Organizing functions

Good afternoon everyone,
I've got more of a style question than technical one this time around. I'm
currently assembling all my custom functions and subs into one project. I
have been collecting some over the last couple of projects I've done, so I
thought it might be a good idea to have the ones I use very often together.
I am currently on 50-60 of them. The thing is that I've read so many
different opinions about how to store them.
Should I group them in different modules, or should I just create one big
module and comment every sub I have? Is there a processing-time difference
of having let's say 10 different modules or just having one big one?
Second question: should I save it as an add-in or would you recommend me
saving it as a normal spreadsheet?
I'd appreciate any comment on this matter.
Thanks guys ;o)

kj

I would suggest categorising them, and any like functions in a category
(such as formatting functions, file access, etc.) and create modules per
category. Name the modules, so you know the category.

I strongly suggest not putting 50-60 in one module, maintenance is easier by
breaking up.

I know of no performance impact of any significance of either method, but
too many functions can cause a problem.

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"Knut Dahl" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Good afternoon everyone,
> I've got more of a style question than technical one this time around. I'm
> currently assembling all my custom functions and subs into one project. I
> have been collecting some over the last couple of projects I've done, so I
> thought it might be a good idea to have the ones I use very often
together.
> I am currently on 50-60 of them. The thing is that I've read so many
> different opinions about how to store them.
> Should I group them in different modules, or should I just create one big
> module and comment every sub I have? Is there a processing-time difference
> of having let's say 10 different modules or just having one big one?
> Second question: should I save it as an add-in or would you recommend me
> saving it as a normal spreadsheet?
> I'd appreciate any comment on this matter.
> Thanks guys ;o)
>
> kj
>
>

My assumption here is that these are utility type functions. Let head through
this one question at a time.

How should they be organized. Grouping items togethter by functionality is a
great idea. It doens't change the processing time one little bit, but from an
understandability stand point it makes a lot of sense. If you have a module
with a few different text manipulation functions, then group them together.
If there is a problem with a text function you know immediately right where
to look. Grouping into a number of smaller categories also makes a lot of
sense from the standpoint of code re-use. I have a number of different
modules of utitlity type functions that I import into new projects. One for
Error handling, one for protecting and unprotecting, one for ADO DB
recordsets... Creating a new project becomes "plug and play".

In terms of commenting. Always, always, always comment. There should be some
sort of a preable at the beginning of your function indicating what it is,
what it does and how it is used. You should not have to read the code to
understand the function. When you write code you should comment throughout. I
will rarely go more than 5 lines without a comment. All of my variables are
commented. My code can be read by anyone and understood. If I come back to
something 6 months later to modify, it takes me no time at all to get up to
speed and make the changes.

Should it be in an add-in. If it is something that you will be using all of
the time then probably. Addin code is a little faster because it is
pre-compiled.

Just my two cents...

"Knut Dahl" wrote:

> Good afternoon everyone,
> I've got more of a style question than technical one this time around. I'm
> currently assembling all my custom functions and subs into one project. I
> have been collecting some over the last couple of projects I've done, so I
> thought it might be a good idea to have the ones I use very often together.
> I am currently on 50-60 of them. The thing is that I've read so many
> different opinions about how to store them.
> Should I group them in different modules, or should I just create one big
> module and comment every sub I have? Is there a processing-time difference
> of having let's say 10 different modules or just having one big one?
> Second question: should I save it as an add-in or would you recommend me
> saving it as a normal spreadsheet?
> I'd appreciate any comment on this matter.
> Thanks guys ;o)
>
> kj
>
>
>

Thanks guys.
Was more or less what I thought. Just wanted it confirmed by the experts ;o)

kj



"Knut Dahl" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Good afternoon everyone,
> I've got more of a style question than technical one this time around. I'm
> currently assembling all my custom functions and subs into one project. I
> have been collecting some over the last couple of projects I've done, so I
> thought it might be a good idea to have the ones I use very often
> together. I am currently on 50-60 of them. The thing is that I've read so
> many different opinions about how to store them.
> Should I group them in different modules, or should I just create one big
> module and comment every sub I have? Is there a processing-time difference
> of having let's say 10 different modules or just having one big one?
> Second question: should I save it as an add-in or would you recommend me
> saving it as a normal spreadsheet?
> I'd appreciate any comment on this matter.
> Thanks guys ;o)
>
> kj
>
>

Jim Thomlinson wrote:
> All of my variables are
> commented.

Perhaps, then, you are not using intuitive names for your variables. I
think code should be 'self documenting' where possible. I'd sooner use:

Dim TotalIncomeByTaxScheduleOfLastEmployeeAddedToGrid As Currency

than have to resort to something like:

' Keep a running total of income by Tax Schedule
' of last employee added to the grid
Dim Total8 As Currency

on the basis that it makes it harder to maintain the code if I have to
remember what distinguishes Total8 from Total1, Total2, Total3 etc.

Jamie.

--

Jamie,

How can you 'criticise' anyone for using comments<g>

I am sure Jim uses meaningful names as well, just as I do (see how many
times I use the variable in my code<bg>), but comments can also help. To
fully explain, a meaningful name could get ridiculously long, as in your
example, I would rather not use
TotalIncomeByTaxScheduleOfLastEmployeeAddedToGrid. a name and comments works
better for me, as an example

'--------------------------------------------------------------------
' Constant: CFP_Icon
' Usage: Defines if an icon is shown in the toolbar

What annoys me is shortening (I note happily that you don't), such as
TotIncByTaxSchedOfLastEmpAddToGrid, they are the worst of all.

I would add that I find some comments useless, such as

adoConn.Close 'close the connection

If comments are not used effectively, and just sprinkled about stating the
obvious, another developer may well decide that the comments do not help,
and so ignore them. And of course, they will then miss the one comment that
is truly enlightening.

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"Jamie Collins" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Jim Thomlinson wrote:
> > All of my variables are
> > commented.
>
> Perhaps, then, you are not using intuitive names for your variables. I
> think code should be 'self documenting' where possible. I'd sooner use:
>
> Dim TotalIncomeByTaxScheduleOfLastEmployeeAddedToGrid As Currency
>
> than have to resort to something like:
>
> ' Keep a running total of income by Tax Schedule
> ' of last employee added to the grid
> Dim Total8 As Currency
>
> on the basis that it makes it harder to maintain the code if I have to
> remember what distinguishes Total8 from Total1, Total2, Total3 etc.
>
> Jamie.
>
> --
>

Bob Phillips wrote:
> How can you 'criticise' anyone for using comments<g>

Sorry to shock you, Bob <vbg>.

I agree everything you've said here about comments. It's just that Jim
said he comments *all* of his variables, so presumably we'd see either
something you (and me) would call 'useless' e.g.

' Declare an ADO Connection object
Dim adoConn As ADODB.Connection

or something I'd called a non-meaningful name e.g.

Dim var1 As String ' Connection string value
Dim var2 As ADODB.Connection ' ADO connection object

Jamie.

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