VBA Date

Excel VBA Date

There are some functions which are really very handy, and we choke our life without those functions being a VBA user. DATE function is one of those functions which can be really very useful at times and can make life easier for a programmer. In an Excel spreadsheet, there is a function called TODAY() which gives the current date as a result based on the system date. On similar lines, VBA has DATE function which gives current date based on the system date.

The VBA DATE function returns the current date based on system date as a result and has really very simple syntax.

This function does not have any argument to be passed comes with the name of the function and empty parentheses. It is not mandatory to add the parentheses as well while calling this function. Isn’t this function really simple in nature?

The syntax of DATE function in VBA.

How to Use Excel VBA Date Function?

We will learn how to use a VBA Date function with few examples in excel.

VBA Date Function – Example #1

Suppose, you wanted to see the current date in MsgBox. How can you do that? Just follow the steps below and you’ll be through.

Step 1: Insert a new module in your Visual Basic Editor.

Step 2: Define a sub-procedure to write create and save a macro.

Code:

Sub DateEx1()

End Sub

Step 3: Define a variable named CurrDate which can hold the value of the current date. Since, we are about to assign a date value to the variable, make sure you are defining it as a date.

Code:

Sub DateEx1()

Dim CurrDate As Date

End Sub

Step 4: Using the assignment operator, assign a value of the current system date to the variable newly created. You just need to add DATE in order to assign the date value. Use the following piece of code:

Code:

Sub DateEx1()

Dim CurrDate As Date

CurrDate = Date

End Sub

Step 5: Use MsgBox to be able to see the current system date under Message Box prompt. Use the line of code given below:

Code:

Sub DateEx1()

Dim CurrDate As Date

CurrDate = Date

MsgBox "Today's Date is: " & CurrDate

End Sub

Step 6: Hit F5 or run button manually to Run this code. You’ll be able to see a Message Box as shown in below screenshot with the current date.

Note that, the date shown here in the screenshot is the date I have run this script at. You may be getting a different date at the time you run this code, based on your system date.

This is the simplest example of getting the current date. You can also use Cells.Value function to get the date value in a particular cell of your excel sheet.

VBA Date Function – Example #2

Home Loan EMI payment due date

Suppose I have a worksheet and I need a system to show me a message “Hey! You need to pay your EMI today.” Every time I open my sheet and the value in cell A1 is the current system date. Let’s see step by step how we can do that.

Step 1: Insert a new module and define a new sub-procedure named auto_open() to create a macro. auto_open() allows your macro to run automatically every time you open the worksheet.

Code:

Sub auto_open()

End Sub

Step 2: Use If condition to assign the value of the current date in cell A1 of worksheet HomeLoan_EMI.

Code:

Sub auto_open()

If Sheets("HomeLoan_EMI").Range("A1").Value = Date

End Sub

Step 3: Now, use Then on the same line after IF so that we can add a statement which will execute as long as if-condition is true.

Code:

Sub auto_open()

If Sheets("HomeLoan_EMI").Range("A1").Value = Date Then

End Sub

Step 4: Add a statement to be executed for the condition which is true.

Code:

Sub auto_open()

If Sheets("HomeLoan_EMI").Range("A1").Value = Date Then

MsgBox ("Hey! You need to pay your EMI today.")

End Sub

This statement will pop-up under Message Box as soon as the If a condition is true.

Step 5: As we know, every IF condition always needed an Else condition. Add an Else condition to this loop.

Code:

Sub auto_open()

If Sheets("HomeLoan_EMI").Range("A1").Value = Date Then

MsgBox ("Hey! You need to pay your EMI today.")

Else

Exit Sub

End Sub

This else condition will terminate the automatic opening of Macro if a date in cell A1 is not the current system date.

Step 6: Finally, End the IF loop by using statement End IF.

Code:

Sub auto_open()

If Sheets("HomeLoan_EMI").Range("A1").Value = Date Then

MsgBox ("Hey! You need to pay your EMI today.")

Else

Exit Sub

End If

End Sub

Step 7: This is it, now every time you open your worksheet the system will automatically run the above code and see if the date value in cell A1 is your EMI due date or not. If the EMI due date equals to the system date, it will show the message as below:

VBA Date Function – Example #3

VBA Date to Find out the Credit Card Bill Payee

Suppose I have a list of customers who have a credit card and you want to know who has payment due today. So that you can call them and ask them to pay their due immediately by EOD.

VBA Date could be handy in allowing you to automate the things instead of checking the dates one by one. Let’s see how to do this step by step:

Step 1: Define a New macro using a sub-procedure under a module.

Code:

Sub DateEx3()

End Sub

Step 2: Define two new variables one of which will be useful in looping the code up and another one in order to hold the value of the current system date.

Code:

Sub DateEx3()
Dim DateDue As Date
Dim i As Long
DateDue = Date
i = 2
End Sub

Step 3: Now use the following piece of code which helps in searching the person who has a credit card bill due date as the current system date. This code allows checking the Customer who has bill payment due on the current system date along with the bill amount.

Code:

Sub DateEx3()
Dim DateDue As Date
Dim i As Long
DateDue = Date
i = 2
For i = 2 To Sheets("CC_Bill").Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
If DateDue = DateSerial(Year(DateDue), Month(Sheets("CC_Bill").Cells(i, 3).Value), 
Day(Sheets("CC_Bill").Cells(i, 3).Value)) Then
MsgBox "Customer Name : " & Sheets("CC_Bill").Cells(i, 1).Value & vbNewLine 
& "Premium Amount : " & Sheets("CC_Bill").Cells(i, 2).Value
End If
Next i
End Sub

Step 4: Run this code by hitting F5 or Run button manually and see the output.

On the first iteration, we can see that Mohan is the one who has Bill of 12,900 due on 29-Apr-2019 (Current system date on which this code is run). If we hit OK, we can see the next customer name who has a bill due on 29-Apr-2019 (Rajani is the next).

This code will really be handy when you are having millions of rows of customers who have their bill due on one particular day. Please note that all the scripts mentioned in this article are run on 29-Apr-2019. You might get different date value when you run this sample codes based on the system date.

Things to Remember

• VBA DATE function returns the current system date and as parallel to Excel’s TODAY() function.
• VBA DATE function does not have any argument to be passed in excel. Doesn’t even need the parentheses to be called while using this function in the code.
• VBA DATE is a non-volatile function in excel.
• VBA stores Date values as DATE at the time of execution. So, does not define a variable holding value as a String/Integer. It will cause an error during execution of the code.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Excel VBA Date. Here we have discussed how to use Excel VBA Date Functions along with practical examples and downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

1. VBA Date Format
2. VBA GoTo
3. VBA RGB
4. VBA DateSerial