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What is the complete recipe for installing VBA for ArcGIS 10 Desktop?

The Esri help topic on this is incomplete. From the number of threads I found troubleshooting this I'm not the only one experiencing difficulties. I've opened a tech support issue, but am still waiting for a response. Perhaps GIS.se is faster?

I have installed the VBA sdk kit from %install_media%\ArcGIS Desktop 10\SDK_VBA.
In ArcGIS Desktop Adminstrator I've set license level to Single Use.
Under Desktop > Availability VBA is listed as installed but not authorized.
When I run the [Authorize Now] wizard VBA is not listed in the available extensions.

matt wilkie
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1 Answers1

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the Q was about single use, but I might as well round out things out by providing the answer for concurrent licensing use as well so everything is in one place (I don't think it warrants a separate question).

Prepwork:

  1. Contact your customer support representative, by email, and requestVBA extension authorization (it's free, and no I don't know why you have to ask). Wait.
  2. Logon to https://customers.esri.com/, head to "Authorizations". VBA will show in the list, after your service rep adds it.
  3. Click on VBA link, you should see a new page with an authorization number. It will look like ELF1234567890. Click on that, so that you can get to a page where the text can be selected and copied (2x-click, [ctrl-c]). Also note number of licenses.

On the license server:

  1. run ArcGIS License Server Administrator > Authorization > [Authorize Now]
  2. select "...and need to authorize additional licenses" and "ArcGIS Desktop", [next]
  3. select ...using the internet, [next]
  4. fill out all the customer profiling info they already have on you, again, [next]

  5. at the Extensions screen ignore the list presented (3D analyst, etc) and slap [Other Extensions]. Fill out info copied from #3, then [Ok], [next], [finish].

    Feature : VBA <-- case sensitive!
    Auth# : ELF123456890
    No. Licenses: 99

    1. Back at license server admin main screen verify VBA is listed under Availability.

On each client machine:

  1. install the VBA SDK from the install media (ArcGIS Desktop 10\SDK_VBA\setup.exe)
  2. In Arcgis Administrator ensure Concurrent Use license is selected
  3. Run Arcmap and look under Customize menu for VBA Macros.

Sources:

matt wilkie
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  • Hmmmmm...it's almost as if they want to make it hard. Nawww. – Chad Cooper Oct 12 '11 at 22:13
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    they are making it hard because it will not be in the next version. Even the version 10 VBA is not as integrated as it once was - cannot write global functions and tools, only document level. – Jakub Sisak GeoGraphics Oct 12 '11 at 23:45
  • They've moved, and are movign futrther, towards Python with arcpy. I find it much better than VBA, imo – Hairy Oct 13 '11 at 08:05
  • @Hairy agreed, python has way more power, flexibility and potential than VBA. However VBA has access to things that arcpy doesn't, unless one climbs in through the window, and that's not a reliable strategy. I hope that arcpy subsumes everything that used to be VBA, before too long. – matt wilkie Oct 17 '11 at 23:33