Data Types, Variables, Assignment Statements

Introduction

Computer language has certain rules for constructing statements. Syntax (structure of a statement) must be correct. Computer cannot understand your program unless you follow the strict syntax rules. The programmer has to identify various types of values. Although VB do not require data declaration, in this class we will explicitly declare all data types to indicate our understanding of the data. By doing so the compiler can then perform additional error checking.

The programmer will also has to distinguish between data that may change and those rarely, if ever, change. Values that may often change are classified as variables. Values That rarely change are classified as constants.

Programs & Program Statements

Program is a set of instructions (code) for the computer to follow to complete a specific task.
VB program generally consists of one or more section of code, called event procedure, each containing a set of VB program statements. In VB, an event procedure always starts with Private Sub and ends with End Sub.

Skeleton sample of an event procedure

Private Sub cmdKlik_Click . We will look at what . are the statements that we can write-in here . - VB statements End Sub

VB Statements

Every Visual Basic statement contains some combination of the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. Keywords or reserved words Literals or constants Variables Operators or special symbols

1. Keywords Words or symbols that VB recognizes as having some predefined meaning as part of VB programming language
Examples

Private Sub End Dim

property names
We will learn more keywords as we progress

VB Statements (contd)
2. Literals (or Constants)

Specific values that we want to use in a program Often used to set an initial value of something Can be classified into two types: strings & numeric String Literals any sequence of characters surrounded by quotation marks

Examples

07-5531000 Name 123 A zero-length string that contains no characters,

not even a space

VB Statements (contd)
Numeric Literals used when working with numbers
combination of the digits 0 to 9, and may contain one decimal point and/or a sign (+/-) at the beginning cannot begin with a decimal point Example of valid and invalid numeric literals Valid
21 -308 3.14159 0.125 700000 700000.125 4922.11.3 .06 RM10,456.00 124

Invalid
(765)432-1111

Reason Not Valid

Contains parenthesis & dash -ve sign at end Two decimal points Starts with decimal point Contains RM and comma Contains quotation marks

String Concatenation

Concatenate means to join two or more character strings into a single, longer, character string Use & operator Examples

Fakulti & Kejuruteraan & Awam returns FakultiKejuruteraanAwam Fakulti & & Kejuruteraan Awam returns Fakulti Kejuruteraan Awam Fakulti & Kejuruteraan & txtKursus.text returns Fakulti Kejuruteraan ? Fakulti & Kejuruteraan & kod returns Fakulti Kejuruteraan
?
The value of text property of txtKursus control

The value of kod variable

Continuing Long Lines

Continue a long vb statements to two or more lines by using the space and underscore ( _ ) characters at the end of each line. When you combine line continuation and string concatenation in the same statement, you close a partial string with a or complete the name of an object before using the line continuation symbol. To force VB to print string on a new line use reserve word vbnewline. lblmessage.caption= Hello & txtname.text & _ vbnewline & Welcome to My Class. & _ This is a Visual Basic Class for _

& Engineering Students

space

Comments

Words of explanation within a program that provide information for other programmers (also yourself) who need to use or update the program in future. May include: purpose of the program. name of person who wrote or revised it. when it was written. clarify the purpose of a block of code within a larger program.
comments begin with an apostrophe ( )

PROGRAM : PURPOSE :

Calculator To Calculate the result of arithmetic operation of two number

PRORGAMMER ITUCE, FKA, UTM DATE : 21 July 2006

VB Statements (contd)
3. Variables A variable can be defined as a location in the computers memory that has the programmer-given name.

This is the place where the programmer store values that change from one use of the program to another or that changes while the program is running.
The programmer must decide on the name and also indicate what data type will be stored in that memory location. The data type affects how much memory is allocated for the variable.

We will take a look at the fundamental data types

Data Types
Data type
Boolean Currency Date Double Integer

Description
Logical data (2 bytes) Monetary values (8 bytes) Date and time (8 bytes) High precision floating point numbers (8 bytes) Small integer numbers (2 bytes) True or false

Range
15 digits to the left of the decimals, four digits to the right of the decimals January 1,0100 to December 31,999 Floating point numbers up to 14 digits of accuracy -32,768 to 32,767

Long
Single String

Large integer numbers (4 bytes)

Small floating point numbers (4 bytes) Character data (10 bytes + string length)

-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647
Floating point numbers up to 6 digits of accuracy Varies based on the size of string

Variant

Store any data type

Dependent upon what is being stored, should NOT be used under normal circumstances

Data types that we will use most in this course

Variables

Before a variable may be used, the programmer has to declare the variable by specifying a name and a data type. Variables are typically grouped together at the beginning of an event procedure. The first time a variable is used it should appear on the left side of an assignment statement to receive its initial value.

The expression on the RHS of an assignment statement is evaluated before an assignment is made.
N = N+1
This is OK

Choosing Variable Names

VB Variable Naming Requirements Must not exceed 255 characters. Must begin with a letter. Cannot contain an embedded period, space or type-declaration character. Must be unique. Cannot be the same as a keyword. Not case sensitive. Standard Guidelines for Naming Variables Be meaningful and descriptive.
(Ex. Load, Span, Width)

Use consistent abbreviations for the same word.

(Ex. Dist1, Dist2, Dist3)

Use entire words or initial syllables.

(Ex. Time, UDL, Wt)

Use mixed case, with a capital letter at the start of each new word.
(Ex. PtLoad, ICNo, MatrixNo)

Declaring Variables

Variable declarations are typically grouped together at the beginning of an event procedure. The general format : Dim VariableName As Type
Example

Dim Nama As String Dim BilPelajar As Integer Dim PointLoad As Single When we include Option Explicit in our programs, all variables must be declared before they can be used. To automatically include the Option Explicit statement at the beginning of every program code, select from the menu;

Tools Options Check Require Variable Declaration

You have to do this before opening the code window, otherwise you have to type in
Demo

Data Conversion
Input and output information displayed on a form through textbox & label are stored as a string in the property of the controls. This information can be directly copied to a string variable by using the assignment (=) operator. If the information is made up of numeric characters and we want to store it as a numeric variable, so that we can perform mathematical calculation, we have to convert the information to numeric form using conversion functions.
Example,

Distance = Val(txtJarak.text) CreditHour= CInt(txtCredit.text) CPA = CSng(txtCPA.text) Please refer to the supplementary notes on Conversion Functions

Using Variables in Assignment Statements

Variables are often used in assignment statements along with control properties and literals. Statements Explanation
Declaring variable Name as data type string
Assigning the string entered into textbox txtName to variable Name Declaring variable Width and Depth as Single Val( ) a function to convert string to numbers Convert the string in textbox to numbers and assign it to a variable Declaring Variable Assigning the strings in textboxes to variables

Dim Name as String

Name = txtName.text Dim Width as Single, Depth as Single Width = Val(txtWidth.text)

Depth = Val(txtDepth.text)
Dim Message as String Name = txtName.text Age = txtAge.text

Message = Hello & Name & _ vbnewline & You are & Age & _ years old

Assigning results of string concatenation to variable Message

Constants
Constants, like variables, are named storage locations in memory VB prevents the value of a constant from being changed during program execution Two types of Constant a) Symbolic constant b) User-Defined constant a) Symbolic Constant Names assigned to most widely used values in VB
Colour Constants
w w w w w w w w w Constant Value Description vbBlack 0x0 vbRed 0xFF vbGreen 0xFF00 vbYellow 0xFFFF vbBlue 0xFF0000 vbMagenta 0xFF00FF vbCyan 0xFFFF00 vbWhite 0xFFFFFF Black Red Green Yellow Blue Magenta Cyan White

Constants (contd)
Symbolic constant example

Private Sub cmdClickMe_Click() lblDisplay.Caption = " Hello," & vbNewLine & _

"Welcome To Visual BASIC!

lblDisplay.BackColor = vbWhite lblDisplay.BorderStyle = 1 Form1.BackColor = vbYellow End Sub

Constants (contd)
b) User-Defined Constant Constant defined by the user to be used in VB. Syntax, Const NAME As Type = value
Example,

To define pi: Const PI As Single = 3.14159 To define Bahasa = Melayu:

Const BAHASA As String = Melayu

Classification Scheme for Data items

Data Item

Numeric

String

Constant Integer Real

Variable

Constant

Variable

Constant

Variable

VB Statements (contd)
4. Operators Three types of Operators Arithmetic Operators Comparison Operators Logical Operators
a) Arithmetic Operators

(in order of precedence)

Operator
^

Operation
exponential

*,/ \
Mod

Multiplication and division Integer division

Modulus

1)

\ and Mod Prior to division, the dividend & divisor are rounded to integer. The result of \ is rounded (truncated) to the direction of zero.

2)

+,-

Addition and subtraction

Arithmetic Operators
Expression 9.2/1.6 9.2\1.6 Value 5.75 4

9.2mod1.6
9.2^1.6 17^5 Rules of precedence

1
34.84 1419857.0

Expressions with parentheses are evaluated first. If there is

more than one set, the innermost set is evaluated first. those with lower precedence. right.

Operations with the higher precedence are evaluated prior to Operations with equal precedence are performed from left to

Arithmetic Operators (contd)

Variable1 = 10 + 15 * 2 / 4 ^ 2 = 10 + 15 * 2 /16 = 10 + 30 /16 = 10 + 1.875 = 11.875 Variable2 = (8 5 * 3) ^2 = (8 15) ^ 2 = (-7) ^ 2 = 49 Value1 = 13 12 / 3 + 4 * 2 = 13 4 + 4 * 2 = 13 4 + 8 = 17

Arithmetic to VB Expressions
Normal Arithmetic Expression Equivalent VB Statement
Area = b*h Ixx = b*h^3/12
Speed = (distance * 1e3)/(time*3.6e3) M= (P*( L a) * x / L) (P * ( x a)) k = M / (b * d ^2 * fcu) z = d * ( 0.5 + (0.25 k/0.9)^0.5) As = M / (0.8 * fy * z)

Area = bh Ixx = bh3/12

Speed (m/s) = distance(km) x 103 time(hr) x 60 x 60 M = P(L-a)x P(x a) L k = M/bd2fcu z = d(0.5 + ( 0.25 k/0.9 )1/2 ) As = M/0.87fyz

Arithmetic Operators in VB Statements

Code Walkthrough A Private Sub cmdCompute_Click( ) B C

A=3
B=4 C =A+ B A=C*A

3 3 4

3
21 21 21

4
4 4 16

7
7 7 7

picResults.Print A - B
B=B*B End Sub

Operators (contd)
b) Comparison Operators (Relational)
Operator > < Comparison
Greater than Less than

>=
<= = <>

Greater than or equal to

Less than or equal to equal to Not equal to

All have the same precedence; they are evaluated in order of appearance from left to right. Compare values of literals, variables and control properties. Placed between two values and returns a Boolean value. Values must be compatible types, eg. String to string, number to number. Use conversion functions when required.

Comparison Operators (contd)

The ANSI (ASCII) code values determine whether one character is greater than another in a string comparison; general rule 0<9<A<Z<a<z. Table below shows a few of the values. ANSI 32 33 34 35 48 49 57 65 Characters (space) ! # 0 1 9 A ANSI 66 90 97 98 122 123 125 126 Characters B Z a b z { } ~

Comparison Operators (contd)

Example,
Credit=12 Rs=0 StuName=Anas TextboxtxtCourse = (empty)

Expression txtCourse.text= Credit<10 Rs>2

Boolean Value True False False

Rs>= 0
StuName=Anis StuName<> 123>9 123 > 9

True
False True True False

(Credit*3-25)> 0

True

c)

Logical Operators Operator Not And Or

Operators (contd)
Operation Logical not (reversing its Boolean value) Logical and Logical or

Returns a Boolean value. And and Or combine the relational expressions.

When combining relational expressions and comparison

operators, each relational expression is evaluated first.

AND returns true when both relations expressions are true. OR returns true as long as at least one of the relations
expressions is true.
In general arithmetic operators are evaluated first, then relational operators, and logical operators are evaluated last.

Logical Operators (contd)

Example Bil Nama
Bil<=10 AND Nama <> Bil<=10 OR Nama <>

9
10 11 10 11

Ali
Lau Ani

True
True False False False

True
True True True False

We will use comparison and logical operators later in selective and repetitive structures.

Example

Program Development - Example

Example 4
Write a program that calculates the sum, difference, product and quotient of two numbers. 1. Analyze the Problem Input needs: 2 numbers Processing needs: arithmetic operations (+, -, x, /) Output Needs: display results of the operations Design Hierarchy Chart
Calculator Program

2.

Form Event

Number input textbox & Label input request

Arithmetic operator Command buttons & label Click Event show result

Exit command button

Click Event halt program execution

32

Example 4 (contd)

Flowchart
Arithmetic Operator Buttons
Start
Get the 2 numbers Carry out the appropriate Arithmetic operation End Display the results in the label

Exit Button
Start

Terminate the program

End

You can also write pseudocodes

33

Example 4 (contd)

Test Plan
Sample Input Expected Output

Add 2 and 5
Subtract 5 from 9 Multiply 3 and 7 Divide 8 by 4

7
4 21 2

34

Example 4 (contd)
3. Interface Input controls: two textboxes and labels Processing needs: 4 arithmetic operation buttons & an exit button Output Needs: One label to display the results

Label1

Label2

txtFirstNo txtSecondNo

cmdDivide cmdSubtract

lblResult
cmdEnd

35

Example 4 (contd)

Setting Control Properties

Control Property Name
Caption Text Text Caption Font Form1 (blank) (blank) / MS San Serif, Bold, 24points

Value of Property

Form: form1 Textbox: txtFirstNo Textbox: txtSecondNo Commandbutton: cmdDivide

Commandbutton: cmdSubtract
Commandbutton: cmdMultiply Commandbutton: cmdAdd Label: lblResult Commandbutton: cmdEnd Label: Label1

Caption Font
. . Caption Caption Caption Font Caption font

MS San Serif, Bold, 24points

. .. Tahoma, Bold, 9 points &End Type two numbers Times New Roman, Bold Italic, 12 points Click a button Times New Roman, Bold Italic, 12 points

Label: Label2

36

Example 4 (contd)
4. Coding The coding for the command buttons is then written, i.e. event procedures
Option Explicit Dim No1 As Single, No2 As Single, Result As Single Private Sub cmdDivide_Click()

No1 = Val(txtFirstNo.Text) No2 = Val(txtSecondNo.Text) Result = No1 / No2 lblResult.Caption = txtFirstNo.Text & " DIVIDED BY " & _ txtSecondNo.Text & " EQUALS TO " & Result
End Sub Private Sub cmdAdd_Click()

No1 = Val(txtFirstNo.Text) No2 = Val(txtSecondNo.Text) Result = No1 + No2 lblResult.Caption = txtFirstNo.Text & " PLUS " & _ txtSecondNo.Text & " EQUALS TO " & Result
End Sub
37

Example 4 (contd)
Coding (contd)
Private Sub cmdMultiply_Click()

No1 = Val(txtFirstNo.Text) No2 = Val(txtSecondNo.Text) Result = No1 * No2 lblResult.Caption = txtFirstNo.Text & " TIMES " & _ txtSecondNo.Text & " EQUALS TO " & Result
End Sub

Private Sub cmdSubtract_Click()

No1 = Val(txtFirstNo.Text) No2 = Val(txtSecondNo.Text) Result = No1 - No2 lblResult.Caption = txtFirstNo.Text & " MINUS " & _ txtSecondNo.Text & " EQUALS TO " & Result
End Sub

Private Sub cmdEnd_Click()

End

End Sub

38

Example 4 (contd)
5. Test & Debug After testing and debugging the the program is now competed. When the program is run
Enter numbers 8 and 4 in the textbox, then click

Result is shown here, in lblResult label

You can choose any other click buttons (Demo)

39

Example 4a Triangle
Problem: Write a program to calculate the length of the sides, perimeter and area triangle where the coordinates of the sides are known.
The program should: Provide facility for the user to enter input data. Display the side lengths, perimeter and area. Provide a read-me message on different form.

Example 4a Triangle
Algorithm Input x & y coordinates of the points Calculate the length of the sides Add the side length to get the perimeter Calculate the area Display results Equations Length = [(x1-x2)2+(y1-y2)2] 0.5

Area = 0.5[(y1x2+y2x3+y3x1)-(x1y2+x2y3+x3y1)]

You are advised to carry out the programming development process

Example 4a Triangle

10.12 10.02 19.96

9.89 0.11 0.15

Example 4a Triangle
Source Codes Option Explicit Private Sub cmdReadMe_Click() frmtriangle.Hide frmReadMe.Show End Sub Private Sub CmdCalc_Click() 'Declaration of Variables Dim X1 As Single, X2 As Single, X3 As Single Dim Y1 As Single, Y2 As Single, Y3 As Single Dim S1 As Single, S2 As Single, S3 As Single Dim Perimeter As Single, Area As Single 'Assignment of Variables X1 = Val(txtX1.Text): X2 = Val(txtX2.Text): X3 = Val(txtX3.Text) Y1 = Val(txtY1.Text): Y2 = Val(txtY2.Text): Y3 = Val(txtY3.Text)

Example 4a Triangle
'Calculations S1 = Sqr((X1 - X2) ^ 2 + (Y1 - Y2) ^ 2) S2 = Sqr((X2 - X3) ^ 2 + (Y2 - Y3) ^ 2) S3 = Sqr((X3 - X1) ^ 2 + (Y3 - Y1) ^ 2) Perimeter = S1 + S2 + S3 Area = Abs(0.5 * (Y1 * X2 + Y2 * X3 + Y3 * X1 _ - Y2 * X1 - Y3 * X2 - Y1 * X3)) 'Displaying Results lblResult.Caption = "Length of side S1 = " & _ FormatNumber(S1, 3) & vbNewLine & _ "Length of side S2 = " & FormatNumber (S2, 3) & _ vbNewLine & "Length of side S3 = " & FormatNumber (S3, 3) _ & vbNewLine & "Perimeter = " & FormatNumber (Perimeter, 3) _ & vbNewLine & "Area = " & FormatNumber (Area, 3) End Sub

Test Your Understanding

1. 2.

Keywords ______ begin the body of an event procedure and keywords ______ end the body of an event procedure. A location in a computers memory that may contain different values at various times throughout program execution is called a ______. What is the assignment operator in VB? What is the basic difference between a string and numeric data? The _____ character is the symbol for the string concatenation operator. What character in VB indicates the start of a comment? In VB, how do you continue long statements on another line?

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8.
9.

What are three rules for naming variables?

What naming standard is suggested for controls that you place on a form.

Test Your Understanding

10.

State whether each of the following true or false:

a) b) c) d) e)

Option Explicit forces explicit variable declaration. The variables PeLaJaR and pelajar are identical. Declarations can appear anywhere in a body of an event procedure. Integer division has the same precedence as floatingpoint division. VB syntax always requires arithmetic expressions to be enclosed in parentheses otherwise, syntax errors occur. An integer datatype can store the value 50000.

f)
11.

Determine whether or not the name is the valid variable name: Sales.2004 Income 05 Food&Drink Number? Car_1 2143Test1 val _under

Test Your Understanding

12.

What is the value of the following expressions:

a) b) c)

(1+8/2+((1*4)+(5*4))/4) ((2+2+2)/3 + (1+1+1)*5)) ((3*5*2*7)+12/2) (3+3)*1 4(3*5)

13.

Are the following expressions valid?

a) b)

c)
14.

(5)(5)

Indicate whether each expression evaluates to true or false. a) b) c) d) Not (10 >= 8) (A = a) Not (A = a) (CAT = CAT) And (1 < 2)

Test Your Understanding

15.

Complete the tables below by filling in the value of each variable after each line is executed.
X Private Sub cmdCompute_Click() X=2 Y = 3 * X^2 X=Y+3 Y

picResults.Cls
picResults.Print X + 5 Y=Y+X/2 End Sub Bal
Private Sub cmdCompute_Click() Bal = 30 Ker = 0.3 Dise = 7 Bal = Bal + Ker * Bal Bal = Bal - Dise End Sub

KerX

Dise

Programming Exercise
1. Create a user interface and set the properties of controls as shown below. Write a program that fulfill the following requirements. a) Ask the user to type in the name and title in the textboxes. Enable the Greet button when the title textbox is filled. b) When Greet button is clicked, display the title and name on the first line of the label, followed by other appropriate message on the following lines. Enable the Clear and End buttons. c) When Clear button is clicked, clear the contents of the textboxes and label, and disable the command buttons.
Name
frmForm txtName txtTitle cmdGreet cmdClear cmdEnd You can also use visible property instead of enabled lblGreeting

Property
Caption Font Size Font Size Caption Caption Enabled Caption Enabled Caption

Value
HANDS-ON 2 Arial 10,Bold Arial 10,Bold Greet Clear False End False

Programming Exercise
2. Write a VB program to calculate the area, perimeter and moment of inertia of a semi circle and circle about their centroidal x-axis as shown below. Use picturebox for input and labels to display the output.

Ix=pr4/8 - 8r4/9p

Ix=pr4/4

3. Develop a program to calculate the MOI of I, H, T and C sections. 4. Write a program to calculate the support reactions of a simply supported beam carrying: a)uniformly distributed loaded (udl) over the span. b)triangular distributed load over the span. c)A point and udl over the span. 5. Write a program to calculate the magnitude and direction of the resultant force of three concurrent forces acting on a particle.

the END