Chapter 2: Understanding Data Types in VBA – The Building Blocks of Coding

Ishika December 23, 2025

VBA Data Types – The Foundation of Every Program

2.1 What are Data Types?

In VBA, a data type defines what kind of values a variable can hold. If you declare a variable without specifying its data type, VBA treats it as a Variant (can store any type but uses more memory). Declaring proper data types helps reduce errors and makes code run faster and efficient.

2.2 Syntax for Declaring a Variable with Data Type

Dim variableName As DataType

Example:

Dim age As Integer
Dim studentName As String
Dim price As Double

2.3 Common Data Types in VBA

Data Type	Description	Storage Size	Example Values
Integer	Whole numbers	2 Bytes	10, 250
Long	Large whole numbers	4 Bytes	100000
Double	Decimal numbers	8 Bytes	99.99, 12345.678
String	Text values	Varies	"Hello", "VBA"
Boolean	True or False	2 Bytes	True, False
Date	Stores date/time	8 Bytes	#12/31/2024#
Variant	Can hold any type	Depends	"Text", 10, 123.45

2.4 Examples of Data Types

Example 1: Declaring and Using Data Types

Sub DataTypeExample()
   Dim age As Integer
   Dim price As Double
   Dim studentName As String
   Dim isActive As Boolean

   age = 20
   price = 199.99
   studentName = "Rahul"
   isActive = True

   MsgBox "Name: " & studentName & vbCrLf & _
      "Age: " & age & vbCrLf & _
      "Price: " & price & vbCrLf & _
      "Active: " & isActive
End Sub

Output:
Name: Rahul
Age: 20
Price: 199.99
Active: True

Example 2: Working with Dates

Sub DateExample()
   Dim todayDate As Date
   todayDate = Date

   MsgBox "Today's Date is " & todayDate
End Sub

Output: Today's Date is 01-09-2025

Example 3: Using Boolean

Sub BooleanExample()
   Dim marks As Integer
   Dim result As Boolean

   marks = 55
   result = (marks >= 40)

   MsgBox "Did the student pass? " & result
End Sub

Output: Did the student pass? True