VBA Dictionary difference

[drop05]

Hello, I am seeing two different things with dictionaries and was wondering what is the difference between the two and the benefit of using one over the other.

I am seeing

Dim dict as new dictionary

and

Dim dict as scripting.dictionary

what is the difference between new dictionary and scripting.dictionary and what is the benefit of using one over the other if there is? Thank you in advance

 

[Domenic]

Dim dict as scripting.dictionary

In this case, scripting is the library, dictionary is the class, and dict is the variable being declared as a dictionary object from the scripting library. Here, you'll need to create an instance of the dictionary object and assign it to dict before you can start using it. And you create an instance using the keyword New with the statement Set dict = new scripting.dictionary.

Dim dict as new dictionary

In this case, the variable dict is being declared as an auto-instancing dictionary object using the New keyword. Here, you don't need to explicitly create an instance of the dictionary object. Instead, it is automatically created when it's first used. The other thing to remember about this method is that if you set dict = Nothing, dict is not actually set to Nothing. Note that the declaration does not include a reference to the scripting library since it's not strictly needed. But it could have been included.