The InputBox() Function

In the previous section we discussed about the MsgBox() function, which displays a message to the users and gives users a way to respond with the command buttons. If you need to ask the user a question and need a quick answer, you can use another function that is the: InputBox() Function.

The InputBox() function like the MsgBox() function displays a message, but also allows the user to enter a value that you program can respond to.

An input box displays a prompt in a dialog box, waits for the user to input text or click a button, and returns a String containing the contents of the text box.

Here is the format for the InputBox() function:

strAns = InputBox(prompt[, title] [, default] [, xpos] [, ypos])

The InputBox() function returns a Variant data type value that you can always interpret as a string. The returned value is the user's typed response at the input box.

• prompt: string expression displayed as the message in the dialog box.
• title: string expression displayed in the title bar of the dialog box.
• default: string expression displayed in the text box as the default response if no other input is provided.
• xpos, ypos: twip coordinate where you want the input box to appear in the form window.

The following statement will generate an input box:

strAns = InputBox("What is you Name?", "Get Name")

The InpoutBox() function returns a zero length string (""), If the user clicks the Cancel button instead of entering a value.

If (strAns <> "") then
  'Code that handles the user's input
Else
  'Code that handles cancel
End If

VB supports a special value named Empty that you can use in place of "". The Empty keyword makes your code cleaner.