Visual Basic 6 Programming Conventions

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The conventions are very handy while working in a team. So following are the prefixes of various types used to declare a variable name so that its properties can be identified easily.

Variable Prefixes:

Variable scope prefix conventions.These must be first in the name of variable.

 Scope Prefix
 Global g
 Module-level or form-level m
 Local to procedure None

Variable Prefixes for Data Type

 Data Type Prefix
 Boolean bln
 Byte byt
 Collection Object col
 Currency cur
 Date(Time) dtm
 Double dbl
 Error err
 Integer int
 Long lng
 Object obj
 Single sng
 User-defined type udt
 Variant vnt

e.g. blnTrueFalse, intCounter, sngDividend

We also have control prefixes.
Control Prefixes:

 Control Type Prefix
 3D Panel pnl
 ADO data ado
 Animated button ani
 Checkbox chk
 Combo box, drop-down list box cbo
 Command button cmd
 Common dialog dlg
 Communications com
 Contorl (used within procedures when the specific type is unknown ctr
 Data dat
 Data-bound combo box dbcbo
 Data-bound grid dbgrd
 Data-bound list box dblst
 Data combo dbc
 Data grid dgd
 Data list dbl
 Data repeater drp
 Date picker dtp
 Directory list box dir
 Drive list box drv
 File list box fil
 Flat scroll bar fsb
 Form frm
 Frame fra
 Gauge gau
 Graph gra
 Grid grd
 Header hdr
 Hierachical flex grid flex
 Horizontal scroll bar hsb
 Image img
 Image Combo imgcbo
 Image list ils
 Label lbl
 Lighweight checkbox lwchk
 Lightweight combo box lwcbo
 Lightweight command button lwcmd
 Lightweight frame lwfra
 Lightweight horizontal scroll bar lwhsb
 Lightweight list box lwlst
 Lightweight option button lwopt
 Lightweight text box lwtxt
 Lightweight vertical scroll bar lwvsb
 Line lin
 List box lst
 List view lvw
 MAPI message mpm
 MAPI session mps
 MCI mci
 Menu mnu
 Month view mvw
 MS char ch
 MS flex grid msg
 MS tab mst
 OLE container ole
 Option button opt
 Picutre box pic
 Picture clip clp
 Progress bar prg
 Remote data rd
 Rich text box rtf
 Shape shp
 Slider sld
 Spin spn
 Status bar sta
 System info sys
 Tab strip tab
 Text box txt
 Timer tmr
 Toolbar tlb
 Tree view tre
 Up-down upd
 Vertical scroll bar vsb

Below is the prefixes for Data Access Objects (DAO)

 Database Object Prefix
 Container con
 Database db
 DBEngine dbe
 Document doc
 Field fld
 Group grp
 Index ix
 Parameter prm
 QueryDef qry
 Recordset rec
 Relation rel
 TableDef tbd
 User usr
 Workspace wsp

Menu And Constant Prefixes

Prefix for menu is mnu then menu name and then menu item name. e.g. mnuFileCut. Constant variables should be mixed case and should start with capital letter.