Example
Defines a user-defined data type containing one or more elements.
Syntax
Type usertype
elementname [(subscripts)] As typename
[ elementname [(subscripts)] As typename]
. . .
End Type
Remarks
The Type statement has these parts:
Part Description
Type Marks the beginning of a user-defined type.
usertype Name of a user-defined data type. It follows standard variable naming conventions.
elementname Name of an element of the user-defined data type. It follows standard variable-naming conventions.
subscripts Dimensions of an array element. You can declare multiple dimensions. The syntax of subscripts is described below.
typename One of these data types: Integer, Long, Single, Double, Currency, String (for variable-length strings), String * length (for fixed-length strings), Variant, or another user-defined type. The argument typename can't be an object type.
End Type Marks the end of a user-defined type.
The argument subscripts has the following syntax:
[lower To ]upper[,[lower To] upper] . . .
The To reserved word provides a way to indicate both the lower and upper bounds of an array variable's subscripts. Array subscripts can be negative. To can be used to specify any range of subscripts between -32,768 and 32,767, inclusive. The maximum number of array dimension is 60.
The Type statement can be used only in the Declarations section of a module. Once you have declared a user-defined type using the Type statement, you can declare a variable of that type anywhere in your application. Use Dim, Global, ReDim, or Static to declare a variable of a user-defined type.
Line numbers and line labels aren't allowed in Type...End Type blocks.
User-defined types are often used with data records because data records frequently consist of a number of related elements of different data types.
The following example shows the use of static arrays in a user-defined type:
Type StateData
CityCode (1 To 100) As Integer ' Declare a static array.
County As String * 30
End Type
Dim Washington(1 To 100) As StateData
In the preceding example, StateData includes the CityCode static array, and the record Washington has the same structure as StateData.
When you declare a static array within a user-defined type, its dimensions must be declared with numeric constants rather than variables.
The example uses Type to create a user-defined type with three elements. A variable is then declared of the user-defined type, and data is assigned to each element. To try this example, paste the user-defined type definition into the Declarations section of a module. Paste the remaining code into the Declarations section of a form. Then press F5 and click the form.
Type TestRecord ' Create user-defined type.
CustNum As Long
CustName As String * 38
CustPurchase As String * 24
End Type
Sub Form_Click ()
Dim Answer, FileNum, Index, Msg, NL, TB ' Declare variables.
Static CustEntry As TestRecord ' Create output buffer.
NL = Chr(10): TB = Chr(9) ' Define newline, tab.
FileNum = FreeFile ' Get file number.
Open "TESTFILE" For Random As FileNum
Index = 1 ' Keep track of records.
Do ' Get data to fill all
CustEntry.CustNum = Index ' the elements of the
Msg = "Enter customer name:" ' data records.
CustEntry.CustName = InputBox(Msg)
If CustEntry.CustName = String(38, 32) Then Exit Do
Msg = "Enter purchase:"
CustEntry.CustPurchase = InputBox(Msg)
Msg = "Customer #"
Msg = Msg & CustEntry.CustNum & NL
Msg = Msg & CustEntry.CustName & NL
Msg = Msg & CustEntry.CustPurchase & NL
Msg = Msg & NL & "Is this information correct?"
Answer = MsgBox(Msg, 4) ' Show record, confirm.
If Answer = 6 Then ' If Yes
Put FileNum, Index, CustEntry
Index = Index + 1 ' Increment record.
End If
Loop
Close FileNum ' Close file.
Msg = "The records you input have been written to a file. "
Msg = Msg & "Choose OK to remove the test file from your disk."
MsgBox Msg ' Display message.
Kill "TESTFILE" ' Remove test file.
End Sub