Is it possible to declare a public variable in vba and assign a default value?

.NET has spoiled us 🙂
Your declaration is not valid for VBA.

Only constants can be given a value upon application load. You declare them like so:

Public Const APOSTROPHE_KEYCODE = 222

Here’s a sample declaration from one of my vba projects:

If you’re looking for something where you declare a public variable and then want to initialize its value, you need to create a Workbook_Open sub and do your initialization there.
Example:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
  Dim iAnswer As Integer

  InitializeListSheetDataColumns_S
  HideAllMonths_S

  If sheetSetupInfo.Range("D6").Value = "Enter Facility Name" Then
    iAnswer = MsgBox("It appears you have not yet set up this workbook.  Would you like to do so now?", vbYesNo)
    If iAnswer = vbYes Then
      sheetSetupInfo.Activate
      sheetSetupInfo.Range("D6").Select
      Exit Sub
    End If
  End If

  Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
  sheetGeneralInfo.Activate
  Load frmInfoSheet
  frmInfoSheet.Show


End Sub

Make sure you declare the sub in the Workbook Object itself: