Can I get the text of the comments in the VBA code - vba

Question

Lets say I have the following:
Public Sub Information()
'TEST
End Sub
Is there a way to get "TEST" as a result?
Somehow through VBA?
E.g. - In PHP there is a good way to take the comments. Any ideas here?
Edit:
There should be a way, because tools like MZ-Tools are able to provide the comments when they generate the documentation.

Answer 1

You need to parse the code yourself, using the VBA Extensibility library (aka "VBIDE API"). Add a reference to the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extentibility 5.3 type library, and then you can access types such as CodePane and VBComponent:
Sub FindComments()
Dim component As VBComponent
For Each component In Application.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents
Dim contents As String
contents = component.CodeModule.Lines(1, component.CodeModule.CountOfLines)
'"contents" now contains a string with the entire module's code.
Debug.Print ParseComments(contents) 'todo
Next
End Sub
Once you have a module's contents, you need to implement logic to find comments... and that can be tricky - here's some sample code to play with:
Sub Test()
Dim foo 'this is comment 1
'this _
is _
comment 2
Debug.Print "This 'is not a comment'!"
'..and here's comment 3
REM oh and guess what, a REM instruction is also a comment!
Debug.Print foo : REM can show up at the end of a line, given an instruction separator
End Sub
So you need to iterate the lines, track whether the comment is continuing on the next line / continued from the previous line, skip string literals, etc.
Have fun!

Answer 2

After some tests, I got to this solution:
simply pass the name of the code-module to the function and it will print all comment lines. Inline comments won't work(you have to change the condition)
Function findComments(moduleName As String)
Dim varLines() As String
Dim tmp As Variant
With ThisWorkbook.VBProject.VBComponents(moduleName).CodeModule
'split the lines of code into string array
varLines = Split(.lines(1, .CountOfLines), vbCrLf)
End With
'loop through lines in code
For Each tmp In varLines
'if line starts with '
If Trim(tmp) Like "'*" Then
'print comment line
Debug.Print Trim(tmp)
End If
Next tmp
End Function

Answer 3

You can use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extensibility to examine code at runtime:
'Requires reference to Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extensibility
'and trusted access to VBA project object model.
Public Sub Information()
'TEST
End Sub
Public Sub Example()
Dim module As CodeModule
Set module = Application.VBE.ActiveVBProject.VBComponents(Me.CodeName).CodeModule
Dim code As String
code = module.lines(module.ProcStartLine("Information", vbext_pk_Proc), _
module.ProcCountLines("Information", vbext_pk_Proc))
Dim lines() As String
lines = Split(code, vbCrLf)
Dim line As Variant
For Each line In lines
If Left$(Trim$(line), 1) = "'" Then
Debug.Print "Found comment: " & line
End If
Next
End Sub
Note that the above example assumes that it's running in a Worksheet or Workbook code module (hence Me when locating the CodeModule). The best method for locating the correct module will depend on where you want to locate the procedure.

Answer 4

You could try with reading line by line of code in your module. Here is just idea returning first comment for further improvements:
Sub callIt()
Debug.Print GetComment("Module1")
End Sub
Function GetComment(moduleName As String)
Dim i As Integer
With ThisWorkbook.VBProject.VBComponents(moduleName).CodeModule
For i = 1 To .CountOfLines
If Left(Trim(.Lines(i, 1)), 1) = "'" Then
'here we have comments
'return the first one
GetComment = .Lines(i, 1)
Exit Function
End If
Next i
End With
End Function
Important! in Reference window add one to 'Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Extensibility'.