Comments on: The Switch function

By: Tushar Mehta

Tushar Mehta — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 16:22:00 +0000

Hi JPG,

Yes, Switch can be a useful tool together with IIf. I’ve used them as well as Choose for several years. Note that CHOOSE is also available in XL.

It’s unfortunate that VB evaluates all choices and possible results before making any decisions (but that is also true for its handling of boolean operators). That reduces the value of constructs such as IIf some since one cannot create
rslt=IIf(i>ubound(arr),False,arr(i)).

Also, and I don’t know why, but MS didn’t extend IIf into VBScript (and hence ASP). This lack makes for some very clumsy code constructs.

Finally, yes, I know one can easily implement one’s own version of IIfwith
Function IIf(c,t,f):If c then IIf=t else IIf=f:End function

By: Will

Will — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:45:00 +0000

Yes, it’s a useful function. One Iuse extensively in SQL / Crystal reports… In fact it was by accident that I discovered it was also valid in VBA

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:30:00 +0000

Very cool.

Your use of SWITCH is a natural in this case because OptionButtons only have two states, True and False.

By: Laetitia

Laetitia — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:24:00 +0000

First of all I want to thank Dick for building such a great blog and all that are sharing valuable tips. I have a problem about excel chart and will appreciate if someone here can give me some hint. I have lots of charts from Excel. When I forward these charts to the graphic designer who will use them to make a handbook, she has trouble to select the colors as Excel charts don’t seem to have CMYK. So she needs to edit every single chart to make them printable. In order to relieve her burdon, I am thinking if there is something that can make Excel charts compatible with her photoshop or something. Would anyone have an idea? Thank you in advance!

By: Jamie Collins

Jamie Collins — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 09:40:00 +0000

Because Switch() forms part of VBA5, it can be used in MS Access/Jet SQL syntax e.g.

SELECT CompanyName, SWITCH(
Country IN ('Canada', 'Mexico', 'USA'), 'North America',
Country IN ('Argentina', 'Brazil', 'Venezuela'), 'South America',
Country IS NULL, '(Not Known)',
TRUE, 'Rest of the world')
AS Locale FROM Customers;

The fact Switch() is 'not necessarily mutually exclusive' is an advantage when you consider the alternative is a set of nested/concatenated IIf statements.

Jamie.

By: Doug Glancy

Doug Glancy — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 23:01:00 +0000

I think VB.net actually has a Select Case True syntax. The criticism I've read is that the comparisons can be poorly structured, i.e., not necessarily mutually exclusive:

DougsPhysique = Switch(DougIsTall, 1, DougIsFunnyLooking,2)

But your example looks like a handy way to make a concise Case statement, as you said.