Programming Tips & Tricks #0005---With...EndWith in VB

Tips & Tricks #0005

In my consulting practice, I frequently see examples of Visual Basic code that could be improved upon, either from a readability point of view or from an efficiency point of view. Today I'd like to discuss a relatively new Visual Basic construct that can improve both the readability and efficiency of your code---and save you quite a few keystrokes in the process. That construct is the With…End With statement.

The With…End With statement allows you to 'bundle' Property and Method calls to a single object within the With…End With block. For instance, here's some code that sets the properties of a Command Button, and then executes its Move Method.

Private Sub Form_Load()
Command1.Caption = "OK"
Command1.Visible = True
Command1.Top = 200
Command1.Left = 5000
Command1.Enabled = True
Command1.Move 1000,1000
End Sub

By using the With…End With statement, we can eliminate quite a few programmer keystrokes, and make the code a bit more readable in the process---like this…

Private Sub Form_Load()
With Command1
.Caption = "OK"
.Visible = True
.Top = 200
.Left = 5000
.Enabled = True
.Move 1000,1000
End With
End Sub

Not only have we reduced the number of keystrokes in the procedure, but using the With…End With construct produces more efficient code.

Each reference to an object's property or method requires a Registry 'look up' to execute the code statement---by using the With…End With statement, VB is able to 'pool' this lookup into a single Input Output operation---thereby making your program run faster.

The bottom line---whenever you find yourself coding multiple operations against an Object, use the With…End With statement.