Bundle related elements in VB.NET with enumeration

by Irina Medvinskaya | Jan 25, 2007 4:47:00 PM

Tags: Microsoft development tools, Programming languages, Irina Medvinskaya, Microsoft Visual Basic.Net, enumeration, Visual Basic Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: In general, enumerations assist in bundling together related elements in Visual Basic .NET. Here's a tip that shows how enumeration makes code easier to develop and read.

You'll find that using enumeration in your VB.NET code comes in handy whenever you need to establish a set of related constants in your application and set their values. In this quick tip, I give an example of how using enumeration makes code easier to develop and read.

Enumeration at a glance

After you define your enumeration, you can refer to its individual members simply by combining the enumeration name with the member name. Once enumeration is defined, Visual Studio provides the IntelliSense feature where, when you start typing, it recognizes the possible members and allows you to select them from the list without necessarily typing the full member name. View Figure 1.

Example

Add the following code to the top of your module right after the class declaration statement:

Enum Environment As Integer
        Production = 100
        COB = 200
        QA = 300
        Development = 400
    End Enum

Then add the following code to the Form_Load event:

        Dim iEnvironment As Integer


        iEnvironment = Environment.Production
        MessageBox.Show("Production = " & iEnvironment)

        iEnvironment = Environment.Development
        MessageBox.Show("Development = " & iEnvironment)

In the example, I define a set of related variables that signify certain given values that would normally be required for the application at the top of the class. Then, I use the values in the code by simply defining an integer variable (i) and setting its value to a particular member of the enumeration (Prod). Then, I display the resulting value (100) in the MessageBox. I then reassign a different value to it (Development) and display the new value in the MessageBox (400).

The result of running the code would look like Figures 2 and 3.

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Print/View all Posts Comments on this article

Enum Type Ramazan.Koyuncu@... | 01/26/07

*Much* better DPitz | 01/26/07

*Much* better DPitz | 01/26/07

Doesn't this example go against best practices larry.goble@... | 01/26/07

Fewer lines of code Master_Techie | 01/26/07

Code provided as an example only irina_medvinskaya@... | 01/26/07