comPLETELY stumped: referencing class located within vb.net web application

Hello All,
I am in the process of learning .NET....I created a simple class in my ASP.NET web application (using VB.NET) to access my database to return a list of states to populate a user control I made to display these states. Yet when I try to Import this class and then create a new instance of it, the parser returns an error like this :

Namespace or type 'Class1' for the Imports 'WebApplication1.MyClassNameSpace.Class1' cannot be found

the program line on which this error occurs is :

Imports WebApplication1.MyClassNameSpace.Class1

this line is at the very top of the code-behind file for my aspx page, AND I can drag & drop that line from the Class View which tells me the project "knows" about my class, yet somehow can't find it at runtime...

i've created smaller web projects with the sole intention of just getting a class defined by myself to import into another .vb file and simply CAN'T get it to work, and neither can my co-workers....also, i have successfully created this class in a separate project, compiled it, and referenced it within this web app, so i am left with thinking that you must do something special to a class you define within a web application in order to make it accessible to other classes in the same web app.

does anyone have any insight into this problem??

Thank you very much for your time,
Kenton Taylor

is the class wrapped in said namespaces
???

Code:

---

Namespace WebApplication1
    Namespace MyClassNameSpace

---

really though, I dont think you need the namespaces if you are using a straight forward class..just reference the class as is if it is added as part of the application

Dim A As New Class1

you would want to use the namespace if the class in a seperate dll.

I haven't got much experience with .NET (yet), but this is what I read somewhere:
If the class is in a seperate dll, the dll must be placed in the same directory, or a subdirectory of your web application, or the dll must be installed in the global assembly cache.

the namespaces don't make any difference...
here's my code:


Class1.vb located within WebApplication1

Public Class Class1

Public MyMember As String

Sub New()
MyMember = "constructor worked"
End Sub

End Class



WebForm2.aspx.vb located within WebApplication1

Imports WebApplication1.Class1

Public Class WebForm2
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

#Region " Web Form Designer Generated Code "

'This call is required by the Web Form Designer.
<System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()

End Sub

Private Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Init
'CODEGEN: This method call is required by the Web Form Designer
'Do not modify it using the code editor.
InitializeComponent()
End Sub

#End Region

Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
'Put user code to initialize the page here

Dim ThisWontWork As Class1

ThisWontWork = New Class1()

End Sub

End Class


the exact error msg is:
Compiler Error Message: BC30466: Namespace or type 'Class1' for the Imports 'WebApplication1.Class1' cannot be found.

Line 2: Imports WebApplication1.Class1


can anyone else get this simple example to work?? Just a simple class within a web application, where an aspx.vb file can import and dim an instance of that class. completely stumped.

-Kenton

You shouldn't have to make any references as the class is really part of your project. It's very similar to how you could create a class in VB6 and all references are "created" when you add that module to your project. If you created a dll, you would have to reference it, but if it's your standard run of the mill class, no referencing or importing is necessary.

Remove the class reference from the end of the imports line.

It is trying to find Class1 in WebApplication.Class1

The imports line should be

imports WebApplication

hope this helps

cheers
Simon

so for any who want to know - the solution to this problem is this :
in order to reference a class that exists within a .net web application at runtime, you first have to build the solution before running an aspx or aspx.vb file, otherwise it will come back type not found, even though the project is aware of that class at design time.

case closed.
kenton