Tab Keyword Cannot Be Used as an Object Type in Visual Basic

• Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic, 32-bit Only, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

The TabStrip control contains an object, Tab, which supports the various properties of a tab in the control. The word Tab cannot be used in a declaration to dimension an object. This is because Tab is a keyword in Visual Basic.

STATUS

This is by design. Since Tab is a keyword in Visual Basic, it cannot be used in a declaration without employing one of the workarounds documented below.

WORKAROUND

There are several ways to dimension a Tab object, which is part of the TabStrip control:

• Preface the object with the library in which it is contained. In the case of Tab:

  Dim x As ComctlLib.Tab

  Later in the code, x has to be set to the correct tab object. For example:

  Set x = New TabStrip1.Tabs(0)

  -or-

• Use late binding, and dimension the Tab as a generic object:

  Dim x As Object

  Set x = New TabStrip1.Tabs(0)

Steps to Reproduce Problem

1. Create a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default. Add a TabStrip control to a form.

2. In the Form_Load event place the following code:

         Private Sub Form_Load()
   

   Dim x As Tab

      End Sub
   
   

3. Run the project by pressing F5. Visual Basic will correctly highlight the dimension statement and report a Syntax Error.