Variable and Function Naming Conventions

Must be less than 256 characters. Variable, function, and subroutine names must be less than a byte (256 characters) in size.

Dim NumberOfSpreadsheets As Integer

or

Dim Number_of_spreadsheets As Integer

Although not a rule, it is recommended that you also give functions, variables, and subroutines memorable, short names that describes what it represents. The following are a few examples of way to name functions, variables, and subroutines:

'Spreadsheet variable
 Dim MySpreadsheet As Spreadsheet
 Set MySpreadsheet = ActiveSpreadsheet
 'Variable that holds a spreadsheet's number of cases
 Dim CaseCount As Integer
 CaseCount = MySpreadsheet.Cases.Count

The suffix of a variable or function can use special characters to indicate its data type. For example:

Dim TextString As String
 Dim TextString$

will both create a variable called TextString of the string data type. The latter type is a naming convention that is useful because it allows you to know a variables data type simply by looking at its suffix (instead of having to refer to its declaration). A function can also be declared in the same manner, as the following demonstrates:

Function Add _

(FirstNumber As Integer,SecondNumber As Integer) _
 As Integer

Function Add%(FirstNumber%,SecondNumber%)

Both of these will declare a function which will accept two integers and pass an integer value back to the calling function. Note that a subroutine cannot use this naming convention (except for its parameters) because it doesn't have a return type (see Statistica Visual Basic Syntax Reference - User-Defined Functions and Subroutines for additional information about functions and subroutines).

The following is a table containing all of the special character suffixes that may be used on variables and functions and which data types they represent: