OpenOffice.org BASIC Guide.pdf - OpenOffice.org wiki

Overview of a Basic Program 7
Markers
' in each line.
A OpenOffice.org Basic program can contain dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of
markers, which are names for variables, constants, functions, and so on. When you select a
name for a marker, the following rules apply:
• Markers can only contain Latin letters, numbers, and underscores (_).
• The first character of a marker must be a letter or an underscore.
• Markers cannot contain special characters, such as ä â î ß.
• The maximum length of a marker is 255 characters.
• No distinction is made between uppercase and lowercase characters. The
OneTestVariable marker, for example, defines the same variable as onetestVariable and
ONETESTVARIABLE.
There is, however, one exception to this rule: a distinction is made between uppercase
and lowercase characters for UNO-API constants. More information about UNO is
presented in → Introduction to the OpenOffice.org API.
The rules for constructing markers are different in OpenOffice.org Basic than in VBA. For example,
OpenOffice.org Basic only allows special characters in markers when using Option Compatible, since
they can cause problems in international projects.
Here are a few examples of correct and incorrect markers:
Surname ' Correct
Surname5 ' Correct (number 5 is not the first digit)
First Name ' Incorrect (spaces are not permitted)
DéjàVu ' Incorrect (letters such as é, à are not permitted)
5Surnames ' Incorrect (the first character must not be a number)
First,Name ' Incorrect (commas and full stops are not permitted)
Enclosing a variable name in square brackets allows names that might otherwise be
disallowed; for example, spaces.
Dim [First Name] As String 'Space accepted in square brackets
Dim [DéjàVu] As Integer 'Special characters in square brackets
[First Name] = "Andrew"
[DéjàVu] = 2
Source: http:/ / wiki. services. openoffice. org/ w/ index. php? title=Documentation/ BASIC_
Guide/ Program_ Overview&oldid=108231
Principal Authors: Fpe, Ccornell, Pitonyak