CURRENCY Variable of User-Defined TYPE Cannot Use @ Symbol (64103)

SYMPTOMS

A field in a user-defined TYPE ... END TYPE statement must be defined with the "AS VariableType" form. When accessing the variable in the program, however, the variable can be referred to with or without the appropriate type symbol (for example, % for integer, & for long, etc.). However, a variable of type CURRENCY defined in a user-defined TYPE cannot be referred to in this manner. If the currency symbol (the @ sign) is used when accessing the field, the error message "Equal sign missing" is returned by the BC.EXE compiler. No error occurs when this format is used in the QBX.EXE environment.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Basic compiler (BC.EXE) in Microsoft Basic Professional Development System (PDS) versions 7.00 and 7.10 for MS-DOS and OS/2. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

To reproduce this problem, no special compiler directives are necessary. Use the following command to generate the error:

BC BasicProgramName ;

The compiler error and output are as follows:

    me(1).a@ = 12
           ^  Equal sign missing

Sample Code

TYPE mytype
  a AS CURRENCY
  b AS INTEGER
  c AS LONG
  d AS SINGLE
  e AS DOUBLE
  f AS STRING * 20
END TYPE

DIM me AS mytype
COMMON SHARED me() AS mytype

REDIM me(10)  AS mytype
me(1).a@ = 12     REM  Remark this line to avoid the compiler error
                  REM  or remove the currency symbol (@).
me(1).b% = 12
me(1).c& = 12
me(1).d! = 12
me(1).e# = 12
me(1).f$ = "12"
PRINT me(1).a, me(1).b, me(1).c
PRINT me(1).d, me(1).e, me(1).f