Array of class objects as class member in VBA

Question

I\'m writing an Excel macro in VBA to send emails to library patrons alerting them of overdue materials. The data comes from a spreadsheet with data like

Use         


        

Answer 1

There's a couple of options.

The easiest is just to make book_list a Variant type. You can treat it as an array using ReDim. You can use variables of Variant type to store object references just like you would with an object variable.

The other option is to make book_list a private variable and create accessor methods. This is the preferred way to use classes anyway, and if you're using classes in the first place, you might as well observe good object oriented design. Your class would look something like this.

Private email_text As String
...
Private book_list() As Book

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    email_text = "default email text"
    ...
    ReDim book_list(10)
End Sub

Public Function GetBook(index As Long) As Book
    Set GetBook = book_list(index)
End Function

Public Sub SetBook(index As Long, b As Book)
    Set book_list(index) = b
End Sub

Answer 2

Per my comment I would use a collection. Here is how you define it and initialize it

Public book_list As Collection

'intitalize the collection in the constructor of the class
Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    Set book_list = New Collection
End Sub

and to use it

book_list.Add <book>
dim bk as Book
set bk  = book_list.Item(indexNumber)