The power of object oriented programming

Say I want to create a function

Try 5 times

The function takes a function pointer to another function

function dosomething() as boolean

end function

function tryfivetime (thefunction as what?)
for i = 1 to 5
dosomething
next i
end function

Can I do that? I can't do that on vb6 right, but can I do that on vb.net?

There are a couple of ways you can do that. I don't know your scenario, but one way to do this is to use interfaces. So you have an interface that defines the functions that will be available, then classes that implement the interface could be passed to the function and you know they will implement the interface for you:

Code:

---

Public Interface IDoTheJob
    Function DoSomething() As Boolean
End Interface

Public Class MyClass2
    Implements IDoTheJob

    Public Function DoSomething() As Boolean Implements IDoTheJob.DoSomething
        Return True
    End Function
End Class

Public Class MyClass3
    Implements IDoTheJob

    Public Function DoSomething() As Boolean Implements IDoTheJob.DoSomething
        Return False
    End Function
End Class

---

Then to use it:

Code:

---

    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
        Dim a As New MyClass2
        Dim b As New MyClass3

        TryFiveTimes(a)
        TryFiveTimes(b)
    End Sub


    Public Function TryFiveTimes(ByVal x As IDoTheJob) As Boolean
        For i As Integer = 0 To 5
            x.DoSomething()
        Next
    End Function

---

In .NET a function pointer is replaced by a delegate, which is an object that contains a reference to a method rather than just a raw pointer. You need to define a delegate that has the same signature as the method you want to execute:

vb.net Code:

Public Delegate Function ReturnsBooleanMethodInvoker() As Boolean

You can now create instances of that type by passing a reference to a method with that signature:

vb.net Code:

Dim invoker As New ReturnsBooleanMethodInvoker(AddressOf DoSomething)

You can then pass that object to a method that has a parameter of that type:

vb Code:

Public Sub TryFiveTimes(ByVal task As ReturnsBooleanMethodInvoker)
    For count = 1 To 5
        task.Invoke()
    Next
End Sub

Note that the .NET Framework already contains a lot of delegate types, some generic and some not. If one of them suits your circumstances then you can use it instead of declaring your own.

.NET 4.0 is also going to introduce covariance and contravariance. I've read a bit on these but not comprehensively, but I believe that one of the advantages is that you can declare the method parameter as a more general delegate type and still pass your more specific type. You just won't be able to access the parameters and return value when you invoke it.

Do you want to call a function specified by a pointer with a function? If so, you use a delegate:

vb.net Code:

Delegate Sub MyDelegate(ByVal arg As String)
Private Sub InvokeDoSomething()
        DoSomething(New MyDelegate(AddressOf DoSomethingElse))
End Sub
Private Sub DoSomething(ByVal method As MyDelegate)
        method.Invoke("test")
End Sub
Private Sub DoSomethingElse(ByVal arg As String)
        MessageBox.Show("SomethingElse called with arg=""" & arg & """")
End Sub

To test, call InvokeDoSomething() and you should see a messagebox saying "SomethingElse called with arg="test"". DoSomething called DoSomethingElse without its name.

Ah I see. And that delegate I bet will support templates too.

Templates? Do you mean arguments? If so, yes.