Rules of Subroutine Overloading

When you overload a subroutine, the following rules apply:

• Each overloaded version must use the same subroutine name.
• Each overloaded version must differ from all other overloaded versions in at least one of the following respects:
  • Number of arguments.
  • Order of the arguments.
  • Data types of the arguments.

The compiler uses the subroutine name and the argument list to check that the call correctly matches the definition. These items are collectively called the signature of the subroutine.

You cannot overload a subroutine without varying the argument list. In particular, you cannot overload a subroutine by varying only one or more of the following items:

• Access modifier keywords, such as *Public, *Shared.
• Argument names.
• Argument modifier keywords, such as *ByRef.
• The data type of the return value.

The items in the preceding list are not part of the signature.

If you intend to pass a late-bound object variable to an overloaded subroutine, you must declare the appropriate argument as *Object.