web utility, we're offering a version with complete source code unlocked.