How to Use Enum from Another Class in Vb. Net?
What Is the Proper Way to Use My Enum Values from a Different Class? Public Class Mainclass Private Sub Asd() ' Does Not Work: Anotherclass...
What is the proper way to use my Enum values from a different class?
Public Class MainClass
Private Sub asd()
' does not work:
AnotherClass.WriteSomething(VAL_LIST.VAL_1, DateTime.Now.ToString)
End Sub
End Class
Public Class AnotherClass
Enum VAL_LIST
VAL_1
VAL_2
VAL_3
End Enum
Public Sub WriteSomething(ByVal myVal As VAL_LIST, ByVal myString As String)
Dim _string As String = "Today is " & myString
End Sub
End Class
It says << 'VAL_LIST' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level. >>
2 Answers
You need to provide an access modifier for your enum. Be default (if left off), it's private.
Public Class AnotherClass
'NOTE enum now has an access modifier.
Public Enum VAL_LIST
VAL_1
VAL_2
VAL_3
End Enum
'...
End Class
NOTE: you should always use access modifiers to avoid confusion and reduce errors.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Though superfluous to this topic, I would also suggest you read up on proper naming conventions, specifically -- in your case -- with regard to enums. You should name your enums and their values using Pascal Case, e.g. ValList. Furthermore, I would choose more descriptive names. VAL_LIST doesn't really indicate what it's for, and certainly VAL_1 etc. don't indicate what they are for either.
There is a default scope of objects in a class which is independent of the scope of the class itself.
By default Structures and Enums are Private and Variables are Public.
Best practise is to specify the Public/Private scope explicitly so you can do something like this:
Public Class AnotherClass
Public Enum VAL_LIST
VAL_1
VAL_2
VAL_3
End Enum
End Class
You have to now reference the Enum via the class Name:
AnotherClass.VAL_LIST.VAL_1
Although in your example WriteSomething is an instance member so you need to do the following:
Dim ac As New AnotherClass
ac.WriteSomething(AnotherClass.VAL_LIST.VAL_1, DateTime.Now.ToString)
Also please rename your Enum to something more meaningful and don't use underscores to follow best practise.
Full working example:
Public Class MainClass
Private Sub Foo()
Dim ac As New AnotherClass
ac.WriteSomething(AnotherClass.ValueList.Value1, DateTime.Now.ToString)
End Sub
End Class
Public Class AnotherClass
Public Enum ValueList
Value1
Value2
Value3
End Enum
Public Sub WriteSomething(ByVal myVal As ValueList, ByVal myString As String)
Dim _string As String = "Today is " & myString
End Sub
End Class
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