Vb.net variable scope

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

I've declared a Friend Variable in my start up .aspx page. I've also tried declaring it as Public

Shouldn't I be able to access that variable all across the project?

This should be easy I know. But I'm missing something.

What I have tried:

C#

Class _Default
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
     Friend testVar as string = "something"
End Class

In another .aspx page I try -

VB.NET

Public Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

Dim readtestVar = testVar

End Sub

Produces an error 'testVar is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to it's protection level.'

Posted 19-Jul-16 5:33am

Member 12637386

Updated 19-Jul-16 5:40am

Add a Solution

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-19T05:40:00

Solution 1

Friend does mean it is accessible - but it doesn't confer magical powers upon it!
Let's ignore computers for a moment, and look at cars. You put your mobile phone in the glove box of your car, and lock it in. You - as a friend - give me the key to your glove box. Does that mean I can use it to unlock the glove box in my car and retrieve your mobile? No - because the glove box that contains the phone is part of your car, not mine.
Friend in VB works the same way - it requires the right instance of a car in order to access the glove box. Since the instance is in a different page, you can't easily get to the page, let alone get access to it's Friend variables.

Instead of this, move it to the Session and access it there - that is exactly what the Session is there for!

Posted 19-Jul-16 5:40am

OriginalGriff

Comments

Member 12637386 19-Jul-16 11:45am

Thanks. But I still need a Public variable that is accessible across different pages/routines.

I've tried declaring it as Public, and I get the same error.

OriginalGriff 19-Jul-16 11:53am

Because Public does the same thing: it's an access modifier, it doesn't magically make it not require an instance.
There is something that does that: Shared - but that is very very dangerous in a website as it creates a single variable that is common to the whole app. But...many users of your site will share the same app and thus the same variable, so it may not contain what you think it should!
Seriously: use the Session.

Member 12637386 19-Jul-16 12:15pm

Yes, I want the variable to be unique to the user. I've never even heard of a session variable and am looking for info online. Any boost on where to declare this would be a help. Again, it needs to be unique to the user, and available across different .aspx pages.

OriginalGriff 19-Jul-16 12:20pm

Then the Session is the way to go (or cookies, but they are stored on the user computer)
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=usign+the+session+vb&oq=usign+the+session+vb&aqs=chrome..69i57.3357j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Will give you everything you need.

Member 12637386 19-Jul-16 15:38pm

Thanks OriginalGriff. That will come in handy

OriginalGriff 19-Jul-16 16:29pm

You're welcome!