VB.Net OOP / DLL从类列表？

Question

Is it possible in VB.Net Runtime 4.5 to make a DLL, named object, that can be used like this or do I have to use C#?

Object.UpdateType.Kind = Object.UpdateType.UpdateTypeOne
Dim x as New Field
x.Name = "Foo"
Object.UpdateType.Fields.Add(X)

The real problem I am having is getting the Fields to be a list inside of the UpdateType class.

Public Class Object
   Public Class UpdateType
      strFields As New List(Of Field)
      Public Class Field
         strName As String = String.Empty
         Public Property Name As String
            Get
               Return strName
            End Get
            Set (Value As String)
               strName = Value
            End Set
         End Property
      End Class
      Public Const UpdateTypeOne As Byte = 1
      Public Property Kind As Byte
         Get
            Return bytKind
         End Get
         Set (Value as Byte)
            bytKind = Value
         End Set
      End Property
      Public Function Fields As List(Of Field)
         ' This part is not making sense to me!
         Return strFields
      End Function
   End Class
End Class

Again as I type Object. I want UpdateType to be a choice in Intellisense. Once I choose UpdateType from Intellisense I want Kind to be a choice along with Fields.

The kind needs to accept the Object.UpdateType.UpdateTypeOne constant with that syntax and not by just putting the value 1 in its place.

The fields need to be a list or collection of field objects that I can add and remove from in the EXE. I also want to be able to count the number of items in the fields list or collection.

Thank you in advance! -Bill

Answer 1

I would separate the nested Class and Enum and just place them all in a namespace. Since Fields is a Public variable you can access it to add and remove a Field object. An Enum is an OOP way to make choices. Then you can either use an If Statement or Select Case to find which choice was picked and run separate code for it. See if this what you need.

Namespace Utility
 Public Class UpdateObject
  Public Fields As New List(Of Field)
  Public Property _UpdateType As UpdateType = UpdateType.UpdateTypeOne
  Public Property Kind As Byte
 End Class

 Public Class Field
  Public Property Name As String
  '...others
 End Class

 Public Enum UpdateType 
  UpdateTypeOne 
  '...others
 End Enum
End Namespace