Chapter 7 – Arrays

7.1 Creating and Accessing Arrays

7.2 Using Arrays
7.3 Some Additional Types of Arrays
7.4 Sorting and Searching
7.5 Two-Dimensional Arrays

Chapter 7 - VB 2008 by
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 7.1 Creating and Accessing
Arrays
• Declaring an Array Variable
• The Load Event Procedure
• The GetUpperBound Method
• ReDim Statement
• Using an Array as a Frequency Table
• Assignment Statement for Arrays
• User-Defined Array-Valued Functions
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Simple and Array Variables
• A variable (or simple variable) is a
name to which Visual Basic can assign
a single value.
• An array variable is a collection of
simple variables of the same type to
which Visual Basic can efficiently
assign a list of values.

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 Example
• Suppose that you want to evaluate the exam
grades for 30 students and to display the
names of the students whose scores are
above average.
Private Sub btnDisplay_Click(...) _
Handles btnDisplay.Click
Dim student0 As String, score0 As Double
Dim student1 As String, score1 As Double
Dim student2 As String, score2 As Double

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 Using Arrays
Upper bound of subscripts
in the array

Dim student(29) As String

Dim score(29) As Double

Array name Data type

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 Putting Values into an Array
student(0) = "Tom Brown"

subscript

Read: "student sub zero equals Tom Brown"

Which means that the string "Tom Brown" is being
stored at the first location in the array called
student… because all arrays begin counting at 0.
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 Array Terminology
• Dim arrayName(n) As DataType
• 0 is the "lower bound" of the array
• n is the "upper bound" of the array – the
last available subscript in this array
• The number of elements, n + 1, is the
size of the array

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Example 1: Form

mtxtNumber
txtWinner

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 Example 1
Private Sub btnWhoWon_Click(...) _
Handles btnWhoWon.Click
Dim teamName(3) As String
Dim n As Integer
'Place Super Bowl Winners into the array
teamName(0) = "Packers"
teamName(1) = "Packers"
teamName(2) = "Jets"
teamName(3) = "Chiefs"
'Access array
n = CInt(txtNumber.Text)
txtWinner.Text = teamName(n - 1)
End Sub
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Example 1: Output

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 Load Event Procedure
Occurs as the Form loads in memory
Private Sub frmName_Load(...) _
Handles MyBase.Load

The keyword MyBase refers to the form

being loaded. This event procedure is a
good place to assign values to an array.

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 Example 2
Dim teamName(3) As String
Private Sub btnWhoWon_Click(...) Handles btnWhoWon.Click
Dim n As Integer
n = CInt(txtNumber.Text)
txtWinner.Text = teamName(n - 1)
End Sub

Private Sub frmBowl_Load(...) Handles MyBase.Load

'Place Super Bowl Winners into the array
teamName(0) = "Packers"
teamName(1) = "Packers"
teamName(2) = "Jets"
teamName(3) = "Chiefs"
End Sub

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 Initializing Arrays
• Arrays may be initialized when they are created:
Dim arrayName() As varType = {value0, _
value1, value2, ..., valueN}
• declares an array having upper bound N and
assigns value0 to arrayName(0), value1 to
arrayName(1), ..., and valueN to arrayName(N).

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 GetUpperBound Method
The value of
arrayName.GetUpperBound(0)

is the upper bound of arrayName().

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 Example

Dim teamName() As String = {"Packers", _

"Packers", "Jets", "Chiefs"}
txtBox.Text = CStr(teamName.GetUpperBound(0))

Output: 3

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ReDim Statement
The size of an array may be changed after
it has been created.
ReDim arrayName(m)
where arrayName is the name of the
already declared array and m is an Integer
literal, variable, or expression, changes the
upper bound of the array to m.
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Preserve Keyword
ReDim arrayName(m) resets all values
to their default. This can be prevented
with the keyword Preserve.
ReDim Preserve arrayName(m)
resizes the array and retains as many
values as possible.

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Example 4: Using an Array as a
Frequency Table

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 Example 4: Code
Private Sub btnAnalyze_Click(...) Handles btnAnalyze.Click
'Count occurrences of the various letters in a sentence
Dim sentence, letter As String
Dim index, charCount(25) As Integer
'Examine and tally each letter of the sentence
sentence = (txtSentence.Text).ToUpper
For letterNum As Integer = 1 To sentence.Length
letter = sentence.Substring(letterNum - 1, 1)
If (letter >= "A") And (letter <= "Z") Then
index = Asc(letter) - 65 'The ANSI value of "A" is 65
charCount(index) += 1
End If
Next

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 Example 4: Code Continued
'List the tally for each letter of alphabet
lstCount.Items.Clear()
For i As Integer = 0 To 25
letter = Chr(i + 65)
If charCount(i) > 0 Then
lstCount.Items.Add(letter & " " & _
charCount(i))
End If
Next
End Sub

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Example 4 Output

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 Out of Bounds Error
The following code references an array element
that doesn't exist. This will cause an error.

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 Assignment Statement for
Arrays
If arrayOne() and arrayTwo() have been declared
with the same data type, then the statement
arrayOne = arrayTwo
makes arrayOne() an exact duplicate of
arrayTwo(). Actually, they share the same
location in memory,

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 7.2 Using Arrays
• Ordered Arrays
• Using Part of an Array
• Merging Two Ordered Arrays
• Passing Arrays to Procedures

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Ordered Arrays
An array has ascending order if
[each element] ≤ [next element].
An array has descending order if
[each element] ≥ [next element].
An array is ordered if it has ascending or
descending order.
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Searching Ordered Arrays
Ordered arrays can be searched more
efficiently than unordered arrays. For
instance, when searching an array
having ascending order, you can
terminate the search when you find an
element whose value is ≥ the sought-
after value.
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Example 1: Task
Given a name input by the user, determine
if it is in an increasing list of ten names,

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Flowchart for a Search of an
Increasing Array

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 Example 1: Code
Dim nom() As String = {"AL", "BOB", "CARL", "DON", "ERIC", _
"FRED", "GREG", "HERB", "IRA", "JACK"}

Private Sub btnSearch_Click(...) Handles btnSearch.Click

Dim name2Find As String
Dim n As Integer = -1 'Subscript of the array
name2Find = txtName.Text.ToUpper
Do
n += 1 'Add 1 to n
Loop Until (nom(n) >= name2Find) Or (n = 9)
If nom(n) = name2Find Then
txtResult.Text = "Found."
Else
txtResult.Text = "Not found."
End If
End Sub
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Example 1: Output

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 Passing Arrays to Procedures
• An array declared in a procedure is local to
that procedure
• An entire array can be passed to a Sub or
Function procedure
• The Call statement uses the name of the array
without parentheses.
• The header of the Sub of Function procedure
uses the name with empty set of parentheses.

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 Example 4
• This example uses a Function procedure
to add up the numbers in an array. The
GetUpperBound method is used to
determine how many numbers are in the
array.

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 Example 4
Private Sub btnCompute_Click(...) Handles btnCompute.Click
Dim score() As Integer = {85, 92, 75, 68, 84, 86, _
94, 74, 79, 88}
txtAverage.Text = CStr(Sum(score) / 10)
End Sub

Function Sum(ByVal s() As Integer) As Integer

Dim total As Integer = 0
For index As Integer = 0 To s.GetUpperBound(0)
total += s(index)
Next
Return total
End Function

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 Sequential Search
• Searching successive elements of an
ordered list beginning with the first
element is called a sequential search.

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 Passing an Array Element
• A single element of an array can be passed to a
procedure just like any ordinary numeric or string
variable.
Private Sub btnDisplay_Click(...) Handles _
btnDisplay.Click
Dim num(20) As Integer
num(5) = 10
lstOutput.Items.Add(Triple(num(5)))
End Sub
Private Function Triple(ByVal x As Integer) As Integer
Return 3 * x
End Function

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 7.5 Two Dimensional Arrays
• One-dimensional arrays store a list of items of the
same type
• Two-dimensional arrays store a table of items of the
same type.
• Consider the rows of the table as numbered 0, 1, 2, ,,,
m and the columns numbered 0, 1, 2, …, n. Then the
array is declared with the statement
Dim arrayName(m, n) As DataType
and the item in the ith row, jth column is denoted
arrayName(i,j)
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Road-Mileage Table
Chicago LA NY Philly

Chicago 0 2054 802 738

LA 2054 0 2786 2706

NY 802 2786 0 100

Philly 738 2706 100 0

Dim rm(3, 3) As Double

rm(0,0)=0, rm(0,1)=2054, rm(1,2)=2786
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 Populating a Two-Dimensional
Array
Dim rm(3, 3) As Double
Private Sub frmDistances_Load(...) Handles MyBase.Load
'Fill two-dimensional array with intercity mileages
Dim sr As IO.StreamReader = _
IO.File.OpenText("DISTANCE.TXT")
For row As Integer = 0 To 3
For col As Integer = 0 To 3
rm(row, col) = CDbl(sr.ReadLine)
Next
Next
sr.Close()
End Sub

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 Notes on Two-Dimensional
Arrays
An unsized two-dimensional array can be
declared with a statement of the form
Dim arrayName(,) As varType
and a two-dimensional array can be
declared and initialized at the same time
with a statement of the form
Dim arrayName(,) As varType =
{{ROW0}, {ROW1},... {ROWm}}.
Dim score(,) As Integer = {{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}}
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 ReDim and Two-Dimensional
Arrays
• An already-created array can be resized with
ReDim arrayName(r, s)
• which loses the current contents, or with
ReDim Preserve arrayName(r, s)
• When Preserve is used, only the column can be
resized.
• ReDim cannot change the number of dimensions
in an array.
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