Do you declare variables when you need them?

Should you declare variables at the top of the function, or declare them when you need to use them? If you come back to your code after a few weeks and you no longer need a variable, you are quite likely to forget to delete the declaration at the top, leaving orphaned variables. Here at SSW, we believe that variables should be declared as they are needed.

Private Sub Command0_Click()
Dim dteTodayDate As Date
Dim intRoutesPerDay As Integer
Dim intRoutesToday As Integer
Dim dblWorkLoadToday As Double
dblWorkLoadToday = Date.Now()
.
....many lines of code...
.
intRoutesPerDay = 2
End Sub

❌ Figure: Figure: Bad example

Private Sub Command0_Click()
Dim dteTodayDate As Date
dteTodayDate = Date.Now()
.
....many lines of code...
.
Dim intRoutesPerDay As Integer
intRoutesPerDay = 2
.
....continuing code...
.End Sub

✅ Figure: Figure: Good example