TOPIC 3

Variables, Constants and

Arithmetic Operations
Lesson Outcomes
 At
the end of this lesson, students should be
able to:
 Distinguish between variables and constants
 Explain, differentiate and use the various
data types
 Declare variables using the Dim statement
 Perform calculations using variable and
constant
 Format values for output using the formatting
functions
Variables & Constants
 Variables and constants are temporary
memory locations that have a name, a
data type and a scope.
 Variables – memory locations that hold
data that can be changed during project
execution
 Constants – memory locations that hold
data that cannot be change during project
execution Constants
Area of Circle =π × r2
Variables
Data Types
 The data type determines what type of value
may be stored in a variable or constant
 Default data type is variant (if not specify a
data type)
 Advantage: It’s easy – the variables or constants
change their appearance as needed for each
situation
 Disadvantage: Less efficient – require more
memory and operate less quickly than other data
types
 Most common types are String, Currency and
Integer
Data Types (cont.)
Type Value Range
Boolean True or False
Byte A single ASCII character
Decimal Dollars and cents (two decimal places)
Date Eight character date (mm/dd/yy)
Integer Small integers (+ or -32,767)
Long Larger integers (+ or -2 Billion)
Single 6-digit floating point numbers
Double 14-digit floating point numbers
String Character data
Variant Converts from one type to another
Naming Rules
 Names are from 1 to 255 characters long
 Names must begin with a letter
 Names may consist of letters, digits and
underscores
 Names must not contain blanks
 Names cannot be Visual Basic reserved
words
 Keywords to which VB has assigned some
meaning
 Examples: Print, Name and Value
Naming Conventions
 Identifiersmust be meaningful – clearly
indicates its purpose
 Precede each identifier with a lowercase
prefix that specifies the data type
 After the appropriate prefix, capitalize
each word of the name
 Used mixed case
 Examples: strLongNameHere

Specifies the data type

Data Types & Their Prefixes
Data Type Prefix
Decimal dec
Boolean bln
Double dbl
Date/Time dtm
Integer int
Long lng
Single sng
String str
Variant vnt
Example Identifiers
 Guidelines to choose suitable data type:
 If the data will be used in a calculation, then
it must be numeric – Integer or Decimal
 If it is not used in a calculation – String
 Use Decimal as the data type for any
decimal fractions in business application
 Single and Double data types are generally
used in scientific applications
Example Identifiers
Field of Data Data Type Possible Identifier
IC Number String Not used in a calculation
Eg.: strICNumber
Pay rate Decimal Used in a calculation, contains a
decimal point
Eg.:decPayRate
Hours worked Decimal Used in calculation, contains a decimal
point (Decimal can be used for any
decimal fraction, not just dollars)
Eg.: decHoursWorked
Quantity Integer Used in calculation, contains a whole
number
Eg.: intQuantity
Phone String Not used in a calculation
number Eg.: strPhoneNumber
Constants
 Two type of constants:
 Named constants: a programmer-defined constants
and are declared using the Const statement
 Intrinsic constants: predefined and built into VB; such
as Color.Red, Color.Blue and etc.
 Const statement – General form
 Const Identifier [As Datatype] = Value
 Example:
Const decSalesTaxRate As Decimal = .08
Const strCompanyName As String = “R n R”
Constants (cont.)
 Assigning values to constants
 String values must be enclosed in quotation
marks, “ ”
 May contain letters, digits and special
characters
 Also known as string literals
 Numeric values are not enclosed
 May contains only the digits (0-9), a decimal
point and a sign (+ or -) at the left side
 Cannot include comma, dollar sign, any other
special characters or sign at the right side
Declaring Variables
 Variablesare declared using the Dim statement
 Dim statement – General form
 Dim Identifier [As Datatype]
 Example:
 Dim strCustName As String
 Dim intTotalSold As Integer
 Dim decPrice As Decimal
 Dim vntStatus ‘defaults to variant type
Declaring Variables (cont.)
 The
reserved word Dim is really short for
dimension, which means “size”
 When you declare a variable, the amount of
memory reserved depends on its data type
Scope of Variables/Constants
 Scope is the visibility (can be used or ‘seen’
in this location) of a variable/constant
 Global: can always be used or seen across
the entire project (all procedures in a project)
 Module: accessible by all procedures in the
form
 Local: accessible only from single procedure
in which it is declared
Scope of Variables/Constants (cont.)

LOCAL
DECLARATION
Variable Lifetime
 Lifetime – the period of time the variable
exist
 Local variable exist each time the sub
procedure executed, and disappear when
the procedures finishes
 Module-level variable lifetime is the entire
time the form is loaded
Arithmetic Operations
 Standard operators: ^, *, /, +, -
 Operator precedence determines how an
equations is evaluated:
 Parentheses
 Exponentiation
 Multiplication or Division (from left to right)
 Addition or Subtraction (from left to right)
/ 15/2 7.5

\ 12\5 2

36\5 7
MOD

150/60
150 Mod 60 = 30 =2
=Bal 30
3+2x4-6 = 5

20-5+3 = 18

15-22+6 = 17

2+(3-1)+7 = 11
 Converting Strings to a
Numeric Data Type
 Values of text boxes and labels are actually
strings od text characters.
 They should not be used directly in calculations,
just in case they are not numbers.
Identifiers=Integer .Parse(Object.Property)

intQuantity = Integer.Parse(txtQuantity.Text)

Identifiers=Decimal.Parse(Object.Property)
Parse Function (cont.)
 How does it works?
 When the Parse function converts an
argument to numeric, it begins at the
argument’s left most character
 If that character is a numeric digit, decimal
point or sign, Parse converts the character to
numeric and move to the next character. As
soon as a non-numeric character is found,
the operation stops.
Example – Values returned by
Parse()
Contents of Argument Numeric value returned by the
Parse()
(blank) 0
123.45 123.45
$100 0
1,000 1
A123 0
123A 123
4B5 4
-123 -123
+123 123
12.34.8 12.34
Formatting Data
 Formatting data: to format data for display (on
the printer or on the screen)
 To display output:
Object.Property = Value.ToString(Format Data)

txtExtendedPrice.text=decExtendedPrice.ToString(
“C”)

lblExtendedPrice.Text =
'Calculate the extended price,discount and discounted price
decExtendedPrice = intQuantity * decPrice
decDiscount = decDiscountRate * decExtendedPrice
decDiscountedPrice = decExtendedPrice ‐ decDiscount

'Display the output

txtExtendedPrice.Text = decExtendedPrice.ToString("C")

object Property Value Format

Format Currency Function (“C”)
 Returns a string of characters formatted as
dollars and cents
 By default, the currency value displays a dollar
sign, commas and two positions to right of the
decimal point.
 Simple form:
 .ToString(“C”)
 Example:
 lblBalance.text = decBalance.ToString(“C”)
 txtBalance.text = decBalance.ToString(“C”)

RM1,000.25
Format Number Function (“N”)
 Thevalue will displays with commas and
two digits to the right of the decimal point.
 Simple form:
 .ToString(“N”)
 .ToString(“N3”)

 Example:
 txtSum.text = decSum.ToString(”N”) 1,000.25
 txtSum.text = decSum.ToString(”N3”) 1,000.253
Format Fixed-point Function (“F”)
Format as a string of:
 numeric digits,
 No commas,
 2 decimal places, and
 A minus sign at the left for negative values.
Simple form:
 .ToString(“F”)
 .ToString(“F3”)
 Example:
1000.25
 txtSum.text = decSum.ToString(”F”)
 txtSum.text = decSum.ToString(”F3”) 1000.253
 Format Digits Function (“D”)
 Use only for integer data types.
 Format with a left minus sign for negative values.
 Usually used to force a specified number of digits
to display.
Simple form:
 .ToString(“D”)
 .ToString(“D3”)
 Example: 25
 txtQuantity.text = intQuantity.ToString(”D”)
 txtQuantity.text = intQuantity.ToString(”D3”)
025
Format Percent Function
 To display numeric values as a percent
 This function multiplies the argument by 100, adds a
percent sign and rounds to two decimal places.
 Simple form:
 .ToString(“P”)
 .ToString(“P0”)
 .ToString(“P3”)

 Example: 50.50%
 lblInterestRate.text = decInterestRate.ToString(“P”)
 lblInterestRate.text = decInterestRate.ToString(“P0”)

50%
Format Date Time Function
 Format an expression as a date and/or time
 The expression may be a string that holds
A date or time values
 A date type variable, or
 A function that returns a date

 Simple form:
 ToLongDateString
 ToShortDateString
 ToLongTimeString
 ToShortTimeString
Named Format
Named Format Returns Example
ToLongDateString Days of week, Month, Day, Sunday, June 21,2020
Year
ToShortDateString MM/DD/YY 6/21/2020
ToLongTimeString HH:MM:SS AM/PM 01:02:26 PM
ToShortTimeString HH:MM (24 hours clock) 12:03 AM
Private Sub btnCost_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnCost.Click

Dim strNumberOfDays As String

Dim intNumberOfDays As Integer
Dim decTotalCost As Decimal

strNumberOfDays = txtNumberOfDays.Text
intNumberOfDays = Convert.ToInt32(strNumberOfDays)

decTotalCost = intNumberOfDays * _cdecPricePerDay

lblTotalCost.Text = decTotalCost.ToString("C")
End Sub

Private Sub btnCost_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnCost.Click

Dim intNumberOfDays As Integer

Dim decTotalCost As Decimal Input
intNumberofDays = Integer.Parse(txtNumberOfDays.Text)

decTotalCost = intNumberOfDays * _cdecPricePerDay Process

lblTotalCost.Text = decTotalCost.ToString("C")
End Sub Output

Identifiers=Integer .Parse(Object.Property)
End of Topic 3