How do I declare a global variable in VBA?

Question

I wrote the following code:

Function find_results_idle()

    Public iRaw As Integer
    Public iColumn As Integer
    iRaw = 1
    iColumn = 1

And I get the error message:

"invalid attribute in Sub or Function"

Do you know what I did wrong?

I tried to use Global instead of Public, but got the same problem.

I tried to declare the function itself as `Public, but that also did no good.

What do I need to do to create the global variable?

Answer 1

You need to declare the variables outside the function:

Public iRaw As Integer
Public iColumn As Integer

Function find_results_idle()
    iRaw = 1
    iColumn = 1

Answer 2

To use global variables, Insert New Module from VBA Project UI and declare variables using Global

Global iRaw As Integer
Global iColumn As Integer

Answer 3

This is a question about scope.

If you only want the variables to last the lifetime of the function, use Dim (short for Dimension) inside the function or sub to declare the variables:

Function AddSomeNumbers() As Interger
    Dim intA As Integer
    Dim intB As Integer
    intA = 2
    intB = 3
    AddSomeNumbers = intA + intB
End Function
'intA and intB are no longer available since the function ended

A global variable (as SLaks pointed out) is declared outside of the function using the Public keyword. This variable will be available during the life of your running application. In the case of Excel, this means the variables will be available as long as that particular Excel workbook is open.

Public intA As Integer
Private intB As Integer

Function AddSomeNumbers() As Integer
    intA = 2
    intB = 3
    AddSomeNumbers = intA + intB
End Function
'intA and intB are still both available.  However, because intA is public,  '
'it can also be referenced from code in other modules. Because intB is private,'
'it will be hidden from other modules.

You can also have variables that are only accessible within a particular module (or class) by declaring them with the Private keyword.

If you're building a big application and feel a need to use global variables, I would recommend creating a separate module just for your global variables. This should help you keep track of them in one place.

Answer 4

If this function is in a module/class, you could just write them outside of the function, so it has Global Scope. Global Scope means the variable can be accessed by another function in the same module/class (if you use dim as declaration statement, use public if you want the variables can be accessed by all function in all modules) :

Dim iRaw As Integer
Dim iColumn As Integer

Function find_results_idle()
    iRaw = 1
    iColumn = 1
End Function

Function this_can_access_global()
    iRaw = 2
    iColumn = 2
End Function