twinBASIC Additions

twinBASIC extends the VBA language with new data types, language constructs, operators, runtime functions, and project-level capabilities. This page lists the additions that have a dedicated reference page, grouped by category.

For a broader overview aimed at developers coming from VBA or VB6, see the welcome page.

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New data types

Type	Description	Notes
LongLong	8-byte signed integer	Available in both 32-bit and 64-bit builds; VBA restricts it to 64-bit
LongPtr	Pointer-width signed integer	4 bytes in 32-bit, 8 bytes in 64-bit; use in Declare statements
Decimal	128-bit fixed-decimal type	Available as a standalone declared type, not only as a Variant subtype

See Data Types for the full type table, and Features → New Data Types for more detail on these three.

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New language constructs

Object-oriented

• Interface -- defines a COM interface using twinBASIC syntax; a class that Implements it must provide all members
• CoClass -- declares a COM co-class; generates COM registration metadata at compile time
• Inherits -- makes one class inherit another's implementation (single inheritance only)
• Implements Via -- an extended form of Implements that delegates interface dispatch to a member object instead of requiring per-member forwarding code
• Protected -- declares a class member accessible to the class and its derived classes; VBA has no equivalent

Generics

twinBASIC supports generic types and generic modules using the Of keyword. A generic class or module takes one or more type parameters at instantiation time --- for example, EventLog(Of EventIds, Categories) in the WinEventLogLib package, or ServiceCreator(Of T) in WinServicesLib.

New declaration keywords

• Delegate -- declares a typed function-pointer type; enables type-safe AddressOf and CDecl callbacks
• Enum member ranges -- enum members can now reference other members by name rather than only literal integers

Flow control

• Continue -- skips to the next iteration of the enclosing loop (Continue For, Continue Do, Continue While); VBA has no equivalent
• Return -- exits a Function or Property Get and supplies the return value in one statement; also retains the legacy GoSub/Return meaning

Attributes

twinBASIC uses a square-bracket attribute syntax on declarations and modules:

[Documentation("Returns the absolute value of n.")]
[COMCreatable(False)]
Public Function Abs(ByVal n As Double) As Double

See Attributes for the full list, including [DllExport], [DebugOnly], [WindowsControl], [MustBeQualified], [PreserveSig], and more.

Inline initialisation

Variables can be initialised at the point of declaration:

Dim total As Long = 0
Dim greeting As String = "Hello"
Dim items() As String = Array("a", "b", "c")

See Features → Inline Initialization.

Parameterised New

New accepts constructor arguments when a class exposes an _Initialize method with matching parameters:

Dim conn As New NamedPipeClientConnection("\\.\pipe\mypipe", token)

See Features → New.

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New operators

Operator	Description
AndAlso	Short-circuit logical AND --- the right operand is not evaluated if the left is False
OrElse	Short-circuit logical OR --- the right operand is not evaluated if the left is True
IsNot	Logical inverse of Is; a IsNot b is equivalent to Not (a Is b)
LeftShift	Bitwise left shift; x LeftShift n shifts x left by n bits
RightShift	Bitwise right shift; x RightShift n shifts x right by n bits

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New runtime functions

These functions exist in the VBA package but have no equivalent in standard VBA --- they are twinBASIC additions:

Function	Module	Description
CType	Conversion	Explicit cast to a caller-supplied type; syntax CType(expr, TypeName)
If	Interaction	Ternary --- evaluates to one of two values; only the chosen branch is evaluated
CallByDispId	Interaction	Invokes a method or property by its IDispatch dispatch ID
RaiseEventByName	Interaction	Raises an event by name, passing arguments as a Variant array
RaiseEventByName2	Interaction	Raises an event by name with a variable-length argument list
ObjPtr	Information	Returns the COM-identity address of an object
VarPtr	Information	Returns the address of a variable
StrPtr	Information	Returns the address of a String's underlying character buffer
IsArrayInitialized	Information	Returns whether a dynamic array has been dimensioned
TranslateColor	Information	Translates an OLE colour to a plain RGB value

Additional low-level memory, threading, and introspection functions are documented in the HiddenModule section.

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Project and runtime capabilities

64-bit compilation

twinBASIC compiles to either 32-bit or 64-bit native code. The target is set per-project. See Features → 64-bit Compilation and use #If Win64 Then / #If Win32 Then to conditionally compile architecture-specific code.

Static linking (Fusion)

twinBASIC can statically link its runtime into the output EXE, producing a single-file distributable with no separate runtime DLL. See Features → Fusion.

Multithreading

twinBASIC supports background threads through the Thread API. See Features → Multithreading.

Inline assembly

The Emit / EmitAny functions inject raw byte sequences into the code generated for the enclosing procedure. The [Naked] attribute suppresses the generated prologue and epilogue. See Features → Assembly.

Enhanced API declarations

Beyond the standard Declare, twinBASIC adds:

• DeclareWide --- disables ANSI/Unicode conversion for string arguments
• CDecl calling convention on both declares and regular functions
• ByVal UDT passing
• Variadic (CDecl + ParamArray ... As Any()) parameter lists

See Features → Enhanced API Declarations.

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IDE additions

• CodeLens --- inline action bars above procedures ("Run", "Debug", "Test") without leaving the editor. See Features → CodeLens.
• Package server (TWINSERV) --- install packages from a central registry without leaving the IDE. See Features → Importing a package.
• Type inference --- Dim x = 1 infers Long; For Each item In collection infers the element type when the collection is typed. See Features → Type Inference.
• Conditional compilation constants (#Const, #If) --- a superset of the VBA set; see Compiler Constants.

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See Also

• Data Types -- storage sizes and ranges for all intrinsic types
• Features -- in-depth coverage of every twinBASIC feature
• Categories -- statements and procedures grouped by purpose