I have long promised to write about the scripting language Basic[1] and creating macros in LibreOffice. This article is devoted to the types of data used in LibreOffice Basic, and to a greater extent, descriptions of variables and the rules for using them. I will try to provide enough information for advanced as well as novice users.
(And, I would like to thank everyone who commented on and offered recommendations on the Russian article, especially those who helped answer difficult questions.)
Variable naming conventions
Variable names cannot contain more than 255 characters. They should start with either upper- or lower-case letters of the Latin alphabet, and they can include underscores ("_") and numerals. Other punctuation or characters from non-Latin alphabets can cause a syntax error or a BASIC runtime error if names are not put within square brackets.Here are some examples of correct variable names:
MyNumber5=15
MyNumber_5=20
_MyNumber=96
[My Number]=20.5
[5MyNumber]=12
[Number,Mine]=12
[DéjàVu]="It seems that I have seen it!"
[Моя переменная]="The first has went!"
[Мой % от зделки]=0.0001
Note: In examples that contain square brackets, if you remove the brackets, macros will show a window with an error. As you can see, you can use localized variable names. Whether it makes sense to do so is up to you.
Declaring variables
Strictly speaking, it is not necessary to declare variables in LibreOffice Basic (except for arrays). If you write a macro from a pair of lines to work with small documents, you don't need to declare variables, as the variable will automatically be declared as the variant