[Lesson 1]<<[Table of Contents]>>[Lesson 3]
2.1 The Definition of Variables in Excel 2010 VBA
In general, variables are something that varies or prone to variations, just like the files in your cabinet or the mailboxes where their contents always change from time to time. In Excel 2010 VBA programming environment, variables are areas allocated by the computer memory to hold data.
To safeguard the data created in Excel 2010 VBA, we suggest that you migrate your essential programming/testing environment into the cloud by remotely loading/accessing your programming tools such as emulators and IDE`s on your preferred device(PC/android/iOS) with high performance hosted citrix xendesktop from CloudDesktopOnline at an unbelievable xendesktop pricing. If you prefer a server, Rent a gpu dedicated server from Apps4Rent with 24*7*365 days assured tech-support & migration assistance.
2.2 Rules in Naming Variables
Like the mailboxes, each variable must be given a name. The following are the rules when naming a variable :
- They must not exceed 40 characters
- No space is allowed
- They must contain only letters, numbers and underscore characters
- They must not begin with a number, must always begin with a letter
- Period is not permitted
Examples of valid and invalid variable names are displayed in Table 2.1
Table 2.1
| Valid Name | Invalid Name |
|---|---|
| My_Car | My.Car |
| Year1234 | 1234Year |
| Long_Name999 | Father&Son |
| A8Group | A Group |
2.3 Data Types
Excel 2010 VBA data types can be grossly divided into two types, the numeric data types and non-numeric data types. They are classified below:
2.3.1 Numeric Data Types
Numeric data types are types of data that consist of numbers, which can be computed mathematically with various standard operators such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and more. Examples of numeric data types are examination marks, height, weight, number of students in a class, share values, the price of goods, monthly bills, fees and others.
Table 2.2: Numeric Data Types
| Type | Storage | Range of Values |
|---|---|---|
| Byte | 1 byte | 0 to 255 |
| Integer | 2 bytes | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| Long | 4 bytes | -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648 |
| Single | 4 bytes | -3.402823E+38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative values 1.401298E-45 to 3.402823E+38 for positive values. |
| Double | 8 bytes | -1.79769313486232e+308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 for negative values 4.94065645841247E-324 to 1.79769313486232e+308 for positive values. |
| Currency | 8 bytes | -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807 |
| Decimal | 12 bytes | +/- 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 if no decimal is use +/- 7.9228162514264337593543950335 (28 decimal places). |
2.3.2 Non-Numeric Data Types
Non-numeric data types are data that cannot be manipulated mathematically using standard arithmetic operators. The non-numeric data comprises text or string data types, the Date data types, the Boolean data types that store only two values (true or false), Object data type and Variant data type .They are summarized in Table 2.3
Table 2.3: Nonnumeric Data Types
| Data Type | Storage | Range |
|---|---|---|
| String(fixed length) | Length of string | 1 to 65,400 characters |
| String(variable length) | Length + 10 bytes | 0 to 2 billion characters |
| Date | 8 bytes | January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999 |
| Boolean | 2 bytes | True or False |
| Object | 4 bytes | Any embedded object |
| Variant(numeric) | 16 bytes | Any value as large as Double |
| Variant(text) | Length+22 bytes | Same as variable-length string |
2.3.3 Testing Data Types
We can test out the type of data held by a variant by using the function VarType. To run the test, enter the Excel 2010 VBA code IDE and create a subroutine such as below:
Sub TestVarType() MyVariable1 = "Francis" MsgBox VarType(MyVariable1) MyVariable1 = 1234 MsgBox VarType(MyVariable1) End Sub
When you run the macro, the message box will first display 8, which means it is a string. It will display 2 subsequently, which means it is an integer. We can call MyVariable1 a variant data type, and Excel 2010 VBA is clever enough to automatically identify the type of data.
2.4 Declaration of variables
In Excel VBA 2010, we need to declare the variables before using them by assigning names and data types.
2.4.1 Implicit Declaration
We can use a variable without openly(explicitly) declare it if we assign an initial value to it. For example,
MyFirstName="John"
Excel 2010 VBA will automatically create a variable MyFirstName as a variant, and it will hold the data as John. This type of declaration is called implicit declaration.
2.4.2 Explicit Declaration
Implicit declaration of the variable often leads to errors in writing code, therefore, it is better to declare a variable explicitly. It is declared using the Dim statement as follows:
Dim VariableName As DataType
If you want to declare more variables, you can declare them in separate lines or you may also combine more in one line, separating each variable with a comma, as follows:
Dim VariableName1 As DataType1, VariableName2 As DataType2, VariableName3 As DataType3
Example 2.1
Dim password As String Dim yourName As String Dim firstnum As Integer Dim secondnum As Integer Dim total As Integer Dim doDate As Date Dim password As String, yourName As String, firstnum As Integer
For fixed-length string, you can use the statement to declare the variable:
Dim VariableName as String * n,
where n defines the number of characters the string can hold.
Example:
Dim yourName as String * 10
yourName can hold no more than 10 Characters.
2.4.3 Scope of Declaration
Other than using the Dim keyword to declare the data, you can also use other keywords to declare the data. These keywords indicate the scope of the declaration, they are private ,static and public,as follows:
Private VariableName as Datatype
Static VariableName as Datatype
Public VariableName as Datatype
The Private declares a local variable or a variable that is local to a procedure or module in Excel VBA 2010.
The Static keyword declares a variable that can be used multiple times, even after a procedure has been terminated. Most variables created inside a procedure are discarded by Visual Basic when the procedure is finished, static keyword preserves the value of a variable even after the procedure is terminated.
The Public keyword declares a global variable, which means it can be used by all the procedures and modules of the whole program.
2.5 Constants
Constants are different from variables in the sense that their values do not change during the running of the program. In Excel 2010 VBA , the statement to declare a constant is
Const Constant Name As Data Type = Value
Examples:
Const Pi As Single=3.142 Const Temp As Double=37 Const Score As Single=100
