Why does a variable name work without being declared?

[altair]

Hello!
I noticed we never declared oPar, like:

global oPar as string

in the code:

Sub k 
    
    oParEnum = ThisComponent.getText.createEnumeration 
    Do While oParEnum.hasMoreElements() 

        oPar = oParEnum.nextElement()  
        x=x+1
        a(x)=oPar
        print oPar.getString

      Loop 

End Sub

Do we have to declare it at all? (I think in oooB we don’t…)

Many thanks for explanation!

[Regina]

Basic has the very dangerous property to set a default declaration when a new variable is used the first time. As you are novice in programming in Basic, you should always set option explicit to enforce the need of declaration. Otherwise a simple typo will cause a lot of trouble.

[bencomp]

I have never used Basic, so where should one set option explicit? At the top of the file?

[Regina]

The application help has the item ‘Command Reference’ in ‘Macros and Programming’ in tab ‘Contents’. From there “This statement must be added before the executable program code in a module.”