Visual Basic 6 Naming Standards

This contains the Microsoft Recommended naming conventions for Objects, and Variables in Visual Basic 6.0.

 

Why is this here? I believe it is always important to follow some standard when coding, and if your job involves VB programming, then I'm sure you will agree that it definitely makes code easier to read and understand.  Most if not all, IT jobs will require you to follow a set of standards while writing your code. 

The Visual Basic Coding standards have changed over the years but they are still about the same, with the Scope and Type identifiers to tell if a variable is global, module or local, and what the data type of the variable is.  I remember the previous set of standards used only a single character type identifier. (most of the code in this site still uses the old standard, I just have not caught on to the new one yet.) The new standard of the 3 character type identifier makes VB's standards more like that of Visual C++. (I doubt this is coincidence.)

   

Visual Basic Naming Standards

Control type	prefix	Example
3D Panel	pnl	pnlGroup
ADO Data	ado	adoBiblio
Animated button	ani	aniMailBox
Check box	chk	chkReadOnly
Combo box, drop-down list box	cbo	cboEnglish
Command button	cmd	cmdExit
Common dialog	dlg	dlgFileOpen
Communications	com	comFax
Control (used within procedures when the specific type is unknown)	ctr	ctrCurrent
Data	dat	datBiblio
Data-bound combo box	dbcbo	dbcboLanguage
Data-bound grid	dbgrd	dbgrdQueryResult
Data-bound list box	dblst	dblstJobType
Data combo	dbc	dbcAuthor
Data grid	dgd	dgdTitles
Data list	dbl	dblPublisher
Data repeater	drp	drpLocation
Date picker	dtp	dtpPublished
Directory list box	dir	dirSource
Drive list box	drv	drvTarget
File list box	fil	filSource
Flat scroll bar	fsb	fsbMove
Form	frm	frmEntry
Frame	fra	fraLanguage
Gauge	gau	gauStatus
Graph	gra	graRevenue
Grid	grd	grdPrices
Hierarchical flexgrid	flex	flexOrders
Horizontal scroll bar	hsb	hsbVolume
Image	img	imgIcon
Image combo	imgcbo	imgcboProduct
ImageList	ils	ilsAllIcons
Label	lbl	lblHelpMessage
Lightweight check box	lwchk	lwchkArchive
Lightweight combo box	lwcbo	lwcboGerman
Lightweight command button	lwcmd	lwcmdRemove
Lightweight frame	lwfra	lwfraSaveOptions
Lightweight horizontal scroll bar	lwhsb	lwhsbVolume
Lightweight list box	lwlst	lwlstCostCenters
Lightweight option button	lwopt	lwoptIncomeLevel
Lightweight text box	lwtxt	lwoptStreet
Lightweight vertical scroll bar	lwvsb	lwvsbYear
Line	lin	linVertical
List box	lst	lstPolicyCodes
ListView	lvw	lvwHeadings
MAPI message	mpm	mpmSentMessage
MAPI session	mps	mpsSession
MCI	mci	mciVideo
Menu	mnu	mnuFileOpen
Month view	mvw	mvwPeriod
MS Chart	ch	chSalesbyRegion
MS Flex grid	msg	msgClients
MS Tab	mst	mstFirst
OLE container	ole	oleWorksheet
Option button	opt	optGender
Picture box	pic	picVGA
Picture clip	clp	clpToolbar
ProgressBar	prg	prgLoadFile
Remote Data	rd	rdTitles
RichTextBox	rtf	rtfReport
Shape	shp	shpCircle
Slider	sld	sldScale
Spin	spn	spnPages
StatusBar	sta	staDateTime
SysInfo	sys	sysMonitor
TabStrip	tab	tabOptions
Text box	txt	txtLastName
Timer	tmr	tmrAlarm
Toolbar	tlb	tlbActions
TreeView	tre	treOrganization
UpDown	upd	updDirection
Vertical scroll bar	vsb	vsbRate

 

 

Variable Naming Conventions

Visual Basic uses a Scope and Type identifier to prefix each variable name, so it is easy to tell the data type of the variable and where the variable is declared. The Scope can be one of three things:

Scope	Prefix	Example
Global	g	gstrUserName
Module-level	m	mblnCalcInProgress
Local to procedure	None	dblVelocity

The Type identifier follows the Scope identifier and will enable anyone looking at your code to instantly know the data type of all your variables without having to look for the variables declaration. The following is a list of the data types and their prefixes:

Data type	Prefix	Example
Boolean	bln	blnFound
Byte	byt	bytRasterData
Collection object	col	colWidgets
Currency	cur	curRevenue
Date (Time)	dtm	dtmStart
Double	dbl	dblTolerance
Error	err	errOrderNum
Integer	int	intQuantity
Long	lng	lngDistance
Object	obj	objCurrent
Single	sng	sngAverage
String	str	strFName
User-defined type	udt	udtEmployee
Variant	vnt	vntCheckSum

So if you had a global variable named "Counter" and it is a long, you would name the variable "glngCounter" Anyone looking at this variable would instantly know the variable is global to the whole project and would know it is a long. In a multi-developer environment this type of standard is a must, or else there will be considerable time lost while each developer keeps referring to the variable declarations.