Declaring a custom data Type containing a late-bound Dictionary Object

Question

Can a Custom Type be declared having as one of its elements a Dictionary Object that is late-bound? e.g. in a Standard Module or a Class Module:

Private Type InternalData
    sName as String
    cSheets as Collection    'cSheets as New Collection
    wBook as Workbook
    bFiles as CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")    'bFiles as New CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
End Type

OR Is there an alternative way? Please note, i don't want to early bind the Dictionary.

Answer 1

You will handle your dictionary object similar to how you handle your workbook object. Declare your dictionary as type Object and then initialize it someplace else. For example, in a Form you could have:

Private Type InternalData
    sName As String
    cSheets As Collection
    wBook As Workbook
    bFiles As Object
End Type

Public Sub TryIt()
   Dim id As InternalData
   Set id.bFiles = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
   id.bFiles.Add Key, Value
End Sub

Based on comments, here's how you could do it with a class. In a Class Module:

Public sName As String
Public cSheets As Collection
Public wBook As WorkBook
Public bFiles As Object

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
   Set bFiles = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
End Sub

and then like before, perhaps in a Form:

Public Sub TryIt()
   Dim id As InternalData
   id.bFiles.Add Key, Value
End Sub