VB.

Net - Overview
[Link] is a simple, modern, object-oriented computer programming language developed by Microsoft to
combine the power of .NET Framework and the common language runtime with the productivity benefits that
are the hallmark of Visual Basic. This tutorial will teach you basic [Link] programming and will also take you
through various advanced concepts related to [Link] programming language.

Visual Basic .NET ([Link]) is an object-oriented computer programming language implemented on

the .NET Framework. Although it is an evolution of classic Visual Basic language, it is not backwards-
compatible with VB6, and any code written in the old version does not compile under [Link].
Like all other .NET languages, [Link] has complete support for object-oriented concepts.
Everything in [Link] is an object, including all of the primitive types (Short, Integer, Long, String,
Boolean, etc.) and user-defined types, events, and even assemblies. All objects inherits from the
base class Object.
[Link] is implemented by Microsoft's .NET framework. Therefore, it has full access to all the
libraries in the .Net Framework. It's also possible to run [Link] programs on Mono, the open-source
alternative to .NET, not only under Windows, but even Linux or Mac OSX.
The following reasons make [Link] a widely used professional language −
 Modern, general purpose.
 Object oriented.
 Component oriented.
 Easy to learn.
 Structured language.
 It produces efficient programs.
 It can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms.
 Part of .Net Framework.

Strong Programming Features [Link]

[Link] has numerous strong programming features that make it endearing to multitude of
programmers worldwide. Let us mention some of these features −
 Boolean Conditions
 Automatic Garbage Collection
 Standard Library
 Assembly Versioning
 Properties and Events
 Delegates and Events Management
 Easy-to-use Generics
  Indexers
 Conditional Compilation
 Simple Multithreading

The .Net Framework

The .Net framework is a revolutionary platform that helps you to write the following types of
applications −
 Windows applications
 Web applications
 Web services
The .Net framework applications are multi-platform applications. The framework has been designed in
such a way that it can be used from any of the following languages: Visual Basic, C#, C++, Jscript,
and COBOL, etc.
All these languages can access the framework as well as communicate with each other.
The .Net framework consists of an enormous library of codes used by the client languages like
[Link]. These languages use object-oriented methodology.
Following are some of the components of the .Net framework −
 Common Language Runtime (CLR)
 The .Net Framework Class Library
 Common Language Specification
 Common Type System
 Metadata and Assemblies
 Windows Forms
 [Link] and [Link] AJAX
 [Link]
 Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
 Windows Presentation Foundation
 Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
 LINQ

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) For [Link]

Microsoft provides the following development tools for [Link] programming −
 Visual Studio 2010 (VS)
 Visual Basic 2010 Express (VBE)
  Visual Web Developer

[Link] Hello World Example

A [Link] program basically consists of the following parts −
 Namespace declaration
 A class or module
 One or more procedures
 Variables
 The Main procedure
 Statements & Expressions
 Comments

Let us look at a simple code that would print the words "Hello World" −
Imports System
Module Module1
'This program will display Hello World
Sub Main()
[Link]("Hello World")
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Hello, World!

Let us look various parts of the above program −

 The first line of the program Imports System is used to include the System namespace in the
program.
 The next line has a Module declaration, the module Module1. [Link] is completely object
oriented, so every program must contain a module of a class that contains the data and
procedures that your program uses.
 Classes or Modules generally would contain more than one procedure. Procedures contain the
executable code, or in other words, they define the behavior of the class. A procedure could be
any of the following −
o Function
o Sub
o Operator
o Get
 o Set
o AddHandler
o RemoveHandler
o RaiseEvent
 The next line( 'This program) will be ignored by the compiler and it has been put to add
additional comments in the program.
 The next line defines the Main procedure, which is the entry point for all [Link] programs. The
Main procedure states what the module or class will do when executed.
 The Main procedure specifies its behavior with the statement
[Link]("Hello World") WriteLine is a method of the Console class defined in
the System namespace. This statement causes the message "Hello, World!" to be displayed
on the screen.
 The last line [Link]() is for the [Link] Users. This will prevent the screen from
running and closing quickly when the program is launched from Visual Studio .NET.

Compile & Execute [Link] Program

If you are using Visual [Link] IDE, take the following steps −
 Start Visual Studio.
 On the menu bar, choose File → New → Project.
 Choose Visual Basic from templates
 Choose Console Application.
 Specify a name and location for your project using the Browse button, and then choose the OK
button.
 The new project appears in Solution Explorer.
 Write code in the Code Editor.
 Click the Run button or the F5 key to run the project. A Command Prompt window appears that
contains the line Hello World.
You can compile a [Link] program by using the command line instead of the Visual Studio IDE −
 Open a text editor and add the above mentioned code.
 Save the file as [Link]
 Open the command prompt tool and go to the directory where you saved the file.
 Type vbc [Link] and press enter to compile your code.
 If there are no errors in your code the command prompt will take you to the next line and would
generate [Link] executable file.
 Next, type helloworld to execute your program.
  You will be able to see "Hello World" printed on the screen.

[Link] is an object-oriented programming language. In Object-Oriented Programming methodology,

a program consists of various objects that interact with each other by means of actions. The actions
that an object may take are called methods. Objects of the same kind are said to have the same type
or, more often, are said to be in the same class.
When we consider a [Link] program, it can be defined as a collection of objects that communicate
via invoking each other's methods. Let us now briefly look into what do class, object, methods and
instance variables mean.
 Object − Objects have states and behaviors. Example: A dog has states - color, name, breed
as well as behaviors - wagging, barking, eating, etc. An object is an instance of a class.
 Class − A class can be defined as a template/blueprint that describes the behaviors/states that
objects of its type support.
 Methods − A method is basically a behavior. A class can contain many methods. It is in
methods where the logics are written, data is manipulated and all the actions are executed.
 Instance Variables − Each object has its unique set of instance variables. An object's state is
created by the values assigned to these instance variables.
Imports System
Public Class Rectangle
Private length As Double
Private width As Double

'Public methods
Public Sub AcceptDetails()
length = 4.5
width = 3.5
End Sub

Public Function GetArea() As Double

GetArea = length * width
End Function
Public Sub Display()
[Link]("Length: {0}", length)
[Link]("Width: {0}", width)
[Link]("Area: {0}", GetArea())

End Sub

Shared Sub Main()

Dim r As New Rectangle()
[Link]()
[Link]()
[Link]()
End Sub
End Class
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Length: 4.5
Width: 3.5
Area: 15.75

Identifiers
An identifier is a name used to identify a class, variable, function, or any other user-defined item. The
basic rules for naming classes in [Link] are as follows −
 A name must begin with a letter that could be followed by a sequence of letters, digits (0 - 9) or
underscore. The first character in an identifier cannot be a digit.
 It must not contain any embedded space or symbol like ? - +! @ # % ^ & * ( ) [ ] { } . ; : " ' / and \.
However, an underscore ( _ ) can be used.
 It should not be a reserved keyword.

[Link] Keywords
The following table lists the [Link] reserved keywords −

AddHandler AddressOf Alias And AndAlso As Boolean

ByRef Byte ByVal Call Case Catch CBool

CByte CChar CDate CDec CDbl Char CInt

Class CLng CObj Const Continue CSByte CShort

CSng CStr CType CUInt CULng CUShort Date

Decimal Declare Default Delegate Dim DirectCast Do

Double Each Else ElseIf End End If Enum

Erase Error Event Exit False Finally For

Friend Function Get GetType GetXML Namespace Global GoTo

Handles If Implements Imports In Inherits Integer

Interface Is IsNot Let Lib Like Long

Loop Me Mod Module MustInherit MustOverride MyBase

MyClass Namespace Narrowing New Next Not Nothing

Not Inheritable Not Overridable Object Of On Operator Option

Optional Or OrElse Overloads Overridable Overrides ParamArray

Partial Private Property Protected Public RaiseEvent ReadOnly

ReDim REM Remove Handler Resume Return SByte Select

Set Shadows Shared Short Single Static Step

Stop String Structure Sub SyncLock Then Throw

To True Try TryCast TypeOf UInteger While

Widening With WithEvents WriteOnly Xor

Data Types Available in [Link]

[Link] provides a wide range of data types. The following table shows all the data types available −

Data Type Storage Allocation Value Range

Boolean Depends on implementing platform True or False

Byte 1 byte 0 through 255 (unsigned)

Char 2 bytes 0 through 65535 (unsigned)

Date 8 bytes 0:00:00 (midnight) on January 1, 0001 through

11:59:59 PM on December 31, 9999

Decimal 16 bytes 0 through +/-

 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 (+/-
7.9...E+28) with no decimal point; 0 through +/-
7.9228162514264337593543950335 with 28
places to the right of the decimal

Double 8 bytes
-1.79769313486231570E+308 through -
4.94065645841246544E-324, for negative
values
4.94065645841246544E-324 through
1.79769313486231570E+308, for positive values

Integer 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647 (signed)

Long 8 bytes -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 through

9,223,372,036,854,775,807(signed)

Object Any type can be stored in a variable of type Object

4 bytes on 32-bit platform
8 bytes on 64-bit platform

SByte 1 byte -128 through 127 (signed)

Short 2 bytes -32,768 through 32,767 (signed)

Single 4 bytes
-3.4028235E+38 through -1.401298E-45 for
negative values;
1.401298E-45 through 3.4028235E+38 for
positive values

String Depends on implementing platform 0 to approximately 2 billion Unicode characters

UInteger 4 bytes 0 through 4,294,967,295 (unsigned)

ULong 8 bytes 0 through 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 (unsigned)

User- Depends on implementing platform Each member of the structure has a range
Defined determined by its data type and independent of the
ranges of the other members
UShort 2 bytes 0 through 65,535 (unsigned)

Example
The following example demonstrates use of some of the types −
Module DataTypes
Sub Main()
Dim b As Byte
Dim n As Integer
Dim si As Single
Dim d As Double
Dim da As Date
Dim c As Char
Dim s As String
Dim bl As Boolean

b=1
n = 1234567
si = 0.12345678901234566
d = 0.12345678901234566
da = Today
c = "U"c
s = "Me"

If ScriptEngine = "VB" Then

bl = True
Else
bl = False
End If

If bl Then
'the oath taking
[Link](c & " and," & s & vbCrLf)
[Link]("declaring on the day of: {0}", da)
[Link]("We will learn [Link] seriously")
[Link]("Lets see what happens to the floating point variables:")
[Link]("The Single: {0}, The Double: {1}", si, d)
End If
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
U and, Me
declaring on the day of: 12/4/2012 12:00:00 PM
We will learn [Link] seriously
Lets see what happens to the floating point variables:
The Single:0.1234568, The Double: 0.123456789012346
The Type Conversion Functions in [Link]
[Link] provides the following in-line type conversion functions −

[Link]. Functions & Description

1
CBool(expression)
Converts the expression to Boolean data type.

2
CByte(expression)
Converts the expression to Byte data type.

3
CChar(expression)
Converts the expression to Char data type.

4
CDate(expression)
Converts the expression to Date data type

5
CDbl(expression)
Converts the expression to Double data type.

6
CDec(expression)
Converts the expression to Decimal data type.

7
CInt(expression)
Converts the expression to Integer data type.

8
CLng(expression)
Converts the expression to Long data type.

9
CObj(expression)
Converts the expression to Object type.

10
CSByte(expression)
 Converts the expression to SByte data type.

11
CShort(expression)
Converts the expression to Short data type.

12
CSng(expression)
Converts the expression to Single data type.

13
CStr(expression)
Converts the expression to String data type.

14
CUInt(expression)
Converts the expression to UInt data type.

15
CULng(expression)
Converts the expression to ULng data type.

16
CUShort(expression)
Converts the expression to UShort data type.

Example
The following example demonstrates some of these functions −
Module DataTypes
Sub Main()
Dim n As Integer
Dim da As Date
Dim bl As Boolean = True
n = 1234567
da = Today

[Link](bl)
[Link](CSByte(bl))
[Link](CStr(bl))
[Link](CStr(da))
[Link](CChar(CChar(CStr(n))))
[Link](CChar(CStr(da)))
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
True
-1
True
12/4/2012
1
1
[Link] - Variables
A variable is nothing but a name given to a storage area that our programs can manipulate. Each
variable in [Link] has a specific type, which determines the size and layout of the variable's memory;
the range of values that can be stored within that memory; and the set of operations that can be
applied to the variable.
We have already discussed various data types. The basic value types provided in [Link] can be
categorized as −

Type Example

Integral types SByte, Byte, Short, UShort, Integer, UInteger, Long, ULong and Char

Floating point types Single and Double

Decimal types Decimal

Boolean types True or False values, as assigned

Date types Date

[Link] also allows defining other value types of variable like Enum and reference types of variables
like Class. We will discuss date types and Classes in subsequent chapters.

Variable Declaration in [Link]

The Dim statement is used for variable declaration and storage allocation for one or more variables.
The Dim statement is used at module, class, structure, procedure or block level.
Syntax for variable declaration in [Link] is −
[ < attributelist > ] [ accessmodifier ] [[ Shared ] [ Shadows ] | [ Static ]]
[ ReadOnly ] Dim [ WithEvents ] variablelist
Where,
 attributelist is a list of attributes that apply to the variable. Optional.
 accessmodifier defines the access levels of the variables, it has values as - Public, Protected,
Friend, Protected Friend and Private. Optional.
 Shared declares a shared variable, which is not associated with any specific instance of a class
or structure, rather available to all the instances of the class or structure. Optional.
  Shadows indicate that the variable re-declares and hides an identically named element, or set
of overloaded elements, in a base class. Optional.
 Static indicates that the variable will retain its value, even when the after termination of the
procedure in which it is declared. Optional.
 ReadOnly means the variable can be read, but not written. Optional.
 WithEvents specifies that the variable is used to respond to events raised by the instance
assigned to the variable. Optional.
 Variablelist provides the list of variables declared.
Each variable in the variable list has the following syntax and parts −
variablename[ ( [ boundslist ] ) ] [ As [ New ] datatype ] [ = initializer ]
Where,
 variablename − is the name of the variable
 boundslist − optional. It provides list of bounds of each dimension of an array variable.
 New − optional. It creates a new instance of the class when the Dim statement runs.
 datatype − Required if Option Strict is On. It specifies the data type of the variable.
 initializer − Optional if New is not specified. Expression that is evaluated and assigned to the
variable when it is created.
Some valid variable declarations along with their definition are shown here −
Dim StudentID As Integer
Dim StudentName As String
Dim Salary As Double
Dim count1, count2 As Integer
Dim status As Boolean
Dim exitButton As New [Link]
Dim lastTime, nextTime As Date

Variable Initialization in [Link]

Variables are initialized (assigned a value) with an equal sign followed by a constant expression. The
general form of initialization is −
variable_name = value;
for example,
Dim pi As Double
pi = 3.14159

Example
Try the following example which makes use of various types of variables −
Module variablesNdataypes
Sub Main()
Dim a As Short
Dim b As Integer
Dim c As Double
 a = 10
b = 20
c=a+b
[Link]("a = {0}, b = {1}, c = {2}", a, b, c)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
a = 10, b = 20, c = 30

Accepting Values from User

The Console class in the System namespace provides a function ReadLine for accepting input from
the user and store it into a variable. For example,
Dim message As String
message = [Link]
The following example demonstrates it −
Module variablesNdataypes
Sub Main()
Dim message As String
[Link]("Enter message: ")
message = [Link]
[Link]()
[Link]("Your Message: {0}", message)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result (assume the user
inputs Hello World) −
Enter message: Hello World
Your Message: Hello World

Lvalues and Rvalues

There are two kinds of expressions −
 lvalue − An expression that is an lvalue may appear as either the left-hand or right-hand side of
an assignment.
 rvalue − An expression that is an rvalue may appear on the right- but not left-hand side of an
assignment.
Following is a valid statement −
Dim g As Integer = 20
But following is not a valid statement and would generate compile-time error −
20 = g

[Link] - Constants and Enumerations

The constants refer to fixed values that the program may not alter during its execution. These fixed
values are also called literals.
Constants can be of any of the basic data types like an integer constant, a floating constant, a
character constant, or a string literal. There are also enumeration constants as well.
The constants are treated just like regular variables except that their values cannot be modified after
their definition.
An enumeration is a set of named integer constants.

Declaring Constants
In [Link], constants are declared using the Const statement. The Const statement is used at module,
class, structure, procedure, or block level for use in place of literal values.
The syntax for the Const statement is −
[ < attributelist > ] [ accessmodifier ] [ Shadows ]
Const constantlist
Where,
 attributelist − specifies the list of attributes applied to the constants; you can provide multiple
attributes separated by commas. Optional.
 accessmodifier − specifies which code can access these constants. Optional. Values can be
either of the: Public, Protected, Friend, Protected Friend, or Private.
 Shadows − this makes the constant hide a programming element of identical name in a base
class. Optional.
 Constantlist − gives the list of names of constants declared. Required.
Where, each constant name has the following syntax and parts −
constantname [ As datatype ] = initializer
 constantname − specifies the name of the constant
 datatype − specifies the data type of the constant
 initializer − specifies the value assigned to the constant
For example,
'The following statements declare constants.'
Const maxval As Long = 4999
Public Const message As String = "HELLO"
Private Const piValue As Double = 3.1415

Example
The following example demonstrates declaration and use of a constant value −
Module constantsNenum
 Sub Main()
Const PI = 3.14149
Dim radius, area As Single
radius = 7
area = PI * radius * radius
[Link]("Area = " & Str(area))
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Area = 153.933

Print and Display Constants in [Link]

[Link] provides the following print and display constants −

[Link]. Constant & Description

1
vbCrLf
Carriage return/linefeed character combination.

2
vbCr
Carriage return character.

3
vbLf
Linefeed character.

4
vbNewLine
Newline character.

5
vbNullChar
Null character.

6
vbNullString
Not the same as a zero-length string (""); used for calling external procedures.
7
vbObjectError
Error number. User-defined error numbers should be greater than this value. For example:
[Link](Number) = vbObjectError + 1000

8
vbTab
Tab character.

9
vbBack
Backspace character.

Declaring Enumerations
An enumerated type is declared using the Enum statement. The Enum statement declares an
enumeration and defines the values of its members. The Enum statement can be used at the module,
class, structure, procedure, or block level.
The syntax for the Enum statement is as follows −
[ < attributelist > ] [ accessmodifier ] [ Shadows ]
Enum enumerationname [ As datatype ]
memberlist
End Enum
Where,
 attributelist − refers to the list of attributes applied to the variable. Optional.
 accessmodifier − specifies which code can access these enumerations. Optional. Values can
be either of the: Public, Protected, Friend or Private.
 Shadows − this makes the enumeration hide a programming element of identical name in a
base class. Optional.
 enumerationname − name of the enumeration. Required
 datatype − specifies the data type of the enumeration and all its members.
 memberlist − specifies the list of member constants being declared in this statement. Required.
Each member in the memberlist has the following syntax and parts:
[< attribute list >] member name [ = initializer ]
Where,
 name − specifies the name of the member. Required.
 initializer − value assigned to the enumeration member. Optional.
For example,
Enum Colors
red = 1
orange = 2
yellow = 3
 green = 4
azure = 5
blue = 6
violet = 7
End Enum

Example
The following example demonstrates declaration and use of the Enum variable Colors −
Module constantsNenum
Enum Colors
red = 1
orange = 2
yellow = 3
green = 4
azure = 5
blue = 6
violet = 7
End Enum

Sub Main()
[Link]("The Color Red is : " & [Link])
[Link]("The Color Yellow is : " & [Link])
[Link]("The Color Blue is : " & [Link])
[Link]("The Color Green is : " & [Link])
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
The Color Red is: 1
The Color Yellow is: 3
The Color Blue is: 6
The Color Green is: 4

[Link] - Modifiers
The modifiers are keywords added with any programming element to give some especial emphasis on
how the programming element will behave or will be accessed in the program.
For example, the access modifiers: Public, Private, Protected, Friend, Protected Friend, etc., indicate
the access level of a programming element like a variable, constant, enumeration or a class.

List of Available Modifiers in [Link]

The following table provides the complete list of [Link] modifiers −

[Link] Modifier Description

1 Ansi Specifies that Visual Basic should marshal all strings to American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) values regardless of the name of the external
procedure being declared.

2 Assembly Specifies that an attribute at the beginning of a source file applies to the
entire assembly.

3 Async Indicates that the method or lambda expression that it modifies is

asynchronous. Such methods are referred to as async methods. The caller
of an async method can resume its work without waiting for the async
method to finish.

4 Auto The charsetmodifier part in the Declare statement supplies the character
set information for marshaling strings during a call to the external
procedure. It also affects how Visual Basic searches the external file for
the external procedure name. The Auto modifier specifies that Visual Basic
should marshal strings according to .NET Framework rules.

5 ByRef Specifies that an argument is passed by reference, i.e., the called

procedure can change the value of a variable underlying the argument in
the calling code. It is used under the contexts of −
 Declare Statement
 Function Statement
 Sub Statement

6 ByVal Specifies that an argument is passed in such a way that the called
procedure or property cannot change the value of a variable underlying the
argument in the calling code. It is used under the contexts of −
 Declare Statement
 Function Statement
 Operator Statement
 Property Statement
 Sub Statement

7 Default Identifies a property as the default property of its class, structure, or

interface.

8 Friend
Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are
accessible from within the assembly that contains their declaration, not
only by the component that declares them.
Friend access is often the preferred level for an application's
programming elements, and Friend is the default access level of an
interface, a module, a class, or a structure.

9 In It is used in generic interfaces and delegates.

10 Iterator Specifies that a function or Get accessor is an iterator. An iterator performs
a custom iteration over a collection.

11 Key The Key keyword enables you to specify behavior for properties of
anonymous types.

12 Module Specifies that an attribute at the beginning of a source file applies to the
current assembly module. It is not same as the Module statement.

13 MustInherit Specifies that a class can be used only as a base class and that you
cannot create an object directly from it.

14 MustOverride Specifies that a property or procedure is not implemented in this class and
must be overridden in a derived class before it can be used.

15 Narrowing Indicates that a conversion operator (CType) converts a class or structure

to a type that might not be able to hold some of the possible values of the
original class or structure.

16 NotInheritable Specifies that a class cannot be used as a base class.

17 NotOverridable Specifies that a property or procedure cannot be overridden in a derived

class.

18 Optional Specifies that a procedure argument can be omitted when the procedure is
called.

19 Out For generic type parameters, the Out keyword specifies that the type is
covariant.

20 Overloads Specifies that a property or procedure redeclares one or more existing

properties or procedures with the same name.

21 Overridable Specifies that a property or procedure can be overridden by an identically

named property or procedure in a derived class.

22 Overrides Specifies that a property or procedure overrides an identically named

property or procedure inherited from a base class.

23 ParamArray ParamArray allows you to pass an arbitrary number of arguments to the

procedure. A ParamArray parameter is always declared using ByVal.

24 Partial Indicates that a class or structure declaration is a partial definition of the

class or structure.

25 Private Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are accessible
only from within their declaration context, including from within any
contained types.

26 Protected Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are accessible
only from within their own class or from a derived class.
27 Public Specifies that one or more declared programming elements have no
access restrictions.

28 ReadOnly Specifies that a variable or property can be read but not written.

29 Shadows Specifies that a declared programming element redeclares and hides an

identically named element, or set of overloaded elements, in a base class.

30 Shared Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are associated
with a class or structure at large, and not with a specific instance of the
class or structure.

31 Static Specifies that one or more declared local variables are to continue to exist
and retain their latest values after termination of the procedure in which
they are declared.

32 Unicode Specifies that Visual Basic should marshal all strings to Unicode values
regardless of the name of the external procedure being declared.

33 Widening Indicates that a conversion operator (CType) converts a class or structure

to a type that can hold all possible values of the original class or structure.

34 WithEvents Specifies that one or more declared member variables refer to an instance
of a class that can raise events.

35 WriteOnly Specifies that a property can be written but not read.

[Link] - Statements
A statement is a complete instruction in Visual Basic programs. It may contain keywords, operators,
variables, literal values, constants and expressions.
Statements could be categorized as −
 Declaration statements − these are the statements where you name a variable, constant, or
procedure, and can also specify a data type.
 Executable statements − these are the statements, which initiate actions. These statements
can call a method or function, loop or branch through blocks of code or assign values or
expression to a variable or constant. In the last case, it is called an Assignment statement.

Declaration Statements
The declaration statements are used to name and define procedures, variables, properties, arrays,
and constants. When you declare a programming element, you can also define its data type, access
level, and scope.
The programming elements you may declare include variables, constants, enumerations, classes,
structures, modules, interfaces, procedures, procedure parameters, function returns, external
procedure references, operators, properties, events, and delegates.
Following are the declaration statements in [Link] −
[Link] Statements and Description Example

1 Dim number As Integer

Dim Statement
Dim quantity As Integer = 100
Declares and allocates storage space for one or more Dim message As String = "Hello!"
variables.

2 Const maximum As Long = 1000

Const Statement
Const naturalLogBase As Object
Declares and defines one or more constants. = CDec(2.7182818284)

3 Enum CoffeeMugSize
Enum Statement
Jumbo
Declares an enumeration and defines the values of its ExtraLarge
Large
members. Medium
Small
End Enum

4 Class Box
Class Statement
Public length As Double
Declares the name of a class and introduces the definition of Public breadth As Double
Public height As Double
the variables, properties, events, and procedures that the class
End Class
comprises.

5 Structure Box
Structure Statement
Public length As Double
Declares the name of a structure and introduces the definition Public breadth As Double
Public height As Double
of the variables, properties, events, and procedures that the
End Structure
structure comprises.

6 Public Module myModule

Module Statement
Sub Main()
Declares the name of a module and introduces the definition of Dim user As String =
InputBox("What is your name?")
the variables, properties, events, and procedures that the
MsgBox("User name is" & user)
module comprises. End Sub
End Module

7 Public Interface MyInterface

Interface Statement
Sub doSomething()
Declares the name of an interface and introduces the End Interface
definitions of the members that the interface comprises.

8 Function myFunction
Function Statement
(ByVal n As Integer) As Double
Declares the name, parameters, and code that define a Return 5.87 * n
End Function
Function procedure.
9 Sub mySub(ByVal s As String)
Sub Statement
Return
Declares the name, parameters, and code that define a Sub End Sub
procedure.

10 Declare Function getUserName

Declare Statement
Lib "[Link]"
Declares a reference to a procedure implemented in an Alias "GetUserNameA"
(
external file.
ByVal lpBuffer As String,
ByRef nSize As Integer) As
Integer

11 Public Shared Operator +

Operator Statement
(ByVal x As obj, ByVal y As obj)
Declares the operator symbol, operands, and code that define As obj
Dim r As New obj
an operator procedure on a class or structure. ' implemention code for r = x + y
Return r
End Operator

12 ReadOnly Property quote() As String

Property Statement
Get
Declares the name of a property, and the property procedures Return quoteString
End Get
used to store and retrieve the value of the property.
End Property

13 Public Event Finished()

Event Statement
Declares a user-defined event.

14 Delegate Function MathOperator(

Delegate Statement
ByVal x As Double,
Used to declare a delegate. ByVal y As Double
) As Double

Executable Statements
An executable statement performs an action. Statements calling a procedure, branching to another
place in the code, looping through several statements, or evaluating an expression are executable
statements. An assignment statement is a special case of an executable statement.
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition '
Dim a As Integer = 10

' check the boolean condition using if statement '

If (a < 20) Then
' if condition is true then print the following '
 [Link]("a is less than 20")
End If
[Link]("value of a is : {0}", a)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
a is less than 20;
value of a is : 10

[Link] - Directives
The [Link] compiler directives give instructions to the compiler to preprocess the information before
actual compilation starts. All these directives begin with #, and only white-space characters may
appear before a directive on a line. These directives are not statements.
[Link] compiler does not have a separate preprocessor; however, the directives are processed as if
there was one. In [Link], the compiler directives are used to help in conditional compilation. Unlike C
and C++ directives, they are not used to create macros.

Compiler Directives in [Link]

[Link] provides the following set of compiler directives −
 The #Const Directive
 The #ExternalSource Directive
 The #If...Then...#Else Directives
 The #Region Directive
The #Const Directive
This directive defines conditional compiler constants. Syntax for this directive is −
#Const constname = expression
Where,
 constname − specifies the name of the constant. Required.
 expression − it is either a literal, or other conditional compiler constant, or a combination
including any or all arithmetic or logical operators except Is.
For example,
#Const state = "WEST BENGAL"
Example
The following code demonstrates a hypothetical use of the directive −
Module mydirectives
#Const age = True
Sub Main()
#If age Then
[Link]("You are welcome to the Robotics Club")
#End If
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
You are welcome to the Robotics Club
The #ExternalSource Directive
This directive is used for indicating a mapping between specific lines of source code and text external
to the source. It is used only by the compiler and the debugger has no effect on code compilation.
This directive allows including external code from an external code file into a source code file.
Syntax for this directive is −
#ExternalSource( StringLiteral , IntLiteral )
[ LogicalLine ]
#End ExternalSource
The parameters of #ExternalSource directive are the path of external file, line number of the first line,
and the line where the error occurred.
Example
The following code demonstrates a hypothetical use of the directive −
Module mydirectives
Public Class ExternalSourceTester

Sub TestExternalSource()

#ExternalSource("c:\vbprogs\[Link]", 5)
[Link]("This is External Code. ")
#End ExternalSource

End Sub
End Class

Sub Main()
Dim t As New ExternalSourceTester()
[Link]()
[Link]("In Main.")
[Link]()

End Sub
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
This is External Code.
In Main.
The #If...Then...#Else Directives
This directive conditionally compiles selected blocks of Visual Basic code.
Syntax for this directive is −
#If expression Then
 statements
[ #ElseIf expression Then
[ statements ]
...
#ElseIf expression Then
[ statements ] ]
[ #Else
[ statements ] ]
#End If
For example,
#Const TargetOS = "Linux"
#If TargetOS = "Windows 7" Then
' Windows 7 specific code
#ElseIf TargetOS = "WinXP" Then
' Windows XP specific code
#Else
' Code for other OS
#End if
Example
The following code demonstrates a hypothetical use of the directive −
Live Demo

Module mydirectives
#Const classCode = 8

Sub Main()
#If classCode = 7 Then
[Link]("Exam Questions for Class VII")
#ElseIf classCode = 8 Then
[Link]("Exam Questions for Class VIII")
#Else
[Link]("Exam Questions for Higher Classes")
#End If
[Link]()

End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Exam Questions for Class VIII
The #Region Directive
This directive helps in collapsing and hiding sections of code in Visual Basic files.
Syntax for this directive is −
#Region "identifier_string"
#End Region
For example,
#Region "StatsFunctions"
' Insert code for the Statistical functions here.
#End Region

[Link] - Operators
An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical
manipulations. [Link] is rich in built-in operators and provides following types of commonly used
operators −
 Arithmetic Operators
 Comparison Operators
 Logical/Bitwise Operators
 Bit Shift Operators
 Assignment Operators
 Miscellaneous Operators
This tutorial will explain the most commonly used operators.

Arithmetic Operators
Following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by [Link]. Assume variable A holds 2
and variable B holds 7, then −

Operator Description Example

^ Raises one operand to the power of another B^A will give 49

+ Adds two operands A + B will give 9

- Subtracts second operand from the first A - B will give -5

* Multiplies both operands A * B will give 14

/ Divides one operand by another and returns a floating point B / A will give 3.5
result

\ Divides one operand by another and returns an integer result B \ A will give 3

MOD Modulus Operator and remainder of after an integer division B MOD A will give 1
Comparison Operators
Following table shows all the comparison operators supported by [Link]. Assume variable A holds 10
and variable B holds 20, then −

Operator Description Example

= Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not; if yes, then (A = B) is not true.
condition becomes true.

<> Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not; if values are not (A <> B) is true.
equal, then condition becomes true.

> Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right (A > B) is not true.
operand; if yes, then condition becomes true.

< Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right (A < B) is true.
operand; if yes, then condition becomes true.

>= Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value (A >= B) is not
of right operand; if yes, then condition becomes true. true.

<= Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value of (A <= B) is true.
right operand; if yes, then condition becomes true.

Apart from the above, [Link] provides three more comparison operators, which we will be using in
forthcoming chapters; however, we give a brief description here.
 Is Operator − It compares two object reference variables and determines if two object
references refer to the same object without performing value comparisons. If object1 and
object2 both refer to the exact same object instance, result is True; otherwise, result is False.
 IsNot Operator − It also compares two object reference variables and determines if two object
references refer to different objects. If object1 and object2 both refer to the exact same object
instance, result is False; otherwise, result is True.
 Like Operator − It compares a string against a pattern.

Logical/Bitwise Operators
Following table shows all the logical operators supported by [Link]. Assume variable A holds Boolean
value True and variable B holds Boolean value False, then −
Operator Description Example

And It is the logical as well as bitwise AND operator. If both the operands are (A And B) is
true, then condition becomes true. This operator does not perform short- False.
circuiting, i.e., it evaluates both the expressions.

Or It is the logical as well as bitwise OR operator. If any of the two operands is (A Or B) is

true, then condition becomes true. This operator does not perform short- True.
circuiting, i.e., it evaluates both the expressions.

Not It is the logical as well as bitwise NOT operator. Use to reverses the logical Not(A And
state of its operand. If a condition is true, then Logical NOT operator will B) is True.
make false.

Xor It is the logical as well as bitwise Logical Exclusive OR operator. It returns A Xor B is
True if both expressions are True or both expressions are False; otherwise True.
it returns False. This operator does not perform short-circuiting, it always
evaluates both expressions and there is no short-circuiting counterpart of
this operator.

AndAlso It is the logical AND operator. It works only on Boolean data. It performs (A AndAlso
short-circuiting. B) is False.

OrElse It is the logical OR operator. It works only on Boolean data. It performs (A OrElse
short-circuiting. B) is True.

IsFalse It determines whether an expression is False.

IsTrue It determines whether an expression is True.

Bit Shift Operators

We have already discussed the bitwise operators. The bit shift operators perform the shift operations
on binary values. Before coming into the bit shift operators, let us understand the bit operations.
Bitwise operators work on bits and perform bit-by-bit operations. The truth tables for &, |, and ^ are as
follows −

p q p&q p|q p^q

 0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 1 1

1 1 1 1 0

1 0 0 1 1

Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; now in binary format they will be as follows −
A = 0011 1100
B = 0000 1101
-----------------
A&B = 0000 1100
A|B = 0011 1101
A^B = 0011 0001
~A = 1100 0011
We have seen that the Bitwise operators supported by [Link] are And, Or, Xor and Not. The Bit shift
operators are >> and << for left shift and right shift, respectively.
Assume that the variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13, then −

Operator Description Example

And Bitwise AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both (A AND B) will give 12,
operands. which is 0000 1100

Or Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand. (A Or B) will give 61,
which is 0011 1101

Xor Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but (A Xor B) will give 49,
not both. which is 0011 0001

Not Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and has the effect (Not A ) will give -61,
of 'flipping' bits. which is 1100 0011 in 2's
complement form due to a
signed binary number.
<< Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left A << 2 will give 240, which
by the number of bits specified by the right operand. is 1111 0000

>> Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved A >> 2 will give 15, which
right by the number of bits specified by the right operand. is 0000 1111

Assignment Operators
There are following assignment operators supported by [Link] −

Operator Description Example

= Simple assignment operator, Assigns values from right side C = A + B will assign value
operands to left side operand of A + B into C

+= Add AND assignment operator, It adds right operand to the left C += A is equivalent to C =
operand and assigns the result to left operand C+A

-= Subtract AND assignment operator, It subtracts right operand C -= A is equivalent to C =

from the left operand and assigns the result to left operand C-A

*= Multiply AND assignment operator, It multiplies right operand C *= A is equivalent to C =

with the left operand and assigns the result to left operand C*A

/= Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left operand with C /= A is equivalent to C =

the right operand and assigns the result to left operand (floating C/A
point division)

\= Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left operand with C \= A is equivalent to C =

the right operand and assigns the result to left operand (Integer C \A
division)

^= Exponentiation and assignment operator. It raises the left C^=A is equivalent to C = C

operand to the power of the right operand and assigns the ^A
result to left operand.
<<= Left shift AND assignment operator C <<= 2 is same as C = C
<< 2

>>= Right shift AND assignment operator C >>= 2 is same as C = C

>> 2

&= Concatenates a String expression to a String variable or

Str1 &= Str2 is same as
property and assigns the result to the variable or property.
Str1 = Str1 & Str2

Miscellaneous Operators
There are few other important operators supported by [Link].

Operator Description Example

AddressOf Returns the address of a procedure. AddHandler [Link],

AddressOf Button1_Click

Await It is applied to an operand in an asynchronous

method or lambda expression to suspend Dim result As res
= Await AsyncMethodThatReturnsResult()
execution of the method until the awaited task Await AsyncMethod()
completes.

GetType It returns a Type object for the specified type. The MsgBox(GetType(Integer).ToString())
Type object provides information about the type
such as its properties, methods, and events.

Function It declares the parameters and code that define a Dim add5 = Function(num As
Expression function lambda expression. Integer) num + 5
'prints 10
[Link](add5(5))

If It uses short-circuit evaluation to conditionally Dim num = 5

return one of two values. The If operator can be [Link](If(num >= 0,
"Positive", "Negative"))
called with three arguments or with two arguments.

Operators Precedence in [Link]

Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression. This affects how an
expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher precedence than others; for example, the
multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator −
For example, x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has higher precedence
than +, so it first gets multiplied with 3*2 and then adds into 7.
Here, operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with the lowest
appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher precedence operators will be evaluated first.

Operator Precedence

Await Highest

Exponentiation (^)

Unary identity and negation (+, -)

Multiplication and floating-point division (*, /)

Integer division (\)

Modulus arithmetic (Mod)

Addition and subtraction (+, -)

Arithmetic bit shift (<<, >>)

All comparison operators (=, <>, <, <=, >, >=, Is, IsNot, Like, TypeOf...Is)

Negation (Not)

Conjunction (And, AndAlso)

Inclusive disjunction (Or, OrElse)

Exclusive disjunction (Xor) Lowest

 [Link] - Decision Making
Decision making structures require that the programmer specify one or more conditions to be
evaluated or tested by the program, along with a statement or statements to be executed if the
condition is determined to be true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition is
determined to be false.
Following is the general form of a typical decision making structure found in most of the programming
languages −

[Link] provides the following types of decision making statements. Click the following links to check
their details.

Statement Description

If ... Then statement An If...Then statement consists of a boolean expression followed

by one or more statements.

If...Then...Else statement An If...Then statement can be followed by an optional Else

statement, which executes when the boolean expression is false.

You can use one If or Else if statement inside another If or Else

nested If statements
if statement(s).

Select Case statement A Select Case statement allows a variable to be tested for equality
against a list of values.
nested Select Case statements You can use one select case statement inside another select
case statement(s).

[Link] - If...Then Statement

It is the simplest form of control statement, frequently used in decision making and changing the
control flow of the program execution. Syntax for if-then statement is −
If condition Then
[Statement(s)]
End If
Where, condition is a Boolean or relational condition and Statement(s) is a simple or compound
statement. Example of an If-Then statement is −
If (a <= 20) Then
c= c+1
End If
If the condition evaluates to true, then the block of code inside the If statement will be executed. If
condition evaluates to false, then the first set of code after the end of the If statement (after the closing
End If) will be executed.

Flow Diagram

Example
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition
 Dim a As Integer = 10

' check the boolean condition using if statement

If (a < 20) Then
' if condition is true then print the following
[Link]("a is less than 20")
End If
[Link]("value of a is : {0}", a)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
a is less than 20
value of a is : 10
[Link] - If...Then...Else Statement
An If statement can be followed by an optional Else statement, which executes when the Boolean
expression is false.

Syntax
The syntax of an If...Then... Else statement in [Link] is as follows −
If(boolean_expression)Then
'statement(s) will execute if the Boolean expression is true
Else
'statement(s) will execute if the Boolean expression is false
End If
If the Boolean expression evaluates to true, then the if block of code will be executed, otherwise else
block of code will be executed.

Flow Diagram
Example
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition '
Dim a As Integer = 100

' check the boolean condition using if statement

If (a < 20) Then
' if condition is true then print the following
[Link]("a is less than 20")
Else
' if condition is false then print the following
[Link]("a is not less than 20")
End If
[Link]("value of a is : {0}", a)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
a is not less than 20
value of a is : 100

The If...Else If...Else Statement

An If statement can be followed by an optional Else if...Else statement, which is very useful to test
various conditions using single If...Else If statement.
When using If... Else If... Else statements, there are few points to keep in mind.
  An If can have zero or one Else's and it must come after an Else If's.
 An If can have zero to many Else If's and they must come before the Else.
 Once an Else if succeeds, none of the remaining Else If's or Else's will be tested.

Syntax
The syntax of an if...else if...else statement in [Link] is as follows −
If(boolean_expression 1)Then
' Executes when the boolean expression 1 is true
ElseIf( boolean_expression 2)Then
' Executes when the boolean expression 2 is true
ElseIf( boolean_expression 3)Then
' Executes when the boolean expression 3 is true
Else
' executes when the none of the above condition is true
End If

Example
Live Demo

Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition '
Dim a As Integer = 100
' check the boolean condition '
If (a = 10) Then
' if condition is true then print the following '
[Link]("Value of a is 10") '
ElseIf (a = 20) Then
'if else if condition is true '
[Link]("Value of a is 20") '
ElseIf (a = 30) Then
'if else if condition is true
[Link]("Value of a is 30")
Else
'if none of the conditions is true
[Link]("None of the values is matching")
End If
[Link]("Exact value of a is: {0}", a)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
None of the values is matching
Exact value of a is: 100
 [Link] - Nested If Statements
It is always legal in [Link] to nest If-Then-Else statements, which means you can use one If or ElseIf
statement inside another If ElseIf statement(s).

Syntax
The syntax for a nested If statement is as follows −
If( boolean_expression 1)Then
'Executes when the boolean expression 1 is true
If(boolean_expression 2)Then
'Executes when the boolean expression 2 is true
End If
End If
You can nest ElseIf...Else in the similar way as you have nested If statement.

Example
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 100
Dim b As Integer = 200
' check the boolean condition

If (a = 100) Then
' if condition is true then check the following
If (b = 200) Then
' if condition is true then print the following
[Link]("Value of a is 100 and b is 200")
End If
End If
[Link]("Exact value of a is : {0}", a)
[Link]("Exact value of b is : {0}", b)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Value of a is 100 and b is 200
Exact value of a is : 100
Exact value of b is : 200

It is always legal in [Link] to nest If-Then-Else statements, which means you can use one If or ElseIf
statement inside another If ElseIf statement(s).

Syntax
The syntax for a nested If statement is as follows −
If( boolean_expression 1)Then
'Executes when the boolean expression 1 is true
If(boolean_expression 2)Then
'Executes when the boolean expression 2 is true
End If
End If
You can nest ElseIf...Else in the similar way as you have nested If statement.

Example
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 100
Dim b As Integer = 200
' check the boolean condition

If (a = 100) Then
' if condition is true then check the following
If (b = 200) Then
' if condition is true then print the following
[Link]("Value of a is 100 and b is 200")
End If
End If
[Link]("Exact value of a is : {0}", a)
[Link]("Exact value of b is : {0}", b)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Value of a is 100 and b is 200
Exact value of a is : 100
Exact value of b is : 200
[Link] - Select Case Statement
A Select Case statement allows a variable to be tested for equality against a list of values. Each value
is called a case, and the variable being switched on is checked for each select case.

Syntax
The syntax for a Select Case statement in [Link] is as follows −
Select [ Case ] expression
[ Case expressionlist
[ statements ] ]
[ Case Else
[ elsestatements ] ]
End Select
Where,
 expression − is an expression that must evaluate to any of the elementary data type in [Link],
i.e., Boolean, Byte, Char, Date, Double, Decimal, Integer, Long, Object, SByte, Short, Single,
String, UInteger, ULong, and UShort.
 expressionlist − List of expression clauses representing match values for expression. Multiple
expression clauses are separated by commas.
 statements − statements following Case that run if the select expression matches any clause
in expressionlist.
 elsestatements − statements following Case Else that run if the select expression does not
match any clause in the expressionlist of any of the Case statements.

Flow Diagram

Example
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition
Dim grade As Char
grade = "B"
Select grade
Case "A"
[Link]("Excellent!")
Case "B", "C"
 [Link]("Well done")
Case "D"
[Link]("You passed")
Case "F"
[Link]("Better try again")
Case Else
[Link]("Invalid grade")
End Select
[Link]("Your grade is {0}", grade)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Well done
Your grade is B
[Link] - Nested Select Case Statement
It is possible to have a select statement as part of the statement sequence of an outer select
statement. Even if the case constants of the inner and outer select contain common values, no
conflicts will arise.

Example
Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 100
Dim b As Integer = 200
Select a
Case 100
[Link]("This is part of outer case ")
Select Case b
Case 200
[Link]("This is part of inner case ")
End Select
End Select
[Link]("Exact value of a is : {0}", a)
[Link]("Exact value of b is : {0}", b)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
This is part of outer case
This is part of inner case
Exact value of a is : 100
Exact value of b is : 200
 [Link] - Loops
There may be a situation when you need to execute a block of code several number of times. In
general, statements are executed sequentially: The first statement in a function is executed first,
followed by the second, and so on.
Programming languages provide various control structures that allow for more complicated execution
paths.
A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of statements multiple times and following
is the general form of a loop statement in most of the programming languages −

[Link] provides following types of loops to handle looping requirements. Click the following links to
check their details.

Loop Type Description

Do Loop It repeats the enclosed block of statements while a Boolean condition is

True or until the condition becomes True. It could be terminated at any
time with the Exit Do statement.

For...Next It repeats a group of statements a specified number of times and a loop

index counts the number of loop iterations as the loop executes.

It repeats a group of statements for each element in a collection. This loop is

For Each...Next
used for accessing and manipulating all elements in an array or a [Link]
collection.
While... End While It executes a series of statements as long as a given condition is True.

With... End With It is not exactly a looping construct. It executes a series of statements that
repeatedly refer to a single object or structure.

Nested loops You can use one or more loops inside any another While, For or Do loop.

[Link] - Do Loop
It repeats the enclosed block of statements while a Boolean condition is True or until the condition
becomes True. It could be terminated at any time with the Exit Do statement.
The syntax for this loop construct is −
Do { While | Until } condition
[ statements ]
[ Continue Do ]
[ statements ]
[ Exit Do ]
[ statements ]
Loop
-or-
Do
[ statements ]
[ Continue Do ]
[ statements ]
[ Exit Do ]
[ statements ]
Loop { While | Until } condition

Flow Diagram
Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 10
'do loop execution
Do
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
a=a+1
Loop While (a < 20)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
The program would behave in same way, if you use an Until statement, instead of While −
Live Demo
Module loops
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 10
'do loop execution

Do
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
a=a+1
Loop Until (a = 20)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
[Link] - For...Next Loop
It repeats a group of statements a specified number of times and a loop index counts the number of
loop iterations as the loop executes.
The syntax for this loop construct is −
For counter [ As datatype ] = start To end [ Step step ]
[ statements ]
[ Continue For ]
[ statements ]
[ Exit For ]
[ statements ]
Next [ counter ]

Flow Diagram
Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
Dim a As Byte
' for loop execution
For a = 10 To 20
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
Next
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
value of a: 20
If you want to use a step size of 2, for example, you need to display only even numbers, between 10
and 20 −
Module loops
Sub Main()
Dim a As Byte
' for loop execution
For a = 10 To 20 Step 2
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
Next
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 12
value of a: 14
value of a: 16
value of a: 18
value of a: 20
[Link] - Each...Next Loop
It repeats a group of statements for each element in a collection. This loop is used for accessing and
manipulating all elements in an array or a [Link] collection.
The syntax for this loop construct is −
For Each element [ As datatype ] In group
[ statements ]
[ Continue For ]
[ statements ]
[ Exit For ]
[ statements ]
Next [ element ]

Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
Dim anArray() As Integer = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9}
Dim arrayItem As Integer
'displaying the values

For Each arrayItem In anArray

[Link](arrayItem)
 Next
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
1
3
5
7
9
[Link] - While... End While Loop
It executes a series of statements as long as a given condition is True.
The syntax for this loop construct is −
While condition
[ statements ]
[ Continue While ]
[ statements ]
[ Exit While ]
[ statements ]
End While
Here, statement(s) may be a single statement or a block of statements. The condition may be any
expression, and true is logical true. The loop iterates while the condition is true.
When the condition becomes false, program control passes to the line immediately following the loop.

Flow Diagram
Here, key point of the While loop is that the loop might not ever run. When the condition is tested and
the result is false, the loop body will be skipped and the first statement after the while loop will be
executed.

Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
Dim a As Integer = 10
' while loop execution '

While a < 20
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
a=a+1
End While
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
[Link] - With... End With Statement
It is not exactly a looping construct. It executes a series of statements that repeatedly refers to a single
object or structure.
The syntax for this loop construct is −
With object
[ statements ]
End With

Example
Module loops
Public Class Book
Public Property Name As String
Public Property Author As String
Public Property Subject As String
End Class
Sub Main()
Dim aBook As New Book
With aBook
.Name = "[Link] Programming"
.Author = "Zara Ali"
.Subject = "Information Technology"
End With
With aBook
[Link](.Name)
[Link](.Author)
[Link](.Subject)
End With
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
[Link] Programming
Zara Ali
Information Technology
[Link] - Nested Loops
[Link] allows using one loop inside another loop. Following section shows few examples to illustrate
the concept.

Syntax
The syntax for a nested For loop statement in [Link] is as follows −
For counter1 [ As datatype1 ] = start1 To end1 [ Step step1 ]
For counter2 [ As datatype2 ] = start2 To end2 [ Step step2 ]
...
Next [ counter2 ]
Next [ counter 1]
The syntax for a nested While loop statement in [Link] is as follows −
While condition1
While condition2
...
End While
End While
The syntax for a nested Do...While loop statement in [Link] is as follows −
Do { While | Until } condition1
Do { While | Until } condition2
...
Loop
Loop
A final note on loop nesting is that you can put any type of loop inside of any other type of loop. For
example, a for loop can be inside a while loop or vice versa.

Example
The following program uses a nested for loop to find the prime numbers from 2 to 100 −
Module loops
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim i, j As Integer
For i = 2 To 100
For j = 2 To i
' if factor found, not prime
If ((i Mod j) = 0) Then
Exit For
End If
Next j
If (j > (i \ j)) Then
[Link]("{0} is prime", i)
End If
Next i
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
2 is prime
3 is prime
5 is prime
7 is prime
11 is prime
13 is prime
17 is prime
19 is prime
23 is prime
29 is prime
31 is prime
37 is prime
41 is prime
43 is prime
47 is prime
53 is prime
59 is prime
61 is prime
67 is prime
71 is prime
73 is prime
79 is prime
83 is prime
89 is prime
97 is prime

Loop Control Statements

Loop control statements change execution from its normal sequence. When execution leaves a scope,
all automatic objects that were created in that scope are destroyed.
[Link] provides the following control statements. Click the following links to check their details.

Control Statement Description

Exit statement Terminates the loop or select case statement and

transfers execution to the statement immediately following
the loop or select case.

Continue statement Causes the loop to skip the remainder of its body and
immediately retest its condition prior to reiterating.

GoTo statement Transfers control to the labeled statement. Though it is

not advised to use GoTo statement in your program.

[Link] - Exit Statement

The Exit statement transfers the control from a procedure or block immediately to the statement
following the procedure call or the block definition. It terminates the loop, procedure, try block or the
select block from where it is called.
If you are using nested loops (i.e., one loop inside another loop), the Exit statement will stop the
execution of the innermost loop and start executing the next line of code after the block.

Syntax
The syntax for the Exit statement is −
Exit { Do | For | Function | Property | Select | Sub | Try | While }

Flow Diagram

Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 10
' while loop execution '

While (a < 20)

[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
a=a+1
If (a > 15) Then
'terminate the loop using exit statement
Exit While
End If
End While
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
[Link] - Continue Statement
The Continue statement causes the loop to skip the remainder of its body and immediately retest its
condition prior to reiterating. It works somewhat like the Exit statement. Instead of forcing termination,
it forces the next iteration of the loop to take place, skipping any code in between.
For the For...Next loop, Continue statement causes the conditional test and increment portions of the
loop to execute. For the While and Do...While loops, continue statement causes the program control to
pass to the conditional tests.

Syntax
The syntax for a Continue statement is as follows −
Continue { Do | For | While }

Flow Diagram

Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
 ' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 10
Do
If (a = 15) Then
' skip the iteration '
a=a+1
Continue Do
End If
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
a=a+1
Loop While (a < 20)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
[Link] - GoTo Statement
The GoTo statement transfers control unconditionally to a specified line in a procedure.
The syntax for the GoTo statement is −
GoTo label

Flow Diagram
Example
Module loops
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 10
Line1:
Do
If (a = 15) Then
' skip the iteration '
a=a+1
GoTo Line1
End If
[Link]("value of a: {0}", a)
a=a+1
Loop While (a < 20)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 16
value of a: 17
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
 [Link] - Strings
In [Link], you can use strings as array of characters, however, more common practice is to use the
String keyword to declare a string variable. The string keyword is an alias for the [Link] class.

Creating a String Object

You can create string object using one of the following methods −
 By assigning a string literal to a String variable
 By using a String class constructor
 By using the string concatenation operator (+)
 By retrieving a property or calling a method that returns a string
 By calling a formatting method to convert a value or object to its string representation
The following example demonstrates this −
Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim fname, lname, fullname, greetings As String
fname = "Anukool"
lname = "Bajpai"
fullname = fname + " " + lname
[Link]("Full Name: {0}", fullname)

'by using string constructor

Dim letters As Char() = {"H", "e", "l", "l", "o"}
greetings = New String(letters)
[Link]("Greetings: {0}", greetings)

'methods returning String

Dim sarray() As String = {"Hello", "From", "SIMS", "Point"}
Dim message As String = [Link](" ", sarray)
[Link]("Message: {0}", message)

'formatting method to convert a value

Dim waiting As DateTime = New DateTime(2012, 12, 12, 17, 58, 1)
Dim chat As String = [Link]("Message sent at {0:t} on {0:D}", waiting)
[Link]("Message: {0}", chat)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Full Name: Anukool Bajpai
Greetings: Hello
Message: Hello From SIMS Point
Message: Message sent at 5:58 PM on Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Properties of the String Class

The String class has the following two properties −

[Link] Property Name & Description

1
Chars
Gets the Char object at a specified position in the current String object.

2
Length
Gets the number of characters in the current String object.

Methods of the String Class

The String class has numerous methods that help you in working with the string objects. The following
table provides some of the most commonly used methods −

[Link] Method Name & Description

1
Public Shared Function Compare ( strA As String, strB As String ) As Integer
Compares two specified string objects and returns an integer that indicates their relative
position in the sort order.

2
Public Shared Function Compare ( strA As String, strB As String, ignoreCase As
Boolean ) As Integer
Compares two specified string objects and returns an integer that indicates their relative
position in the sort order. However, it ignores case if the Boolean parameter is true.

3
Public Shared Function Concat ( str0 As String, str1 As String ) As String
Concatenates two string objects.

4
Public Shared Function Concat ( str0 As String, str1 As String, str2 As String ) As
String
Concatenates three string objects.

5
Public Shared Function Concat (str0 As String, str1 As String, str2 As String, str3 As
String ) As String
Concatenates four string objects.
6
Public Function Contains ( value As String ) As Boolean
Returns a value indicating whether the specified string object occurs within this string.

7
Public Shared Function Copy ( str As String ) As String
Creates a new String object with the same value as the specified string.

8
pPublic Sub CopyTo ( sourceIndex As Integer, destination As Char(), destinationIndex
As Integer, count As Integer )
Copies a specified number of characters from a specified position of the string object to a
specified position in an array of Unicode characters.

9
Public Function EndsWith ( value As String ) As Boolean
Determines whether the end of the string object matches the specified string.

10
Public Function Equals ( value As String ) As Boolean
Determines whether the current string object and the specified string object have the same
value.

11
Public Shared Function Equals ( a As String, b As String ) As Boolean
Determines whether two specified string objects have the same value.

12
Public Shared Function Format ( format As String, arg0 As Object ) As String
Replaces one or more format items in a specified string with the string representation of a
specified object.

13
Public Function IndexOf ( value As Char ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified Unicode character in the
current string.

14
Public Function IndexOf ( value As String ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified string in this instance.

15
Public Function IndexOf ( value As Char, startIndex As Integer ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified Unicode character in this
 string, starting search at the specified character position.

16
Public Function IndexOf ( value As String, startIndex As Integer ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified string in this instance,
starting search at the specified character position.

17
Public Function IndexOfAny ( anyOf As Char() ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence in this instance of any character in a
specified array of Unicode characters.

18
Public Function IndexOfAny ( anyOf As Char(), startIndex As Integer ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence in this instance of any character in a
specified array of Unicode characters, starting search at the specified character position.

19
Public Function Insert ( startIndex As Integer, value As String ) As String
Returns a new string in which a specified string is inserted at a specified index position in the
current string object.

20
Public Shared Function IsNullOrEmpty ( value As String ) As Boolean
Indicates whether the specified string is null or an Empty string.

21
Public Shared Function Join ( separator As String, ParamArray value As String() ) As
String
Concatenates all the elements of a string array, using the specified separator between each
element.

22
Public Shared Function Join ( separator As String, value As String(), startIndex As
Integer, count As Integer ) As String
Concatenates the specified elements of a string array, using the specified separator between
each element.

23
Public Function LastIndexOf ( value As Char ) As Integer
Returns the zero-based index position of the last occurrence of the specified Unicode
character within the current string object.

24
Public Function LastIndexOf ( value As String ) As Integer
 Returns the zero-based index position of the last occurrence of a specified string within the
current string object.

25
Public Function Remove ( startIndex As Integer ) As String
Removes all the characters in the current instance, beginning at a specified position and
continuing through the last position, and returns the string.

26
Public Function Remove ( startIndex As Integer, count As Integer ) As String
Removes the specified number of characters in the current string beginning at a specified
position and returns the string.

27
Public Function Replace ( oldChar As Char, newChar As Char ) As String
Replaces all occurrences of a specified Unicode character in the current string object with the
specified Unicode character and returns the new string.

28
Public Function Replace ( oldValue As String, newValue As String ) As String
Replaces all occurrences of a specified string in the current string object with the specified
string and returns the new string.

29
Public Function Split ( ParamArray separator As Char() ) As String()
Returns a string array that contains the substrings in the current string object, delimited by
elements of a specified Unicode character array.

30
Public Function Split ( separator As Char(), count As Integer ) As String()
Returns a string array that contains the substrings in the current string object, delimited by
elements of a specified Unicode character array. The int parameter specifies the maximum
number of substrings to return.

31
Public Function StartsWith ( value As String ) As Boolean
Determines whether the beginning of this string instance matches the specified string.

32
Public Function ToCharArray As Char()
Returns a Unicode character array with all the characters in the current string object.

33
Public Function ToCharArray ( startIndex As Integer, length As Integer ) As Char()
Returns a Unicode character array with all the characters in the current string object, starting
 from the specified index and up to the specified length.

34
Public Function ToLower As String
Returns a copy of this string converted to lowercase.

35
Public Function ToUpper As String
Returns a copy of this string converted to uppercase.

36
Public Function Trim As String
Removes all leading and trailing white-space characters from the current String object.

The above list of methods is not exhaustive, please visit MSDN library for the complete list of methods
and String class constructors.

Examples
The following example demonstrates some of the methods mentioned above −
Comparing Strings
Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim str1, str2 As String
str1 = "This is test"
str2 = "This is text"

If ([Link](str1, str2) = 0) Then

[Link](str1 + " and " + str2 + " are equal.")
Else
[Link](str1 + " and " + str2 + " are not equal.")
End If
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
This is test and This is text are not equal.
String Contains String
Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim str1 As String
str1 = "This is test"

If ([Link]("test")) Then
 [Link]("The sequence 'test' was found.")
End If
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
The sequence 'test' was found.
Getting a Substring:
Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim str As String
str = "Last night I dreamt of San Pedro"
[Link](str)

Dim substr As String = [Link](23)

[Link](substr)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
San Pedro.
Joining Strings
Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim strarray As String() = {
"Down the way where the nights are gay",
"And the sun shines daily on the mountain top",
"I took a trip on a sailing ship",
"And when I reached Jamaica",
"I made a stop"
}
Dim str As String = [Link](vbCrLf, strarray)
[Link](str)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Down the way where the nights are gay
And the sun shines daily on the mountain top
I took a trip on a sailing ship
And when I reached Jamaica
I made a stop
 [Link] - Date & Time
Most of the softwares you write need implementing some form of date functions returning current date
and time. Dates are so much part of everyday life that it becomes easy to work with them without
thinking. [Link] also provides powerful tools for date arithmetic that makes manipulating dates easy.
The Date data type contains date values, time values, or date and time values. The default value of
Date is 0:00:00 (midnight) on January 1, 0001. The equivalent .NET data type is [Link].
The DateTime structure represents an instant in time, typically expressed as a date and time of day
'Declaration
<SerializableAttribute> _
Public Structure DateTime _
Implements IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible, ISerializable,
IComparable(Of DateTime), IEquatable(Of DateTime)
You can also get the current date and time from the DateAndTime class.
The DateAndTime module contains the procedures and properties used in date and time operations.
'Declaration
<StandardModuleAttribute> _
Public NotInheritable Class DateAndTime

Note:
Both the DateTime structure and the DateAndTime module contain properties
like Now and Today, so often beginners find it confusing. The DateAndTime class belongs to the
[Link] namespace and the DateTime structure belongs to the System namespace.
Therefore, using the later would help you in porting your code to another .Net language like C#.
However, the DateAndTime class/module contains all the legacy date functions available in Visual
Basic.

Properties and Methods of the DateTime Structure

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the DateTime Structure −

[Link] Property Description

1 Date Gets the date component of this instance.

2 Day Gets the day of the month represented by this instance.

3 DayOfWeek Gets the day of the week represented by this instance.

4 DayOfYear Gets the day of the year represented by this instance.

5 Hour Gets the hour component of the date represented by this instance.

6 Kind Gets a value that indicates whether the time represented by this
instance is based on local time, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC),
or neither.

7 Millisecond Gets the milliseconds component of the date represented by this

instance.

8 Minute Gets the minute component of the date represented by this

instance.

9 Month Gets the month component of the date represented by this

instance.

10 Now Gets a DateTime object that is set to the current date and time on
this computer, expressed as the local time.

11 Second Gets the seconds component of the date represented by this

instance.

12 Ticks Gets the number of ticks that represent the date and time of this
instance.

13 TimeOfDay Gets the time of day for this instance.

14 Today Gets the current date.

15 UtcNow Gets a DateTime object that is set to the current date and time on
this computer, expressed as the Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC).

16 Year Gets the year component of the date represented by this instance.

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the DateTime structure −

[Link] Method Name & Description

1
Public Function Add (value As TimeSpan) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the value of the specified TimeSpan to the value of
this instance.

2
Public Function AddDays ( value As Double) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of days to the value of this
instance.

3
Public Function AddHours (value As Double) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of hours to the value of this
instance.

4
Public Function AddMinutes (value As Double) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of minutes to the value of this
instance.

5
Public Function AddMonths (months As Integer) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of months to the value of this
instance.

6
Public Function AddSeconds (value As Double) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of seconds to the value of
this instance.

7
Public Function AddYears (value As Integer ) As DateTime
Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of years to the value of this
instance.

8
Public Shared Function Compare (t1 As DateTime,t2 As DateTime) As Integer
Compares two instances of DateTime and returns an integer that indicates whether
the first instance is earlier than, the same as, or later than the second instance.

9
Public Function CompareTo (value As DateTime) As Integer
Compares the value of this instance to a specified DateTime value and returns an
integer that indicates whether this instance is earlier than, the same as, or later than
the specified DateTime value.
10
Public Function Equals (value As DateTime) As Boolean
Returns a value indicating whether the value of this instance is equal to the value of
the specified DateTime instance.

11
Public Shared Function Equals (t1 As DateTime, t2 As DateTime) As Boolean
Returns a value indicating whether two DateTime instances have the same date and
time value.

12
Public Overrides Function ToString As String
Converts the value of the current DateTime object to its equivalent string
representation.

The above list of methods is not exhaustive, please visit Microsoft documentation for the complete list
of methods and properties of the DateTime structure.

Creating a DateTime Object

You can create a DateTime object in one of the following ways −
 By calling a DateTime constructor from any of the overloaded DateTime constructors.
 By assigning the DateTime object a date and time value returned by a property or method.
 By parsing the string representation of a date and time value.
 By calling the DateTime structure's implicit default constructor.
The following example demonstrates this −
Module Module1
Sub Main()
'DateTime constructor: parameters year, month, day, hour, min, sec
Dim date1 As New Date(2012, 12, 16, 12, 0, 0)
'initializes a new DateTime value
Dim date2 As Date = #12/16/2012 12:00:52 AM#
'using properties
Dim date3 As Date = [Link]
Dim date4 As Date = [Link]
Dim date5 As Date = [Link]

[Link](date1)
[Link](date2)
[Link](date3)
[Link](date4)
[Link](date5)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code was compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
12/16/2012 12:00:00 PM
12/16/2012 12:00:52 PM
12/12/2012 10:22:50 PM
12/12/2012 12:00:00 PM

Getting the Current Date and Time

The following programs demonstrate how to get the current date and time in [Link] −
Current Time −
Module dateNtime
Sub Main()
[Link]("Current Time: ")
[Link]([Link])
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Current Time: 11 :05 :32 AM
Current Date −
Module dateNtime
Sub Main()
[Link]("Current Date: ")
Dim dt As Date = Today
[Link]("Today is: {0}", dt)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
Today is: 12/11/2012 12:00:00 AM

Formatting Date
A Date literal should be enclosed within hash signs (# #), and specified in the format M/d/yyyy, for
example #12/16/2012#. Otherwise, your code may change depending on the locale in which your
application is running.
For example, you specified Date literal of #2/6/2012# for the date February 6, 2012. It is alright for the
locale that uses mm/dd/yyyy format. However, in a locale that uses dd/mm/yyyy format, your literal
would compile to June 2, 2012. If a locale uses another format say, yyyy/mm/dd, the literal would be
invalid and cause a compiler error.
To convert a Date literal to the format of your locale or to a custom format, use the Format function of
String class, specifying either a predefined or user-defined date format.
The following example demonstrates this.
Module dateNtime
Sub Main()
[Link]("India Wins Freedom: ")
Dim independenceDay As New Date(1947, 8, 15, 0, 0, 0)
' Use format specifiers to control the date display.
[Link](" Format 'd:' " & [Link]("d"))
[Link](" Format 'D:' " & [Link]("D"))
[Link](" Format 't:' " & [Link]("t"))
[Link](" Format 'T:' " & [Link]("T"))
[Link](" Format 'f:' " & [Link]("f"))
[Link](" Format 'F:' " & [Link]("F"))
[Link](" Format 'g:' " & [Link]("g"))
[Link](" Format 'G:' " & [Link]("G"))
[Link](" Format 'M:' " & [Link]("M"))
[Link](" Format 'R:' " & [Link]("R"))
[Link](" Format 'y:' " & [Link]("y"))
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
India Wins Freedom:
Format 'd:' 8/15/1947
Format 'D:' Friday, August 15, 1947
Format 't:' 12:00 AM
Format 'T:' 12:00:00 AM
Format 'f:' Friday, August 15, 1947 12:00 AM
Format 'F:' Friday, August 15, 1947 12:00:00 AM
Format 'g:' 8/15/1947 12:00 AM
Format 'G:' 8/15/1947 12:00:00 AM
Format 'M:' 8/15/1947 August 15
Format 'R:' Fri, 15 August 1947 00:00:00 GMT
Format 'y:' August, 1947

Predefined Date/Time Formats

The following table identifies the predefined date and time format names. These may be used by
name as the style argument for the Format function −

Format Description

General Date, or G Displays a date and/or time. For example, 1/12/2012 07:07:30 AM.

Long Date,Medium Date, or D Displays a date according to your current culture's long date format.
For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012.
Short Date, or d Displays a date using your current culture's short date format. For
example, 12/12/2012.

Long Time,Medium Time, orT Displays a time using your current culture's long time format; typically
includes hours, minutes, seconds. For example, 01:07:30 AM.

Short Time or t Displays a time using your current culture's short time format. For
example, 11:07 AM.

f Displays the long date and short time according to your current
culture's format. For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012 12:15 AM.

F Displays the long date and long time according to your current culture's
format. For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012 12:15:31 AM.

g Displays the short date and short time according to your current
culture's format. For example, 12/16/2012 12:15 AM.

M, m Displays the month and the day of a date. For example, December 16.

R, r Formats the date according to the RFC1123Pattern property.

s Formats the date and time as a sortable index. For example, 2012-12-
16T12:07:31.

u Formats the date and time as a GMT sortable index. For example,
2012-12-16 12:15:31Z.

U Formats the date and time with the long date and long time as GMT.
For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012 6:07:31 PM.

Y, y Formats the date as the year and month. For example, December,
2012.

For other formats like user-defined formats, please consult Microsoft Documentation.

Properties and Methods of the DateAndTime Class

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the DateAndTime Class −

[Link] Property & Description

1
Date
Returns or sets a String value representing the current date according to
your system.

2
Now
Returns a Date value containing the current date and time according to your
system.

3
TimeOfDay
Returns or sets a Date value containing the current time of day according to
your system.

4
Timer
Returns a Double value representing the number of seconds elapsed since
midnight.

5
TimeString
Returns or sets a String value representing the current time of day
according to your system.

6
Today
Gets the current date.

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the DateAndTime class −

[Link] Method Name & Description

1
Public Shared Function DateAdd (Interval As DateInterval, Number As
Double, DateValue As DateTime) As DateTime
Returns a Date value containing a date and time value to which a specified
time interval has been added.

2
Public Shared Function DateAdd (Interval As String,Number As
 Double,DateValue As Object ) As DateTime
Returns a Date value containing a date and time value to which a specified
time interval has been added.

3
Public Shared Function DateDiff (Interval As DateInterval, Date1 As
DateTime, Date2 As DateTime, DayOfWeek As FirstDayOfWeek,
WeekOfYear As FirstWeekOfYear ) As Long
Returns a Long value specifying the number of time intervals between two
Date values.

4
Public Shared Function DatePart (Interval As DateInterval, DateValue
As DateTime, FirstDayOfWeekValue As FirstDayOfWeek,
FirstWeekOfYearValue As FirstWeekOfYear ) As Integer
Returns an Integer value containing the specified component of a given
Date value.

5
Public Shared Function Day (DateValue As DateTime) As Integer
Returns an Integer value from 1 through 31 representing the day of the
month.

6
Public Shared Function Hour (TimeValue As DateTime) As Integer
Returns an Integer value from 0 through 23 representing the hour of the
day.

7
Public Shared Function Minute (TimeValue As DateTime) As Integer
Returns an Integer value from 0 through 59 representing the minute of the
hour.

8
Public Shared Function Month (DateValue As DateTime) As Integer
Returns an Integer value from 1 through 12 representing the month of the
year.

9
Public Shared Function MonthName (Month As Integer, Abbreviate As
Boolean) As String
Returns a String value containing the name of the specified month.

10
Public Shared Function Second (TimeValue As DateTime) As Integer
 Returns an Integer value from 0 through 59 representing the second of the
minute.

11
Public Overridable Function ToString As String
Returns a string that represents the current object.

12
Public Shared Function Weekday (DateValue As DateTime, DayOfWeek
As FirstDayOfWeek) As Integer
Returns an Integer value containing a number representing the day of the
week.

13
Public Shared Function WeekdayName (Weekday As Integer,
Abbreviate As Boolean, FirstDayOfWeekValue As FirstDayOfWeek) As
String
Returns a String value containing the name of the specified weekday.

14
Public Shared Function Year (DateValue As DateTime) As Integer
Returns an Integer value from 1 through 9999 representing the year.

The above list is not exhaustive. For complete list of properties and methods of the DateAndTime
class, please consult Microsoft Documentation.
The following program demonstrates some of these and methods −
Live Demo

Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim birthday As Date
Dim bday As Integer
Dim month As Integer
Dim monthname As String
' Assign a date using standard short format.
birthday = #7/27/1998#
bday = [Link](birthday)
month = [Link](birthday)
monthname = [Link](month)

[Link](birthday)
[Link](bday)
[Link](month)
[Link](monthname)
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −
7/27/1998 12:00:00 AM
27
7
July

[Link] - Arrays
An array stores a fixed-size sequential collection of elements of the same type.
An array is used to store a collection of data, but it is often more useful to think
of an array as a collection of variables of the same type.

All arrays consist of contiguous memory locations. The lowest address

corresponds to the first element and the highest address to the last element.

Creating Arrays in [Link]

Dim intData(30) ' an array of 31 elements
Dim strData(20) As String ' an array of 21 strings
Dim twoDarray(10, 20) As Integer 'a two dimensional array of integers
Dim ranges(10, 100) 'a two dimensional array

Initialize the array elements while declaring the array

Dim intData() As Integer = {12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32}
Dim names() As String = {"Karthik", "Sandhya", _
"Shivangi", "Ashwitha", "Somnath"}
Dim miscData() As Object = {"Hello World", 12d, 16ui, "A"c}

Eg;
Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
Dim n(10) As Integer ' n is an array of 11 integers '
Dim i, j As Integer
' initialize elements of array n '
 For i = 0 To 10
n(i) = i + 100 ' set element at location i to i + 100
Next i
' output each array element's value '

For j = 0 To 10
[Link]("Element({0}) = {1}", j, n(j))
Next j
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
Element(0) = 100
Element(1) = 101
Element(2) = 102
Element(3) = 103
Element(4) = 104
Element(5) = 105
Element(6) = 106
Element(7) = 107
Element(8) = 108
Element(9) = 109
Element(10) = 110

Dynamic Arrays
Dynamic arrays are arrays that can be dimensioned and re-dimensioned as par
the need of the program. You can declare a dynamic array using
the ReDim statement.

Syntax for ReDim statement −

ReDim [Preserve] arrayname(subscripts)

Where,

 The Preserve keyword helps to preserve the data in an existing array, when
you resize it.
 arrayname is the name of the array to re-dimension.
 subscripts specifies the new dimension.
Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
Dim marks() As Integer
ReDim marks(2)
marks(0) = 85
marks(1) = 75
marks(2) = 90

ReDim Preserve marks(10)

marks(3) = 80
marks(4) = 76
marks(5) = 92
marks(6) = 99
marks(7) = 79
marks(8) = 75

For i = 0 To 10
[Link](i & vbTab & marks(i))
Next i
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
O/p:-
0 85
1 75
2 90
3 80
4 76
5 92
6 99
7 79
8 75
9 0
10 0

Multi-Dimensional Arrays
[Link] allows multidimensional arrays. Multidimensional arrays are also called
rectangular arrays.

You can declare a 2-dimensional array of strings as −

Dim twoDStringArray(10, 20) As String

or, a 3-dimensional array of Integer variables −

Dim threeDIntArray(10, 10, 10) As Integer

Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
' an array with 5 rows and 2 columns
Dim a(,) As Integer = {{0, 0}, {1, 2}, {2, 4}, {3, 6}, {4,
8}}
Dim i, j As Integer
' output each array element's value '

For i = 0 To 4
For j = 0 To 1
[Link]("a[{0},{1}] = {2}", i, j, a(i, j))
Next j
Next i
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module
O/p:-
a[0,0]: 0
a[0,1]: 0
a[1,0]: 1
a[1,1]: 2
a[2,0]: 2
a[2,1]: 4
a[3,0]: 3
a[3,1]: 6
a[4,0]: 4
a[4,1]: 8

Jagged Array
A Jagged array is an array of arrays. The following code shows declaring a
jagged array named scores of Integers −

Dim scores As Integer()() = New Integer(5)(){}

Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
'a jagged array of 5 array of integers
Dim a As Integer()() = New Integer(4)() {}
a(0) = New Integer() {0, 0}
a(1) = New Integer() {1, 2}
a(2) = New Integer() {2, 4}
a(3) = New Integer() {3, 6}
a(4) = New Integer() {4, 8}
Dim i, j As Integer
' output each array element's value

For i = 0 To 4
For j = 0 To 1
[Link]("a[{0},{1}] = {2}", i, j, a(i)(j))
Next j
Next i
[Link]()
End Sub
End Module

a[0][0]: 0
a[0][1]: 0
a[1][0]: 1
a[1][1]: 2
a[2][0]: 2
a[2][1]: 4
a[3][0]: 3
a[3][1]: 6
a[4][0]: 4
a[4][1]: 8

The Array Class

The Array class is the base class for all the arrays in [Link]. It is defined in the
System namespace. The Array class provides various properties and methods
to work with arrays.
Properties of the Array Class

The following table provides some of the most commonly used properties of
the Array class −

[Link] Property Name & Description

1 IsFixedSize
Gets a value indicating whether the Array has a fixed size.

2 IsReadOnly
Gets a value indicating whether the Array is read-only.

Length
3
Gets a 32-bit integer that represents the total number of elements in all
the dimensions of the Array.

LongLength
4
Gets a 64-bit integer that represents the total number of elements in all
the dimensions of the Array.

5 Rank
Gets the rank (number of dimensions) of the Array.