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The List Class

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The List class includes but a single data element:

Dim liHead As ListItem

The liHead item provides a reference to the first item in the linked list. (If there's nothing yet in the list, liHead is Nothing.) The List class also includes three public methods: Add, Delete, and DebugList. The Add method adds a new node to the list, in sorted order. The Delete method deletes a given value from the list if it's currently in the list. The DebugList method walks the list from one end to the other, printing the items in the list to the Debug window.

Finding an Item in the List

Both the Add and Delete methods count on a private method, Search, which takes as parameters a value to find and the current and previous items (which it fills in as it performs its search). The function returns a Boolean value indicating whether it actually found the requested value. The function, shown in Listing 6.9, follows these steps:

  1. Assumes the return value is False, sets liPrevious to point to Nothing, and sets liCurrent to point to the head of the list

  2. While not at the end of the list (while the current pointer isn't Nothing), does one of the following:

    • If the search item is greater than the stored value, it sets the previous pointer to refer to the current node and sets the current node to point to the next node.

    • If the search item is less than or equal to the stored value, then you're done, and it exits the loop.

  3. Establishes whether the sought value was actually found

  4. Returns the previous and current pointers in ByRef parameters and the found status as the return value

Listing 6.9: Use the Search Function to Find a Specific Element in the List

Function Search(ByVal varItem As Variant, _
 ByRef liCurrent As ListItem, ByRef liPrevious As ListItem) _
 As Boolean
    Dim fFound As Boolean
    fFound = False
    Set liPrevious = Nothing
    Set liCurrent = liHead
    Do While Not liCurrent Is Nothing
        With liCurrent
            If varItem > .Value Then
                Set liPrevious = liCurrent
                Set liCurrent = .NextItem
            Else
                Exit Do
            End If
        End With
    Loop
    ' You can't compare the value in liCurrent to the sought
    ' value unless liCurrent points to something.
    If Not liCurrent Is Nothing Then
        fFound = (liCurrent.Value = varItem)
    End If
    Search = fFound
End Function

Taking the most common case (searching for an item in the middle of an existing list), the diagrams in Figures 6.16, 6.17, 6.18, and 6.19 demonstrate the steps in the logic of the Search method.

Figure 6.16: Check to see if it's time to stop looping, based on the current value and the value to find.

Figure 6.17: Set the previous pointer to point to the current node.

Figure 6.18: Set the current pointer to point tothe next node.

Figure 6.19: It's time to stop looping. Return True if the item was found.

What happens in the borderline cases?

  • What if the list is currently empty? In that case, liCurrent will be Nothing at the beginning of the procedure (because you've made it point to the same thing that liHead points to, which is Nothing). The function will do nothing and will return False. After you call the function, liCurrent and liPrevious will both be Nothing.

  • What if the item to be found is less than anything currently in the list? In that case, the item should be placed before the item liHead currently points to. As soon as the code enters the loop, it will find that liCurrent.Value is greater than varItem and will jump out of the loop. The function will return False because the value pointed to by liCurrent isn't the same as the value being sought. After the function call, liCurrent will refer to the first item in the list, and liPrevious will be Nothing.

  • What if the item is greater than anything in the list? In that case, the code will loop until liCurrent points to what the final node in the list points to (Nothing), and liPrevious will point to the final node in the list. The function will return False because liCurrent is Nothing.

Adding an Item to the List

Once you've found the right position, using the Search method of the List class, inserting an item is almost trivial. The Add method, shown in Listing 6.10, takes the new value as a parameter, calls the Search method to find the right position in which to insert the new value, and then inserts it. The procedure follows these steps:

  1. Creates a new node for the new item and sets its value to the value passed as a parameter to the procedure.

  2. Calls the Search method, which fills in the values of liCurrent and liPrevious. Disregard the return value; when adding an item, you don't care whether the value was already in the list.

  3. Adjusts the new node's NextItem value to point to the newly calculated next item in the list.

  4. If inserting an item anywhere but at the head of the list, sets the previous item's pointer to refer to the new node.

  5. If inserting an item at the beginning of the list, sets the head pointer to refer to the new node.

Listing 6.10: Use the Add Method to Add a New Item to a List

Public Sub Add(varValue As Variant)
    Dim liNew As New ListItem
    Dim liCurrent As ListItem
    Dim liPrevious As ListItem
    liNew.Value = varValue
    ' Find where to put the new item. This function call
    ' fills in liCurrent and liPrevious.
    Call Search(varValue, liCurrent, liPrevious)
    If Not liPrevious Is Nothing Then
        Set liNew.NextItem = liPrevious.NextItem
        Set liPrevious.NextItem = liNew
    Else
        ' Inserting at the head of the list:
        ' Set the new item to point to what liHead currently
        ' points to (which might just be Nothing). Then
        ' make liHead point to the new item.
        Set liNew.NextItem = liHead
        Set liHead = liNew
    End If
End Sub

Inserting an item at the head of the list is easy. All you need to do is make the new node's NextItem pointer refer to the current head of the list and then make the list head pointer refer to the new node. The diagrams in Figures 6.20, 6.21, and 6.22 show how you can insert an item at the head of the list.

Figure 6.20: After Search is called, liPrevious is Nothing, indicating an insertion at the head of the list.

Figure 6.21: Make the new node's NextItem pointer refer to the item currently referred to by liHead.

Figure 6.22: Make the list header point to the new node.

Inserting an item anywhere in the list besides at the head works similarly, but the steps are a bit different. If liPrevious isn't Nothing after the Add method calls Search, you must make the new node's NextItem point to what liPrevious currently points at and then make whatever liPrevious is pointing at point at liNew instead. The diagrams in Figures 6.23, 6.24, and 6.25 illustrate an insertion in the middle (or at the end) of the list.

Figure 6.23: After the Add method calls Search, liPrevious isn't Nothing, indicating an insertion after the head of the list

Figure 6.24: Make the new item point to the item after the one liPrevious points to.

Deleting an Item from the List

Again, just as with adding an item, once you've found the right position using the Search method of the List class, deleting an item is simple. The Delete method, shown in Listing 6.11, takes the new value as a parameter, calls the Search method to find the item to be deleted, and if it's there, deletes it. The procedure follows these steps:

  1. Calls the Search method, which fills in the values of liCurrent and liPrevious. If the function returns False, there's nothing else to do.

Figure 6.25: Make the item that liPrevious points to point to the new item, linking it into the list.

  1. If deleting anywhere but at the head of the list, sets the previous item's pointer to refer to the node pointed to by the item to be deleted. (That is, it links around the deleted node.)

  2. If deleting at the beginning of the list, sets the head pointer to refer to the node pointed to by the selected node. (It links the head pointer to the current second node in the list.)

  3. When liCurrent goes out of scope, VBA destroys the node to be deleted because no other pointer refers to that instance of the class.

Public Function Delete(varItem As Variant) As Boolean
    Dim liCurrent As ListItem
    Dim liPrevious As ListItem
    Dim fFound As Boolean
    ' Find the item. This function call
    ' fills in liCurrent and liPrevious.
    fFound = Search(varItem, liCurrent, liPrevious)
    If fFound Then
        If Not liPrevious Is Nothing Then
             ' Deleting from the middle or end of the list.
             Set liPrevious.NextItem = liCurrent.NextItem
        Else
            ' Deleting from the head of the list.
            Set liHead = liCurrent.NextItem
        End If
    End If
    Delete = fFound
End Function

To delete an item from the head of the list, all you need to do is make the header's pointer refer to the second item in the list. The diagrams in Figures 6.26, 6.27, and 6.28 show how you can delete an item at the head of the list.

Figure 6.26: If the search ends at the head of the list, liPrevious will be Nothing.

Figure 6.27: To delete the first item, make liHead point to the second item in the list.

Figure 6.28: When liCurrent goes out of scope, VBA destroys the deleted item.

What about deleting an item other than the first? That's easy too: just link around the item to be deleted. The diagrams in Figures 6.29, 6.30, and 6.31 show how you can delete an item that's not the first item in the list.

Figure 6.29: The search found the node to be deleted. (liCurrent points to it.)

Figure 6.30: Link around the node to be deleted.

Figure 6.31: When liCurrent goes out of scope, VBA destroys the deleted item.

Traversing the List

A list wouldn't do you much good if you couldn't traverse it, visiting each element in turn. The example project includes a DebugList method of the List class. Calling this method walks the list one item at a time, printing each value in turn to the Immediate window:

Public Sub DebugList()
    ' Print the list to the Immediate window.
    Dim liCurrent As ListItem
    Set liCurrent = liHead
    Do While Not liCurrent Is Nothing
        Debug.Print liCurrent.Value
        Set liCurrent = liCurrent.NextItem
    Loop
End Sub

To do its work, the code in DebugList first sets a pointer to the head of the list. Then, as long as that pointer isn't Nothing, the code prints out the current value and sets the current node pointer to refer to the next item in the list.

Testing It Out

The ListTest module includes a simple test procedure that exercises the methods in the List class. When you run this procedure, shown in Listing 6.12, the code will add the ten items to the list, display the list, delete a few items (including the first and last item), and then print the list again.

Listing 6.12: Sample Code Demonstrating the Ordered Linked List

Sub TestLists()
    Dim liTest As New List
    With liTest
        .Add 5
        .Add 1
        .Add 6
        .Add 4
        .Add 9
        .Add 8
        .Add 7
        .Add 10
        .Add 2
        .Add 3
        Call .DebugList
        Debug.Print "====="
        .Delete 1
        .Delete 10
        .Delete 3
        .Delete 4
        Call .DebugList
    End With
End Sub

Why Use a Linked List?

That's a good question, because the native VBA Collection object provides much of the same functionality as a linked list, without the effort. Internally, collections are stored as a complex linked list, with links in both directions (instead of only one), and the data structure also includes pointers that make it possible to traverse the collection as though it were a binary tree. This way, VBA can traverse the collection forward and backward, and it can find items quickly. (Binary trees provide very quick random access to elements in the data structure.)

It's just this flexibility that makes the overhead involved in using VBA's collections onerous. You may find that you need to create a sorted list, but working with collections is just too slow, and maintaining collections in a sorted order is quite difficult. In these cases, you may find it more worthwhile to use a linked list, as demonstrated in the preceding example, instead.

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