Data Types
In our daily life, we have to deal with all kinds of information and data. For example, we need to deal
with data like names, money, phone number, addresses, date, stock quotes and more.
Similarly, in Visual Basic 2022, we have to deal with all sorts of data, some of them can be
mathematically calculated while some are in the form of text or other non-numeric forms. In Visual
Basic 2022, data can be stored as variables, constants or arrays. The values of data stored as variables
always change, just like the contents of a mailbox or the storage bin while the value of a constant
remains the same throughout.
Data Types
Visual Basic 2022 classifies information into two major data types, the numeric data types, and the
non-numeric data type
Numeric Data Types
In Visual Basic 2022, numeric data types are types of data comprises numbers that can be calculated
using various standard arithmetic operators. Examples of numeric data types are examination marks,
height, body weight, the number of students in a class, share values, the price of goods, monthly bills,
fees, bus fares and more. In Visual Basic 2017, numeric data are classified into seven types based on
the range of values they can store. Numeric data that involve round figures are classified as Integer
or Long integer. Data that require high precision calculation are classified as single and double
precision data types, they are also called floating point numbers. Numeric data that involve money
are classified as currency data types. Lastly, data that require more precision and involve many
decimal points are classified as decimal data types. These data types are summarized in Table 8.1
Table 8.1: Numeric Data Types
Type Storage Range of Values
Byte 1 byte 0 to 255
Integer 2 bytes -32,768 to 32,767
Long 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648
-3.402823E+38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative values 1.401298E-
Single 4 bytes
45 to 3.402823E+38 for positive values.
-1.79769313486232e+308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 for
Double 8 bytes negative values 4.94065645841247E-324 to
1.79769313486232e+308 for positive values.
Currency 8 bytes -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807
+/- 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 if no decimal is use
Decimal 12 bytes
+/- 7.9228162514264337593543950335 (28 decimal places).
Non-numeric Data Types
In Visual Basic 2022, non-numeric data types are data that cannot be calculated using standard
arithmetic operators. The non-numeric data comprises text or string data types, the Date data types,
the Boolean data types that store only two values (true or false), Object data type and Variant data
type. They are summarized in Table 8.2
Table 8.2: Non-numeric Data Types
Type Storage Range
String (fixed length) Length of string 1 to 65,400 characters
String (variable length) Length + 10 bytes 0 to 2 billion characters
Date 8 bytes January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999
Boolean 2 bytes True or False
Object 4 bytes Any embedded object
Variant(numeric) 16 bytes Any value as large as Double
Variant(text) Length+22 bytes Same as variable-length string
8.1.3 Suffixes for Literals
Literals are values that you assign to data. In some cases, we need to add a suffix behind a literal so
that Visual Basic 2022 can handle the calculations more accurately. For example, we can use
num=1.3089! for a single precision data type, num=1.3089# for a double precision data type,
num=130890& to indicate long integer data type and num=1.3089@ to indicate currency data type.
The suffixes are summarized in Table 8.3.
Table 8.3
Suffix Data Type
& Long
! Single
# Double
@ Currency
In addition, we need to enclose string literals within two quotations and date and time literals within
two # sign. Strings can contain any characters, including numbers. The following are few examples:
memberName="Turban, John."
TelNumber="1800-900-888-777"
LastDay=#31-Dec-00#
ExpTime=#12:00 am#
8.2 Performaing Operations on Data
When VB2022 performs operation using arithmeric operators, it need to understand the data types. It
can perform mathematical operations on data of numeric nature but not a mix of numeric data and
non-numeric data.
For example, we can add two numbers but not a number and a text or phrase. Let's examine the
following examples. Start a project and add a button to the default form, name the button as
BtnCompute and change its text to Compute, as shown in Figure 8.1.
Figure 8.1
8.2.1 Adding numbers
In this example, click on the Compute button and enter the following code:
Private Sub BtnCompute_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
BtnCompute.Click
MsgBox("The Sum is " & 10 + 20.5, 0, "Data Types")
End Sub
Running the program and click on the Compute button produces the following output:
Figure 8.2
8.2.2 Adding a number and a string
In this example, click on the Compute button and enter the following code:
Private Sub BtnCompute_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
BtnCompute.Click
MsgBox(10 + "John")
End Sub
Running the program and click on the Compute button produces the error message as shown in
Figure 8.3, because numeric data and string cannot add:
Figure 8.3
8.2.3 Concatenates two strings
In this example, click on the Compute button and enter the following code:
Private Sub BtnCompute_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
BtnCompute.Click
MsgBox("George" + " John")
End Sub
Running the program and click on the Compute button produces output as shown in Figure 8.4,
because the plus operator does not add the strings, but concatenates them.
Figure 8.3
Note: You can also concatenate two strings using the ampersand sign &, as follows:
MsgBox("George" & " John")
