an array object

hi, for school we are to create a game in vb (master mind)

so anyway i want to make my code very condensed, now i have used a variety of different programming tools, but vb is new to me, i want to assign an array to my objects so i can make my code small

at the moment the object is a label, so i am not sure how to assign it

either

VB Code:

Dim slotname(5) As Object

or

VB Code:

Dim slotname(5) As Label

then in one of my scripts i run this code

VB Code:

slotname(0) = lbl_slot1 'names of my labels in vb
slotname(1) = lbl_slot2
slotname(2) = lbl_slot3
slotname(3) = lbl_slot4
slotname(4) = lbl_slot5

in another script i run this code

VB Code:

While colour_setup < 4
        colourslot_rand(colour_setup) = Int(Rnd * 5)
        colourslot(colour_setup) = colourslot_rand(colour_setup)
        slotname(colour_setup).BackColor = colourslot(colour_setup)
        colour_setup = colour_setup + 1
    Wend

Now in this code basically this will pick a random colour and assign it to the labels background colour


whenever i run this script i get the error

Run-time error '91'

Object variable or With block variable not set

and it then proceeds to go to this line of code

VB Code:

slotname(0) = lbl_slot1

can someone please help me to gain a better understanding of how vb works in this sence?

use the set keyword.

VB Code:

set slotname(0)=label1

ty for that...

may i just ask? why does it require another syntax?

why does it need set?

I am new to VB myself. So the explanation might not be as accurate as you might want it to be.
For simple datatypes like integer,string etc, variables can be assigned values directly. Label is a type of object. Before using an object in the program, set has to be used. I have used ado a bit. I will try to give an example with that.

VB Code:

dim rs as adodb.recordset
set rs=new adodb.recordset

Before using the rs variable above has to be done. Otherwise, the same error message that you got will be displayed.
Hope this helps.

The different sytanx is mainly due to a quick fix by MS as VB went form 1 -6, all objects have default propeties. For example you can:

VB Code:

label1 = "Hello"
 
or
 
label1.caption = "Hello"

The default property for a label is the caption. Hence why you need to use the set method when creating new obejects and assigning them

Rich

instead of using individual label names, you can use object arrays.
create your lbl_slot with index

convert lbl_slot1 to lbl_slot(1), lbl_slot2 to lbl_slot(2) and so on
therefore you will not need slotname variable.

change your control code as follows:

VB Code:

While colour_setup < 4
        colourslot_rand(colour_setup) = Int(Rnd * 5)
        colourslot(colour_setup) = colourslot_rand(colour_setup)
        [COLOR=Red]lbl_slot[/COLOR](colour_setup).BackColor = colourslot(colour_setup)
        colour_setup = colour_setup + 1
    Wend