VBA Foundations, Part 9

A Tutorial in VBA for BeginnersThe Ninth of a Twelve Part Series

Richard L. Binning / [email protected]
Welcome back for this months exploration. Hopefully, you have been following along and trying your hand at
creating your own VBA macros. In this episode I hope to explain the debugging process and provide a few
helpful hints to keep your frustration level low and your creative juices flowing. But first, lets discuss the types of
errors we might encounter which could require us to attempt to debug our code. There are basically three types of
errors; compile errors, runtime errors, and logic errors. We have looked at how to include error trapping/handling
in our routines in the last article which, hopefully, has gotten us to this point with fewer and fewer errors. The
error handling techniques mentioned will generally cover the compile errors and the common runtime errors, so
we will concentrate on the logic errors and the unexpected runtime errors which brings us to the debugging topic.
For the most part your routines are now in working condition, but maybe they dont always give us the results we
expect. In order to decipher and conquer these types of errors we must explore when and discover why they
occur.
As you may have guessed, the process of debugging is usually more art than science; unfortunately, there is no
precise series of steps that, when duplicated, always lead to the discovery of errors. So, its a good thing that the
VBA language and editor provides the tools we need to find both runtime and logic errors. Its an even better
thing that it can also assist us in fully understanding what happens in our macro at every step while it executes. Of
course, it goes without saying, the better you understand your application, the faster you can find the bugs. This is
the heart of debugging. I trust that as you begin using the debugging tools you will explore in this episode, you
will begin to understand your code inside and out. Lets explore the tools presented in groups as they are
presented in the debug toolbar and in the menu pull downs. These tools are grouped with similar commands:

The Operational Tools: These tools are available on the Standard

Toolbar (next to the Undo and Redo buttons), the Debug Toolbar
(See Figure 1), and under the Run Menu pulldown (See
Graphic to the right).
o

Run (F5) or Continue while in step through mode.

This is the same as a full blown run. Not very useful for
debugging unless you have previously placed break points in your code.

Break or Pause (Ctrl + Break) Stops immediate execution of your code.

Reset or Stop Stops execution of your code and clears objects out of memory.

The Navigational Tools: The tools are available on the Debug Toolbar (See figure 1) and on the Debug
Pulldown menu (See Figure 2).
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Toggle BreakPoint (F9) For use in advancing to a particular line of code.

Step Into (F8) Begin the baby steps.

Step Over (Shift + F8) Skip a line while stepping

through your code. (Hint: dragging the yellow
arrowhead, a.k.a. the Call Stack Indicator, located
immediately to the left of the current line of code
highlighted in yellow accomplishes the same thing. Pay
attention to the change in your cursor as it moves in proximity to the yellow arrowhead. See
Example above.)

Step Out (Ctrl + Shift + F8) Complete running the current sub or function only

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VBA Foundations, Part 9

A Tutorial in VBA for BeginnersThe Ninth of a Twelve Part Series
Richard L. Binning / [email protected]
o

Run to Cursor (Ctrl + F8) Skip ahead to a line of code and click the left mouse button to mark
the location, then hit the hot key combination (Ctrl + F8) to advance to your marked location.

The Viewing or Status Tools. These tools can be

found by exploring the View pull down menu
(as shown to the right), or by selection from the
Debug Toolbar (See Figure 1).
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Locals Window Usage: Checking values

during execution. This window
automatically displays all of the declared
variables in the current procedure and
their values. When the Locals window is
visible, it is automatically updated every
time there is a change from Run to Break
mode or you navigate in the stack display.
Note: Global variables and variables in
other projects are not accessible from the
Locals window.

Immediate Window (Ctrl + G) Usage:

Checking values and optional code during
macro execution. This window allows you
to: 1.) Type or paste a line of code and
press ENTER to run it immediately. 2.)
Copy and paste any code from this
window into the Code window. Note:
This does not allow you to save code in
the Immediate window, so if the code you
are trying out works, then be sure to copy and paste it back into the code window before closing
this window.

Watch Window Usage: Checking values during execution. A watch expression is an expression
you define to be monitored in the Watch window. When your application enters break mode, the
watch expressions you have selected previously appear in the Watch window where you can
observe their values. This is useful for global variables which cannot be seen in the locals
window, and Note: You can drag selected expressions from the Code window into the Watch
window while in break mode to see their values, but they must be in context or scope. There are
different types of watches as described below:

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Watch Type: Determines how Visual Basic reacts to the expression.

Watch Expression This type of watch displays the watch expression (variable,
property, or Function) and its current value. When you enter break mode, the
value is automatically updated.

Break When Value Is True Execution automatically enters break mode when
the expression evaluates to true or is any nonzero value Note: This will not be a
valid choice for string expressions.

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VBA Foundations, Part 9

A Tutorial in VBA for BeginnersThe Ninth of a Twelve Part Series
Richard L. Binning / [email protected]

Break When Value Changes Execution automatically enters break mode when
the value of expression changes within the specified context (see below).

Watch Context: Sets the scope of the variables watched in the expression.

Procedure Displays the procedure name where the selected term resides
(default is where it is first used or declared). Also available is the list of
procedure(s) in which the expression is evaluated. You may select all procedures
or a specific procedure context in which to evaluate the variable. (Hint: if you
think the variable is being changed incorrectly, you can try to select available
procedures to identify and watch the value as the macro progresses.)

Module Displays the module name where the selected term resides. You may
select all modules or a specific module context in which to evaluate the variable.

Project Displays the name of the current project. Expressions can't be

evaluated in a context outside of the current project.

Call Stack (Ctrl + L) Displays the Call Stack dialog box, which lists the procedures that have started but are not
completed. Note: This command is only available while in break mode. This really should be part of the
navigation tools since it points you to the subroutines or functions that call or follow the current code line, but it is
available from the locals window through choice of a button, by selection from the View menu pulldown as
shown in the graphic above, or by using the Hot Key combination (Ctrl + L).

How it works: When executing code in a sub or procedure or function, that procedure is added to a list
of active calls. Each time a procedure calls another procedure, it is added to the list. Called
procedures are removed from the list when execution returns to the calling procedure. Note: Procedures
called from the Immediate window are also added to the calls list.

Before we get started, lets take a look at the

tools provided for debugging. (See Figure 1)
This graphic shows the available commands and
tools, you the programmer, will use when
debugging code in the vba editor. I want you to
take special note of the Step Into tool and the
Immediate Window tool. The Step Into tool
will allow you to begin running your code a line
at
a time. Try it now. Open the VBA editor and
using the vbamanager command in AutoCAD
load your current macro or one of the examples installed with AutoCad and hit the F8 key. Nothing happens?
Make sure you find a subroutine in the code window and place your cursor in the routine by left clicking the
mouse somewhere within the subroutine. Now hit that F8 key. Did the first line, Private Sub Something()
suddenly become highlighted in bright yellow. Do you see the yellow arrowhead to the far left of that first line?
For extra credit you can drag that arrowhead by clicking and dragging it, but only to lines in your code that have
some activity assigned to them (It will not work for declaration lines. Hint: if the line begins with Dim then you
cant park the arrowhead there.) What does dragging the arrowhead around accomplish? How might we make use
of this ability? Did you notice as you advanced through your code hitting the F8 that the yellow or current
line never stopped on declaration statements?

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VBA Foundations, Part 9

A Tutorial in VBA for BeginnersThe Ninth of a Twelve Part Series
Richard L. Binning / [email protected]
You should already be familiar with the Run Macro button
if youve been trying out any of the code or examples
provided. You may notice that some of the tools are grayed
out as shown in the graphics in this article, please be
assured that they are available when needed, which is
usually deep in debug mode when you are stepping through
your code. The F9 key will create a break point in your
code at the line you have placed the cursor prior to hitting it.
You can also click in the gutter immediately to the left of a
line of code to place a breakpoint. Take a look at the code
window and see if you can find this gutter. It is the same
place that displays the Call Stack Indicator mentioned
above. Placing a breakpoint in your code allows you to run
your code as in normal execution until it gets to the line
containing a breakpoint. The code or macro will then stop executing at this breakpoint and immediately display
the code window with your code highlighted at that line and the Call Stack Indicator displayed prominently in
the gutter to the left of this line and visually on top of the breakpoint symbol. This action can often save you
from stepping through (F8) every line of your code one line at time. This is especially convenient to use if a
particular line of code is erroring out and throwing you out of AutoCAD. You can try to debug this type of
problem by placing a breakpoint immediately prior to the offending code provided you know where this error is
being encountered.
Now take a look at the menu as shown in Figure 2. Note that some tools are only available via hot key or menu
pull down, since they are not on the toolbar shown above in Figure 1. Of particular interest are the tools I have
attached comments to in Figure 2. Note: you can compile your macro to get the editor to find syntax errors
without actually running your macro. Also, you will want to become familiar with the Run to Cursor tool as
you are stepping through your code.
As always, use the on-line help to further explain these concepts as necessary. If you are really stumped, please
send in your questions to the VBA guild or the email address at the top of this article. See you on the guilds or in
the next issue of AUGIWorld magazine coming soon to a mailbox near you. Next issue we will look at the
Object Model of AutoCAD and begin putting some more extensive code together.

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