Why are my public variables not holding their value? - vba

Question

I am trying to use Public variables and my variables are Empty when I need them. Here's what I am doing. I have a database app that tracks happenings during a submersible dive. There are several forms that track things like launch of vehicle, vehicle on bottom, start a transect, take a picture, enter an observation, take a sample, leave bottom, etc. There are several nested forms with vba code controlling what happens. One of the things that is done over and over is reading a log with the current lat/lon and depth of the submersible. In some cases, that log may not be available and the user has to enter the lat/lon themselves in a popup form called "LatLonDataEntry". They can enter the lat/lon in any format (decimal degrees, degrees and decimal minutes, or degrees minutes and decimal seconds) and the code will convert it to decimal degrees (ex. 30.2345 and -88.1234), which is the preferred format. I have set variables for LatDecDeg and LonDecDeg to public so that after they are calculated in the LatLonDataEntry form, they can be used when I come back from that form. This happens in several places in the application where it is needed. I had read that I couldn't declare public variables in Form modules, so I'm declaring them in a module that also contains an often used function.
Private Sub SetLaunchTimeNow_Click()
' Launch Now button should make a new dive note record and put in the phrase "launch" and put in the current date/time, lat/lon from the user entry form.
Dim nowtime As String
DoCmd.OpenForm "LatLonDataEntry", acNormal, "", "", , acDialog
'set the time, date/time, lat, lon, and depth in the splash note
nowtime = Now()
Me!Time_Launch = Format(nowtime, "hh:nn:ss")
Me!Date_Time_Launch = nowtime
Me!Latitude_SITE = DecDegLat
Me!Longitude_SITE = DecDegLon
'move the focus to the dive note subform
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote.Form![Date_Time_Notes].SetFocus
'add a new dive note record and then set all of the variables to the same lat, lon, and depth that you added to the splash note
'add the note "Launch" to the Habitat Description
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote.Recordset.AddNew
Debug.Print "Added a new Record for Launch"
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!SplashID = Me!SplashID
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!ExtraNote_ID = Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!DiveNote_ID
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!Date_Time_Notes = nowtime
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!Event = "Launch"
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!Latitude = DecDegLat
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!Longitude = DecDegLon
Form_frm_tbl_DiveNote!HabitatDescription.SetFocus
End Sub
The module which has the public variable declarations and the function that is called when the log is available is:
Option Explicit
Public db As Database
Public puttylog As Recordset
Public rst As Recordset
Public spl As Recordset
Public currcruise As String
Public currlat As String
Public currlon As String
Public currdepth As String
Public DecDegLat As String
Public DecDegLon As String
Public lasttransect As Integer
Public transectstarted As Boolean
Public NSHemisphere As String
Public EWHemisphere As String
Public Function RetLatLonDepth()
Set db = CurrentDb()
Set puttylog = db.OpenRecordset("Putty_log")
'move the first record (only record) and read in the current lat, lon, and depth
puttylog.MoveFirst
currlat = Str(puttylog![lat_GPRMC])
currlon = Str(Format(puttylog![lon_GPRMC], "00000.0000"))
currdepth = Trim(puttylog!Depth)
' reset the recordset and database to nothing to release it
Set puttylog = Nothing
Set db = Nothing
End Function
The code behind the LatLonDataEntry popup window used to read the lat/lon values is:
Option Explicit
Dim lat As Integer
Dim lon As Integer
Dim min As Integer
Dim latmin As Single
Dim lonmin As Single
Dim DecDeg As Single
Dim decmin As Single
Dim minsec As Single
Dim decsec As Single
Dim numspaces As Integer
Public Sub LatInput_AfterUpdate()
If IsNumeric(LatInput) = True Then
' the latitude was entered in dec degrees
If LatInput > 90 Or LatInput < -90 Then
GoTo LatError
Else
LatInput = Fix(LatInput * 100000) / 100000
If LatInput < 0 Then
NSHemisphere = "Southern Hemisphere"
Else
NSHemisphere = "Northern Hemisphere"
End If
End If
LatDecDeg = Str(LatInput)
lat = Fix(LatInput)
latmin = Round(Abs(LatInput) - Abs(lat), 5)
decmin = latmin * 60
LatDegDecMin = Format(Str(lat), "00") & " " & Str(latmin * 60)
min = Fix(decmin)
minsec = Round(Abs(decmin) - Abs(min), 6)
LatDegMinDecSec = Format(Str(lat), "00") & " " & Format(Str(min), "00") & Str(minsec * 60)
Debug.Print LatDegMinDecSec
Else
numspaces = Len(LatInput) - Len(Replace(LatInput, " ", ""))
If (numspaces = 1) Then
' the latitude was entered in deg dec min
LatDegDecMin = Str(LatInput)
lat = Int(Split(LatInput, " ")(0))
decmin = CDbl(Split(LatInput, " ")(1))
LatDecDeg = Format((lat + decmin / 60), "00.00000")
min = Fix(decmin)
minsec = Round(Abs(decmin) - Abs(min), 5)
LatDegMinDecSec = Format(Str(lat), "00") & " " & Format(Str(min), "00") & Str(minsec * 60)
Else
If (numspaces = 2) Then
' the latitude was entered in deg min dec sec
LatDegMinDecSec = Str(LatInput)
lat = Int(Split(LatInput, " ")(0))
min = Int(Split(LatInput, " ")(1))
decsec = CDbl(Split(LatInput, " ")(2))
decmin = min + decsec / 60
DecDeg = lat + decmin / 60
LatDecDeg = Format(Str(DecDeg), "00.00000")
LatDegDecMin = Format(Str(lat), "00") & " " & Format(Str(decmin), "00.00000")
Else
LatError:
MsgBox ("You have entered an invalid format for Latitude or a value that is out of range (-90 to 90).")
End If
End If
End If
End Sub
Public Sub LatLonOK_Click()
DecDegLat = LatDecDeg
DecDegLon = LonDecDeg
End Sub
Public Sub LonInput_AfterUpdate()
If IsNumeric(LonInput) = True Then
' the Longitude was entered in dec degrees
If LonInput > 180 Or LonInput < -180 Then
GoTo LonError
Else
LonInput = Fix(LonInput * 100000) / 100000
If LonInput < 0 Then
EWHemisphere = "Western Hemisphere"
Else
EWHemisphere = "Eastern Hemisphere"
End If
End If
LonDecDeg = Str(LonInput)
lon = Fix(LonInput)
lonmin = Round(Abs(LonInput) - Abs(lon), 6)
decmin = lonmin * 60
LonDegDecMin = Format(Str(lon), "000") & " " & Str(lonmin * 60)
min = Fix(decmin)
minsec = Round(Abs(decmin) - Abs(min), 6)
LonDegMinDecSec = Format(Str(lon), "000") & " " & Format(Str(min), "000") & Str(minsec * 60)
Else
numspaces = Len(LonInput) - Len(Replace(LonInput, " ", ""))
If (numspaces = 1) Then
' the Longitude was entered in deg dec min
LonDegDecMin = Str(LonInput)
lon = Int(Split(LonInput, " ")(0))
decmin = CDbl(Split(LonInput, " ")(1))
LonDecDeg = Format((lon + decmin / 60), "000.00000")
min = Fix(decmin)
minsec = Round(Abs(decmin) - Abs(min), 6)
LonDegMinDecSec = Format(Str(lon), "000") & " " & Format(Str(min), "00") & Str(minsec * 60)
Else
If (numspaces = 2) Then
' the Longitude was entered in deg min dec sec
LonDegMinDecSec = Str(LonInput)
lon = Int(Split(LonInput, " ")(0))
min = Int(Split(LonInput, " ")(1))
decsec = CDbl(Split(LonInput, " ")(2))
decmin = min + decsec / 60
DecDeg = lon + decmin / 60
LonDecDeg = Format(Str(DecDeg), "000.00000")
LonDegDecMin = Format(Str(lon), "000") & " " & Format(Str(decmin), "00.00000")
Else
LonError:
MsgBox ("You have entered an invalid format for Longitude or a value that is out of range (-180 to 180).")
End If
End If
End If
End Sub