How do I validate whether a string is just a number or not?

How do I validate whether a string is just a number or not?
if val like...
if val <> ...
someone suggested an imaginary function called isnumber
if isnumber(val) = true/false
this didn't work, any suggestions
--
Chris Hayes
Still a beginner (only 12 years)

Jay
Wed Apr 11 22:00:26 CDT 2007

On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:36:01 -0700, CS Hayes <hayes.cs(remove
this)@gmail.com> wrote:

>How do I validate whether a string is just a number or not?
>if val like...
>if val <> ...
>someone suggested an imaginary function called isnumber
>if isnumber(val) = true/false
>this didn't work, any suggestions

First -- don't use 'val' as a variable name. It's a built-in function.
Although VBA will allow you to use it, it may confuse the Basic
interpreter and it will certainly confuse you at some point.

Second -- the built-in (not imaginary) function is called IsNumeric,
and it does indeed return true or false depending on whether the
string input represents a number. It will accept thousands separators
and at most one decimal separator -- I think it checks the current
Regional settings to determine what characters are assigned to the
separators.

Third, the Val function converts a string to a number, if possible,
according to certain rules. Those rules are different than those for
IsNumeric. Val will convert any numeric characters at the start of the
string, and stop at the first nonnumeric character; so Val("123abc")
returns the integer 123. If the string is empty or doesn't start with
a numeric part, it returns 0. In both of those cases, IsNumeric
returns false.

Play with this macro for a bit to see the differences:

Sub Demo()
Dim s As String
s = InputBox("Number:")
If IsNumeric(s) Then
MsgBox s & " is a number" & vbCr & _
"Val(s) = " & Val(s)
Else
MsgBox s & " is not a number" & vbCr & _
"Val(s) = " & Val(s)
End If
End Sub

Finally, there are type conversion functions such as CInt(), CLng(),
CSng(), and CDbl(). See the help topic "Type Conversion Functions" for
the full list. If the input expression for these functions isn't
completely numeric, they'll throw an error, so you need to check first
with IsNumeric or use an On Error trap. Also, CInt() throws an error
if the input is numeric but bigger than 32767.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

hayes
Wed Apr 11 22:58:00 CDT 2007

First, I acutally am using the Val function in this piece of code. I just
used "val" inadvertantly, sorry (the actual variable is named "inptbx" and it
is a string.) I just learned the Val function myself (reading "Word
Programming" by Roman, wonderful book, wish he'd update it though.)

Second, Thank you Sooo much for verifying this tool: "IsNumeric." Maybe I
misunderstood the person who told me. This is the key to my piece of code.

Thanks,
--
Chris Hayes
Still a beginner (only 12 years)


"Jay Freedman" wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:36:01 -0700, CS Hayes <hayes.cs(remove
> this)@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >How do I validate whether a string is just a number or not?
> >if val like...
> >if val <> ...
> >someone suggested an imaginary function called isnumber
> >if isnumber(val) = true/false
> >this didn't work, any suggestions
>
> First -- don't use 'val' as a variable name. It's a built-in function.
> Although VBA will allow you to use it, it may confuse the Basic
> interpreter and it will certainly confuse you at some point.
>
> Second -- the built-in (not imaginary) function is called IsNumeric,
> and it does indeed return true or false depending on whether the
> string input represents a number. It will accept thousands separators
> and at most one decimal separator -- I think it checks the current
> Regional settings to determine what characters are assigned to the
> separators.
>
> Third, the Val function converts a string to a number, if possible,
> according to certain rules. Those rules are different than those for
> IsNumeric. Val will convert any numeric characters at the start of the
> string, and stop at the first nonnumeric character; so Val("123abc")
> returns the integer 123. If the string is empty or doesn't start with
> a numeric part, it returns 0. In both of those cases, IsNumeric
> returns false.
>
> Play with this macro for a bit to see the differences:
>
> Sub Demo()
> Dim s As String
> s = InputBox("Number:")
> If IsNumeric(s) Then
> MsgBox s & " is a number" & vbCr & _
> "Val(s) = " & Val(s)
> Else
> MsgBox s & " is not a number" & vbCr & _
> "Val(s) = " & Val(s)
> End If
> End Sub
>
> Finally, there are type conversion functions such as CInt(), CLng(),
> CSng(), and CDbl(). See the help topic "Type Conversion Functions" for
> the full list. If the input expression for these functions isn't
> completely numeric, they'll throw an error, so you need to check first
> with IsNumeric or use an On Error trap. Also, CInt() throws an error
> if the input is numeric but bigger than 32767.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Jay Freedman
> Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
> Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
> newsgroup so all may benefit.
>

hayes
Wed Apr 11 23:50:02 CDT 2007

Ok, this is cool. Here's my code:

Sub changeparagraphbold()
'make some variables for the application
Dim inptbx As String
Dim inptbxnum As Single
Dim paracount As Integer
paracount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count

'open an input box and ask for the paragraph number you want to change
inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make bold:", "Make
a paragraph bold!")

'make sure the input is a number
If IsNumeric(inptbx) = False Then
MsgBox ("You must enter a number only!!!")
Exit Sub
Else
End If

'make the input box output a number
inptbxnum = Val(inptbx)

'make sure the number does not exceed the amount of paragraphs or is negative
If inptbxnum <= 0 Then
MsgBox "Number Must Be greater than Zero!!"
Exit Sub
ElseIf inptbx > paracount Then
MsgBox "Number must not exceed documents current amount of paragraphs!!"
Exit Sub
End If

'make the input box selected paragraph BOLD
ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(inptbxnum).Range.Font.Bold = True

'end the program
End Sub

Ok, I'm sure there's someone where who could write one line but I'm pretty
impressed. I've been having the hardest time understanding variables and
definitions but now I think I got it.


--
Chris Hayes
Still a beginner (only 12 years)

HelmutWeber
Thu Apr 12 02:40:01 CDT 2007

Hi Chris,

have a look at these examples in addition:

MsgBox IsNumeric("123E14")
MsgBox IsNumeric("123,4,567")
MsgBox IsNumeric("1.446,345")
MsgBox IsNumeric("1 446,345")
MsgBox IsNumeric("1.446.345")
MsgBox IsNumeric(".3")
MsgBox IsNumeric("3.")
MsgBox IsNumeric("3. ")
MsgBox IsNumeric("3,")
MsgBox IsNumeric("3, ")

--
Greetings from Bavaria, Germany
Helmut Weber, MVP WordVBA
"red.sys" & chr(64) & "t-online.de"
Word 2002, Windows 2000

Jay
Thu Apr 12 11:24:59 CDT 2007

By Jove, I think he's got it! Well done.

If you're going to spend some effort learning to handle user input, there
are a couple of principles you should know about early.

- If you know ahead of time that the input has to be limited in some way,
don't make the user guess what the limits are. In this case, you know that
you're looking for a number greater than zero, and less than or equal to the
paragraph count. Put that information in the InputBox prompt, and the user
won't have to wonder "Is 42 too big?". Something like this:

inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make bold (0 - " _
& paracount & "):", "Make a paragraph bold!")

- Go easy on the exclamation marks. They get annoying pretty quickly.

- In a "real" application, if the input is invalid, instead of just ending
the macro with Exit Sub you probably want to give the user another chance. A
simple way to do that is to put a label (an identifier followed by a colon)
just before the InputBox statement, and replace the Exit Sub statements with
GoTo statements pointing to that label. A better way is to make a loop with
one of the variations on the While...Wend or Do...Loop Until statements. You
also want to give the user a way to stop the loop -- for instance, if inptbx
is an empty string. (The InputBox is limited and doesn't offer a Cancel
button. You may want to learn about UserForms, which are much more
powerful.)

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

CS Hayes wrote:
> Ok, this is cool. Here's my code:
>
> Sub changeparagraphbold()
> 'make some variables for the application
> Dim inptbx As String
> Dim inptbxnum As Single
> Dim paracount As Integer
> paracount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
>
> 'open an input box and ask for the paragraph number you want to change
> inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make
> bold:", "Make a paragraph bold!")
>
> 'make sure the input is a number
> If IsNumeric(inptbx) = False Then
> MsgBox ("You must enter a number only!!!")
> Exit Sub
> Else
> End If
>
> 'make the input box output a number
> inptbxnum = Val(inptbx)
>
> 'make sure the number does not exceed the amount of paragraphs or is
> negative If inptbxnum <= 0 Then
> MsgBox "Number Must Be greater than Zero!!"
> Exit Sub
> ElseIf inptbx > paracount Then
> MsgBox "Number must not exceed documents current amount of
> paragraphs!!" Exit Sub
> End If
>
> 'make the input box selected paragraph BOLD
> ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(inptbxnum).Range.Font.Bold = True
>
> 'end the program
> End Sub
>
> Ok, I'm sure there's someone where who could write one line but I'm
> pretty impressed. I've been having the hardest time understanding
> variables and definitions but now I think I got it.

hayes
Fri Apr 13 22:08:03 CDT 2007

thanks for the vote of confidence.

I was kind of concerned about the idea of validating input.

I'm really going about something in a backward way but right now it appears
the best. I came to a big realization that I had to learn Visual Basic by
itself in some manner whatever to apply it to Access.

I got a book by Steve Roman on "Programming Word" and I found his style best
to my learning curve. So, I learn VB via Word programming but the final
intent is to be able to develop solutions via Access with VB.

Thanks to all who help.

You're a great group of helpful professionals!
--
Chris Hayes
Still a beginner (only 12 years)


"Jay Freedman" wrote:

> By Jove, I think he's got it! Well done.
>
> If you're going to spend some effort learning to handle user input, there
> are a couple of principles you should know about early.
>
> - If you know ahead of time that the input has to be limited in some way,
> don't make the user guess what the limits are. In this case, you know that
> you're looking for a number greater than zero, and less than or equal to the
> paragraph count. Put that information in the InputBox prompt, and the user
> won't have to wonder "Is 42 too big?". Something like this:
>
> inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make bold (0 - " _
> & paracount & "):", "Make a paragraph bold!")
>
> - Go easy on the exclamation marks. They get annoying pretty quickly.
>
> - In a "real" application, if the input is invalid, instead of just ending
> the macro with Exit Sub you probably want to give the user another chance. A
> simple way to do that is to put a label (an identifier followed by a colon)
> just before the InputBox statement, and replace the Exit Sub statements with
> GoTo statements pointing to that label. A better way is to make a loop with
> one of the variations on the While...Wend or Do...Loop Until statements. You
> also want to give the user a way to stop the loop -- for instance, if inptbx
> is an empty string. (The InputBox is limited and doesn't offer a Cancel
> button. You may want to learn about UserForms, which are much more
> powerful.)
>
> --
> Regards,
> Jay Freedman
> Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
> Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
> all may benefit.
>
> CS Hayes wrote:
> > Ok, this is cool. Here's my code:
> >
> > Sub changeparagraphbold()
> > 'make some variables for the application
> > Dim inptbx As String
> > Dim inptbxnum As Single
> > Dim paracount As Integer
> > paracount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
> >
> > 'open an input box and ask for the paragraph number you want to change
> > inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make
> > bold:", "Make a paragraph bold!")
> >
> > 'make sure the input is a number
> > If IsNumeric(inptbx) = False Then
> > MsgBox ("You must enter a number only!!!")
> > Exit Sub
> > Else
> > End If
> >
> > 'make the input box output a number
> > inptbxnum = Val(inptbx)
> >
> > 'make sure the number does not exceed the amount of paragraphs or is
> > negative If inptbxnum <= 0 Then
> > MsgBox "Number Must Be greater than Zero!!"
> > Exit Sub
> > ElseIf inptbx > paracount Then
> > MsgBox "Number must not exceed documents current amount of
> > paragraphs!!" Exit Sub
> > End If
> >
> > 'make the input box selected paragraph BOLD
> > ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(inptbxnum).Range.Font.Bold = True
> >
> > 'end the program
> > End Sub
> >
> > Ok, I'm sure there's someone where who could write one line but I'm
> > pretty impressed. I've been having the hardest time understanding
> > variables and definitions but now I think I got it.
>
>
>

Perry
Sat Apr 14 05:20:10 CDT 2007



--
--
Krgrds,
Perry

System:
Vista/Office Ultimate
VS2005/VSTO2005 SE



"CS Hayes" <hayes.csmontypython@gmail.com> schreef in bericht
news:396419A7-2A21-44F8-815B-2A5834716C63@microsoft.com...
> thanks for the vote of confidence.
>
> I was kind of concerned about the idea of validating input.
>
> I'm really going about something in a backward way but right now it
> appears
> the best. I came to a big realization that I had to learn Visual Basic by
> itself in some manner whatever to apply it to Access.
>
> I got a book by Steve Roman on "Programming Word" and I found his style
> best
> to my learning curve. So, I learn VB via Word programming but the final
> intent is to be able to develop solutions via Access with VB.
>
> Thanks to all who help.
>
> You're a great group of helpful professionals!
> --
> Chris Hayes
> Still a beginner (only 12 years)
>
>
> "Jay Freedman" wrote:
>
>> By Jove, I think he's got it! Well done.
>>
>> If you're going to spend some effort learning to handle user input, there
>> are a couple of principles you should know about early.
>>
>> - If you know ahead of time that the input has to be limited in some way,
>> don't make the user guess what the limits are. In this case, you know
>> that
>> you're looking for a number greater than zero, and less than or equal to
>> the
>> paragraph count. Put that information in the InputBox prompt, and the
>> user
>> won't have to wonder "Is 42 too big?". Something like this:
>>
>> inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make bold (0 -
>> " _
>> & paracount & "):", "Make a paragraph bold!")
>>
>> - Go easy on the exclamation marks. They get annoying pretty quickly.
>>
>> - In a "real" application, if the input is invalid, instead of just
>> ending
>> the macro with Exit Sub you probably want to give the user another
>> chance. A
>> simple way to do that is to put a label (an identifier followed by a
>> colon)
>> just before the InputBox statement, and replace the Exit Sub statements
>> with
>> GoTo statements pointing to that label. A better way is to make a loop
>> with
>> one of the variations on the While...Wend or Do...Loop Until statements.
>> You
>> also want to give the user a way to stop the loop -- for instance, if
>> inptbx
>> is an empty string. (The InputBox is limited and doesn't offer a Cancel
>> button. You may want to learn about UserForms, which are much more
>> powerful.)
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Jay Freedman
>> Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
>> Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
>> so
>> all may benefit.
>>
>> CS Hayes wrote:
>> > Ok, this is cool. Here's my code:
>> >
>> > Sub changeparagraphbold()
>> > 'make some variables for the application
>> > Dim inptbx As String
>> > Dim inptbxnum As Single
>> > Dim paracount As Integer
>> > paracount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
>> >
>> > 'open an input box and ask for the paragraph number you want to change
>> > inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make
>> > bold:", "Make a paragraph bold!")
>> >
>> > 'make sure the input is a number
>> > If IsNumeric(inptbx) = False Then
>> > MsgBox ("You must enter a number only!!!")
>> > Exit Sub
>> > Else
>> > End If
>> >
>> > 'make the input box output a number
>> > inptbxnum = Val(inptbx)
>> >
>> > 'make sure the number does not exceed the amount of paragraphs or is
>> > negative If inptbxnum <= 0 Then
>> > MsgBox "Number Must Be greater than Zero!!"
>> > Exit Sub
>> > ElseIf inptbx > paracount Then
>> > MsgBox "Number must not exceed documents current amount of
>> > paragraphs!!" Exit Sub
>> > End If
>> >
>> > 'make the input box selected paragraph BOLD
>> > ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(inptbxnum).Range.Font.Bold = True
>> >
>> > 'end the program
>> > End Sub
>> >
>> > Ok, I'm sure there's someone where who could write one line but I'm
>> > pretty impressed. I've been having the hardest time understanding
>> > variables and definitions but now I think I got it.
>>
>>
>>

Perry
Sat Apr 14 05:28:53 CDT 2007


Here's another tip, usefull for application developers, specifically for
"Interaction Design",
"Task Driven" design and more ... reasonably priced at Amazon.
The Inmates Are Running The Asylum, by Alan Cooper
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672326140/

--
Krgrds,
Perry

System:
Vista/Office Ultimate
VS2005/VSTO2005 SE



"CS Hayes" <hayes.csmontypython@gmail.com> schreef in bericht
news:396419A7-2A21-44F8-815B-2A5834716C63@microsoft.com...
> thanks for the vote of confidence.
>
> I was kind of concerned about the idea of validating input.
>
> I'm really going about something in a backward way but right now it
> appears
> the best. I came to a big realization that I had to learn Visual Basic by
> itself in some manner whatever to apply it to Access.
>
> I got a book by Steve Roman on "Programming Word" and I found his style
> best
> to my learning curve. So, I learn VB via Word programming but the final
> intent is to be able to develop solutions via Access with VB.
>
> Thanks to all who help.
>
> You're a great group of helpful professionals!
> --
> Chris Hayes
> Still a beginner (only 12 years)
>
>
> "Jay Freedman" wrote:
>
>> By Jove, I think he's got it! Well done.
>>
>> If you're going to spend some effort learning to handle user input, there
>> are a couple of principles you should know about early.
>>
>> - If you know ahead of time that the input has to be limited in some way,
>> don't make the user guess what the limits are. In this case, you know
>> that
>> you're looking for a number greater than zero, and less than or equal to
>> the
>> paragraph count. Put that information in the InputBox prompt, and the
>> user
>> won't have to wonder "Is 42 too big?". Something like this:
>>
>> inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make bold (0 -
>> " _
>> & paracount & "):", "Make a paragraph bold!")
>>
>> - Go easy on the exclamation marks. They get annoying pretty quickly.
>>
>> - In a "real" application, if the input is invalid, instead of just
>> ending
>> the macro with Exit Sub you probably want to give the user another
>> chance. A
>> simple way to do that is to put a label (an identifier followed by a
>> colon)
>> just before the InputBox statement, and replace the Exit Sub statements
>> with
>> GoTo statements pointing to that label. A better way is to make a loop
>> with
>> one of the variations on the While...Wend or Do...Loop Until statements.
>> You
>> also want to give the user a way to stop the loop -- for instance, if
>> inptbx
>> is an empty string. (The InputBox is limited and doesn't offer a Cancel
>> button. You may want to learn about UserForms, which are much more
>> powerful.)
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Jay Freedman
>> Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
>> Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
>> so
>> all may benefit.
>>
>> CS Hayes wrote:
>> > Ok, this is cool. Here's my code:
>> >
>> > Sub changeparagraphbold()
>> > 'make some variables for the application
>> > Dim inptbx As String
>> > Dim inptbxnum As Single
>> > Dim paracount As Integer
>> > paracount = ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count
>> >
>> > 'open an input box and ask for the paragraph number you want to change
>> > inptbx = InputBox("Enter the paragraph number you want to make
>> > bold:", "Make a paragraph bold!")
>> >
>> > 'make sure the input is a number
>> > If IsNumeric(inptbx) = False Then
>> > MsgBox ("You must enter a number only!!!")
>> > Exit Sub
>> > Else
>> > End If
>> >
>> > 'make the input box output a number
>> > inptbxnum = Val(inptbx)
>> >
>> > 'make sure the number does not exceed the amount of paragraphs or is
>> > negative If inptbxnum <= 0 Then
>> > MsgBox "Number Must Be greater than Zero!!"
>> > Exit Sub
>> > ElseIf inptbx > paracount Then
>> > MsgBox "Number must not exceed documents current amount of
>> > paragraphs!!" Exit Sub
>> > End If
>> >
>> > 'make the input box selected paragraph BOLD
>> > ActiveDocument.Paragraphs(inptbxnum).Range.Font.Bold = True
>> >
>> > 'end the program
>> > End Sub
>> >
>> > Ok, I'm sure there's someone where who could write one line but I'm
>> > pretty impressed. I've been having the hardest time understanding
>> > variables and definitions but now I think I got it.
>>
>>
>>

hayes
Sat Apr 14 19:02:02 CDT 2007

I've been working in the office for 12 years. I know the problems that
office workers encounter on a regular basis. I've noticed a lot of people
coming to these forums looking for solutions (to what some may think are
trivial.) I have encountered the same problems and solved them. I believe
that their questions are legitimate and if I can, I will help.

Someone I worked for just didn't care to know anything about computers. An
example of a solution I created for her was a very small VBA program in Word
that brought up a three button form that guided her through custom forms to
CREATE A LABLE AND PRINT IT.

Microsoft Office is a powerful tool but some people don't need a digital
power miter saw when they are chopping wood for a fire, they need something
that will lighten the load of chopping. This book may be very interesting.
--
Chris Hayes
Still a beginner (only 12 years)