Zeiss LSM 880, Operating Manual

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CHAPTER 2 - MACROS AND VISUAL BASIC
ZEISS VBA Programming for LSM LSM 880
26 000000-2071-464 10/2014 V_01
4 VBA Programming for LSM
4.1 VBA Programming
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is a widely-spread programming language, and lots of sources for an
introduction to the language can be found on the web. Therefore, we do not give a general introduction
into VBA programming here. From here on, we assume that the user is familiar with basic VBA
programming.
If you have not had experience with VBA programming before, please consider to work through an
introduction first before starting with VBA for ZEN.
4.2 Programming for LSM: Starting points
The ZEN software (black edition) offers two starting points for programming in VBA. In technical
language, these are two Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). They are called the Lsm5Vba API and
the VBA-GUI API. Here, they are shortly summarized; a detailed description follows in the next two
chapters.
The
Lsm5Vba API offers a low-level, hardware-near access to the ZEN system. It is the older of the two
APIs and has been used with ZEN macros for many years. Because of this, some of its functionality has
changed its behavior or is not working correctly any more. To keep VBA macros compatible, we have not
removed this functionality, so old macros still run, but their behavior may have changed. On the other
hand, the Lsm5Vba API offers points of access to low-level system functionality, which makes it a very
mighty tool for those who require a very specialized system usage.
The
VBA-GUI
API offers a high-level programming experience, very similar to using the graphical user
interface (GUI). It was introduced with the release of ZEN 2011, and its structure changes slightly with
each release to keep up with GUI changes. This API is the right choice for those who mostly want to
automate routine workflows in a macro. In ZEN 2011 and later, the macro recorder produces code with
commands from this API.
It is important to note that both APIs can be used in one macro. Thus, the user can rely on the high-level
API whenever possible and switch to the low-level API when needed.