VBA Has No Class
Recently, I was working on one of my apps, one that is database centric. Whilst making some changes, I came across this piece of code that inserts a new record into the database
With RS
.AddNew
.Fields(FIELD_AUDIT_DATE) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_AUDIT_DATE).Value
.Fields(FIELD_CONSULTANT_ID) = GenerateID(FIELD_CONSULTANT_ID, Designer)
.Fields(FIELD_SALES_TYPE_ID) = GenerateID(FIELD_SALES_TYPE_ID, sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_SALES_TYPE).Value)
.Fields(FIELD_CUSTOMER) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_CUSTOMER).Value
.Fields(FIELD_QUOTE_NUMBER) = QuoteNumber
.Fields(FIELD_PRODUCT_ID) = GenerateID(FIELD_PRODUCT_ID, sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_PRODUCT).Value)
.Fields(FIELD_QUOTE_DATE) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_QUOTE_DATE).Value
.Fields(FIELD_QUOTE_AMOUNT) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_QUOTE_AMOUNT).Value
.Fields(FIELD_ESTIMATED_PROFIT) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_PROFIT).Value
.Fields(FIELD_REVISED_QUOTE) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_REVISED_QUOTE).Value
.Fields(FIELD_ACTUAL_PROFIT) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_ACTUAL_PROFIT).Value
.Fields(FIELD_STATUS_ID) = GenerateID(FIELD_STATUS_ID, sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_QUOTE_STATUS).Value)
.Fields(FIELD_DECLINED_ID) = GenerateID(FIELD_DECLINED_ID, sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_DECLINED).Value)
.Fields(FIELD_QUOTE_NOTES) = sh.Cells(Rownum, COL_FU_NOTES).Value
.Fields(FIELD_UPDATED_BY) = ThisApp.LogonUser
.Fields(FIELD_UPDATED_ON) = Format(Now, FORMAT_TIMESTAMPS_DB)
.Update
End With
Whilst looking at this code, for some reason my mind wandered to thinking about disconnected recordsets. Whilst most of my application involve database access, it is no longer on enterprise databases, so I don’t have the connection issues of high-end systems. As such, my use of disconnected recordsets is infrequent, my apps are safe in creating a user connection at logon, maintaining the connection throughout their session, and dropping at the end.
As an aside, I always use ADO in my applications. I found it easy to use and it performs fine for me. I have frequently been told that DAO performs better, usually by old Access'ers, but I have no issues with ADO, and will continue with it.
As often happens, my mind started wandering over this topic, forgetting what I was doing and thinking more about disconnected recordsets. I roamed on to thinking about collection classes. Collection classes are a very useful way of creating an in-memory dataset that can be manipulated by creating class methods, but they do require rather a lot of setup. In my musings, it occurred to me that I could use disconnected recordsets to achieve the same functionality, and use the builtin recordset functionality rather than creating my own methods.
Usually, a recordset would connect to a data source at some point, even a disconnected recordset, if only to get the data and/or write it back. It occurrs to me that this is not an absolute necessity, a recordset can be created and used without ever connecting to a data source, for instance where the data is maintained on a spreadsheet.
In this discussion, I will be working with a simple dataset as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
In these examples, I am using late-binding, so I first declare some constants to emulate the ADO constants.
Enum ADOConstants
adOpenStatic = 3
adUseClient = 3
adVarChar = 200
End Enum
Next, the data is extracted from the worksheet, and stored in an array.
Dim RSUsers As Object
Dim vecUsers As Variant
Dim Lastrow As Long
Dim i As Long, j As Long
With ActiveSheet
Lastrow = .Cells(.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row
vecUsers = .Range("A1").Resize(Lastrow, 5)
End With
The recordset is created, and because we are not retrieving the data from a data source (using ADO), we need to initialise the recordset by creating the columns.
Set RSUsers = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
With RSUsers
.Fields.append "FirstName", adVarChar, 25
.Fields.append "LastName", adVarChar, 25
.Fields.append "Gender", adVarChar, 1
.Fields.append "Role", adVarChar, 25
.Fields.append "Location", adVarChar, 25
.CursorLocation = adUseClient
.CursorType = adOpenStatic
.Open
Note that you have to use a client side cursor.
Now that we have a defined recordset, we can load it with data. Each row of the array is iterated and a new record is added to the recordset, the fields are populated, and the recordset is updated.
For i = 2 To Lastrow
.AddNew
.Fields("FirstName") = vecUsers(i, 1)
.Fields("LastName") = vecUsers(i, 2)
.Fields("Gender") = vecUsers(i, 3)
.Fields("Role") = vecUsers(i, 4)
.Fields("Location") = vecUsers(i, 5)
Next i
.Update
The recorsdet is now fully populated, contains all of the data, and so it is ready to use. To demonstrate this, I created a simply display function that outputs the recordset contents.
Private Function DisplayDetails( _
ByVal RS As Object, _
ByVal Title As String)
Dim msg As String
Dim i As Long
With RS
.MoveFirst
Do Until RS.EOF
msg = msg & "Name: " & RS.Fields("FirstName").Value & " "
msg = msg & RS.Fields("LastName").Value & vbNewLine
msg = msg & vbTab & "Role: " & RS.Fields("Role").Value
msg = msg & "(" & IIf(RS.Fields("Gender").Value = "M", "Male", "Female") & ")" & vbNewLine
msg = msg & vbTab & "Location: "
msg = msg & RS.Fields("Location").Value & vbNewLine
.MoveNext
Loop
End With
MsgBox msg, vbOKOnly + vbInformation, Title
End Function
The first demo shows all of the rows, all of the columns.
Call DisplayDetails(RSUsers, "List All Users")
We can also use the recordset Find function to find the rows that match the specified criteria. The criteria is based upon a column name.
RSUsers.Find = "Gender = 'M'"
Call DisplayDetails(RSUsers, "List All Users")
Find also can be used to skip rows, specify a start point, or set the search direction.
The recordset can be sorted,
RSUsers.Sort = "Location"
Call DisplayDetails(RSUsers, "List All Users Sorted By Location")
... or filter it.
RSUsers.Filter = "Gender = 'M'"
Call DisplayDetails(RSUsers, "List All Male Users")
You might wonder what is the difference between Find and Filter. Filter allows for multiple criteria, unlike Find.
RSUsers.Filter = "Gender = 'M' AND Location Like 'P*'"
Call DisplayDetails(RSUsers, "List All Male Users in P*")
As you can see, the disconnected recordset can do everything a collection class can do, but without having to hand-roll any of the methods, recordset has them builtin.
I think there is a killer usage for disconnected recordsets in Excel VBA apps, I just haven’t thought of it yet.