CREATING MODULES

AND WORKING WITH

SUB PROCEDURES
AND FUNCTIONS
Visual Basic.NET
Lesson 5

APIIT City Campus – 2009 Feb – Revised by Nadeera Ahangama. 11/14/2020

1
TOPIC & STRUCTURE OF THE LESSON

• Introduction to Modular Design Concepts

• Write Sub Procedures
• Compare between Call by Value and Call by
Reference

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 LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this lecture you should be able
to :
1. Declare a sub program
2. Write a sub program and pass arguments to it
3. Write a Call-By-Value and Call By Reference sub
procedure

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 In all the previous lessons, you have used
event procedures such as
 Button1_Click
 Form1_Load etc.
To manage events and organize the flow of your
programs.

 In VB programming, all executable

statements must be placed inside some
procedure; only general declarations and
instructions to the compiler can be placed
outside a procedure’s scope.

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MODULAR DESIGN CONCEPTS
Modularity refers to breaking a large
problem down into smaller self-contained
modules.
This allows the programmer to isolate
problems within the program by looking at
specific areas.
Without Breaking problems down into
smaller modules will increase program
maintenance cost.

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IN THIS CHAPTER,
 You’ll continue to organize your programs
according to structured programming
techniques by developing a hierarchical
structure within your application and by
breaking computing tasks into logical units.

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PROCEDURES OVERVIEW
 If you design your application correctly, and split
the processes and tasks logically, you can reuse
the same code across the application you are
working on or even across other applications.
 This should be the goal of every developer.
 There is no sense in having a block of code
behind a button, and then having the same
exact code behind another button.

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ADVANTAGES OF PROCEDURES
 The code in a procedure is reusable. After a
procedure is created and tested, it can be
called from different places in an
application.
 The application is easier to debug and
maintain, because you can easily trace the
source of an error in a procedure instead of
checking the entire application for errors.

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DIFFERENT MODULAR TECHNIQUES
Visual Basic provides us with the ability to
represent modules through the use of the
following:-
• Modules
• Sub Procedures
General Procedures
• Function Procedures
• Event Procedures

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 WORKING WITH
MODULES

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WORKING WITH MODULES
 As you write longer programs, you are likely to
have several forms and event procedures that
use some of the same variables and routines.

 As we did all this time, variables are local to an

event procedure.
 They can be read or changed only within the event
procedure in which they were created.

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WORKING WITH MODULES
CONTD..
 If you declare variables at the top of a form’s
program code, it gives the variables a
greater scope, but limits only to that form.
 However, if you create multiple forms in
your project, the variables declared at the
top of a form are valid only in the form in
which they were declared.

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WORKING WITH MODULES
CONTD..
 To share variables and procedures among all
the forms and event procedures in a project,
you declare them in one or more modules
included the project.

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WHAT IS A MODULE?
 A Module a special file that has a .vb file
name extension and contains variable
declarations and procedures that can be used
anywhere in the program.
 Like forms, modules are listed separately in
Solution Explorer.
 Unlike forms, modules contain only code and
don’t have a user interface.

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 CREATING A MODULE
 To Create a New module in a program,
you click the Add New Item button on
the standard tool bar or click the Add
New Item command on the project
menu.
 A dialog box opens from there select
Module template and specify the name of
the module.
 The first module of your program is
named Module1.

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A Module is
where global
variables and
sub procedures
can be declared

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PROPERTIES OF MODULES
 Because a module contains just code, it has
only few properties.
 By using its most significant property, file
name you can rename the module.

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HOW TO REMOVE A MODULE
FROM A PROJECT
 Right click the module in solution explorer,
and click Exclude from Project menu.
 Exclude from Project command will not
doesn’t delete the module from the hard
disk.
 But it removes the link between the
specified module and the current project.

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PUBLIC VARIABLES

A Public variable is a variable whose scope

or lifespan is throughout the whole program.
This means that all sub procedures (or
functions) can make use of it.

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WORKING WITH PUBLIC VARIABLES
 A public variable has a global Scope, which
can be accessed from any place of your
project.
 Declaring a global or public variable in a
module is simple.
 You type the keyword “Public” followed by
the variable name and a type declaration.
 After declare the variable you can read it,
change it, or display it in any procedure of
your program.

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HOW TO DECLARE A PUBLIC
VARIABLE
 Syntax
Public VariableName As DataType

 For example
Public RunningTotal As Integer

 Note that the Public keyword has been

substituted for the Dim keyword which
you used to Declare a local variable.

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PUBLIC VARIABLES VS. FORM
VARIABLES
 Public variables maintain their values in all
the forms and modules in your project.
 Form variables maintain their values only in
that particular form which the variables are
declared.

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 CREATING
PROCEDURES

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CREATING GENERAL
PROCEDURES
 Procedures provide a way to group a set of
related statements to perform a task.
 Visual Basic.NET include two primary types
of procedures.

1. Sub procedures
2. Function procedures

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 WORKING WITH
SUB PROCEDURES

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SUB PROCEDURES
What are Sub Procedures?

A Sub Procedure is a part of a program

that performs one or more related tasks,
has its own name, and written as a
separate part of a program.

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SUB PROCEDURES
 S.Ps are called by name from event
procedures or other procedures.
 They can receive arguments and also pass
back the modified values in an argument
list.
 But S.Ps don’t return values associated
with their particular Sub Procedures name.
 S.Ps are typically used to receive or
process input, display output, print output
or set properties.

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SUB PROCEDURE SYNTAX
Sub ProcedureName( [arguments] )
procedure Statement(s)
End Sub

 ProcedureName: The name of sub procedure

that you are creating.
 Arguments: A list of optional arguments,
separated by commas if there is more than one
to be used in the S.P.

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INVOKING SUB PROCEDURE

 To call/invoke a S.P. in a program, you specify

the name of procedure, and then list the
arguments required by the Sub Procedure.

ProcedureName(Argument1, Argument2…..)

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WRITING A SUB PROCEDURE - EXAMPLE

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,

ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Call add(2, 1)
End Sub
Arguments

Private Sub add(ByVal n1 As Integer, ByVal n2 As Integer)

Dim total As Integer
total = n1 + n2
MsgBox(total)
End Sub parameters

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BYVAL KEYWORD
 Visual Studio adds the ByVal keyword by
default to each argument.
 ByVal indicates that a copy of the data is
passed to the function through this
argument.
 But any changes to the arguments won’t we
returned to the calling routing since it is a
sub procedure.

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NO ARGUMENTS – NO RETURN VALUE
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button1.Click
No_arg_No_return()
End Sub
No arguments
Public Sub No_arg_No_return()
Dim x, y, z As Integer
x = 20
y = 30
z=x*y
Label1.Text = "TOTAL = " & z
End Sub

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OUTPUT

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PASSING ARGUMENTS BY VALUE
AND BY REFERENCE
 A we discussed earlier, Visual Studio adds the
ByVal keyword by default to each argument.
 ByVal indicates that variables should be
passed to a procedure by Value (default).
 Any changes made to a variable passed in by
value aren’t passed back to the calling
procedure.

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CALL BY REFERENCE
 Using the ByRef keyword, indicates that
variables should be passed to a procedure by
reference, meaning that, any changes made
to the variable in the procedure are passed
back to the calling routing.
 Call ByRef Passes the original value and ByVal
passes a copy of the variable to the S.P.
 Passing by reference can have significant
advanteges, as long as you’re careful not to
change a variable unintentionally in a
procedure.

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CALL BY REFERENCE - PROCEDURE

Private sub a()

dim a as integer
a=5
call square(a)
print a
end sub

private sub square( ByRef num as integer)

num = num * num
end sub

Ans a = 25
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 CALL BY VALUE
Private sub a()
dim a as integer
a=5
call square(a)
print a
end sub

private sub square (byval num as integer)

num = num * num
end sub

Ans a = 5

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EXIT SUB

• EXIT SUB will alter the flow of control to

your program
• Executing EXIT SUB in a sub procedure
causes an immediate exit from that
procedure.

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 WORKING WITH
FUNCTIONS

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39
TOPIC & STRUCTURE OF THE
LESSON
• Introduction
• Function Procedures
• Exit sub and exit function
• Generating (pseudo) random numbers

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this lecture you should be able

to :
1. Write a Function Procedure
2. Use Exit Sub and Exit Function statements
3. Generate random numbers

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KEY TERMS YOU MUST BE ABLE TO USE
 If you have mastered this topic, you
should be able to use the
 following terms correctly in your
assignments and exams:

1. Function
2. Exit
3. RND

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FUNCTION

A function is similar to a procedure

and has the task of allowing modules
to be built. It has the ability to return
a value as the answer.

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FUNCTION PROCEDURES
 Function Procedures are called by name from event
procedures or other procedures.

 Often used for calculations, function procedures can

receive arguments and always return a value in the
function name.

 Arguments are the data used make functions work, and

they must be included between parenthesis and
separate by commas.

 Basically, using a Function procedure is exactly like

using a built-in function or method such as Int, Rnd, or
FromFile

 Function in Modules are public by default. As a result,

you can use them in any event procedure within the
project.
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 FUNCTION FORMAT

Function FunctionName(var1 as type1,var2 As

type2,….) As ReturnDatatype
statement(s)
FunctionName = return statement
End Function

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FUNCTION FORMAT

Private Function FunctionName(var1 as type1,var2

as type2,….) as datatype
statement(s) parameter list
FunctionName = expression
End Function
argument list
Called by:
X = FunctionName(arg1, arg2, …)
Parameters and arguments MUST AGREE in type and
number.

Slide 6 (of 30)

EXAMPLE
Private Sub Button1_Click_1(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Handles Button1.Click
Label1.Text = ""
Label1.Text = FtoC(Val(TextBox1.Text))
End Sub

Function FtoC(ByVal t As Integer) As Integer

FtoC = (5 / 9) * (t - 32)
End Function

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EXIT FUNCTION
 Executing Exit Function causes an
immediate exit from the function
 Control is returned to the caller and the
next statement in sequence after the call
is executed

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EXIT FUNCTION EXAMPLE
Private sub cmddivide_click()
Dim numerator , denominator as integer
Dim result as string
Numerator = CInt(txtnum.text)
Denominator = CInt(txtden.text)
Result = divide(numerator, denominator)
If result = “” then
MessageBox.Show ( “Divide by Zero attempted”)
Else
MessageBox.Show (result)
End if
End sub

Slide 20 (of 30)

 EXIT FUNCTION EXAMPLE
Private function divide(n as integer, d as integer) as
string
Dim answer as integer
If d = 0 then
exit function
Else
answer = n / d
divide = “Integer division yields” & ans
End if
End Function

Slide 21 (of 30)

RETURN KEYWORD

 You can make use of the keyword return to

receive the values back from the called
function to the calling function.

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 EXAMPLE
Random Number Generation

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52
 RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION
 The built-in VB function, RND, returns a random
number in the range: 0 <= random number < 1
 To generate a random number between some
other range: Low … High, use the following
formula:
 rand = Low + Int((High – Low + 1) * Rnd)

Example:
Dieface = 1 + Int(6 * rnd()) to generate random
numbers from 1 to 6

Slide 22 (of 30)

RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION

 RND function returns a random number in a

range
 a = 1 + Int(6 * rnd()) to generate random
numbers from 1 to 6

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SAMPLE PROGRAM
Dim x As Integer
Dim a As Integer
Dim output As String

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,

ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Randomize()
For x = 1 To 10
a = 1 + Int(Rnd() * 10)
output &= a & vbCrLf
Next

MessageBox.Show(output)

End Sub vbCrLf = Visual Basic Carriage Return Line Feed.

This is similer to chr(10) & chr(13)
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 EXERCISE

 Write a program that will generate a random

number from 5 to 100 when a command button
is pressed.

Slide 23 (of 30)

 Summary of Main Teaching Points

 Function Procedures are often used to solve an

equation

 Returns a single value as the answer

 The arguments in the function invocation must match

the parameter list of the function in both type and
number

Slide 28 (of 30)

Next Session

Arrays

Slide 30 (of 30)

 Question and Answer Session

Q&A

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