Does VBA have Dictionary Structure?
Yes.
Set a reference to MS Scripting runtime ('Microsoft Scripting Runtime'). As per @regjo's comment, go to Tools->References and tick the box for 'Microsoft Scripting Runtime'.
Create a dictionary instance using the code below:
Set dict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
or
Dim dict As New Scripting.Dictionary
Example of use:
If Not dict.Exists(key) Then
dict.Add key, value
End If
Don't forget to set the dictionary to Nothing
when you have finished using it.
Set dict = Nothing
VBA has the collection object:
Dim c As Collection
Set c = New Collection
c.Add "Data1", "Key1"
c.Add "Data2", "Key2"
c.Add "Data3", "Key3"
'Insert data via key into cell A1
Range("A1").Value = c.Item("Key2")
The Collection
object performs key-based lookups using a hash so it's quick.
You can use a Contains()
function to check whether a particular collection contains a key:
Public Function Contains(col As Collection, key As Variant) As Boolean
On Error Resume Next
col(key) ' Just try it. If it fails, Err.Number will be nonzero.
Contains = (Err.Number = 0)
Err.Clear
End Function
Edit 24 June 2015: Shorter Contains()
thanks to @TWiStErRob.
Edit 25 September 2015: Added Err.Clear()
thanks to @scipilot.