Vba – Difference between Visual Basic 6.0 and VBA

vb6vba

What is the difference between the two. I always thought VBA is somewhat 'crippled' version of VB, but when a friend asked me the other day I had no idea what the actual differences are.

Also, when you use, for example, Excel, is that VB or VBA ?

Best Answer

For nearly all programming purposes, VBA and VB 6.0 are the same thing.

VBA cannot compile your program into an executable binary. You'll always need the host (a Word file and MS Word, for example) to contain and execute your project. You'll also not be able to create COM DLLs with VBA.

Apart from that, there is a difference in the IDE - the VB 6.0 IDE is more powerful in comparison. On the other hand, you have tight integration of the host application in VBA. Application-global objects (like "ActiveDocument") and events are available without declaration, so application-specific programming is straight-forward.

Still, nothing keeps you from firing up Word, loading the VBA IDE and solving a problem that has no relation to Word whatsoever. I'm not sure if there is anything that VB 6.0 can do (technically), and VBA cannot. I'm looking for a comparison sheet on the MSDN though.

Related Solutions

What does DIM stand for in Visual Basic and BASIC

Dim originally (in BASIC) stood for Dimension, as it was used to define the dimensions of an array.

(The original implementation of BASIC was Dartmouth BASIC, which descended from FORTRAN, where DIMENSION is spelled out.)

Nowadays, Dim is used to define any variable, not just arrays, so its meaning is not intuitive anymore.

Excel – the difference between dim and set in vba

There's no reason to use set unless referring to an object reference. It's good practice to only use it in that context. For all other simple data types, just use an assignment operator. It's a good idea to dim (dimension) ALL variables however:

Examples of simple data types would be integer, long, boolean, string. These are just data types and do not have their own methods and properties.

Dim i as Integer
i = 5

Dim myWord as String
myWord = "Whatever I want"

An example of an object would be a Range, a Worksheet, or a Workbook. These have their own methods and properties.

Dim myRange as Range
Set myRange = Sheet1.Range("A1")

If you try to use the last line without Set, VB will throw an error. Now that you have an object declared you can access its properties and methods.

myString = myRange.Value

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What does DIM stand for in Visual Basic and BASIC

Excel – the difference between dim and set in vba

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