3/9/2020 VBA Function and Sub Procedures

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Excel VBA Tutorial Part 4 - VBA

Function & Sub Procedures
l Functions ▾

New Functions Built-In VBA Functions

Before you consider creating your own
New Functions VBA Functions, it is useful to know that
there are a large number of built-in VBA
functions that you can use in your code.
up Tutorial
For a list of the main built-in VBA
Tutorial functions, with examples, see the VBA
Functions page.

las
User-Defined VBA Function & Sub Procedures
las
In Excel Visual Basic, a set of commands to perform a
specific task is placed into a procedure, which can be a
n Excel
Function procedure or a Sub procedure (also known as
functions and subroutines).

The main difference between a VBA Function procedure

cel Errors and a Sub procedure is that a Function procedure
returns a result, whereas a Sub procedure does not.
ates
Therefore, if you wish to perform a task that returns a
s result (e.g. summing of a group of numbers), you will
generally use a Function procedure, but if you just need
a set of actions to be carried out (e.g. formatting a set of
utorial
cells), you might choose to use a Sub procedure.

Functions
Arguments
vs 2007
VBA procedures can be passed data via arguments,
which are declared in the procedure definition. For
example, you could have a VBA Sub procedure that
adds an Integer to every cell in the current selected

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3/9/2020 VBA Function and Sub Procedures

range on a worksheet. You could supply the value of the

integer to the Sub via an argument, as follows:

Sub AddToCells(i As Integer)

.
.
.
End Sub

Note that it is not essential for VBA Functions or Subs to

have arguments. Some procedures may not require
them.

Optional Arguments
You can also define VBA procedures to have Optional
arguments. These are arguments that the user can
supply if they want, but if they are omitted, the
procedure will assign a default value to them.

To return to the example above, if we wanted to make

the supplied integer argument optional, this would be
declared as follows:

Sub AddToCells(Optional i As Integer = 0)

In this case, the supplied integer, i, has a default value

of 0.

You can use multiple Optional arguments in a VBA

procedure, as long the Optional arguments are all
positioned at the end of the argument list.

Passing Arguments By Value and By Reference

When arguments are passed to VBA procedures, they
can be passed in two ways:

ByVal - The argument is passed by Value. This

means that just the value (i.e. a copy of the
argument) is passed to the procedure and
therefore, any changes that are made to the

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3/9/2020 VBA Function and Sub Procedures

argument inside the procedure will be lost when

the procedure is exited.

ByRef - The argument is passed by Reference.

This means that the address of the argument is
passed to the procedure. Any changes that are
made to the argument inside the procedure will be
remembered when the procedure is exited.

You can specify whether an argument is passed to a

VBA procedure by value or by reference by using the
ByVal or the ByRef keyword when defining the
procedure. This is shown below:

Sub AddToCells(ByVal i As Integer) In this case,

. the integer i is
. passed by
. Value. Any
End Sub changes that
are made to i
will be lost
when you exit
the Sub
procedure.

Sub AddToCells(ByRef i As Integer) In this case,

. the integer i is
. passed by
. Reference.
End Sub When you
exit the Sub,
any changes
that have
been made to
i will be
remembered
by the
variable that
was passed
into the Sub
procedure.

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3/9/2020 VBA Function and Sub Procedures

It should be noted that, by default, VBA arguments are

passed by Reference. Therefore, if you do not use the
ByVal or the ByRef keyword, the arguments will be
passed by Reference.

Before discussing further properties of VBA Function

and Sub procedures, it is useful to look at the two types
of procedure individually. The following two sections
provide a brief discussion of VBA Function and VBA Sub
procedures, along with simple examples.

VBA Function Procedures

The VBA editor recognises a Function procedure,
because the commands are positioned between the
following start and end commands:

Function
.
.
.
End Function

As previously mentioned, VBA function procedures

(unlike sub procedures) return a value. The return
values have the following rules:

The data type of the returned value must be

declared in the Function header.

The value to be returned must be assigned to a

variable having the same name as the Function.
This variable does not need to be declared, as it
already exists as a part of the function.

This is illustrated in the following example.

VBA Function Procedure Example: Perform a

Mathematical Operation on 3 Numbers

The following code shows an example of a simple VBA

Function procedure that receives three arguments, each
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of which are 'Doubles' (double precision floating point

numbers). The Function returns a further 'Double', which
is the sum of the first two arguments, minus the third
argument:

' Function to Add Two Numbers and Then Subtract a

Third Number
Function SumMinus(dNum1 As Double, dNum2 As
Double, dNum3 As Double) As Double

SumMinus = dNum1 + dNum2 - dNum3

End Function

The above very simple VBA Function procedure

illustrates the way in which data arguments are supplied
to a procedure. It is also seen that the Function
procedure return type is defined as being a 'Double' (i.e.
by the term "As Double" which is included after the
Function arguments).

The above example also shows how the Function

procedure result is stored in a variable that has the
same name as the Function.

Calling VBA Function Procedures

If the above simple Function procedure is typed into a

Module in the Visual Basic Editor, it will then be
available to be called from other VBA procedures or to
be used in the worksheets of your Excel workbook.

Calling a VBA Function Procedure From Within VBA

You can call a Function procedure from within your VBA

program by simply assigning the Function to a variable.
The following example shows a call to the simple
SumMinus function that was defined above:

Sub main()

Dim total as Double

total = SumMinus(5, 4, 3)

End Sub

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Calling a VBA Function Procedure From A Worksheet

You can call VBA Function procedures from an Excel

Worksheet, in the same way as you can call any of the
built-in Excel functions.

Therefore, you could call the SumMinus Function

procedure by typing the following into any cell of your
worksheet:

=SumMinus(10, 5, 2)

VBA Sub Procedures

The VBA editor recognises a Sub procedure, because
the commands are positioned between the following
start and end commands:

Sub
.
.
.
End Sub

VBA Sub Procedure Example 1: Center and Apply

Font Size to a Selected Range of Cells
The following code shows an example of a simple VBA
Sub procedure that applies formatting to the current
selected cell range. The cells are formatted to be
aligned centrally (both horizontally and vertically) and to
have a user-supplied font size:

' Sub Procedure to Center and Apply a Supplied Font

Size to the Selected Range
Sub Format_Centered_And_Sized(Optional iFontSize As
Integer = 10)

Selection.HorizontalAlignment = xlCenter
Selection.VerticalAlignment = xlCenter
Selection.Font.Size = iFontSize
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End Sub

The above example illustrates how Sub procedures

perform actions but do not return values.

This example also includes the Optional argument,

iFontSize. If iFontSize is not supplied to the Sub, then
the default font size of 10 is used. However, if iFontSize
is supplied to the Sub, then the current range is set to
have the user-supplied font size.

VBA Sub Procedure Example 2: Center and Apply

Bold Font to a Selected Range of Cells
The following code is similar to example 1, but instead of
supplying a font size to the selected range, the cells are
set to have a bold font. This example has been included
to show a Sub procedure that does not receive any
arguments:

' Sub Procedure to Center and Bold the Selected Range

Sub Format_Centered_And_Bold()

Selection.HorizontalAlignment = xlCenter
Selection.VerticalAlignment = xlCenter
Selection.Font.Bold = True

End Sub

Calling Excel VBA Sub Procedures

Calling a VBA Sub Procedure From Within VBA

You can call a VBA Sub procedure from your VBA

program by typing the Call keyword, followed by the Sub
name and then the Sub procedure arguments enclosed
in brackets. This is shown in the example below:

Sub main()

Call Format_Centered_And_Sized( 20 )

End Sub

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If the Format_Centered_And_Sized Sub procedure had

more than one argument, these would be separated by
commas. E.g.

Sub main()

Call Format_Centered_And_Sized( arg1, arg2, ... )

End Sub

Calling a VBA Sub Procedure From A Worksheet

Sub procedures cannot be typed directly into a

Worksheet in Excel, in the same way that VBA Function
procedures can, because Sub procedures don't return a
value. However, provided they have no arguments (and
are Public - see below), Excel VBA Sub procedures are
still available to the user of a spreadsheet. Therefore, of
the above simple Sub procedures, the
Format_Centered_And_Bold Sub procedure would be
available to be used in the worksheets of your Exce
workbook but the Format_Centered_And_Sized would
not (as it has an argument).

For those Sub procedures that are accessible from the

workbook, a simple way to run (or execute) the Sub is:

Open up the 'Macro' dialog box by either:

Clicking the Macros option from the
'Developer' tab of the Excel ribbon
or
Using the keyboard shortcut Alt + F8
(i.e. press the Alt key and while this is
pressed down, press F8).

Within the 'Macro' dialog box, select the macro you

wish to run and click the Run button.

Assigning a Keyboard Shortcut to a Sub

Procedure

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You can assign a key combination to your Sub

procedure, to enable quick and easy execution of
the code. To do this:

Open up the 'Macro' dialog box by either:

Clicking the Macros option on the
'Developer' tab of the Excel ribbon
or
Using the keyboard shortcut
Alt + F8 (i.e. press the Alt key
and while this is pressed down, press
F8).

Within the 'Macro' dialog box, select the

macro you wish to assign a key combination
to;

Click Options... to open the 'Macro Options'

dialog box;

Type the required keyboard shortcut into the

'Macro Options' dialog box;

Click OK and then shut down the 'Macro'

dialog box.

WARNING: When assigning a key combination to

a macro, take care not to select one of Excel's
predefined key combinations (e.g. CTRL-C). If you
do select an existing Excel key combination, this
will be overwritten by your macro, and you, or
other users, may end up accidentally executing
your macro code.

Scope of VBA Procedures

In Part 2 of this tutorial, we discussed the scope of
variables and constants and the role of the Public and
Private keywords. These keywords have the same
meaning when applied to VBA procedures:

Public Sub AddToCells(i As Integer) If a procedure

. declaration is

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3/9/2020 VBA Function and Sub Procedures

. preceded by
. the keyword
End Sub Public, this
makes the
procedure
accessible to
all other
modules in
the VBA
Project.

Private Sub AddToCells(i As Integer) If a procedure

. declaration is
. preceded by
. the keyword
End Sub Private, this
makes the
procedure
only available
to the current
module. It
cannot be
accessed
from any
other
modules, or
from the
Excel
workbook.

If no keyword is inserted at the start of a VBA Function

or Sub declaration, then the default setting is for the
procedure to be Public (i.e. to be accessible from
anywhere in the VBA Project). This differs from variable
declarations, which are Private by default.

Early Exit From VBA Function & Sub

Procedures
If you want to exit a VBA Function or Sub procedure
before it has run to the end, you can do this using the

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3/9/2020 VBA Function and Sub Procedures

Exit Function or the Exit Sub command. This is

illustrated below, in a simple Function procedure that
expects to receive a positive value to work with. If the
value received is not positive, the function cannot
continue, so it highlights the error to the user and exits
the procedure immediately:

Function VAT_Amount(sVAT_Rate As Single) As Single

VAT_Amount = 0
If sVAT_Rate <= 0 Then
MsgBox "Expected a Positive value of sVAT_Rate but
Received " & sVAT_Rate
Exit Function
End If
.
.
.

End Function

Note that, before exiting the VAT_Amount Function

procedure, the above code uses the built-in VBA
MsgBox function, to display a box containing a warning
message to the user.

Go To Excel VBA Tutorial Part 5 - VBA Conditional

Statements

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