Why Some Methods/Properties Do Not Appear in Object Browser (142293)

SUMMARY

Most, but not all, of the functions and procedures available in Visual Basic 4.0 can be viewed by selecting the "VBA - Visual Basic For Applications" library in the Object Browser. For example, the StrConv function is visible, but the StrComp and InStr functions are not. The subroutines that are not visible do not support named arguments.

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior is caused by a difference in the internal representation of different statements and procedures. All of the subroutines available in Visual Basic 4.0 are a part of Visual Basic for Applications, and are included in the VBA type library. However, some functions and procedures were also implemented internally in either Vb32.exe or Vb.exe to improve performance.

While VBA functions and procedures support named arguments, internal functions do not. This can be shown by executing the following line of code:

   Debug.Print ABS(Number := -5)

Because the ABS function is implemented in two places, and because Visual Basic uses the internal version by default, the above line of code generates the error:

'Expected: )'

The use of the VBA version of the function (as well as of named arguments) can be forced by explicitly referencing the VBA type library in the call to the function or subroutine. For example, the following works properly:

   Debug.Print VBA.ABS(Number := -5)

In this case the function used resides in the type library.

Because the subroutines that have been implemented internally do not support named arguments by default, they were removed from the Object Browser to prevent copying and pasting of calls with incorrect syntax. Named arguments can still be used, as long as each call includes the "vba." prefix to tell Visual Basic to use the Visual Basic for Applications version of the function.