Use of Custom Data Types in VBA

Question

I am trying to create a custom data type in VBA for Excel. Let\'s call this data type \"truck\". Each truck has the following attributes:

NumberOfAxles (this         


        

Answer 1

It looks like you want to define Truck as a Class with properties NumberOfAxles, AxleWeights & AxleSpacings.

This can be defined in a CLASS MODULE (here named clsTrucks)

Option Explicit

Private tID As String
Private tNumberOfAxles As Double
Private tAxleSpacings As Double


Public Property Get truckID() As String
    truckID = tID
End Property

Public Property Let truckID(value As String)
    tID = value
End Property

Public Property Get truckNumberOfAxles() As Double
    truckNumberOfAxles = tNumberOfAxles
End Property

Public Property Let truckNumberOfAxles(value As Double)
    tNumberOfAxles = value
End Property

Public Property Get truckAxleSpacings() As Double
    truckAxleSpacings = tAxleSpacings
End Property

Public Property Let truckAxleSpacings(value As Double)
    tAxleSpacings = value
End Property

then in a MODULE the following defines a new truck and it's properties and adds it to a collection of trucks and then retrieves the collection.

Option Explicit

Public TruckCollection As New Collection

Sub DefineNewTruck()
Dim tempTruck As clsTrucks
Dim i As Long

    'Add 5 trucks
    For i = 1 To 5
        Set tempTruck = New clsTrucks
        'Random data
        tempTruck.truckID = "Truck" & i
        tempTruck.truckAxleSpacings = 13.5 + i
        tempTruck.truckNumberOfAxles = 20.5 + i

        'tempTruck.truckID is the collection key
        TruckCollection.Add tempTruck, tempTruck.truckID
    Next i

    'retrieve 5 trucks
    For i = 1 To 5
        'retrieve by collection index
        Debug.Print TruckCollection(i).truckAxleSpacings
        'retrieve by key
        Debug.Print TruckCollection("Truck" & i).truckAxleSpacings

    Next i

End Sub

There are several ways of doing this so it really depends on how you intend to use the data as to whether an a class/collection is the best setup or arrays/dictionaries etc.