Using the Immediate Window in Visual Studio .NET

Creating Universal Product Code version A in Visual Studio .NET Using the Immediate Window

Although you can use the Immediate window for debugging applications, this window can actually help you learn about VBA without writing reams of code You can execute statements one at a time Use View Immediate Window to display the Immediate window This window normally appears at the bottom of the IDE, and it won t contain any information until you type something in it

Most developers spend their days using the Immediate window checking their applications for errors You can use the Immediate window to ask VBA about the value of a variable, for example (A variable acts as a storage container for a value such as Hello World) This feature is always available in the Visual Basic Editor, even if you aren t using VBA for anything at the moment To try out this feature, type MyVal = Hello World (don t forget the double quotes) in the Immediate window and then press Enter Now type MyVal and then press Enter Figure 1-8 shows the output of this little experiment

You asked VBA to create a variable named MyVal and assign it a value of Hello World The next step is to ask VBA what MyVal contains by using the operator Figure 1-8 shows that MyVal actually does contain Hello

Experimenting with the Immediate window is one of the fastest ways to learn how to use VBA because you get instant results You can also copy successful experiments from the Immediate window to the Clipboard, and then paste them into the Code window Using this method ensures that your code contains fewer errors than if you were to type it directly into the Code window If you read the preceding section, Creating a variable in the Immediate window and followed along, then you created a variable named MyVal The variable still exists in memory unless you closed the VBA Editor You can use this variable for a little experiment your first program Type MsgBox MyVal into the Immediate window and then press Enter You see a message box like the one shown in Figure 1-9

Congratulations! You just completed your first VBA application The code you typed asked VBA to use the MsgBox function to display the text in the MyVal variable Click OK to clear the message box

VBA provides access to a lot of objects, more than you ll use for any one program With all the objects that you have at your disposal, you might forget the name of one or more of them at some time Object Browser helps you find the objects you need In fact, you can use it to find new objects that could be useful for your next project Use the View Object Browser command to display Object Browser, as shown in Figure 1-10 Normally, at that point, you need to filter the information in some way

Object Browser contains a list of the contents of all projects and libraries loaded for the Visual Basic Editor You can view the list of projects and libraries using the Project/Library drop-down list box When you start Object Browser, this list box reads <All Libraries>, which means that you re viewing everything that VBA has to offer usually too much for someone to make sense of it all Projects and libraries are different, but you don t usually have to worry about them when you use the objects they contain A project is the VBA code contained in one of the files that you load into the application In most cases, you use a project to store the code you create A library is external code contained in a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) file The DLL contains support routines used by the application or VBA This code is normally written by a developer, using a language such as Visual Basic or Visual C++ You can t easily edit the code in a DLL