[2008] Class Project - Need help with making one

[max_carpenter]

Hi,

I am all new to the Class project and this is my first one.

I have a few bits of code that I am always using in projects and I never get them right first time so I thought it would make sense to make a bunch of dlls containing them for easy use and when I have finished them I will make them available for free through my website however having a bit of a problem getting them to work.

I am not to sure where and how to put things so they can be used by the program using the DLL.

Firstly how do I declare varbiles to be accessed and modified by a program

I tried just at the begging of the class doing:

Public variblename as String()

i also tried putting them in a module and declaring them public but when in the module my program doesn't see them and when they are in the class it sees them but says it can't access them.


Secondly how do I declare the sub so that the program can launch it? I tried a Public Sub and a Public Function.


Thanks,
Max

[Shaggy Hiker]

In general, what you described all sounds workable. You need to access everything through the library name, though. Thus if you create a class library called MyLib, then you create instances of the forms with:

NewForm = New MyLib.MyForm

At that point, everything should behave as it would normally. If you still can't see public members, then something else is going on.

[kleinma]

you need to set a reference to your class library project from your main exe project. Even if they are in the same solution, they can't see eachother via code unless you set a reference.

If they are both part of the same solution, you need to go to add reference for your exe, and then there should be a "projects" tab where you can just select the class library project and it will reference it from your exe. If they are not part of the same solution, then you likely would need to do the same thing, but go to the browse tab instead of the projects tab, and find the compiled class library dll. I recommed putting them in the same solution for easy debugging though.

[max_carpenter]

Ok, well I added a reference and used Imports But I have just added a declaration for it like Shaggy said and it's no longer got an error. Is this correct:

Imports EmailHandling
Imports EmailHandling.EasyEmailer
Imports EmailHandling.EasyEmailer.Sender

Public Class Form1

    Dim EmailHand As New EmailHandling.EasyEmailer.Sender

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load


        EmailHand.ToAddress = "[email protected]"

        EmailHand.Send()


    End Sub
End Class

Thats the windows form project that is talking to my dll I know naming is bad but its only an exmaple.

And here is a bit from my class project:

Imports System.Net.Mail

Namespace EasyEmailer

    Public Class Sender

        Public ToAddress As String ' Put the To Address Here


        Public Sub Send()

'code to send the email here

        End Sub


    End Class

End Namespace

Thanks,

[kleinma]

looks like you are doing it correctly.

[max_carpenter]

Thanks for your help then. Will mark it as resolved.

So hopefully by then end of the year my developer section of my site should be up and running and I should have a small collection of DLLS :-) Will post a copy of the link on my sig when it is.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I don't think you need all those Imports statements since you are fully decorating the variable declaration. I never use Imports, because I prefer to fully decorate declarations, but if you use the Imports statements, then this should be sufficient:

Dim EmailHand As New Sender

[kleinma]

I don't think you need all those Imports statements since you are fully decorating the variable declaration. I never use Imports, because I prefer to fully decorate declarations, but if you use the Imports statements, then this should be sufficient:

Dim EmailHand As New Sender

so do you actually remove all the project level imports too??

[Shaggy Hiker]

No, I leave them, but I do generally fully decorate the names, even if I don't need to. With intellisense, and being a fast typist, there is little cost to doing so, and I find it easier to remember what I was doing when I come back to the code later.