So I’m doing some proof of concept here.

I want to use a starting syntax like the following in the Debug.Print line:

Public Sub TestCustomTags()
    Dim testCT As CustomTags
    Set testCT = New CustomTags
    Dim ctl As Access.Control
    Set ctl = Form_TestForm.TestControl
    Debug.Print testCT(ctl)
    ' Eventually code should do something like
    ' testCT(ctl)("OriginalLeft")
    ' and that should be able to print a string that I had set.
End Sub

'Class module CustomTags
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit

'@DefaultMember
Public Function Controls(ctl As Access.Control) As String
    Controls = ctl.Name
End Function

Now the trick here to get the testCT(ctl) syntax is to set a default member in the class.

This basically makes testCT.Controls(ctl) and testCT(ctl) mean the same thing to VBA.

This is not a feature available for manipulation within the VBE environment.

You either have to export your file to text, add a line and reimport the class, or if you are a RubberDuckVBA user you can use the code I have above using ‘@DefaultMember before the Function/Sub/Property that I want to be default and then that opens up the syntax I’m using.

In order to do this with RubberDuck see the comments at the end of this article: https://rubberduckvba.blog/2019/12/14/rubberduck-annotations/#comment-4376

In order to do this using the export / import method, check out this article: http://www.cpearson.com/Excel/DefaultMember.aspx

Now I’ll be able to use another class with another default member to fully implement this. I’m looking forward to a final quick implementation of the basic functionality on Monday.