VBA Collection

Excel VBA Collection Object

In VBA coding apart from the existing collection of items under one group we can create our own collection groups as well. In our many articles, we have spoken about object variables and in this tutorial, we will take through the VBA collection object in detail.

If you have gone through our previous article “VBA Arrays” then this will be much easier for you to understand. Arrays are used to group variables under one roof, similarly, Collection is also used to store a group of variables.

Collections are used to store objects. They are far more flexible than the VBA arrays whereas arrays have fixed size limit but collections don’t have any fixed size limit at any given point in time and even doesn’t require manual resizing.

VBA Collection is very similar to the “VBA Dictionary” but the dictionary requires external object reference to be set it up under the object reference window. With VBA Dictionary we need to set the reference type as “Microsoft Scripting Runtime” but Collection doesn’t require any of those extra fittings.

How to Create Collection Object in VBA?

To get started with collection first we need to declare the variable as “Collection”.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection

End Sub

Since the collection is an object variable we need to set the object reference by creating a new instance.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

End Sub

Now with the variable, we can access all the methods of collection variable “Col”.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.

End Sub

Before making use of these methods we need to declare a variable as a string.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Dim ColResult As String
End Sub

Now use the variable “Col” choose “Add” method.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.Add

End Sub

Under the Add method, we have certain parameters. Let’s assume we are storing mobile brand names with their average selling price in the market.

Under Item, the argument enters the price of the mobile.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.Add Item:=15000,

End Sub

Next, under Key argument enter the mobile brand name.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.Add Item:=15000, Key:="Redmi"

End Sub

Now for the variable “ColResult”, we will store the result of the “Col” object variable.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.Add Item:=15000, Key:="Redmi"
  ColResult = Col(

End Sub

When you open the parenthesis of the variable “Col” we can see the argument as Index for this argument we need to supply the key argument value from the Collection add method i.e. name of the mobile brand.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.Add Item:=15000, Key:="Redmi"
  ColResult = Col("Redmi")

End Sub

Now let show the result in the message box in VBA.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example()

  Dim Col As Collection
  Set Col = New Collection

  Col.Add Item:=15000, Key:="Redmi"
  ColResult = Col("Redmi")

  MsgBox ColResult

End Sub

Ok, we are done when we run the code we should see the price of the mobile brand “Redmi”.

Better Understanding of Key & Item Parameters

I am sure it is not easy to understand the parameters of the Collection object. Let me explain to you with a simple example.

Imagine you have a menu of fruits with their name and price of the fruits. Assume you are searching the “Apple” fruit price by the name of the fruit.

In order to search the price of the fruit we need to mention the name of the fruit i.e. in collection VBA language Name of the Fruit is Key and the price of the fruit is “Item”.

It is like applying the VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP function, based on the lookup value we will fetch the required data from the database. Here lookup value is Key and the result is Item.

Advanced Example

Imagine you are a store manager in one of the retail stores and you are responsible for managing the customer queries. One such customer query is an enquiry about the product price.

You need to allow the customer to search the price of the product with complete information. Similarly, you need to show the message in case of no data found. Below is the example code which will present input box in front of the user and they require to enter the name of the product they are looking for, if product is there in the collection it will show the price of the mentioned product or else it will show the message as “The Product you are searching for doesn’t exist”.

Code:

Sub Collection_Example2()

  Dim ItemsCol As Collection
  Dim ColResult As String
  Set ItemsCol = New Collection

    ItemsCol.Add Key:="Apple", Item:=150
    ItemsCol.Add Key:="Orange", Item:=75
    ItemsCol.Add Key:="Water Melon", Item:=45
    ItemsCol.Add Key:="Mush Millan", Item:=85
    ItemsCol.Add Key:="Mango", Item:=65

  ColResult = Application.InputBox(Prompt:="Please Enter the Fruit Name")

  If ItemsCol(ColResult) <> "" Then
    MsgBox "The Price of the Fruit " & ColResult & " is : " & ItemsCol(ColResult)
  Else
    MsgBox "Price of the Fruit You are Looking for Doesn't Exists in the Collection"
  End If

End Sub

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to VBA Collection. Here we learn how to create a vba collection object along with Advanced examples and downloadable excel template. Below are some useful excel articles related to VBA –

• Hide Columns in VBA
• Free Course on VBA
• VBA JOIN Function
• GetOpenFilename VBA