VBC09335 — Type-declaration character does not match declared data type

Severity: Error · Family: VBC (static semantics / abstract syntax tree) · Source metadata: VBCompileErrorInfo

A name is written with a type-declaration character (%, &, ^, !, #, @ or $) that is not the type it was declared as.

The character says the type of the name it is written on: x$ is a String, x% an Integer. A name written with one is the identifier that was declared, and has the type that declaration gave it; if that is not the type the character says, the character is changing the type of a variable, which VBA does not allow.

MS-VBA reports the same error: Type-declaration character does not match declared data type.

This code is raised by SimpleNameExpressionStaticSemantics, at the name and not at the statement it is in.

How it is raised

Situation	Example	Resolution
A variable declared with one character, written with another.	`Dim x$` … `x% = 42`	Write the name with the character it was declared with, or with none.
A variable declared `As` a type, written with the character of another.	`Dim x As String` … `x% = 42`	Write it with `$`, or with none.
A name that is declared by being used, written with two characters.	`y$ = "a"` … `y% = 1`	Use one type for the name.
A name declared like a member of the library, written with the library's character.	`Dim Left As Long` … `s = Left$`	Rename the declaration, or qualify the library's member (`VBA.Left$`).
A member of the library with no `$` form, written with `$`.	`n = Len$(s)`	Write it with no character.

Notes

A name written with no character never raises this: the declaration is the only thing that says its type.

A name written with a character is looked for by its identifier first, through the usual scopes, and the character is judged against what that finds: after Dim Left As Long, Left$ is that variable, and raises this. Only where the identifier finds a member of the library, or nothing, is the name the library's member that has the character in its name (Left$, Environ$), if there is one: Hex$ is then a different member from Hex, with a different type. Where the library has no such member, the identifier's member is judged as any declaration is: Len returns a Variant, so Len$ raises this. A member after a dot is looked for as written: VBA.Left$ is the library's Left$. See RD-VBAL §6.1.2.11 Strings.

Declaring one identifier twice in a procedure, with two characters or none (Dim x$ and Dim x%), is a duplicate declaration (VBC09303), not this; see RD-VBAL §2.3.1.3 Name Resolution.

Table of Contents

VBC09335 — Type-declaration character does not match declared data type

How it is raised

Notes

See also