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Differences Between Siebel VB and Earlier Versions of Visual Basic

Siebel VB is similar to a high level language, such as the C programming language or Pascal. This topic describes some of the differences you might notice between older versions of Visual Basic and Siebel VB.

Line Numbers and Labels

Older versions of Visual Basic require numbers at the beginning of every line. More recent versions do not support or require line numbers. Use of line numbers causes error messages.

You can use a label to reference a line of code. A label can be any combination of text and numbers. Typically it is a single word followed by a colon, and placed at the beginning of a line of code. The Go To statement uses these labels.

Subroutines and Modularity

Because Siebel VB is a modular language, it divides code into subroutines and functions. To perform actions, the subroutines and functions you write use Siebel VB statements and functions.

How Declaring a Variable Affects Variable Scope

Table 2 describes how you declare a variable affects variable scope.

Table 2. How You Declare a Variable Affects Variable Scope
Scope
Where the Variable Is Declared

Local

Declared in a subroutine or function. Only the subroutine or function that declares the variable can access this local variable.

Module

Declared in the general declarations section. Any subroutine, function, or event that is attached to the object in the script window that displays this variable can access this modular variable.

Global

Declared in one of the following items:

  • Application_Start event
  • Application.PreInvokeMethod method

You can write code that accesses a global variable throughout the Siebel application. For more information, see Siebel Technical Note #217 on My Oracle Support.

Data Types

Siebel VB is a typed language. It includes multiple data types, such as strings, numbers, variants, and arrays.

A variable that you define as a variant can store any type of data. For example, the same variable can hold integers or strings, depending on the code.

Objects allow you to manipulate complex data that an application supplies, such as Microsoft Windows forms, or COM objects.

For more information, see About Data Types.

Financial Methods

Siebel VB includes financial methods that you can use to configure Siebel CRM to do a calculation. For example, to calculate a loan payment, an internal rate of return, or a future value according to a cash flow. For more information, see Financial Methods.

Date and Time Methods

Date and time methods can compare a file date to the current date, set the current date and time, time events, and do scheduling. For more information, see Date and Time Methods.

Methods to Access Other Applications

Microsoft Windows uses the Common Object Model (COM) standard to allow an application to access the functionality of another application. An object might be the end product of a software application. For example, a document from a word processing application. The Object data type allows Siebel VB to access another software application through these objects, and then modifies them. For more information, see COM Methods.

Environment Control

Siebel VB can call another software application and send keystrokes to the application. It can also run code and return values in the operating system environment table.

      
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