What I wouldn’t have given to be aware of this add-in when I was starting out as a developer! Seriously, this add-in would have saved me hundreds, if not thousands, of hours searching online, posting to forums, to find out how to code what I needed to do. Beyond which, it provides the user with a standardized set of procedures, instead of trying to piece together countless routines found here and there as you search online.

Just yesterday, I needed a particular routine and instead of searching online, as I always have done until now, I opened the TVSB, performed a quick search, exported the appropriate code into my module and was back at work in a matter of 1-2 minutes, if that!

 

So what did I think of the TVSB?

Cons:

• I wish it could be somehow directly integrated within the VBE as done with certain other add-ins rather than a separate popup application. Have some type of integrated toolbar with a drop down category/procedures/… select the procedure and BAM there is. AND, I’m not saying it is hard to export the procedures from the SourceBook the way it is currently setup. That said, even though it would be nice, I myself am not sure how it could be accomplished.
• My other issue is that their code uses Early biding which I try to avoid normally as it can causes reference issues. So their code is a nice starting point, but I would convert most of the classes, procedures,… into late binding for my own purposes. Over the course of several years, I have learnt that Late Binding avoids reference issues and this outways (in my opinion) any performance benefits Early Binding presents. At the end of the day, each developer has their own opinion and experience with regards to this aspect of programming, so feel free to make up your mind on this aspect yourself. To learn a little bit more about the pros and cons of Early Binding vs. Late Binding take a look at Early vs. Late Binding
  from the Word MVP site, it is a short overview of the issue.

 

Pros:

• Easy to install
• Can be integrated to work in a team environment (untested)
• Easy to navigate and work with
• It is very intuitive
• Came with a user manual! Just this to me put this application above most others!!! Although, in this case, a manual is not necessary.
• The code itself, is well categorized so you can find things quite easily just by noising around.
• Effective search tool enable one to quickly search through the repository.
• Extendable. You can add your own code (procedures, modules, …) to the repository so you can build upon what is already there.
• Good export utility (export directly into your module, to a file, …)
• Customizable – You can configure the Error Handler and other elements to suit your programming methodologies.

Put simply, the FMS Total Visual SourceBook (TVSB) is a simple to use, powerful work tool that can easily accelerate the development process of any developer and give you a leg up on your competition.