Installation process

[brochuJP]

I have been able to go trough all the steps of the installation process but it took me a few minutes to understand where I need to put my file and why the code was not running when I executed "Sub TestImport()". I have been able to figure out a few things because I have some good knowledge in VBA but for someone that is a beginner it can be painful and I am sure that a few people got discouraged. My suggestion is to create a file that will automate the installation process on Windows platform. This must be an external file because it is the only way to control others files.

I very like the idea behind this repository and I think it can make a significant impact to increase the VBA community in GitHub. @hilkoc let me know if you like the idea. I can take care if this issue and create the file for the installation.

[hilkoc]

An easier installation process would be great. If you have figured out a way to do that I'd be happy to merge that into this repo.
However, please no binary files, only scripts where the source can be reviewed before running.

[brochuJP]

So I created the file Installer.bas Let me know what you think of it.

[hilkoc]

Hi @brochuJP , I'd be happy to take a look. Where can I find your installer.bas?

[TNick]

@hilkoc He forked your repository and created the file in a branch here

[DecimalTurn]

Additionally to the pull request #34, what could be done to make the installation process easier would simply be to include an operational version of the addin file (vbaDeveloper.xlam) inside a release like I did here.
I feel like this would solve many of the issues with the installation process and make it easier for new users.

[DecimalTurn]

@hilkoc , I understand your point regarding the PR I mentioned above and your reason for closing it. I actually thought the same thing and did some improvements on my fork so that everything could be handled with Installer.bas only. The goal was to make it so a complete beginner with VBA could install vbaDeveloper. I could've added that to the PR, but it would have involved even more changes and you didn't seem to have a lot of time available. So, I didn't add it to avoid making the PR even bigger for you to review. But now that the PR has been closed, I could certainly clean up my code a little more and make another PR if you still believe it's a good idea.

However, this project doesn't have to go this direction. As I mentioned in my previous comment, I would personally be happy to close this issue if there was a release that included the .xlam file for any VBA beginners to download it directly. In the end, I think that it would be the best compromise if we want to move on to something else.

[hilkoc]

Hi @DecimalTurn , I appreciate your engagement with this project and thinking about how to make things easier or better. Since this project is for people working with VBA source code, we can assume users have some familiarity with Excel macros. The installation takes many steps, but each step on its own easy to do. I don't expect it to be too problematic for anyone who regularly works with VBA code.

I feel strongly against providing an excel binary .xlam file. In general it is not safe, and is a bad practice that should not be encouraged. Besides, most people visiting github like building from source.

What we can do is integrate some of the code of the installer in the build.bas module. Then the build steps need to be adjusted accordingly. So one of the steps changes into 'now run this macro ...' and then some other steps can be skipped.