vb6-guidelines

VB6 Guidelines

VB6 is not VB.NET. It is not C#. It is not VBA. The rules below reflect what the VB6 compiler (1998) requires and what the COM ecosystem expects.

1. Case-preservation is absolute in existing code

VB6 is case-insensitive at the compiler level. Diff tools (Git, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, code review tools) are case-sensitive. Changing the case of an identifier in existing code pollutes pull requests with ghost changes, hides the real diff, and breaks git blame.

Absolute rule: when editing existing code, the case of every identifier stays exactly as it is. No exceptions.

This applies to:

• Variables and parameters (m_StrName stays m_StrName even if the current convention is m_strName)
• Properties and procedures (Public Sub ReadFile is not "normalized" to ReadFile if it is already ReadFile)
• Keywords (If/Then/End If — preserve as written; the IDE may have normalized different files differently)
• Type names (As String, As Long)
• Constants (vbCrLf vs vbCRLF)
• References to module and class names

When you may use the "correct" case:

• New code (new procedure, new module, new variable)
• When the user explicitly asks for normalization

When you may not, even when it looks obvious:

• "Taking advantage" of a bugfix commit to normalize
• "Since I'm already here" during a legitimate refactor of something else
• Cosmetic cleanup without explicit request

The cost of polluting the diff outweighs the value of uniformity. Always.

2. Option Explicit and type declarations are mandatory

VB6 allows implicit typing for VB3/4 backward compatibility. In new code, this is guaranteed technical debt.

• Always Option Explicit at the top of every module (.bas, .cls, .frm)
• Always declare type: Dim i As Long, never Dim i
• Prefer Long over Integer — VB6 Integer is 16 bits, overflows at 32,768
• Avoid Variant except when interacting with APIs that return Variant (e.g., ADO GetRows)
• Declare return type in every Function: Public Function X() As String, not Public Function X()

3. Hungarian notation — scope prefix plus type prefix

The convention is two-part: a scope prefix followed by a type prefix, both in lowercase in new code.

3.1. Scope prefix

Scope	Prefix	Example
Module-level in .bas	m	Private mobjCnn As Object
Module-level in .cls	m_	Private m_strName As String
Global public in .bas	g	Public gstrServer As String
Parameter / local	(none)	Dim strValue As String

3.2. Type prefix (lowercase, follows scope prefix)

VB6 Type	Prefix
String	str
Integer	int
Long	lng
Currency	cur
Boolean	bln
Double	dbl
Date	dtm
Byte	byt
Object (generic)	obj
Variant	var
Recordset (ADO)	rs
Dictionary	dic
Collection	col

Canonical examples:

Private mobjCnn As Object              ' module-level Object Connection
Private mrsCustomers As Object         ' module-level Recordset
Private mdicConfig As New Dictionary
Private m_strName As String            ' in .cls
Public gstrServer As String

Public Sub DoWork(ByVal strInput As String, ByVal lngCount As Long)
    Dim intIndex As Integer
End Sub

3.3. Acronyms preserved in uppercase

Acronyms keep uppercase within the identifier: m_strNSU, m_strCNPJ, m_strXML, m_strCPF. Not m_strNsu.

3.4. Legitimate exceptions

Project-wide "infrastructure" globals widely known across the codebase may omit the type prefix (e.g., gParameters, gAgent). For new code, the type prefix is recommended.

3.5. Existing code never gets re-cased

See section 1. If a variable already exists as m_StrName or mObjCnn, it stays exactly that way in any edit.

4. Class module file header

Every new .cls starts with a delimited header block:

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'    Component  : clsCustomer
'    Project    : SampleApp
'
'    Description: Domain object representing a customer record.
'                 Mirrors the structure of the Customer table.
'       <reference URL when applicable>
'    Modified   :
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Option Explicit

Delimiters are 80 hyphens. Indentation inside the block uses spaces, not tabs.

5. Comment-per-field convention in classes

Each private field gets a one-line comment above it:

' Variable to hold 'Name' property value
Private m_strName As String

' Variable to hold 'Active' property value
Private m_blnActive As Boolean

Yes, it is repetitive. It is the convention. New classes follow it.

6. Property Get/Let/Set — never public fields

Class modules expose state through properties, not public fields. Public fields break binary compatibility in ActiveX DLLs, prevent validation, and break IntelliSense for late-bound consumers.

Private m_strName As String
Private m_objConnection As Object

Public Property Get Name() As String
    Name = m_strName
End Property

Public Property Let Name(ByVal strValue As String)
    m_strName = strValue
End Property

Public Property Set Connection(ByVal objValue As Object)
    Set m_objConnection = objValue
End Property

• Property Get reads
• Property Let writes a value type (String, Long, Boolean, etc.)
• Property Set writes an object reference

Parameter naming in setters follows the type prefix: strValue, lngValue, blnValue, objValue.

6.1. Property style — CRUD direct, no logic in setter

Setters do not validate, do not transform, do not log:

Public Property Let Name(ByVal strValue As String)
    m_strName = strValue
End Property

When validation or transformation is needed, it goes in a dedicated method (LoadByID, Validate, Normalize), not in the property setter.

6.2. Derived properties for representation

Store raw state, expose human-readable form as a Get-only derived property:

' Stored as raw code
Public Property Get Status() As String
    Status = m_strStatus
End Property

Public Property Let Status(ByVal strValue As String)
    m_strStatus = strValue
End Property

' Derived for display
Public Property Get StatusDescription() As String
    Select Case Val(m_strStatus)
        Case 1: StatusDescription = "1-Authorized"
        Case 2: StatusDescription = "2-Denied"
        Case 3: StatusDescription = "3-Cancelled"
    End Select
End Property

Do not put Select Case inside the Let.

6.3. Procedure header when domain semantics matter

Trivial CRUD properties do not need a header. Properties that carry domain rules (valid values, code tables, references to external specifications) get a header block:

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Project    :       SampleApp
' Procedure  :       Status
' Description:       Document status. Valid values:
'                    1 - Authorized
'                    2 - Denied
'                    3 - Cancelled
' Created by :       author
' Date-Time  :       DD/MM/YYYY-HH:MM:SS
'
' Parameters :       strValue (String) - status code
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Criterion: if a reader would need to open external documentation to understand the property, it gets a header.

A lighter format is acceptable for utility functions (where Project is irrelevant because the utility is reused across projects):

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Procedure : NormalizePhone
' Author    : author
' Date      : DD/MM/YYYY
' Purpose   : Strips non-digit characters from a phone number string.
'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.4. Discriminator property Type

Classes that belong to a hierarchy identify themselves via Public Property Get Type() As String returning a constant string (e.g., "CUSTOMER", "INVOICE"). When creating a new class in the same group, include the discriminator.

7. ByVal / ByRef must be explicit

In VB6, parameters default to ByRef, unlike most modern languages.

• Always be explicit: every signature uses ByVal or ByRef — never rely on the default
• ByVal for primitives that do not need to be modified (Long, String, Boolean)
• ByRef only when the function actually needs to modify the caller's variable
• Passing String by ByRef accidentally lets the function mutate the caller's variable

8. Encoding and line endings

• File encoding: Windows-1252, not UTF-8 (the VB6 IDE may refuse or corrupt UTF-8 files)
• Line endings: CRLF, not LF
• Indentation: 4 spaces, not tabs
• Identifiers contain no accented characters; comments and string literals may

9. Never edit .frx manually

.frx files are binary. They store images, icons, and long strings referenced by their companion .frm. Any manual edit corrupts the offset table and breaks the form.

Reformatting .frm files is equally dangerous — the declarative section at the top has strict ordering requirements; the IDE depends on it.

10. Comments in the programmer's language

Comments and string literals follow the team's working language. Identifiers remain unaccented for IDE compatibility. New code matches the language already established in the file or module.

11. UI dialogs through wrappers, not raw MsgBox

VB6 codebases typically wrap MsgBox in custom dialog forms (for theming, logging integration, consistent button layouts). When such wrappers exist in the project (commonly named MsgBoxCritical, MsgBoxInfo, MsgBoxWarning, MsgBoxQuestion), new code uses them — not raw MsgBox.

Pre-flight check before finalizing

• Option Explicit at the top of the module
• Every Dim and every Function/Sub has an explicit type
• ByVal / ByRef explicit on every parameter
• No Variant unless interacting with a Variant-returning API
• Long instead of Integer for loop counters and quantities
• New private fields prefixed with m_<type> in classes or m<type> in modules, lowercase type prefix
• New global publics prefixed with g<type>, lowercase
• Class file has the 80-hyphen header
• .frx untouched
• Encoding preserved (Windows-1252), CRLF preserved
• No MsgBox direct call when wrapper functions exist
• Edited only what was requested — no opportunistic re-casing