Visual Basic® .NET by Example

Chapter 16. Shared Class Members

You have learned about class members such as fields, properties, and methods. In this chapter you will study a special type of class members named shared members. The chapter is structured as follows:

• Shared members definition

• Shared methods

• Hints and tips regarding shared members

The shared member is a new concept in Visual Basic .NET; it did not exist in the previous versions of the language. For those familiar with other object-oriented languages, it is similar to the concepts of static members.

You will start with some definitions and an easy example that illustrates a shared field and property. Next you will look at some more complex examples to illustrate the usage of shared methods, in combination with properties ...