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Thread: Solo Mac

  1. #1
    VBAX Tutor SJ McAbney's Avatar
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    Solo Mac

    Out of curiosity, shades, are you the only Mac user here?

  2. #2
    Mac Moderator VBAX Expert shades's Avatar
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    The only one out of the closet! No, I finally got Anne to admit that there were at least three of us.

    It is a tought place to be for a Mac user. Although I use Excel 2002 all day at work, so I straddle both worlds. I like to at least make people aware of this side of the Office world. And if companies are considering Windows alternatives for the desktop (see eWeek, ComputerWorld, etc. for direction on this), then there needs to be at least some discussion or pointers to Mac Office capabilites.

    Software: LibreOffice 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.6.5
    (retired Excel 2003 user, 3.28.2008 )
    Humanware: Older than dirt
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    but at least I'm inconsistent!

    Rich

  3. #3
    VBAX Tutor GaryB's Avatar
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    Nope! I have a mac at home - we have 7 macs here at work - and my expertise is in Mac Graphics ie... PhotoshopCS and down- Indesign CS-Pakemaker-Quark-Illustrator-Freehand-Mac Os Systems and Hardware etc etc etc

    GaryB


    Quote Originally Posted by Abulafia
    Out of curiosity, shades, are you the only Mac user here?

  4. #4
    Mac Moderator VBAX Expert shades's Avatar
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    Hi, Gary. I had seen your post, but wanted to leave it up as the last entry for a while - people would really believe there is another Mac user!


    Glad to see your participation on the board.
    I had been on OS 9.2 for quite a while (gave computer to my son and his family), and switched to eMac OS X 10.3.4 about 6 weeks ago. Very nice - but I miss Framemaker (I had PageMaker, too, but didn't use it as much).

    Because of a personal project (book with photos for my mother), I am using RagTime Solo for page layout. I have never been into production, workflow, etc. so can't comment on that aspect of it, but RagTime seems to meet most of my requirements right now. RagTime apparently is much more popular in Europe.

    Software: LibreOffice 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.6.5
    (retired Excel 2003 user, 3.28.2008 )
    Humanware: Older than dirt
    --------------------
    old, slow, and confused
    but at least I'm inconsistent!

    Rich

  5. #5
    VBAX Mentor Brandtrock's Avatar
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    Although I am not a Mac user, both my dad and younger brother have them. My dad largely for presentations he did as an activity director at a retirement home, and my brother due to his position as a teacher and coach in a high school out here in Arizona. I am asked from time to time to do something in Excel for them and so far have not had to resort to VBA as their needs are fairly simple.

    For Gary and Shades who have "admitted" their Mac use: What are the differences that I should be aware of when the day comes to actually code for their machines?
    Brandtrock




  6. #6
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    VBAX Guru Jacob Hilderbrand's Avatar
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    I wonder if we should start a Mac Users Anonymous support group?

    Shades: "Hello... My name is Shades, and... I'm... a... *cough* Mac user"
    Support Group: "That's ok Shades, admitting that is the hardest step. Now we can help."

    :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl

  7. #7
    Mac Moderator VBAX Expert shades's Avatar
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    Ah, yeah.... MUAG, just doesn't ring quite right.

    Of course, if it were 12 steps, I would have to set up a Mac spreadsheet to make sure we followed all of them.

    Software: LibreOffice 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.6.5
    (retired Excel 2003 user, 3.28.2008 )
    Humanware: Older than dirt
    --------------------
    old, slow, and confused
    but at least I'm inconsistent!

    Rich

  8. #8
    Mac Moderator VBAX Expert shades's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brandtrock
    Although I am not a Mac user, both my dad and younger brother have them. My dad largely for presentations he did as an activity director at a retirement home, and my brother due to his position as a teacher and coach in a high school out here in Arizona. I am asked from time to time to do something in Excel for them and so far have not had to resort to VBA as their needs are fairly simple.

    For Gary and Shades who have "admitted" their Mac use: What are the differences that I should be aware of when the day comes to actually code for their machines?
    MS did not put ActiveX controls in the Mac version. Thus, if you are going to use controls for cross-platform use, be sure to use Forms and not Control Toolbox.

    The Reference Libraries are much more limited on the Mac version of VBA. This is not a problem of the Mac, but rather MS not including the functionality.

    If you are going to use ODBC drivers, just be aware that MS does not provide any for the Mac. You will have to find (relatively cheap) 3rd party software to do that.

    Software: LibreOffice 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.6.5
    (retired Excel 2003 user, 3.28.2008 )
    Humanware: Older than dirt
    --------------------
    old, slow, and confused
    but at least I'm inconsistent!

    Rich

  9. #9
    Mac Moderator VBAX Expert shades's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brandtrock
    For Gary and Shades who have "admitted" their Mac use: What are the differences that I should be aware of when the day comes to actually code for their machines?
    Just thought of another difference:

    When you enter file paths, there is a difference between the Windows and OS X versions:

    Windows:
    C:\My Documents\My Projects\....

    Mac OS X:
    Macintosh HD:Documents:My Projects...

    Minor difference, but in this case it is the difference between working and not working.

    Software: LibreOffice 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.6.5
    (retired Excel 2003 user, 3.28.2008 )
    Humanware: Older than dirt
    --------------------
    old, slow, and confused
    but at least I'm inconsistent!

    Rich

  10. #10
    VBAX Mentor Brandtrock's Avatar
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    Thanks Shades. I appreciate the heads up on those issues. Your knowledge will undoubtedly save me many headaches in the future.

    Regards,
    Brandtrock




  11. #11
    Site Admin
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    There is only one user here at my work that has a Mac. If I need any testing, I'm going to use and abuse her computer.


    Quote Originally Posted by shades
    ... When you enter file paths, there is a difference between the Windows and OS X versions:

    Windows:
    C:\My Documents\My Projects\....

    Mac OS X:
    Macintosh HDocuments:My Projects...

    Shades,

    When you reference a file path of the current workbook, can you still use a syntax like ...

    [vba]
    Dim var As String
    var = ThisWorkbook.Path
    [/vba]

  12. #12
    Mac Moderator VBAX Expert shades's Avatar
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    Using the active workbook, yes. Because this is within VBA itself. The full path name, however, is dependent on the underlying system software.

    Software: LibreOffice 3.3 on Mac OS X 10.6.5
    (retired Excel 2003 user, 3.28.2008 )
    Humanware: Older than dirt
    --------------------
    old, slow, and confused
    but at least I'm inconsistent!

    Rich

  13. #13
    hey - I think I saw an article about an ODBC dl for macs from ms.. shades - send me a reminder and I'll look for it - bit busy now

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