Document Conventions

This manual uses the following typographic conventions.

Example of convention Description
Sub, If, ChDir, Recordset, Time, FontSize Words in bold with the initial letter capitalized are language-specific words with special meaning to Visual Basic. These can be functions, statements, objects, methods, properties, operators, or keywords.
DblClick, TransferText Names of events and actions appear with the initial letter capitalized. Concatenated names may contain other capital letters.
expr, path In syntax, text in italic indicates placeholders for information you supply.
[color] In syntax, items inside brackets are optional.
{While | Until} In syntax, braces and a vertical bar indicate a mandatory choice between two or more items. You must choose one of the items unless all of the items also are enclosed in brackets.
Dim dbs As Database This font is used for code.
acViewNormal Intrinsic constants consist of a word or words that begin with an initial capital letter, preceded by a prefix that indicates which type library they reside in. The prefix “ac” indicates that the constant is a Microsoft Access constant; the prefix “vb” indicates that the constant is a Visual Basic constant; the prefix “db” indicates that the constant is a DAO constant. Constants are shown in bold.
ENTER Small capital letters are used for the names of keys, such as ENTER and CTRL. The key names correspond to the names on the IBM® Personal Computer keyboard. Other computers may use different names for keys.
ALT+F1 A plus sign (+) between key names indicates a combination of keys. For example, ALT+F1 means hold down the ALT key while pressing the F1 key.
varX = MsgBox("Concatenate " _ & "strings separated by " _ & "the line continuation " _& "character." The line-continuation character ( _ ) consists of a space and an underscore. It indicates that the code before and after the line-continuation character should appear on one continuous line.
CreateForm([database[,
formtemplate]])
In examples of command lines, an arrow indicates line continuation.