CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netvb.net
parvee
parvee

Reputation: 98

Why reference to a non-shared member of a Windows Form is allowed?

We came across this during problem determination within our code. We've fixed the bug, but the question remains:

Why is a reference to a non-shared member of a "Windows Form" allowed?

In order to replicate behaviour, create new Windows Forms application (I'm using VS2012, .net4.0), populate default form, Form1.vb, with:

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Public Class Form1

    Private _private As String

    Public ReadOnly Property NotSharedProperty As String
        Get
            Return _private
        End Get
    End Property

End Class

Then add a new class and call it PropertClass, fill it with:

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Public Class ProperClass

    Private _private As String

    Public ReadOnly Property NotSharedProperty As String
        Get
            Return _private
        End Get
    End Property

End Class

Then add another class, call it ExampleClass and fill it:

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Public Class ExampleClass

    Public Sub New()

        If Form1.NotSharedProperty Is Nothing Then
            '.....................
        End If

        If ProperClass.NotSharedProperty Is Nothing Then
            '.....................
        End If


    End Sub

End Class

In the ExampleClass, ProperClass.NotSharedProperty gives me "Reference to a non-shared member requires an object reference." as one would expect. Form1.NotSharedProperty does not. Why?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 202

Answers (1)

Luaan
Luaan

Reputation: 63742

This is one of the many Visual Basic.NET compatibility features.

When you refer to a form by its type in old-school Visual Basic, you get the reference to a default instance of that form. That's just how VB development was done in the past (and VB wasn't the only environment that used this convention). Most of the time, you really only had one instance of each form.

Since you're not exploiting this feature on purpose, you probably never actually used the default instance, and your create your own instances as needed instead. In that case, Form1.NotSharedProperty will simply return whatever the default is.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions