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FormatCurrency Function (Visual Basic)

Visual Studio 2008

Returns an expression formatted as a currency value using the currency symbol defined in the system control panel.

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Function FormatCurrency(
   ByVal Expression As Object,
   Optional ByVal NumDigitsAfterDecimal As Integer = -1,
   Optional ByVal IncludeLeadingDigit As TriState = TriState.UseDefault,
   Optional ByVal UseParensForNegativeNumbers As TriState = TriState.UseDefault,
   Optional ByVal GroupDigits As TriState = TriState.UseDefault
) As String

Parameters

Expression: Required. Expression to be formatted.
NumDigitsAfterDecimal: Optional. Numeric value indicating how many places are displayed to the right of the decimal. Default value is –1, which indicates that the computer's regional settings are used.
IncludeLeadingDigit: Optional. TriState enumeration that indicates whether or not a leading zero is displayed for fractional values. See "Settings" for values.
UseParensForNegativeNumbers: Optional. TriState enumeration that indicates whether or not to place negative values within parentheses. See "Settings" for values.
GroupDigits: Optional. TriState enumeration that indicates whether or not numbers are grouped using the group delimiter specified in the computer's regional settings. See "Settings" for values.

Settings

The IncludeLeadingDigit, UseParensForNegativeNumbers, and GroupDigits arguments take the following TriState enumeration values.

Value	Description
TriState.True	True
TriState.False	False
TriState.UseDefault	The computer's regional settings

Exceptions

Exception type	Error number	Condition
ArgumentException	5	Number of digits after decimal point is greater than 99.
InvalidCastException	13	Type is not numeric.

See the "Error number" column if you are upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 applications that use unstructured error handling. (You can compare the error number against the Number Property (Err Object).) However, when possible, you should consider replacing such error control with Structured Exception Handling Overview for Visual Basic.

Remarks

When one or more optional arguments are omitted, the computer's matching regional-settings values are used instead.

The position of the currency symbol relative to the currency value is determined by the system's regional settings.

Note:
All settings information comes from the locale of the application. By default, that will be the locale set in the control panel. However, it may be changed programmatically by using the .NET Framework, except leading zero, which comes from the Number tab.

Example

The following example illustrates the use of the FormatCurrency function.

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Dim TestDebt As Double = -4456.43
Dim TestString As String
' Returns "($4,456.43)".
TestString = FormatCurrency(TestDebt, , , TriState.True, TriState.True)