Variable Name to string and determining type of referenced variable

[jmcilhinney]

The first question makes no sense. Let's say that there was an operator 'foo' that got the "name" of a variable. You would have to use it like this in code:

Dim varName As String = foo(myVar)

You would have to supply the variable itself to get the name anyway, so what's the point of getting the name in a string when you had to type the name anyway. You'd just do this:

Dim varName As String = "myVar"

The second question is more reasonable, although you wouldn't use that method signature:

Private Function GetObjectType(ByVal obj As Object) As String
    Dim message As String
 
    If TypeOf obj Is Integer Then
        message = "It's an Integer"
    ElseIf TypeOf obj Is Double Then
        message = "It's a Double"
    Else
        message = "It's something else"
    End If
 
    Return message
End Function

That said, you can also use the GetType method of any object to get a Type object that represents its type. The Type class is the basis for most reflection operations.

Dim typeName As String = obj.GetType().ToString()
Dim message As String = "It's a " & typeName.Substring(typeName.LastIndexOf("."c) + 1)
 
MessageBox.Show(message)