The Dictionary Object

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The Dictionary object is a data structure that can contain sets of pairs, where each pair consists of an item, which can be any data type, and a key, which is a unique String value that identifies the item. The Dictionary object is similar in some ways to the VBA Collection object; however, the Dictionary object offers certain features that the Collection object lacks, including:

  • The Exists method. You can use this method to determine whether a particular key, and its corresponding item, exist in a Dictionary object. The Exists method makes it simpler and more efficient to search a Dictionary object than to search a Collection object.
  • The CompareMode property. Setting this property specifies the text-comparison mode for the Dictionary object, so that you can search for a key in either a case-sensitive or case-insensitive manner. By default, it is set to BinaryCompare, which means that the Exists method will return True only if it finds a binary match. There is no way to specify a text-comparison mode for a key that retrieves an item from a Collection object.
  • The Key property. This property enables you to return the key for a particular item in the dictionary. An item in a Collection object also has a key, which you can use to retrieve that item; however, there is no way to retrieve the key itself.
  • The RemoveAll method. This method removes all items in the Dictionary object. A Collection object, on the other hand, has no method for removing all items at once, although setting the Collection object to Nothing has the same effect.

The primary advantage of the Dictionary object over the Collection object is the fact that it is easier to search a Dictionary object for a given item. Despite this advantage, the Dictionary object does not replace the Collection object entirely. The Collection object is useful in some situations where the Dictionary object is not. For example, if you're creating a custom object model, you can use a Collection object to store a reference to a custom collection, but you cannot use a Dictionary object to do this.

For more information about the Dictionary object, see the VBScript documentation on the Microsoft Scripting Technologies Web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950396.aspx.

See Also

Working with Files | The Microsoft Scripting Runtime Object Library | Returning Files from the File System | Setting File Attributes | Logging Errors to a Text File