Rating: 
Summary: This is my BIBLE!
Review: Guy Hart-Davis is my hero. As you can tell, I really love this book. I can honestly say that I've read it from cover-to-cover and that I use it on a daily basis when I am working. I had previous experience with Visual Basic and with developing in Access, but no experience in working with Word 2000. I couldn't do the project I am working on without this book. I find it very easy to flip to the section I am in need of and get help from his examples. If you want to develop applications in Word, buy it. I look forward to more books from Hart-Davis.
Rating:
Summary: This is my BIBLE!
Review: Guy Hart-Davis is my hero. As you can tell, I really love this book. I can honestly say that I've read it from cover-to-cover and that I use it on a daily basis when I am working. I had previous experience with Visual Basic and with developing in Access, but no experience in working with Word 2000. I couldn't do the project I am working on without this book. I find it very easy to flip to the section I am in need of and get help from his examples. If you want to develop applications in Word, buy it. I look forward to more books from Hart-Davis.
Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive Book for the Serious Developer
Review: I bought this book after doing some serious VBA programming for Excel and having been in and out of software development for many years. It's tough to write a book for all users, novice and experienced. This book falls in between those two extremes.If you've never done any programming, you'll likely be frustrated by the slow start into actual programming. Some readers will need a "Hello world" routine up front. On the other hand, if you're an experienced programmer, you'll find that 60 to 70 percent of the book is way below your level and needs. But wait a minute, we're talking about a 1200+ page book! If just 10 percent is on target for you and you can find what you need, it's a steal. The content of the book is far, far, far beyond what Microsoft provides with built-in menus and help. Anyone who claims otherwise simply hasn't done any serious VBA programming. A large percentage of the commands and structures covered here absolutely cannot be generated by automated recording. For example, I wrote a code that scans a document, finds all the acronyms, determines whether the acronym definitions are provided, and builds and/or updates an acronym table at the end. It flags all undefined acronyms and it color-codes duplicate definitions and out-of-order definitions. It includes a toolbar for helping navigate the document. It also includes a capability for combining acronym tables from multiple sources. You have to really get immersed to code a task even as conceptually simple as this one, and this book is what you need to get through it. The most challenging thing about being productive with VBA is the horrendously large object model. Some of the best programmers I know -- and I'm talking guided-missile engineers and the like - have turned away from VBA because the object model required too much of a learning curve. This book does a good job of laying most of the object model out in logical order. (If you're unfamiliar with the term "object model," don't be intimidated - it's not that it's all that hard to master in small steps; it's just big; and you may be able to find what you want and apply it quickly.) The book isn't perfect: I've found two errors, but that's not bad, considering its size. Overall, it's very authoritative. While using this book, I occasionally needed to turn elsewhere for additional information. My favorite companion book is Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic for Applications 5, which has a strong orientation towards Excel. The bad news about both of these books is that they're getting old. I wouldn't yet call them "dated," but the authors/publishers will need to produce updated editions in the next few years. I, for one, really hope they do. That's the (selfish) reason for writing this review. I have to wonder, though, how many Word users will ever need a book this advanced. I'm giving the book five stars, because it is, by far, the best ever written on its subject. I wouldn't want to do without it.
Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive Book for the Serious Developer
Review: I bought this book after doing some serious VBA programming for Excel and having been in and out of software development for many years. It's tough to write a book for all users, novice and experienced. This book falls in between those two extremes. If you've never done any programming, you'll likely be frustrated by the slow start into actual programming. Some readers will need a "Hello world" routine up front. On the other hand, if you're an experienced programmer, you'll find that 60 to 70 percent of the book is way below your level and needs. But wait a minute, we're talking about a 1200+ page book! If just 10 percent is on target for you and you can find what you need, it's a steal. The content of the book is far, far, far beyond what Microsoft provides with built-in menus and help. Anyone who claims otherwise simply hasn't done any serious VBA programming. A large percentage of the commands and structures covered here absolutely cannot be generated by automated recording. For example, I wrote a code that scans a document, finds all the acronyms, determines whether the acronym definitions are provided, and builds and/or updates an acronym table at the end. It flags all undefined acronyms and it color-codes duplicate definitions and out-of-order definitions. It includes a toolbar for helping navigate the document. It also includes a capability for combining acronym tables from multiple sources. You have to really get immersed to code a task even as conceptually simple as this one, and this book is what you need to get through it. The most challenging thing about being productive with VBA is the horrendously large object model. Some of the best programmers I know -- and I'm talking guided-missile engineers and the like - have turned away from VBA because the object model required too much of a learning curve. This book does a good job of laying most of the object model out in logical order. (If you're unfamiliar with the term "object model," don't be intimidated - it's not that it's all that hard to master in small steps; it's just big; and you may be able to find what you want and apply it quickly.) The book isn't perfect: I've found two errors, but that's not bad, considering its size. Overall, it's very authoritative. While using this book, I occasionally needed to turn elsewhere for additional information. My favorite companion book is Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic for Applications 5, which has a strong orientation towards Excel. The bad news about both of these books is that they're getting old. I wouldn't yet call them "dated," but the authors/publishers will need to produce updated editions in the next few years. I, for one, really hope they do. That's the (selfish) reason for writing this review. I have to wonder, though, how many Word users will ever need a book this advanced. I'm giving the book five stars, because it is, by far, the best ever written on its subject. I wouldn't want to do without it.
Rating:
Summary: A great book
Review: I bought this book because I needed to learn VBA for my job. The author does an excellent job explaining things and doesn't wander off into theory like many other books do. There are plenty of examples to learn from and after about three days of reading I had enough of an understanding of VBA to begin using the book as a reference to look up things I wanted to do. I saw another review state this book was her bible, I have to agree because this book stays by my side and has helped me learn what I needed to. If you need to learn VBA quickly and you don't have a background in programming buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: a perfect guide
Review: I bought this book from a Word MVP recommendation. I had previously learned Word VBA from the book "Word 97 Annoyances" (good start for people interested in Word VBA) and from many on line tutorials. Guy Hart-Davis provides a complete guide to Word 2000 VBA language. It helped me to structure my work and gave me more ways to analyze my code. It helped to find out more possibilities of Word VBA. The author goes deeper into explaining all the tools available. Plus there is a central idea. Although VBA is a computer language programming, we should not forget that we are dealing with a Word Processor and that Word VBA is a tool for automation of repetitive tasks and getting your work faster. The author provides a view that does not forget this central point. With a little of experience users will understand that a few times you will gain time if you record a macro and edit it rather than just trying to write the code from the beginning. Word VBA is not C or C++. This flexibility is clearly shown along the book. Yet, it also goes deeper into the complexities of Word VBA. So people interested in a more complete approach (like me) will be satisfied with the plethora of technical information As the author mentions in one of the Introductory texts, this book does not force the reader to read it from cover to cover to start coding. It is well written and (not excessively) good-humored, what, truth to be told, makes it easier to read a 1200 pages book.
Rating: 
Summary: To much theory, for me.
Review: I'm a (relatively) beginner in VBA and I like learning by examples. Guy Hart-Davis promises dirty hands early in the book, but reading close to 200 pages before staring with codes is not my game. For me this book has too much theory. But for students or others that already has been working with VBA it's probably a great book. I will probably pick this book up later.
Rating:
Summary: Most comprehensive Word VBA book
Review: Lots of imformation about MS Office Word Visual Basic Application programming. I have no problem reading this book, because I have some Visual Basic background. VBA is a subset of VB. Beefore reading this book, you may need to have some Visual Basic programming knowledge, because this book doesn't teach basic elemental syntex of programming.
Rating: 
Summary: Great content!
Review: The author/publisher now posts the 'advertised' files on the sibex web site. They aren't organized as effectively as they could be but at least they are listed. (I would give the book 5 stars if if the files were more useful) Guy obviously knows his stuff! I come to this book after developing a 1.2 mb WordBasic application for Word v 2 and with a fair amount of Visual Basic experience. I was looking for a book that would present me with the 'ins and outs' of Word VBA and be useful as a reference as I developed my own applications. THIS BOOK EXCELS in meeting these objectives! Guy has done a great job So, while this book does not teach object oriented programming principles and conepts it DOES excel at giving a LOT of useful information on how to use the objects, methods and properties of Word 2000 VBA. I looked far and long for a good Word VBA book and in my opinion this one is the best! Good job Guy!
Rating: 
Summary: Far too basic Visual Basic
Review: The book boasts Intermediate - Advanced users, yet it's full of such basic operations as recording a macro, naming a macro. It's loaded with screen shots instead of useful sample, advanced programs. Basically, if you just run the recorder and note the code, you'll get the same thing that Mr. Hart provides us. The free MS-supplied VBA help file is much more useful.
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