A preprocessor gets its name precisely because it operates on source code before
the compiler processes the code. The only function of the VB preprocessor is to
conditionally evaluate code to determine which parts of it the compiler should
process.
The preprocessor uses just the following four conditional flow control directives:
-
#If
-
#ElseIf
-
#Else
-
#End If
Aside from the "#" prefix, the preprocessor
syntax is just like that of the If, ElseIf, Else, and
End If flow control directives in the Visual Basic programming language.
The only difference is that If/Then/Else/End If conditional
tests used in a program determine the path of execution taken by the code, whereas
the #If/#Then/#Else/#End If preprocessor conditional
tests determine which code will be included when a project is compiled.
Because any code that the preprocessor screens out is completely absent from
the final compiled product, its presence in the source code does not influence
the executable program in any way. No size or performance penalty accrues.
The formal syntax for the preprocessor directives is represented like this
in the VB Help system (blocks enclosed in brackets are optional):
#If expression Then
statements
[ #ElseIf expression-n Then
[ elseifstatements ] ]
[ #Else
[ elsestatements ] ]
#End If
At minimum, a preprocessor block must consist of #If/Then/#End
If. Optionally, any number of #ElseIf blocks
can be included with additional expressions to be evaluated should the expression
in the main #If be False. A single #Else block can
be included, but is not required. The #Else block has
no expressions to evaluate because it is the default block. It is reached only
if all the #If and #ElseIf expressions
evaluate as False.
The sections marked statements, elseifstatements, and elsestatements represent
lines of VB code that are subject to conditional compilation. After the conditional
expressions are evaluated, only those lines found in the active conditional block
(that is, the lines in an #If or
#ElseIf block that evaluates as True, or, if no expression is True, the
lines in an #Else block) will be passed to the VB compiler.
Besides containing lines of VB code, it is also possible to nest additional preprocessor
blocks here.
If you know how VB evaluates a programming If block, you already know how to
evaluate a preprocessor #If block. A conditional expression
is evaluated on the #If line. Should the conditional
expression be evaluated as True (that is, any non-zero value), the set of statements
immediately following the #If line will be included
in the compiled form of the program, until an #End If
(or, optionally, an #ElseIf or
#Else) is encountered. If the conditional expression is not True, the code
in the #If branch of the conditional block is excluded
from the compiled form of the program.
Should the preprocessor find an #ElseIf after an
#If expression evaluates as False, the preprocessor evaluates the
#ElseIf expression, applying to it the same guidelines as previously described
for the #If block. This process continues until the
preprocessor finds an expression that evaluates to True, whereupon the code wrapped
in that branch will be sent to the compiler.
When no #If or #ElseIf condition
evaluates to True, those branches are excluded from the compiled form of the program.
The preprocessor then tries to find an #Else branch.
If one is present, any code wrapped in it will be included by default in the compiled
form of the program.
Again, if you understand VB flow control with an If block, you shouldn’t
have any difficulty with the logic used in the VB preprocessor. They follow the
same rules, with just one exception:
A conditional expression and a single action are allowed to appear on a single
line in a VB program, such as this:
If TestCondition = True Then DoSomething()
When a single action is involved, the usual closing End If is unnecessary.
(Of course, if more than one action should be taken as a result of a conditional
test, this form can’t be used—all the actions must appear on separate
lines, and the terminating End If is required.)
With the preprocessor, however, the conditional test must be on a different
line from any actions, even if there is just one action to perform. To work with
the preprocessor, the preceding code would have to be written like this:
#If TestCondition = True Then
DoSomething()
#End If
The reason for keeping preprocessor commands on separate lines from other VB
actions is due to the way the preprocessor does its job. When it determines what
portions of the source code to pass on to the compiler, it does more than just
remove the code blocks that didn’t satisfy its conditional tests: It also
strips out the tests themselves, as well as every other line that begins with
a preprocessor directive. After all, the preprocessor commands are not part of
your program. (Think about it—they aren’t in the Visual Basic programming
language, so the VB compiler doesn’t know how to compile them.) If a programming
command were to appear on the same line as a preprocessor directive—as is
the case with the single-line version of a conditional test shown previously—it
would also be stripped out of the program.
It may help to think of the preprocessor and the VB compiler as two separate
compilers that don’t speak each other’s language. So as not to confuse
them, keep the commands for one separated from the commands for the other.
