VBA classes - Difference between Get Property and Function

[Shads]

This may be a philosophical and/or best-practise question, but what is the difference between the usage of Get properties and functions within a VBA class? For example, a class holding information about people may store the Date of Birth with associated Let and Get properties. Should the routine that returns the age of the person (by calculation from the DoB) be a Get property or a function? Is there best-practice/tradition for VB/VBA?

 

[AbuTurab]

Hi,

I think the choice of using Get or a function should be based on OOP principles.

For instance, in the case of Age, I think it should be Get (not a function) as it looks more object oriented and natural.

See how it looks then using:

Person.Age

or

Person.GetAge

 

[Kyle123]

It's personal preference and convention, I'm of the opinion that a function should have an input and return something - so I'd use a property for your DoB example especially since you also have a Set property, DoB is read-write so you should really be able to access it in the same way.

There's perhaps more of a case for it being a function if it's read only. Though I'd still have it as a property.

 

[7ohm7]

Hi, I created the following guide:

DEFINITIONS

Get
- return: yes
- parameter: no
- word form: adjective or not clear

Function
- return: yes
- parameter: yes/no
- word form: verb

Set
- return: no
- parameter: yes
- word form: adjective or not clear

Sub
- return: no
- parameter: yes/no
- word form: verb

QUESTION MAP

has return?
  |_ yes > has parameter?
  |  |_ yes: Function
  |  |_ no > likely verb?
  |      |_ yes: Function
  |      |_ no: Get
  |_ no > has parameter?
     |_ yes > likely verb?
     |   |_ yes: Sub
     |   |_ no: Set
     |_ no: Sub