BUG: String/Currency Conversion Broken with Sci. Notation

• Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

Visual Basic 4.0 will sometimes return an incorrect value when converting a string to a currency value if the string contains a large number represented using scientific notation.

RESOLUTION

To work around the problem, append zeroes to the end of the string to be converted. This will cause the correct result. For example, instead of using Print 1.7e7@, use Print 1.7000000000e7@. Nine zeroes will fix the problem in the worst case. The smaller the exponent, the fewer zeroes need to be added to obtain correct behavior.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be an issue in the products listed above. We are researching the problem and will post more information here in the Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start Visual Basic or, if it is already running, choose New Project from the File menu.

2. Insert this line of code into the Form_Load event:

         Private Sub Form_Load()
            Stop
         End Sub
   
   

3. Select Start from the Run menu, or press the F5 key to start the application.

4. Switch to the Debug window, enter Print 1.7e7@, and press the ENTER key. You will see the incorrect value of 7798.8435 instead of the correct 17000000. Using Print 1.7000000000e7@ instead will cause the correct response.

Keywords          : IAPVBA VB4ALL VB4WIN vbwin GnrlVb kbprg
Technology        : kbvba
Version           : WINDOWS:4.0
Platform          : NT WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug