VBScript in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

Dictionary.Item Property

Syntax

The syntax for setting an item is:

                  dictionaryobject.Item(key) = item

The syntax for returning an item is:

                  value = dictionaryobject.Item(key)

dictionaryobject

Use: Required

Data Type: Dictionary object

A reference to a Dictionary object.

key

Use: Required

Data Type: String

A unique string key for this Dictionary object.

item

Use: Optional

Data Type: Any

The data associated with key.

Data Type

Any

Description

Sets or returns the data item to be linked to a specified key in a Dictionary object.

Rules at a Glance

• The Item property is the default member of the Dictionary object.

• The data type is that of the item being returned.

• Unlike the Item property of most objects, the Dictionary object’s Item property is read/write. If you try to set item to a nonexistent key, the key is added to the dictionary, and the item is linked to it as a sort of “implicit add.”

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• The Dictionary object doesn’t allow you to retrieve an item by its ordinal position.

• If you provide a nonexistent key when trying to retrieve an item, the dictionary exhibits rather strange behavior: it adds key to the Dictionary object along with a blank item. You should therefore use the Exists method prior to setting or returning an item, as the example shows.

• If the item to be assigned or retrieved from the Dictionary object is itself an object, be sure to use the Set keyword when assigning it to a variable or to the Dictionary object.

• The comparison of key with member keys is defined by the ...