[AccessD] Can a function return an object?

[Borge Hansen]

Hi Stuart,
Interesting information.
I am amazed about your level of knowledge.
If I wanted to deepen my knowledge about this particular subject, can you
give me any pointers / links where I can read more about the STRPTR and
VARPTR ….
Well - I thought to search Google … here is one link:
https://classicvb.net/tips/varptr/

/borge

On Sat, 18 Mar 2023 at 07:50, Stuart McLachlan <stuart at lexacorp.com.pg>
wrote:

> Be careful with the word "pointer".
> A pointer "points"  to a memory location.
> There is a differentce between a pointer and a reference.
> You pass a reference to an object instance , not a pointer.
>
> An object reference (reference to an object instance) stays  the same for
> the life of the
> instance, but theinstance's location in memory  may change.   VBA doesn't
> expose the
> pointer to it. It's managed behind the scenes
>
> It's a bit like the difference between VARPTR and STRPTR for dynamic
> strings.The STRPTR
> will change every time the string is modified so that it moves in memory,
> the VARPTR
> remains the same since it is a pointer to a pointer to the string.
>
> In general, all return values are pointers returned in registers which are
> de-referenced by the
> calling statement.
>
>
> On 17 Mar 2023 at 16:13, John Colby wrote:
>
> > Technically speaking a function returns a *pointer* to an object.  It
> > is a 32 bit or 64 bit number which points to an address in memory
> > where the actual instance of the object resides.  This is an important
> > distinction because functions can accept and return actual instances
> > of *some* things such as an integer variable.  But AFAIK objects are
> > never passed, only pointers to objects are passed.
> >
> > IIRC the function is defined with the 'as' keywords after it, followed
> > by the type of thing being returned, in this case an object of type
> > form.
> >
> > Function fFrm() As Form
> >
> >     Set fFrm = Forms("frmLocation")
> >
> > End Function
> >
> > Now in the debug window:
> >
> > ?ffrm.Caption
> > frmLocation
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 5:56AM Arthur Fuller
> > <fuller.artful at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Can a VBA function return an object, such as a form or DAO.database?
> > >
> > > Can a function return a collection?
> > >
> > > --
> > > Arthur
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > John W. Colby
> > Colby Consulting
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> > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>
>
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