That colon thing :::::

I've seen the colon thing used in code, apparently to allow one line of code to sit behind another, eg:

Code:

---

Msgbox "Nice one Cyril" : Msgbox "Bit Corny though..."

---

Sortafing.

I can't find any mention of this fab thing in the "help" screens, can anyone shed any light?

well this:

Code:

---

Msgbox "Nice one Cyril" : Msgbox "Bit Corny though..."

---

is the equiv of:

Code:

---

Msgbox "Nice one Cyril"
Msgbox "Bit Corny though..."

---

Just lets you put related stuff on the same line.
I always use it for short If statements, like

Code:

---

If x = 1 Then MsgBox "AHH!!!": Exit Sub

---

Sunny

Code:

---

Private Sub Form_Load()
  MsgBox "Hello": Dim x As String: x = "MyMy What a thing.": MsgBox x: Unload Me
End Sub

---

I think it's provided as a way to make code difficult to read. VB is a bit lacking there compared to C. Don't get me wrong, C is not necessarily difficult to read but it has a lot of possibilities there.

In short, I don't like it.

Thanks awfully chaps. I think I'll go write myself a one line program. And then ask you all to debug it for me har har har!

Actually, the :, along with many other oddities of VB are remnants of the original BASIC language (such as the 'Let' statement). I remember when I first started programming in GW-BASIC. GW-BASIC didn't have subs, functions, or even named labels - you had 'GOTO' and 'GOSUB', and every line had a line number. These were the days of 'DEF FN', the days of 'FIELD' for random-access data. Well, along with these many other items, you only had single-line IF...THEN...ELSE statements. Therefore, the only way you could do more than one command in an IF statement was like this:

IF blah THEN x: y: z ELSE a: b: c

It comes in handy sometimes (mostly for this purpose); thus, it remains with us today.

The : in VB is just to make code shorter on your screen.

This:

Code:

---

somethingfornothing = Good
somethingforfree = Good
somethingforaprice = Bad
somethingnotfree = Bad

---

Can be turned into this:

Code:

---

somethingfornothing = Good: somethingforfree = Good:somethingforaprice = Bad:somethingnotfree = Bad

---

To make it look a bit shorter :p.
Dunno why VB had that.
Guess we'll never find out.
Unless someone wants to email Microsoft and ask them ;).