Who uses Option Explicit?

[Jon von der Heyden]

I really really know it should be used, but trying to do something quickly having to declare all variables becomes a chore.

I use variables if I need to reuse them at various points in my code. I often see code on the forum where variables are declared, and initialised but only used say once (I am occassionally guilty of this too). Using With blocks for one-off's can often spare the need for variables.

For instance, I often see:

Public Sub NeverEatYellowSnow()
    Dim objDict As Object
    Set objDict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
   
    'Some stuff here
    If Not objDict.exists(Something) Then
        objDict.Add Key:=Something, Item:=Something
    End If
   
    'more stuff here
End Sub

No need for a variable here, why not:

Public Sub NeverEatYellowSnow()
    'Some stuff here
    With CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
        If Not .exists(Something) Then
            .Add Key:=Something, Item:=Something
        End If
    End With
    
    'more stuff here
End Sub

I don't see the point of declaring objDict. The object is destroyed automatically at the end of the sub-routine anyway.

At least that's my thinking... Perhaps there is still good reason to declare variable?

 

[RoryA]

Makes debugging easier - you can inspect the variable in the Locals window. Also makes the code more legible to my mind. That's why I do it, anyway.

 

[Norie]

Jon

It may seem like overkill to declare something that is only going to be used once, but it's easier to debug when you have.

You can add the declared variables to the Watch window, drill down through their properties checking values etc as you slowly F8 through the code.

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

Yes, that was a good point that I over-looked. Stil, I suppose it depends on the overall size and complexity of the projecyt involved. I still think there are many instances where people declare variables where the variable offers little benefit. I'm not saying it's wrong; I don't see any harm in declaring the variables.

 

[jeffreybrown]

Well if I can just say from the point of view of a very novice VBA user, I agree the best option option is to declare variables.

From the very beginning I have always turned on Option Explicit; albeit, not entirley sure what I was doing.

When I asked for help from this board and somebody help with some VBA but they didn't declare the variable it really through me for a loop because I had Option Explicit turned on.

Just my thoughts...

 

[schielrn]

I don't see any harm in declaring the variables.

The file size will be a little bit bigger with each declared variable.

 

[erik.van.geit]

The file size will be a little bit bigger with each declared variable.

Perhaps, but the memory used will often be smaller