Important Notice

The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.

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 Guidelines for Entering and Editing Code
 
 ■ You enter and edit code in the programming environment. The programming
   environment has automatic formatting and syntax-checking capabilities
   built in.
 
 ■ If the syntax checker is turned on, Visual Basic displays a message
   whenever it encounters a syntax error. To toggle syntax checking in the
   programming environment, choose Syntax Checking from the Options menu.
 
 ■ Use the following tips while working in the programming environment:
 
   • To enter code, click in the programming environment and start typing
 
   • To correct mistakes as you type, press Backspace
 
   • To delete text, select it and press Del
 
   • To move the cursor location, use the arrow keys
     You can also click where you want the cursor location to be.
 
   • To indent text, position the cursor and press tab
     To remove an indent, press Shift+Tab.
 
   • To switch between insert mode and overtype mode, press Ins
 
   • To enter a comment in your code, start the line with an apostrophe (')
 
   • To complete a Visual Basic statement, press Enter
 
   • To write multiple statements on one line, use a colon (:)
     For example, FOR i% = 1 TO 10: PRINT i%: NEXT i%
 
   • To view two procedures at a time, create a new code window
     Choose New Window, then choose Arrange All from the Window menu to tile
     all open windows.
 
   • To get Help on Visual Basic syntax from the programming environment
     Type or select the keyword, function, statement, property, event, or
     method, and press F1.
 
 ■ Follow these tips when working with declarations and variables:
   • To enter an assignment statement, use this syntax:
 
         destination = source
 
   • To name a variable, begin the name with a letter, and use no more than
     40 letters and numbers. Do not use reserved words.
   • To use a data type to declare a variable, append the type-declaration
     character to the end of the variable name: % (integer), & (long
     integer), ! (single precision), $ (string), @ (currency).
     See: ◄Basic Data Types Summary►