Programmically instantiate or change a Dictionary Object Name

[DeadGoat]

Hello,
I have a function designed to update a Dictionary object. All works well, but now I want to make the function more generic by having it instantiate a new dictionary object by passing a name. The motive is to use the function across different dictionaries. The problem is that the vba compiler won't compile the dictionary Name as it complains of a type mismatch.

In brief the function and code looks something like this: pass the name of the dictionary object I want to access, pass the operation I want to do, and an optional value.


Public Function GenericDictionary(dictName As String, dictMethod As String, optional dictValue as String ) As DictRtn


Select Case dictMethod
Case "instantiateDict"
Static dictName as Scripting.Dictionary
Set collectionName = New Scripting.Dictionary

……
Update DictRtn with something here….
….

End Select
return something here...

End Function



The complier won't accept the DictName in the Static statement. I believe I can understand why the type error is generated, but I need to insert the actual name that I pass with dictName and then have it compile to instantiate. I've attempted to do a DoCmd.rename, but the complier complains of undefined variables (ie DoCmd.rename dictName, Scripting.Dictionary, dictDefaultName) where dictDefaultName is something that I can predefine as a Scripting.Dictionary object.


Any suggestions or hints on how to get the compiler to type cast a string to a Scripting.Dictionary object? Suggestions on how to properly do the DoCmd Statement?

Thanks for any suggestions or help.

David

 

[RoryA]

Why can't you pass the actual Dictionary object to the procedure, rather than the name of your variable?

 

[DeadGoat]

Why can't you pass the actual Dictionary object to the procedure, rather than the name of your variable?

Hi Rory,
Thank you for review and offering a suggestion. I have applied the concept and can successfully pass an object.

I've come to the conclusion that I want to keep all dictionary methods within the Function itself (including the elusive "instantiate dictionary"). I continue to explore the concept of passing a string and converting it to an object without success such as use of CObj.


Do you know of any way that I can convert a string to an object, or programmatically create a string that can then be executed real time?



Thanks again for your consideration.

David

 

[RoryA]

The dictionary object doesn't have a name and I have no real idea what it would mean to convert a String to an Object.