Ever wondering what datatype the various functions of VB6 actually return so that you could use appropriate one yourself? Wonder no more, use Explain!

VB Code:
  1. Option Explicit

  2.  
  3. Private Sub Explain(ByVal VarTypeValue As Long)

  4.     Dim strArray As String

  5.     If (VarTypeValue And vbArray) <> 0 Then strArray = " array"

  6.     VarTypeValue = VarTypeValue And Not vbArray

  7.     Select Case VarTypeValue

  8.         Case vbBoolean

  9.             MsgBox "Boolean" & strArray

  10.         Case vbByte

  11.             MsgBox "Byte" & strArray

  12.         Case vbCurrency

  13.             MsgBox "Currency" & strArray

  14.         Case vbDataObject

  15.             MsgBox "DataObject" & strArray

  16.         Case vbDate

  17.             MsgBox "Date" & strArray

  18.         Case vbDecimal

  19.             MsgBox "Variant Decimal" & strArray

  20.         Case vbDouble

  21.             MsgBox "Double" & strArray

  22.         Case vbEmpty

  23.             MsgBox "Variant Empty" & strArray

  24.         Case vbError

  25.             MsgBox "Variant Error" & strArray

  26.         Case vbInteger

  27.             MsgBox "Integer" & strArray

  28.         Case vbLong

  29.             MsgBox "Long" & strArray

  30.         Case vbNull

  31.             MsgBox "Variant Null" & strArray

  32.         Case vbObject

  33.             MsgBox "Object" & strArray

  34.         Case vbSingle

  35.             MsgBox "Single" & strArray

  36.         Case vbString

  37.             MsgBox "String" & strArray

  38.         Case vbUserDefinedType

  39.             MsgBox "User Defined Type" & strArray

  40.         Case vbVariant

  41.             MsgBox "Variant" & strArray

  42.     End Select

  43. End Sub

  44. Private Sub Form_Load()

  45.     Explain VarType(Timer)

  46. End Sub
Please note that this isn't 100% perfect, because VarType takes in Variant datatype and looks up which datatype the Variant holds the information in. For example, Mid and Mid$ both tell the variable type would be String, although Mid returns a String contained in a Variant whereas Mid$ returns just a String.

Yet this is helpful for figuring out to which type of variable datatype you should store the return value into for optimal memory and resource management.