Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is a subset of the Visual Basic Programming language for use with Microsoft Word, Excel, Access etc. While it contains a many features not supported by VBScript (another subset of VB) , the basic syntax, or construction of the language, is very similar.
Variables
A variable is a virtual container in the computer’s memory that’s used to hold information. In concept, it is much the same as a notepad. You can jot down information on the page of a notepad and return to that specific page later to remember what you wrote or modify the information. A computer program can store information in a variable and then access that information later by referring to the variable’s name.
How Do I Create a Variable?
When you create a variable, you have to give it a name. That way, when you need to find out what’s contained in the variable, you use its name to let the computer know which variable you are referring to. You have two ways to create a variable. For example, you want to create a variable called Quantity, you would enter:
Dim Quantity
'To assign a value to the variable quantity use:
Quantity = 5Visual Basic for Applications Features Not In VBScript
| Category | Omitted Feature/Keyword |
|---|---|
| Array Handling | Option Base Declaring arrays with lower bound <> 0 |
| Collection | Add, Count, Item, Remove Access to collections using ! character (e.g., MyCollection!Foo) |
| Conditional Compilation | #Const #If…Then…#Else |
| Control Flow | DoEvents GoSub…Return, GoTo On Error GoTo On…GoSub, On…GoTo Line numbers, Line labels |
| Conversion | CVar, CVDate Str, Val |
| Data Types | All intrinsic data types except Variant Type…End Type |
| Date/Time | Date statement, Time statement |
| DDE | LinkExecute, LinkPoke, LinkRequest, LinkSend |
| Debugging | Debug.Print End, Stop |
| Declaration | Declare (for declaring DLLs) Optional ParamArray Static |
| Error Handling | Erl Error Resume, Resume Next |
| File Input/Output | All traditional Basic file I/O |
| Financial | All financial functions |
| Object Manipulation | TypeOf |
| Objects | Clipboard Collection |
| Operators | Like |
| Options | Deftype Option Base Option Compare Option Private Module |
| Select Case | Expressions containing Is keyword or any comparison operators Expressions containing a range of values using the To keyword. |
| Strings | Fixed-length strings LSet, RSet Mid Statement StrConv |
| Using Objects | Collection access using ! |