Clean Initialization of Scripting.Dictionary - vba

Question

I'm using VBA in an application called ProcessBook and I'm looking to store some static information in a dictionary.
I'm trying to initialize this dictionary cleanly and without needing to call a separate procedure, but none of the methods I try seem to be expected.
Here's what I've tried so far:
Dim myDict As New Dictionary(Of String, String) (("key1", "item1"), ("key2", "item2"))
Dim myDict As Variant
Set myDict = New Dictionary( ("key1", "item1"), ("key2", "item2") )
And basically a bunch of guessing involving forms like that.
So far the best I've been able to do is something like:
With myDict
.add "key1", "item1"
.add "key2", "item2"
End With
But this barks at me when it's not inside of a routine, which I'd like to avoid.
I believe the (Of type, type) From { } syntax is beyond VBA 6.5
Does anyone know of some clean ways to initialize a scripting.dictionary in VBA 6.5?

Answer 1

By 6.5 presumably you mean VBA? If so there is no way to manipulate/initialise an object instance outside of a routine.
The only way is to encapsulate it within a class (cDict) and use the constuctor:
Private mDict As Scripting.Dictionary
Private Sub Class_Initialize()
Set mDict = New Scripting.Dictionary
With mDict
.Add "key1", "item1"
.Add "key2", "item2"
End With
End Sub
Public Property Get Dict() As Scripting.Dictionary
Set Dict = mDict
End Property
Then in the client module;
Private Dict As New cDict
Sub foo()
MsgBox Dict.Dict.Item("key1")
Dict.Dict.Add "key3", "item3"
MsgBox Dict.Dict.Item("key3")
End Sub
(Of type relates to VB.Net Generics)

Answer 2

VBA is really a PROCEDURAL language more then an Object Oriented Language so the answer is to use a procedure.
How to do it...
Option Explicit
Option Compare Text
Sub test()
Dim dic As New Scripting.Dictionary
Add dic, Array("Darren", 123, "Alex", 321)
MsgBox dic.Count
End Sub
Public Sub Add(dic As Dictionary, values As Variant)
If Not IsArray(values) Then
Err.Raise -1, "Add", "Values must be varient Array"
ElseIf UBound(values) Mod 2 = 0 Then
Err.Raise -1, "Add", "Even number of values required"
End If
Dim iQ As Long
For iQ = 0 To UBound(values) Step 2
dic.Add values(iQ), values(iQ + 1)
Next
End Sub