A97 - always necessary to encapsulate ampersands in spaces?

[MLH]

I have tried the following in the immediate window.
It yields an error...

?"Hello"&vbCrLf&"there"&vbCrLf&"next"&vbCrLf&"line ."

'Type declaration character does not match declared data type.

But the following does works as expected...
?"Hello" & vbCrLf & "there" & vbCrLf & "next" & vbCrLf & "line."

Is it pretty much standard that concatenations must be constructed
with spaces surrounding the ampersands ALL the time? I do not
believe that was the case with Access Basic in Access 2.0.

[Allen Browne]

The ampersand also functions as a type declaration for a long integer, i.e.:
2
would be an integer, but:
2&
is a long integer.

If you open the immediate window (Ctrl+G), and enter:
? 200 * 200
Access gives you an overflow error.
If you specify one of the values as a Long, it does not overflow, e.g.:
? 200& * 200

So, there are contexts in which VBA can misunderstand the ampersand as a
type declaration characters if you do not enter a space before it.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

"MLH" <CR**@NorthState.net> wrote in message
news:b7********************************@4ax.com...

I have tried the following in the immediate window.
It yields an error...

?"Hello"&vbCrLf&"there"&vbCrLf&"next"&vbCrLf&"line ."

'Type declaration character does not match declared data type.

But the following does works as expected...
?"Hello" & vbCrLf & "there" & vbCrLf & "next" & vbCrLf & "line."

Is it pretty much standard that concatenations must be constructed
with spaces surrounding the ampersands ALL the time? I do not
believe that was the case with Access Basic in Access 2.0.

[MLH]

That's a perfect explanation, Allen. Many thanks.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The ampersand also functions as a type declaration for a long integer, i.e.:
2
would be an integer, but:
2&
is a long integer.

If you open the immediate window (Ctrl+G), and enter:
? 200 * 200
Access gives you an overflow error.
If you specify one of the values as a Long, it does not overflow, e.g.:
? 200& * 200

So, there are contexts in which VBA can misunderstand the ampersand as a
type declaration characters if you do not enter a space before it.

[Arno R]

"MLH" <CR**@NorthState.net> schreef in bericht news:b7********************************@4ax.com...

I have tried the following in the immediate window.
It yields an error...

?"Hello"&vbCrLf&"there"&vbCrLf&"next"&vbCrLf&"line ."

'Type declaration character does not match declared data type.

But the following does works as expected...
?"Hello" & vbCrLf & "there" & vbCrLf & "next" & vbCrLf & "line."

Is it pretty much standard that concatenations must be constructed
with spaces surrounding the ampersands ALL the time? I do not
believe that was the case with Access Basic in Access 2.0.

You don't HAVE to do it ALL the time:
?"Hello"&"there"&"next"&"line." will work.
but I guess it is pretty much standard that readability is also important, so I would always use spaces.

Your example would also error in Access 2.0 but we did not 'have' vbCrLf there

Arno R

[MLH]

Now I understand. Because the ampersand performs
a double roll. one must take care how one uses it.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You don't HAVE to do it ALL the time:
?"Hello"&"there"&"next"&"line." will work.
but I guess it is pretty much standard that readability is also important, so I would always use spaces.

Your example would also error in Access 2.0 but we did not 'have' vbCrLf there

Arno R