type casting using VBA

Is there a way to convert a string to an integer using VBA?  I have written some nested If's inside of a loop in order to find the next available extension to use while creating a work breakdown structure.....(not important)  The code follows:

       For n = 6 To r
            If Cells(n, 4) <> "--" Then
                projectNum2 = Left(Cells(n, 4).Value, 1)
                taskExtension = Right(Cells(n, 4).Value, 1)                                
                If projectNum2 = projectNum Then                      <------------------------- comparison in question
                    If taskExtension > newTaskNum Then
                        newTaskNum = taskExtension
                        Cells(n, 11) = newTaskNum
                    End If
                End If
            End If
        Next n

       This is how I get projectNum:
           itemIndex = ChooseProject.ListIndex + 6
           projectNum = Cells(itemIndex, 2).Value


The problem is that the comparison never returns true even though I know that the two numbers are equal.  I displayed the values to be sure that they really do match.  I tried CInt(projectNum2) and it returns a "type mismatch" error.  Type casting, or otherwise, I would really appreciate any help.  Thanks.Start Free Trial