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Creating Members

In this section, we'll explore the VB.NET syntax for creating methods, properties, fields, events, and delegates, as well as handling constants.

Creating Methods

As in previous versions of VB, you can create both methods that return a value, using the Function statement, and methods that do not, using the Sub statement. Both types can accept arguments passed by value (ByVal, now the default), by reference (ByRef), and an optional array of objects (ParamArray) as arguments.

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Parameter arrays have always been an underutilized feature of VB. However, they can be powerful when you want to pass an undefined number of objects into a method. The reason they are underutilized is that the calling code must explicitly pass the parameters in a comma-delimited list rather than simply as an array. In most cases where it makes sense to use a ParamArray, the calling code does not know at design-time how many objects it will pass, and so simply defining the arguments using an array of objects typically makes more sense. VB.NET's support for overloaded methods also serves to lessen the need for ParamArrays because you can create specific method signatures for each set of arguments.

As in VB 6.0, if the Optional keyword is used with any of the arguments, all subsequent arguments must be declared as optional. However, VB.NET requires a default value to be specified in the argument list for any optional parameters. Alternatively, as will be discussed later, the same method can be declared more than once inside a class to create an overloaded method from which the client can choose during development.

To return a value from a class, VB.NET now supports the use of the Return statement as well as assigning a value to the function name, shown as follows:

Public Function ListCourses(Optional ByVal pVendor As Long = -1) As DataSet
  Dim myDS As DataSet
  ' Code to access the database and populate the dataset
  Return myDS
End Function

The method declaration can also include an expanded set of modifiers including Public, Private, Friend, Protected, Protected Friend, and Shared. As you would expect, the first five modifiers in that list serve the same functions as in class modules to restrict access to the method in both derived classes and across projects. The Shared keyword, however, is unique to members and is used to implement static members across all instances of a class, as will be discussed shortly.

Creating Properties

One of the syntactical changes in VB.NET is the consolidation of property declarations into the Property keyword. Basically the Property keyword includes an access modifier, the name of the property, and an optional parameters list in addition to the code to optionally both get and set the value of the property. As in VB 6.0, properties are useful because you can set the value the client is attempting to set the property to and raise exceptions if necessary.

The basics of the Property statement can be seen in the following example, where a LastName property is implemented for the Instructor class:

Private mstrLName As String

Property LastName() As String
Get
     Return mstrLName
    End Get
    Set(ByVal Value As String)
     mstrLName = Value
    End Set
End Property

Notice that the code to retrieve the value and to store the value is placed in blocks within the Property statement and that the Value argument is used to catch the incoming value. As noted in Chapter 3, "VB.NET Language Features," any variables declared within either the Get or Set blocks are scoped within the block and are accessible only within the block.

The access modifiers for properties include ReadOnly, WriteOnly, and Default. As the names imply, the ReadOnly and WriteOnly modifiers are used to limit the access to the property. When specified, either the Get or Set block must be omitted from the Property statement as appropriate.

VB.NET also supports parameterized properties by including a parameter list in the declaration of the property. Typically you would use this construct when the property returns an individual array or object instance stored in the class. For example, assume that a class called Vendors is used to store a collection of Vendor objects defined in the Vendor class. To make development simpler, the Vendors class is derived from the System.Collections.CollectionBase class (as will be discussed later in the chapter) that provides all the low-level handling of collections. To provide access to a particular Vendor in the Vendors collection, you could create the read-only property shown in Listing 4.1.

Listing 4.1 Default property. This listing shows how to implement a default property for a class.

Public Class Vendors
   Inherits CollectionBase

    ' other properties and methods

    Default ReadOnly Property Item(ByVal index As Integer) As Vendor
      Get
       Return CType(Me.InnerList.Item(index), Vendor)
      End Get
    End Property

    Public Sub Add(ByVal obj As Vendor)
      Me.InnerList.Add(obj)
    End Sub

End Class

When the Vendor class is instantiated by a client, the client can then add vendors using the public Add method and retrieve one by passing an index value to the Item property, as shown in the following example:

Dim colVendors As New Vendors
Dim objVen As New Vendor
Dim objVen2 As Vendor

colVendors.Add(objVen)
' populate or retrieve the collection
objVen2 = colVendors.Item(4) ' Get 5th item in the collection

In the preceding example, you'll also notice that the property is marked as Default. Only properties that are parameterized can be marked as default. This allows a client to use the shortcut syntax

objVen2 = colVendors(4) ' Get 5th item in the collection

rather than accessing the Item property directly. Of course, only one property can be marked as the default within a class.

You can also create collection classes by deriving from the Collection class in the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace. The difference is that the Collection class contains more default behavior such as the inclusion of the Item and Add methods, whereas CollectionBase contains methods that allow you to provide custom behavior as items are added to and removed from the collection.

NOTE

The Services Framework uses parameterized properties in many scenarios, particularly those where an object hierarchy has been implemented (such as the ADO.NET SqlParameterCollection class).

Like methods, properties can be modified with the Shared, Private, Overridable, Overrides, and Overloads keywords as discussed later. The only point to remember is that if a property is marked as ReadOnly, WriteOnly, or Default, the overriding method in the derived class must also be marked as such.

Creating Fields

Previous versions of VB also had the ability to create fields. Fields are simply variables declared with the Public or Public Dim keyword at the class level. Variables declared with Private or simply Dim are not exposed as fields. They are available to any code within the class and can be accessed by clients of the class in the same fashion as properties. The advantage to using fields is that they require very little syntax and are simple. In addition, fields can also be marked with the ReadOnly keyword so that any code outside the class constructor cannot change the value. The ReadOnly field Count in the following code snippet is public so that it is accessible by code both inside and outside the class, but it can be changed only within the constructor (New) method of the class:

Public Class Instructors
  Public ReadOnly Count As Integer

  Public Sub New()
    Count = 50 ' Legal
  End Sub

  Public Sub OtherProc()
    Count = 2 ' Generates a compile time error
  End Sub
End Class

The primary disadvantage to using fields is that access to them cannot be intercepted by custom code as is the case with properties.

Creating Events and Delegates

The basic event handling syntax has not changed significantly from previous versions of VB, although it has been extended (as you'll see shortly). As in previous versions, events can be declared within a class using the Event keyword. An event can be Public, Private, Protected, Friend, and Protected Friend to the class, can pass arguments either ByVal or ByRef, and cannot return values. Events can then be raised using the RaiseEvent keyword from within the class and passing the required arguments. A partial sample from a class called RegistrationWatch is shown in Listing 4.2.

Listing 4.2 Simple events. This class implements the simple event NewRegistrations using the Event keyword and fires it using RaiseEvent.

Public Class RegistrationWatch
   Public Event NewRegistrations(ByVal pStudents As DataSet)

   ' Other methods and properties
   Public Sub Look()
    Dim dsStuds As DataSet
    Dim flNew As Boolean

    ' Method that fires on a timer to look for new registrations
    ' since the last invocation of the method
    ' If one is found then create a DataSet with the new students
    ' and raise the event
    flNew = True
    dsStuds = New DataSet()

    If flNew Then
      RaiseEvent NewRegistrations(dsStuds)
    End If
   End Sub
End Class

Notice that the class defines a NewRegistrations event as Public so that consumers of the class will be able to catch it. The event passes back to the consumer a variable containing an ADO.NET DataSet that stores information on the new registrations found. The event is raised in the Look method using the RaiseEvent statement.

To catch the event, a consumer can declare the RegistrationWatcher class using the WithEvents keyword (termed declarative event handling). Note that, as in VB 6.0, variables declared using WithEvents can be either Public or Private. However, in VB.NET, WithEvents can be declared at the module or class level, rather than only in classes and forms as in VB 6.0. The syntax for using WithEvents is as follows:

Private WithEvents mobjReg As RegistrationWatch

To set up the event handler (or event sink), you can then create a procedure that handles the event within the class or module, as shown in the following example:

Public Sub RegFound(ByVal pStudents As System.Data.DataSet) _
 Handles mobjReg.NewRegistrations
  MsgBox("New Students Found!")
End Sub

Note that VB.NET uses the new Handles keyword to indicate precisely which event the procedure handles rather than simply relying on the naming convention used by the event handler as in previous versions. Declarative event handling is certainly the most convenient way to handle events, although as mentioned, it requires the object variable to be scoped correctly and cannot be used to dynamically turn an event handler on or off.

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Although it is true that declarative event handling does not allow you to turn events on and off, if the class raising the event is a custom class, you can implement your own EnableRaisingEvents property. The client can then use this property to stop the raising of events. You would then wrap your RaiseEvent statements in a check of this property.

When dealing with inheritance, keep in mind that if a class acting as a consumer does not implement the event handlers for a particular object, classes derived from it will not be able to implement them later. In addition, as with other methods, the event handlers can be specified with the Overridable, NotOverridable, and MustOverride keywords.

Events can also be marked as Shared, which allows all consumers of a class to receive an event notification when the RaiseEvent method is executed in any instance of the class. This might be useful for notifying several consumers when shared data changes, for example, in a service application that periodically queries a database and exposes the data through shared properties.

Dynamic Event Handling

VB.NET expands the ability to use events by implementing dynamic event handling in addition to the declarative approach discussed earlier. Dynamic event handling can be very useful when you want to turn event handling on or off (called hooking and unhooking an event) at a specific time or when the object variable that you want to hook does not reside at the module or class level. To hook and unhook events at run-time, use the AddHandler and RemoveHandler statements.

As an example, consider the RegistrationWatch class shown in Listing 4.3. In this example, we want to create client code in a class that hooks and unhooks the NewRegistrations event based on the setting of the public property. The client class that does this is shown in Listing 4.3.

Listing 4.3 Dynamic events. This class hooks and unhooks events dynamically using the AddHandler and RemoveHandler statements.

Public Class Registrations

  Private mRec As Boolean = False
  Private mRegWatch As RegistrationWatch

  Public Property ReceiveNotifications() As Boolean
    Get
      Return mRec
    End Get
    Set
      mRec = Value
      If mRec = True Then
        ' Add the event handler
        AddHandler mRegWatch.NewRegistrations, _
           AddressOf Me.NewRegistrations
      Else
        ' Remove the event handler
        RemoveHandler mRegWatch.NewRegistrations, _
           AddressOf Me.NewRegistrations
      End If
    End Set
  End Property

  Public Sub NewRegistrations(ByVal ds As DataSet)
    ' New Registrations found
    MsgBox("New registrations have been added!")
  End Sub

  Public Sub New()
    ' Instantiate the class level object
    mRegWatch = New RegistrationWatch()
  End Sub

  Public Sub TestNotify()
    ' Test method to simulate repeated queries for new registrations
    mRegWatch.Look()
  End Sub
End Class

In Listing 4.3, the property ReceiveNotifications is used to determine whether the class is to receive notifications. The Set block of the property then reads the value and calls the AddHandler and RemoveHandler statements accordingly. Both of the statements accept two parameters:

  • A reference to the event to be hooked (in this case, the NewRegistrations event of the module level mRegWatch variable)

  • The address of the method to use as the event handler

Note that the AddressOf and Me keywords are used to create a pointer to the method and specify a method internal to the class, respectively.

From the client's perspective, the code differs only in that the ReceiveNotification property can be set to True when notifications are desired (because the mRec class level variable defaults to False), as shown in the following example:

Dim objReg As New Registrations()

objReg.TestNotify() ' No notification
objReg.ReceiveNotifications = True
objReg.TestNotify() ' Notification received

Mapping Events to Delegates

As mentioned in Chapter 1, the infrastructure for events is based on the concept of delegates, and therefore, it is not surprising that the event keywords (such as Event, RaiseEvent, AddHandler, and RemoveHandler) simply abstract the creation and processing of delegates. However, VB.NET developers can also access delegates directly through the Delegate keyword. To understand delegates, let's first explore how delegates are used to implement events in VB.NET.

Remember first and foremost that delegates are simply types that hold references to functions in other objects (type-safe function pointers). There are two basic types of delegates: single-cast and multi-cast. The former allows a single function pointer to be stored and the latter creates a linked-list of pointers (events are implemented as multi-cast delegates). In addition to the function pointer, the delegate stores the arguments that the function will accept. As a result, from the developer's view, the delegate can be thought of simply as a method signature.

The basic idea behind using a delegate is that a program (called A for this example) creates a delegate that points to one of its own functions and then passes the delegate to some other program (B). At some time in the future, B executes A's function, making sure to push the appropriate arguments on the stack, by running the code at the address provided by the delegate. Of course, this is exactly the model used when dealing with events.

In the example in Listing 4.3, what happens when the Event keyword and RaiseEvent statements are added to the class is this. Behind the scenes, the VB compiler creates a Delegate with the same signature as the event and stores it in a field of the class as follows:

Delegate Sub NewRegistrations(ByVal pStudents As DataSet)

The compiler also creates add and remove methods for the delegate that take as an argument a reference to a delegate defined (in this case, NewRegistration). In addition, the RaiseEvent is replaced with a call to the delegate's Invoke method, which accepts the single argument as defined in the Delegate.

The consumer then uses the WithEvents keyword and implements the event handler with the Handles statement. At run-time, the delegate is instantiated (it is actually a class derived from System.Delegate) and a reference to the event handler is passed to the add method in RegistrationWatch. When the delegate is invoked, the function pointer to the event handler is used to call the method. This simple mapping of delegates to events should also explain why it is easy for VB.NET to support the AddHandler and RemoveHandler statements. They simply call the add and remove methods implemented by the compiler at specified times rather than upon instantiation and deallocation.

To make this a little clearer, examine the code in Listing 4.4 that shows the RegistrationWatcher class rewritten with a delegate in place of the event.

Listing 4.4 Simple delegate. This class uses a delegate in place of an event to perform simple notification.

Public Class RegistrationWatch
  Delegate Sub NewRegistrations(ByVal pStudents As DataSet)

  ' Other methods and properties
  Private mfound as NewRegistrations

  Public Sub RegisterClient(ByVal found As NewRegistrations)
Mfound = found
  End Sub

  Public Sub Look()
    Dim dsStuds As DataSet
    Dim flNew As Boolean

    ' Method that fires on a timer to look for new registration
    ' If one is found then create a DataSet with the new students
    ' and raise the event
    flNew = True
    dsStuds = New DataSet()

    If flNew Then
      mfound.Invoke(dsStuds) 'invoke the delegate
    End If
  End Sub
End Class

The differences between Listing 4.4 and Listing 4.3 can be summarized as follows:

  • The Event statement has been replaced with Delegate.

  • The RaiseEvent statement has been replaced with Delegate.Invoke.

  • The RegisterClient method is now used to pass in the reference to the delegate stored in a private class variable, whereas the Look method simply invokes the delegate at the appropriate time.

Notice also you don't have to explicitly create the add and remove methods, even when specifying the delegate yourself; the VB.NET compiler will add these automatically.

The client code also changes in order to instantiate the delegate as it is being passed to the Look method. Note that the address of the event handler is passed as the only argument in the constructor of the delegate, as shown in the following example:

Private mobjReg As RegistrationWatch

' in a class or module
mobjReg = New RegistrationWatch()
mobjReg.RegisterClient(New RegistrationWatch.NewRegistrations( _
   AddressOf NewRegistrations))
mobjReg.Look()

Private Sub NewRegistrations(ByVal ds As DataSet)
End Sub

Events can also work with delegates as a kind of shortcut for declaring the event signature. For example, rather than declaring an event as

Event NewRegistrations(ByVal ds As DataSet)

you could make the declarations

Delegate Sub NewRegistrations(ByVal ds As DataSet)
Event NewReg as NewRegistrations

This allows you to reuse the definition of the delegate inside the event. This can be useful when you have many events that require the same arguments.

Obviously, using delegates in place of events might be construed as overkill because events work quite nicely for scenarios where an event model is required. However, because delegates are function pointers, they also provide other capabilities of which you can take advantage, such as function substitution and asynchronous operation.

Function Substitution with Delegates

The idea of function substitution is exactly as it sounds: A section of client code can call one of several functions depending on the delegate it is passed. This promotes the idea of polymorphism because it allows you to write code that is generic as it doesn't know at compile-time which function it is going to call. As an example, consider the Registration class shown in Figure 4.1. Suppose that it contains a RegisterStudent method that implements the business rules necessary to register a student to take a course. As a small part of that process, the cost of the course must be calculated. However, the algorithm for calculating the cost varies depending on how the student was registered and could include a phone call, Web, and registrations received directly from a vendor or partner through a Web service.

To implement this requirement, the Registration class could declare a delegate called CalcCourseCost as follows:

Delegate Function CalcCourseCost(ByVal CourseID As String) As Decimal

Note that delegates can also return values and therefore be declared as a function. The RegisterStudent method is shown in Listing 4.5.

Listing 4.5 Skeleton code for the RegisterStudent method. This method uses the delegate passed in as the first parameter to invoke the appropriate calculation function.

Public Sub RegisterStudent(ByVal pCalc As CalcCourseCost, _
 ByVal pStud As DataSet)

  ' Implement the business process for registering the student

  ' 1. make sure the student has provided enough info
  ' 2. make sure the student has not been blacklisted
  ' 3. possibly suggest another class that is closer based on
  ' geographic data: raise exception
  ' 4. make sure the class is not full

  ' 5. calculate the cost
  Dim curCost As Decimal
  Dim strCourseID As String

  curCost = pCalc(strCourseID)

  ' 6. persist the registration (database or queue)
  ' 7. notify the appropriate internal staff of a new registration
  ' 8. email verification to student
End Sub

The method takes both the delegate and the student information packed in a DataSet as parameters. After completing the preliminary business rules, the course cost can be calculated simply by invoking the delegate pCalc and passing the required CourseID argument. Note that this example illustrates that the Invoke method of the delegate is actually the default method of a delegate object. The invocation of the calculation function could also be written as pCalc.Invoke(strCourseID).

On the client side, the appropriate delegate must be instantiated. The skeleton code in Listing 4.6 shows code residing in a module or class that first collects the registration method (stored in RegType) and uses a Select Case statement to instantiate the correct delegate. The delegate is then passed to the RegisterStudent method.

Listing 4.6 Client code using a delegate. This code determines the appropriate delegate at run-time and passes it to the RegisterStudent method. Note that the procedures used as the delegates are shown later.

Dim objReg As New Registrations()
Dim delCalc As Registrations.CalcCourseCost
Dim RegType As Integer
Dim ds As DataSet

' Determine the registration type
' Create the delegate based on the registration type
Select Case RegType
  Case 1
    delCalc = New Registrations.CalcCourseCost(AddressOf CalcWeb)
  Case 2
    delCalc = New Registrations.CalcCourseCost(AddressOf CalcPhone)
  Case 3
     delCalc = New Registrations.CalcCourseCost(AddressOf CalcService)
End Select

' Register the student
objReg.RegisterStudent(delCalc, ds)

' Other code goes here

Public Function CalcWeb(ByVal strCourseID As String) As Decimal
  ' Calculate cost based on web registration
End Function

Public Function CalcPhone(ByVal strCourseID As String) As Decimal
  ' Calculate cost based on phone registration
End Function

Public Function CalcService(ByVal strCourseID As String) As Decimal
  ' Calculate cost based on service registration
End Function

NOTE

Experienced VB developers might have noticed that this technique is similar to using the CallByName function in VB 6.0. The difference is that CallByName could be used only on internal classes or COM objects, whereas delegates can be used with any procedure (in a module or a class) that fits the signature of the delegate.

What About Interfaces?

Developers who have done interface-based programming in VB 6.0 will note that the polymorphism shown in the CalcCourseCost example could also be implemented simply by creating separate classes for each calculation method and implementing a common interface (ICalc) that exposes a Calculate method. Different classes that implement the ICalc interface could then be passed to RegisterStudent at run-time to call the Calculate method. Although this technique would also work, it might be more complicated and less efficient. For example, by using a delegate, you don't have to create separate classes because any number of functions (as long as they have the same signature) in the calling code can be used to implement the delegate, and you don't have to pass a full object reference to RegisterStudent, only a delegate. As a rule of thumb, create interfaces when there is a collection of related members that you want to implement across classes and when the particular function will be implemented only once. Use delegates when you have only a single function to implement, the class implementing the delegate doesn't require a reference to the object, or you want to create a delegate for a shared method (all methods defined for the interface are always instance methods).

As mentioned in the "What About Interfaces?" sidebar, using delegates for function substitution can also take the place of using interfaces (discussed later in the chapter). This pattern can be approximated by instantiating a delegate inside a class and then using a private function to invoke the delegate. For example, consider the case in which disparate classes each support the ability to persist their state. In this case, client applications could work with each of these classes polymorphically through the use of a delegate rather than requiring them to implement the same interface or belong to the same inheritance hierarchy. The pattern for such a class is shown in Listing 4.7.

Listing 4.7 Delegates as interfaces. This class shows how a delegate can be used to expose functionality to client applications polymorphically. It is functionally equivalent to using an interface.

Delegate Function Persist() As String

Public Class Registrations
  Public ReadOnly myPersist As Persist

    Public Sub New()
      myPersist = New Persist(AddressOf Me.SaveToDisk)
    End Sub

    Private Function SaveToDisk() As String
      Dim strFile as String

      ' save the contents to disk and return the path name
      Return strFile
    End Function
End Class

Note that the delegate is declared external to the class and that the class then instantiates a read-only variable in the constructor, passing it the address of the private SaveToDisk method (which will actually save the results and return the file name). The client application can then call any class that supports the Persist delegate by implementing a function that accepts the delegate as parameter, as shown here:

Public Function Save(ByVal pPersist As Persist) As String
  Return pPersist.Invoke
End Function

The client then invokes the function to save the contents to a file by passing the delegate of the Registrations class to the Save function, as shown here:

Dim objRegister As New Registrations
Dim strPath As String

' ...work with the class
strPath = Save(objRegister.myPersist)

In this way, each class can decide internally how to implement the code to save its contents and yet provide a public interface through the Persist delegate that client applications can call. Even though this code is slightly more complex from the client application's perspective, it is more flexible because interfaces and inheritance are not required.

Asynchronous Processing with Delegates

A second major use of delegates in .NET is for handling asynchronous processing. One of the benefits of using delegates for asynchronous processing is that they can be used both in conjunction with .NET Remoting (discussed in Chapter 8, "Building Components,") to facilitate communication between processes and machines and with code that resides in the same application domain. This common programming model allows you to write code that is location transparent as well.

Delegates are appropriate for asynchronous calls because they were designed with BeginInvoke and EndInvoke methods that allow the client to invoke a method asynchronously and then catch its results respectively. You can think of BeginInvoke and EndInvoke as partitioning the execution of a method from a client's perspective. To specify which procedure to call upon completion of the asynchronous method, you use the AsyncCallback object and IAsyncResult interface from the System namespace. When using delegates with the asynchronous classes and interfaces in the System namespace, the CLR provides the underlying services needed to support this programming model including a thread pool and the ability to call objects that reside inside synchronized contexts such as those using COM+ services. (We'll explore more about thread support in the CLR in Chapter 12, "Accessing System Services," as well.) One of the side benefits of this integration is to make it fairly simple to create multi-threaded applications in VB.NET.

NOTE

VB 6.0 developers will recall that because the VB 6.0 runtime was single-threaded, it was very difficult to create any asynchronous code without resorting to using the Win32 API directly (which led to unstable code that was tricky to debug) or tricking the COM library into creating an object in a new single-threaded apartment. Needless to say, neither technique was particularly attractive.

To understand the pattern for asynchronous programming in .NET, consider a method of the Registration class that is used to send reminder e-mail notifications to all students who are to attend a class the following week. This RemindStudent method might take some time to complete because it must read a list of students from the database, construct an e-mail message for each one, send the e-mail, and update the database appropriately. For the client application's thread to avoid being blocked when the method is called, the method can be called using a delegate (in this case often termed an asynchronous delegate).

Because the .NET asynchronous model allows the client to decide whether the called code will run asynchronously, the code for the RemindStudent method does not have to be written explicitly to handle asynchronous calls. You can simply declare it and write the code as if it were synchronous as follows:

Public Function RemindStudent(ByVal pDaysAhead As Integer, _
    ByRef pErrors() as String) As Boolean
  ' Read from the database and send out the email notification
End Sub

Note that the method requires an argument to specify how many days in advance the e-mail should be sent out and returns an array of strings containing any error messages. However, the client code must significantly change. The code in Listing 4.8 is used to call the RemindStudent method.

Listing 4.8 Code used to implement asynchronous programming using delegates.

' Async delegate
Delegate Function RemStudentCallback(ByVal pDaysAhead As Integer, _
ByRef pErrors() as String) As Boolean

' Client code inside a class or module

' Declare variables
Dim temp() As String
Dim intDays As Integer = 7

' Create the Registration class and the delegate
Dim objReg As Registration = New Registration()
Dim StudCb As RemStudentCallback = New RemStudentCallback(AddressOf _
  objReg.RemindStudent)

' Define the AsyncCallback delegate
Dim cb As AsyncCallback = New AsyncCallback(AddressOf RemindResult)

' Can create any object as the state object
Dim state As Object = New Object()

' Asynchronously invoke the RemindStudent method on objReg
StudCb.BeginInvoke(intDays, temp, cb, state)

' Do some other useful work

Public Sub RemindResult(ByVal ar As IAsyncResult)
    Dim strErrors() As String
    Dim StudCb As RemStudentCallback
    Dim flResult As Boolean
    Dim objResult As AsyncResult

    ' Extract the delegate from the AsyncResult
    objResult = CType(ar, AsyncResult)
    StudCb = objResult.AsyncDelegate

    ' Obtain the result
    flResult = StudCb.EndInvoke(strErrors, ar)

    ' Output results
End Sub

To begin, notice that the client code first creates a new instance of the Registration class as normal. However, it then creates a new RemStudentCallback delegate and places in it the address of the RemindStudent method of the newly created object instance (objReg). Once again, the delegate must have the same signature as the RemindStudent method.

Now the code must create an address that can be called back upon completion of the RemindStudent method. To do this, a system delegate class called AsyncCallback is instantiated and passed the address of a procedure called RemindResult. You'll notice that RemindResult must accept one argument: an object that supports the IAsyncResult interface.

After the callback is set up, the RemindStudent method is actually invoked using the BeginInvoke method of the delegate that was created earlier (StudCb). The BeginInvoke method accepts the same arguments as the delegate it was instantiated as in addition to the delegate that contains the callback and an object in which you can place additional state information required by the method.

At this point, your code can continue on the current execution path. The delegate will invoke the RemindStudent method (on a separate thread if in the same application) and when finished will call the procedure defined in the delegate passed to BeginInvoke (in this case, the RemindResult). As mentioned previously, this procedure accepts an argument of type IAsyncResult. To retrieve the instance of the delegate RemStudentCallback from it, you first need to convert it to an object of type AsyncResult using the CType function. The AsyncDelegate property of the resulting AsyncResult object contains the reference to the RemStudentCallback delegate. The return value and any arguments passed ByRef are then captured using the return value and arguments passed to the EndInvoke method of the delegate.

Creating Named Constants

There are two ways to expose constants in a class in VB.NET: The first is to use the traditional Const keyword at the class level, and the second is to use an enumerated type.

To create a constant, simply declare it and assign it a value as follows:

Private Const QUILOGY_CODE As Byte = 1

Constants can be defined as any of the simple data types such as Byte, Boolean, Char, Short, Integer, Long, Single, Double, Decimal, Date, and String. As expected, constants cannot be the targets of assignment statements and must be initialized deterministically. In other words, the code used to initialize the constant must be able to be evaluated at compile-time using a constant expression that contains no variables or functions that return varying results.

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If you would like to create a constant but need to initialize it using a non-deterministic algorithm, you should use a read-only field and initialize it in the class constructor. Read-only fields also have the advantage of being able to support additional types such as custom objects.

Finally, constants in a class are always explicitly shared members, as will be discussed later in the chapter. However, you can also modify them with the Public, Private, Protected, Friend, and Protected Friend keywords.

The second technique for creating constants in a class is to use an enumeration. As in VB 6.0, enumerations in VB.NET are declared with the Enum keyword and are used to provide a collection of constants that can be used in structures, variables, parameters, or even return values of procedures. The limitations of enumerated types include the following:

  • They have a restricted set of data types (Byte, Short, Integer, and Long, which is the default).

  • They must be initialized at compile-time under the same restrictions as constants. If you don't explicitly initialize them, they will be initialized to 0. VB.NET also supports the syntax where initializing the first constant in the enumeration and leaving the others uninitialized will result in the uninitialized constants being initialized in increments of 1 based on the first constant.

  • They are not inheritable.

The typical syntax for declaring an enum is as follows:

Public Enum VendorCodes As Byte
  vcQuilogy = 1
  vcMicrosoft = 2
  vcOracle = 3
  vcRational = 4
  vcSybase = 5
End Enum

Note that in this case, the Byte data type is used explicitly for the VendorCodes enumerated type rather than defaulting to a Long. In addition, this syntax implies that all constants within the type are of the same data type unlike a structure.

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Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020