Utilize VB.NET in C# Project

Introduction

As some of you may know, I love C# and obviously the .NET Framework; however, I recently took on a new job doing VB.NET programming. I can honestly say I like VB.NET, or for that matter most programming languages that serve their purpose. Most server side programming projects I have been working on are strictly C#, but I want to practice VB.NET, while still working towards something that I can actually use (e.g., not programming strictly just for exercise but exercise and purpose to follow the 80/20 rule). In this brief post, we will efficiently go through how we can use VB.NET in a C# project.

DLLs Baby

The solution is rather simple: Create a VB.NET class library and class, add business logic to the class, and add a reference in our C# project to the VB.NET class library’s DLL to utilize it.

Simple VB.NET interface and implementation to get the ball rolling:

Namespace Brandrick.Services.BrandrickNetCSSEditor

    Public Interface IBrandrickNetCSSEditor
        'Update CSS Colors and return resource location
        Function UpdateColor(ByVal Red As Integer, _
        ByVal Green As Integer, ByVal Blue As Integer) As String

    End Interface

    Public Class BrandrickNetCSSEditor
        Implements IBrandrickNetCSSEditor

        Public Function UpdateColor(Red As Integer, Green As Integer, _
        Blue As Integer) As String Implements IBrandrickNetCSSEditor.UpdateColor
            'ToDo: Business Logic
            Return "CSS Resource"
        End Function
    End Class

End Namespace

Add a DLL reference from the VB.NET project to the C# project:

Utilize VB.NET code in C#:

using Brandrick.Services;
using Brandrick.Services.VB.Brandrick.Services.BrandrickNetCSSEditor;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace Brandrick.Controllers
{
    public class ThemeController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult CreateCustomTheme(int red, int green, int blue)
        {
            IBrandrickNetCSSEditor bNetCSSEditor = new BrandrickNetCSSEditor();
            var resource = bNetCSSEditor.UpdateColor(red, green, blue);
            ViewBag.resource = resource;

            return View();
        }
    }
}

Conclusion

While the code is not complete in these examples, you see it is simple to utilize both VB.NET and C# in the same solution, which provides the option to pick your .NET programming language flavor within the same solution.

CodeProject