In this post:

All my VB-Projects, including all my Common Components hosting Workbooks 1 are GitHub repositories since several years and I found the (positive) experience worth sharing it.

Common advantages

  1. GitHub is free of any charge no matter whether the VB-Project remains private or is made public
  2. GitHub versions any changes, provided changed components are - preferably automated along with the Workbook_BeforeSave event - exported. This kind of automation may be done by means of the Common Components Management service Export Changed Components 2.
  3. GitHub provides the means to make a code change in a branch first and once successfully tested merge the branch into the master.
  4. When turned public other GitHub users may make use of the project or even contribute to it
  5. An optional but rather obligatory README document provides the place for the description, installation and usage of the project
  6. All outside the Vb-Project documents use Markdown which is easy to use and sufficiently capable for a user friendly appearance. A good example for this is Microsoft’s VB Documentation.

Specifics for “productive” Workbooks/VB-Projects

Considering GitHub for Common Components (specifically when hosted in a dedicated Workbook) is definitely an option since those kind of components usually do not imply data. Considering GitHub for a ++productive++ Workbook/VB-Project appears much less obvious if not an absolute nonsense at first glance. What makes it considerable is a VB-Project Synchronization Service like the one provided by my Common Components Management Workbook/Addin: While the productive Workbook remains in place, its VB-Project is maintained/modified in a copy and the productive VB-Project is finally synchronized with the copy, thereby minimizing the productive Workbook’s downtime. Less development stress = better (tested!) result.

Turning a dedicated VB-Project folder into a (cloned) GitHub repo

Preconditions

  1. A GitHub user account
  2. The Workbook “lives” in a dedicated parent folder 3

Steps

  1. Install and open GitHub Desktop
  2. Use _File Add local repository …_ to turn a dedicated Workbook folder into a GitHub repo
  3. Create a folder dedicated for Export-Files, e.g. name it source
  4. Either export changed VBComponents manually (e.g. by MZTools or the native VB-Editor) or have this automated using the corresponding Common Component Management service service
  5. Use GitHub Desktop to Commit made changes and Push them to your GitHub repo (https://github.com//

  1. See the corresponding README section in the Common Components Management GitHub repo ↩

  2. There are a couple of other means available which are worth being considered. An advantage of the Common Components Management is that it also provides a VB-Project Synchronization and an automated update for Common Components when there is a more up-to-date version available. ↩

  3. I myself keep Workbooks/VB-Projects in a dedicated Workbook folder already for a long time. The folder has a sub-folder which keeps the Export-Files of all changed VB-Components, whereby this export is automatically managed by a Common Component Management Service][1]. This dedicated Export-folder not only serves as a backup in case the VB-Project gets corrupted (a true godsend in case) but is also the source for a versioning provided by [_GitHub Desktop. ↩