[RESOLVED] Class Structure Issue

[jjsomer]

I am using Visual Studio 2005. I have programmed a class for a motor controller. A method of the motor controller class is SendMessage, which sends a string to the motor controller. The motor class has a collection of another class - digital inputs to the motor controller. To access the status of a particular input looks something like this: clsMotor.Inputs(1).Status. I want to be able to poll the inputs like such: clsMotor.Inputs.Poll. However, the Poll method in the Inputs collection needs to use the SendMessage method of clsMotor. But there is not an instance of clsMotor in my Inputs collection - thus a problem.

What's the best way to fix this problem?

[katsushiro]

If I understand this correctly, I too have a similar class structure in one of my programs. Like so:

Class Main
 
    Class Child
        Public Sub DoSomething()
            SendMessage()
        End Sub
    End Class
 
    Public Shared Sub SendMessage()
        '
    End Sub
End Class

The key here is to declare SendMessage as Public and Shared.

[moeur]

How about making the Poll method a member of the motor class instead of the inputs class?

[jjsomer]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't make the SendMessage routine Public Shared because the routine uses an instance of another class. The specific error I receive is "Cannot refer to an instance member of a class from within a shared method or shared member initializer without an explicit instance of the class."

Second suggestion: Maybe that's the only way to resolve this. It seems a little counter-intuitive to place the poll routine in the motor class. Plus, I will run into another problem when I try to set the status of a specific output.

Are there any other suggestions?

[jjsomer]

The error message could be fixed by changing the private class object from "Private minstSerialComm as clsSerialCommunication" to "Private Shared minstSerialComm as clsSerialCommunication"

Thanks for all the input.