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Part III: Programming Concepts
The rest of this chapter clarifies the differences and (I hope) convinces you
of the value of using functions in your VBA code.
Using Built-In VBA Functions
VBA provides numerous built-in functions. Some of these functions take arguments
and some do not.
VBA function examples
In this section, I present a few examples of using VBA functions in code. In
many of these examples, I use the MsgBox function to display a value in a
message box. Yes, MsgBox is a VBA function — a rather unusual one, but a
function nonetheless. This useful function displays a message in a pop-up
dialog box. For more details about the MsgBox function, see Chapter 15.
A workbook that contains all the examples is available at this book’s Web site.
Displaying the system date or time
The first example uses VBA’s Date function to display the current system
date in a message box:
Sub ShowDate()
MsgBox Date
End Sub
Notice that the Date function doesn’t use an argument. Unlike worksheet
functions, a VBA function with no argument doesn’t require an empty set of
parentheses. In fact, if you type an empty set of parentheses, the VBE will
promptly remove them.
To get the system time, use the Time function. And if you want it all, use the
Now function to return both the date and the time.
Finding a string length
The following procedure uses the VBA Len function, which returns the length
of a text string. The Len function takes one argument: the string. When you
execute this procedure, the message box displays 11 because the argument
has 11 characters.