Knowledge Base

BUG: Error 451 "Object not a collection" When Using Left()

Article ID: 180455

Article Last Modified on 3/11/2005

APPLIES TO

Microsoft eMbedded Visual Basic 3.0
Microsoft Windows CE Toolkit for Visual Basic 6.0

This article was previously published under Q180455

SYMPTOMS

If the Left Function is used in a form module, the following error occurs:

Error 451 "Object not a collection"

CAUSE

Visual Basic is misinterpreting the Left function as the Left property of the Form.

RESOLUTION

There are two possible workarounds to this problem:

(This is the preferred method.) Use the Mid Function with the start parameter equal to 1, similar to the following:

      Private Sub Form_Load()
          On Error Resume Next
          Dim sDrive
          'Use the following line instead of sDrive = Left("c:\windows", 3)
          sDrive = Mid("c:\windows", 1, 3)
          If Err.Number = 0 Then
             MsgBox "The Drive is " & sDrive, vbInformation, "Drive"
          Else
             MsgBox "Error: " & Err.Number & " - " & _
             Err.Description, vbInformation, "Error Message"
          End If
      End Sub

Use the Left Function in a standard module (*.bas).

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Create a new Windows CE project in either eMbedded Visual Basic or Visual Basic 6.0. Form1 is created by default.

Add the following code to the Load Event of Form1:

      Private Sub Form_Load()
         On Error Resume Next
         Dim sDrive
         sDrive = Left("c:\windows", 3)
         If Err.Number = 0 Then
            MsgBox "The Drive is " & sDrive, vbInformation, "Drive"
         Else
            MsgBox "Error: " & Err.Number & " - " & _
            Err.Description, vbInformation, "Error Message"
         End If
      End Sub

Press F5 to run the project in the emulator and observe the error.

Additional query words: wince vbce vbce6 evb

Keywords: kbbug kbtoolkit kbpending KB180455