Knowledge Base

FIX: String/Currency Conversion Broken with Sci. Notation

Article ID: 149319

Article Last Modified on 6/30/2004

Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 16-bit Enterprise Edition
Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 32-Bit Enterprise Edition

This article was previously published under Q149319

SYMPTOMS

Visual Basic 4.0 will sometimes return an incorrect value when converting a string to a currency value if the string contains a large number represented using scientific notation.

CAUSE

RESOLUTION

To work around the problem, append zeroes to the end of the string to be converted. This will cause the correct result. For example, instead of using Print 1.7e7@, use Print 1.7000000000e7@. Nine zeroes will fix the problem in the worst case. The smaller the exponent, the fewer zeroes need to be added to obtain correct behavior.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the products listed above. This problem has been fixed in Microsoft Windows 98.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce

Start Visual Basic or, if it is already running, choose New Project from the File menu.

Insert this line of code into the Form_Load event:

      Private Sub Form_Load()
         Stop
      End Sub

Select Start from the Run menu, or press the F5 key to start the application.
Switch to the Debug window, enter Print 1.7e7@, and press the ENTER key. You will see the incorrect value of 7798.8435 instead of the correct 17000000. Using Print 1.7000000000e7@ instead will cause the correct response.

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kboswin98fix KB149319