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Chapter 9: Working with Arrays and Collections
15_046500 ch09.qxp 12/5/06 5:36 PM Page 207

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This example shows how to use a 
For Each...Next
statement to access
each array element in turn. Notice that you don’t need to use an index in this
situation because the 
For Each...Next
statement keeps track of it for you.
The 
IndividualString
variable is a 
Variant
— the only acceptable type
when using a 
For Each...Next
statement. You don’t have to convert
IndividualString
when you add it to 
Output
because VBA tracks it as a
Variant/String
. Check out this statement in the Debugger, and you can
see how it works.
The final statement displays a message box containing the value of 
Output
.
This message box presents the list of the strings originally added to the
array. Notice that the output is a single string that the code created from the
individual array elements.
Understanding the array types
You can classify arrays in several ways. The first method is by the kind of
data that the array holds. A 
String
array is different from an 
Integer
array.
An array always keeps the array data type unique. Using a 
Variant
data type
lets you mix data types within an array. You should use this technique care-
fully because it can lead to bugs that are difficult to debug.
A second method is to define the number of array dimensions. A 
dimension
is
the number of directions in which the array holds information. A simple list,
such as the one in the earlier “Understanding array usage” section, is a
single-dimensional array. A table that consists of rows and columns is a two-
dimensional array. You can create arrays with any number of dimensions.
Listing 9-2 shows an example of a two-dimensional array that holds the result
of a calculation. Note that this is the first example to mix forms into the pro-
gram, and it also shows how to use the 
ReDim
statement. (You can find the
source code for this example on the Dummies.com site at 
http://www.
dummies.com/go/vbafd5e
.)