Mastering Arrays in Visual Basic 6

Welcome to Lesson 16 of our Visual Basic 6 Tutorial! In this lesson, you'll master VB6's powerful array features that allow you to efficiently manage collections of related data. Arrays are essential for handling lists of items, tables of information, and any situation where you need to work with multiple values of the same type.

16.1 Introduction to Arrays

An array is a powerful tool in programming, allowing us to represent multiple items with a single variable. Instead of dealing with individual items, we can use an array to handle a list of similar items efficiently.

Consider the scenario where we need to enter one hundred names. It would be impractical and time-consuming to declare 100 different variables for each name. Moreover, if we intend to process this data and make decisions based on it, we would end up with an excessive number of if...then statements, leading to a waste of time and effort.

16.2 Dimensions of an Array

Arrays in VB6 can have one or more dimensions, allowing you to represent various data structures:

16.3 Declaring Arrays

We can use Public or Dim statement to declare an array just as the way we declare a single variable. The Public statement declares an array that can be used throughout an application while the Dim statement declares an array that could be used only in a local procedure.

16.3.1 Declaring One-Dimensional Arrays

The general syntax to declare a one-dimensional array:

Where subscript indicates the last index in the array. Note that by default, arrays in VB6 start at index 0.

' Declare an array with 11 elements (indexes 0 to 10)
Dim CusName(10) As String

' Use Option Base 1 to start arrays at index 1
Option Base 1
Dim CusName(10) As String ' 10 elements (1 to 10)

' Specify explicit bounds
Dim Count(100 To 500) As Integer

Example 16.3: Student Names

This program accepts student names through an input box and displays them in a list box.

StudentNames.vb

Dim studentName(1 To 10) As String
Dim num As Integer

Private Sub addName()
    For num = 1 To 10
        studentName(num) = InputBox("Enter the student name")
        If studentName(num) <> "" Then
            List1.AddItem studentName(num)
        Else
            End
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Private Sub Start_Click()
    addName
End Sub

Figure 16.1: Student names interface

16.3.2 Declaring Two-Dimensional Arrays

Two-dimensional arrays are perfect for representing tabular data with rows and columns.

Example 16.5: Student Games

This example tracks student participation in games across different year levels.

' 4 games, 6 year levels (7 to 12)
Dim StuGames(1 To 4, 7 To 12) As Integer

Example 16.6: Sales Volume

This program summarizes sales volume for four products over six months.

SalesVolume.vb

Private Sub cmdAdd_Click()
    Dim prod, mth As Integer ' prod is product and mth is month
    Dim saleVol(1 To 4, 1 To 6) As Integer
    Const j = 1
    
    listVolume.AddItem vbTab & "January" & vbTab & "February" & vbTab & "March" _
        & vbTab & "Apr" & vbTab & "May" & vbTab & "June"
    listVolume.AddItem vbTab & "____________________________________________"
    
    For prod = 1 To 4
        For mth = 1 To 6
            saleVol(prod, mth) = InputBox("Enter the sale volume for product " & prod & " month " & mth)
        Next mth
    Next prod
    
    For i = 1 To 4
        listVolume.AddItem "Product" & i & vbTab & saleVol(i, j) & vbTab & saleVol(i, j + 1) & vbTab _
            & saleVol(i, j + 2) & vbTab & saleVol(i, j + 3) & vbTab & saleVol(i, j + 4) & vbTab & saleVol(i, j + 5)
    Next i
End Sub

Figure 16.2: Sales volume output

16.4 Dynamic Arrays

Dynamic arrays allow you to resize arrays during runtime when the number of elements is unknown at design time.

Example 16.7: Dynamic Squares

This program demonstrates dynamic arrays by calculating squares of numbers.

Private Sub cmd_display_Click()
    Dim myArray() As Integer
    Dim i, n As Integer
    n = InputBox("Enter the upper bound of array")
    List1.Clear
    
    ReDim myArray(n) ' Resize the array
    
    For i = 1 To n
        myArray(i) = i ^ 2
        List1.AddItem myArray(i)
    Next
End Sub

Next Lesson

Continue your VB6 journey with Lesson 17: Creating Files in VB6.

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