cint overflow error in my VB script

Question

I am new to programming and taking a basic VB script programming class as a requirement for the degree I am working on. I have this program that is converting celsius numbers to farhenheit and doing it in increments and the amount to be viewed. This program works in visual logic flow chart just fine, and I have spent more than 25 hours just trying to get this program to work. I know it has to be something completely stupid, but being new to the programming world I am at a loss, and don't have the answers. Could someone look at this script, it is very basic and see if there is something I am missing. The error always comes up after the Else at fahtemp = (9/5) * tempaccum + 32. Any insite would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time. Jon

Option Explicit
Dim celtemp, amttemp, increment 
Dim newtemp, tempaccum, fahtemp, loopnum, templist

celtemp = inputbox("What is your starting Temp?")
amttemp = inputbox("How many temperatures do you want displayed?")
increment = inputbox("What temperature increments do you want?")

Do while loopnum < amttemp

    loopnum = loopnum +1
    If loopnum = 1 then
        tempaccum = celtemp
        fahtemp = (9/5) * (tempaccum) +32
        templist = "1." & "Cel Temp: " &tempaccum & "- " & "Fah Temp: " &fahtemp
    else
        tempaccum = tempaccum + increment
        fahtemp = (9/5) * tempaccum + 32
        templist = templist &" " &loopnum & "." & "Cel Temp: " &tempaccum & "- " & "Fah Temp: " &fahtemp
    End If

    newtemp = celtemp + increment

Loop

Document.write "We are starting at Temp: " &celtemp
Document.write "<br> We are displaying " &amttemp & "times."
Document.write "<br> We are incrementing by: " &increment
Document.write "<br> The Temperature Table is as follows: " &templist

I added an update to my answer after your last comment. Hope it helps. :-) — stealthyninja, Apr 14 '11 at 14:02

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 13 '11 at 16:33

1

An overflow error occurs when you are attempting to store a value greater than the data type can handle.

If your inputs are too large, you will encounter this error.

answered Apr 13 '11 at 16:33

Zhais

1,493
12
18

Alright, I have that part. So I am thinking it doesn't have anything to do with the fahtemp line that it keeps failing on and something else. I only say that because if I input 0 for my starting temp, and 5 for both increments and how many, I still get the same error. If what you say holds true then 0-20 can not be a high enough value to cause it to fail. It has to be something to do with the looping or the tempaccum memory place. Thanks for the reply – Jon Gammon Apr 13 '11 at 18:00
@Jon Gammon: See my answer below for an explanation and fixes. – stealthyninja Apr 13 '11 at 19:27

stealthyninja · Answer 2 · 2011-04-14T14:00:37.507

@Jon Gammon: tempaccum = tempaccum + increment isn't calculating as you might think it would, instead of adding the increment like it's a number, it was concatenating it like a string, i.e. if starting temperature is 10, increment is 5 and number of times to display is 3, you'd expect your output to be

1. Cel Temp: 10 - Fah Temp: 50
2. Cel Temp: 15 - Fah Temp: 59
3. Cel Temp: 20 - Fah Temp: 68

Instead you would get

1. Cel Temp: 10 - Fah Temp: 50
2. Cel Temp: 105 - Fah Temp: 221
3. Cel Temp: 1055 - Fah Temp: 1931

This is what caused the overflow because tempaccum became huge and further multiplications on it would break the script. Document.Write also isn't valid VBScript code, so I made that into a MsgBox.

Here's a working and tested copy of your script which I rewrote a little to fix the above-mentioned issues and to improve it a little too:

Option Explicit
Dim celtemp, amttemp, increment 
Dim tempaccum, fahtemp, loopnum, templist

celtemp   = inputbox("What is your starting temperature?")
amttemp   = inputbox("How many temperatures do you want displayed?")
increment = inputbox("What temperature increments do you want?")

' Formula to converts Celcius to Fahrenheit
Function fahrenheit(ByRef celcius)
    fahrenheit = ((9 / 5)* celcius) + 32
End Function

' Some error checking
If NOT IsNumeric(amttemp) Then 
    amttemp = 1
Else
    amttemp = Fix(amttemp) ' only interested in integer part '
End If

For loopnum = 1 To amttemp
    If loopnum = 1 then
        tempaccum = celtemp
        fahtemp   = fahrenheit(tempaccum)
        templist  = "1. " & "Cel Temp: " & tempaccum & _
                    " - " & "Fah Temp: " & fahtemp & vbCrLf
    Else
        tempaccum = celtemp + (increment * (loopnum - 1))
        fahtemp   = fahrenheit(tempaccum)
        templist  = templist & loopnum & ". " & _
                    "Cel Temp: " & tempaccum & " - " & _
                    "Fah Temp: " & fahtemp & vbCrLf
    End If
Next

MsgBox "Starting at temperature: " & celtemp & vbCrLf & _
"Displaying " &amttemp & " times." & vbCrLf & _
"Incrementing by: " &increment & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
"The temperature table is as follows: " & vbCrLf & templist, 0, _
"Temperature Converter"

Update

My class is pretty basic, we haven't worked with Functions, and really the only thing we have done is inputs, while loops, Case Select and If's. SO I have had my hands full trying to code this out. Although yours works brilliantly, I am affraid it is a little more advanced than where we are at.

I see, ok, I've gone back to the original script and only updated the parts that were breaking it, as previously mentioned. Here's the new working copy:

Option Explicit
Dim celtemp, amttemp, increment 
Dim tempaccum, fahtemp, loopnum, templist

celtemp   = inputbox("What is your starting temperature?")
amttemp   = inputbox("How many temperatures do you want displayed?")
increment = inputbox("What temperature increments do you want?")

loopnum = 1

Do While loopnum < CInt(amttemp)
    If loopnum = 1 Then
        tempaccum = celtemp
        fahtemp   = ((9 / 5) * tempaccum) + 32
        templist  = "1. Cel Temp: " & tempaccum & " - " & "Fah Temp: " & fahtemp & vbCrLf
    Else
        tempaccum = celtemp + (increment * loopnum)
        fahtemp   = ((9 / 5) * tempaccum) + 32
        templist  = templist & loopnum & ". Cel Temp: " & tempaccum & " - " & "Fah Temp: " & fahtemp & vbCrLf
    End If

    loopnum = loopnum + 1
Loop

MsgBox "Starting at temperature: " & celtemp & vbCrLf & _
"Displaying " & amttemp & " times." & vbCrLf & _
"Incrementing by: " & increment & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
"The temperature table is as follows: " & vbCrLf & templist, 0, _
"Temperature Converter"

Awesome that works great and it stays along the lines of where we are in class. Thanks so much for your help. I was close, just missing some key parts. Appreciate you looking at it for me. Jon — Jon Gammon, Apr 14 '11 at 14:26

cint overflow error in my VB script

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