Dim MyArray() as Long, Dim MyArray() as String, etc.

I am using Office 2003 on Windows XP.

I am used to just dimensioning my arrays a variants (since I think at one
time you had to?), but can you not now dim them as other types? Or does VBA
coerce them back to variants anyway? For example:

Dim arrRow() As Long
Dim arrFileName() As String

Is there any performance gain in doing this?
Is there any other advantage in doing this?
Is it considered good programming practice to do this?

Any an all input appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

It's always been good practice to be specific in any variable declaration
unless you are unsure what value will be passed to it.
You may have been having problems in the past because you are declaring an
array without any dimensions. If you do this with a variant you don't have
to ReDim it to increase the dimension size.
If you want to use a specific type you must redim it to specify the
dimensions when the code is running



"quartz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am using Office 2003 on Windows XP.
>
> I am used to just dimensioning my arrays a variants (since I think at one
> time you had to?), but can you not now dim them as other types? Or does
> VBA
> coerce them back to variants anyway? For example:
>
> Dim arrRow() As Long
> Dim arrFileName() As String
>
> Is there any performance gain in doing this?
> Is there any other advantage in doing this?
> Is it considered good programming practice to do this?
>
> Any an all input appreciated.
> Thanks in advance.

Nick,
I appreciate your input, but I know about array sizes. My programs almost
always call for dynamic arrays. My real focus was on determining if there is
an advantage to dimensioning an array as a type other than variant. Any
further input on this?

"Nick" wrote:

> It's always been good practice to be specific in any variable declaration
> unless you are unsure what value will be passed to it.
> You may have been having problems in the past because you are declaring an
> array without any dimensions. If you do this with a variant you don't have
> to ReDim it to increase the dimension size.
> If you want to use a specific type you must redim it to specify the
> dimensions when the code is running
>
>
>
> "quartz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >I am using Office 2003 on Windows XP.
> >
> > I am used to just dimensioning my arrays a variants (since I think at one
> > time you had to?), but can you not now dim them as other types? Or does
> > VBA
> > coerce them back to variants anyway? For example:
> >
> > Dim arrRow() As Long
> > Dim arrFileName() As String
> >
> > Is there any performance gain in doing this?
> > Is there any other advantage in doing this?
> > Is it considered good programming practice to do this?
> >
> > Any an all input appreciated.
> > Thanks in advance.
>
>
>

Yes, there should be advantages in size and speed.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy


"quartz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Nick,
> I appreciate your input, but I know about array sizes. My programs almost
> always call for dynamic arrays. My real focus was on determining if there
is
> an advantage to dimensioning an array as a type other than variant. Any
> further input on this?
>
> "Nick" wrote:
>
> > It's always been good practice to be specific in any variable
declaration
> > unless you are unsure what value will be passed to it.
> > You may have been having problems in the past because you are declaring
an
> > array without any dimensions. If you do this with a variant you don't
have
> > to ReDim it to increase the dimension size.
> > If you want to use a specific type you must redim it to specify the
> > dimensions when the code is running
> >
> >
> >
> > "quartz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > >I am using Office 2003 on Windows XP.
> > >
> > > I am used to just dimensioning my arrays a variants (since I think at
one
> > > time you had to?), but can you not now dim them as other types? Or
does
> > > VBA
> > > coerce them back to variants anyway? For example:
> > >
> > > Dim arrRow() As Long
> > > Dim arrFileName() As String
> > >
> > > Is there any performance gain in doing this?
> > > Is there any other advantage in doing this?
> > > Is it considered good programming practice to do this?
> > >
> > > Any an all input appreciated.
> > > Thanks in advance.
> >
> >
> >

No problem.

Specifying type is faster as VB doesn't have to coerce the variable to the
data type once the data has been entered and also it uses less memory If you
are specific the system allocates only the memory required for the data
type. If you use variant it sets aside much more memory as it doesn't know
what will be passed



"quartz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Nick,
> I appreciate your input, but I know about array sizes. My programs almost
> always call for dynamic arrays. My real focus was on determining if there
> is
> an advantage to dimensioning an array as a type other than variant. Any
> further input on this?
>
> "Nick" wrote:
>
>> It's always been good practice to be specific in any variable declaration
>> unless you are unsure what value will be passed to it.
>> You may have been having problems in the past because you are declaring
>> an
>> array without any dimensions. If you do this with a variant you don't
>> have
>> to ReDim it to increase the dimension size.
>> If you want to use a specific type you must redim it to specify the
>> dimensions when the code is running
>>
>>
>>
>> "quartz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> >I am using Office 2003 on Windows XP.
>> >
>> > I am used to just dimensioning my arrays a variants (since I think at
>> > one
>> > time you had to?), but can you not now dim them as other types? Or does
>> > VBA
>> > coerce them back to variants anyway? For example:
>> >
>> > Dim arrRow() As Long
>> > Dim arrFileName() As String
>> >
>> > Is there any performance gain in doing this?
>> > Is there any other advantage in doing this?
>> > Is it considered good programming practice to do this?
>> >
>> > Any an all input appreciated.
>> > Thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>>