How do you test running time of VBA code?

If you are trying to return the time like a stopwatch you could use the following API which returns the time in milliseconds since system startup:

Public Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32.dll" () As Long
Sub testTimer()
Dim t As Long
t = GetTickCount

For i = 1 To 1000000
a = a + 1
Next

MsgBox GetTickCount - t, , "Milliseconds"
End Sub

after http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/grab-time-milliseconds-included-vba-t994765.html (as timeGetTime in winmm.dll was not working for me and QueryPerformanceCounter was too complicated for the task needed)


The Timer function in VBA gives you the number of seconds elapsed since midnight, to 1/100 of a second.

Dim t as single
t = Timer
'code
MsgBox Timer - t

Unless your functions are very slow, you're going to need a very high-resolution timer. The most accurate one I know is QueryPerformanceCounter. Google it for more info. Try pushing the following into a class, call it CTimer say, then you can make an instance somewhere global and just call .StartCounter and .TimeElapsed

Option Explicit

Private Type LARGE_INTEGER
    lowpart As Long
    highpart As Long
End Type

Private Declare Function QueryPerformanceCounter Lib "kernel32" (lpPerformanceCount As LARGE_INTEGER) As Long
Private Declare Function QueryPerformanceFrequency Lib "kernel32" (lpFrequency As LARGE_INTEGER) As Long

Private m_CounterStart As LARGE_INTEGER
Private m_CounterEnd As LARGE_INTEGER
Private m_crFrequency As Double

Private Const TWO_32 = 4294967296# ' = 256# * 256# * 256# * 256#

Private Function LI2Double(LI As LARGE_INTEGER) As Double
Dim Low As Double
    Low = LI.lowpart
    If Low < 0 Then
        Low = Low + TWO_32
    End If
    LI2Double = LI.highpart * TWO_32 + Low
End Function

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
Dim PerfFrequency As LARGE_INTEGER
    QueryPerformanceFrequency PerfFrequency
    m_crFrequency = LI2Double(PerfFrequency)
End Sub

Public Sub StartCounter()
    QueryPerformanceCounter m_CounterStart
End Sub

Property Get TimeElapsed() As Double
Dim crStart As Double
Dim crStop As Double
    QueryPerformanceCounter m_CounterEnd
    crStart = LI2Double(m_CounterStart)
    crStop = LI2Double(m_CounterEnd)
    TimeElapsed = 1000# * (crStop - crStart) / m_crFrequency
End Property