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Problem w/ Immediate Window in VB.NET


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Hi guys,

I'm moving from VB6 to VS.NET 2010, and I'm getting the hang of it but I am having a hell of a time trying to use the Immediate window like I used to in VB6.

For example, when I typed in:

MsgBox "test"

I would get a msgbox with Text in it.

If I try the same in VB.NET:

MsgBox("test")

all I get is this:

'MsgBox' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.

Why can't this thing just work the way it used to, or am i missing something?

Thanks!

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5 answers to this question

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My VB is rusty, but if I recall you may need to import the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace for the older MsgBox function. Should be imported by default in a WinForm app, will need to reference it manually in a console app I believe. Personally, you might want to consider getting used to the MessageBox class instead though.

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  On 07/09/2011 at 11:27, Jen Smith said:

My VB is rusty, but if I recall you may need to import the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace for the older MsgBox function. Should be imported by default in a WinForm app, will need to reference it manually in a console app I believe. Personally, you might want to consider getting used to the MessageBox class instead though.

Jen, your on the ball. I tried the Microsoft.VisualBasic.MsgBox("hello") function, and it worked. If I try just MessageBox class, it gives the error again...

This is what I am after however:

Microsoft.VisualBasic.MsgBox(My.Computer.Info.OSVersion)

so I can see that so I can write code based on total number of dots.

<sigh>

I really wish MS hadn't messed with VB...

  • 0

Don't use the old VB MsgBox function, instead use the .NET MessageBox class and its static Show method.

Imports System.Windows.Forms

MessageBox.Show("Hellold.")

The reason why your code didn't work is because you need to import the proper namespaces. An Imports statement would have fixed your code, but it's better to make use of the 'real' .NET classes. ;)

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  On 07/09/2011 at 11:42, Mr. Black said:
<sigh>I really wish MS hadn't messed with VB...

I'm more of a C++/C# coder, but once you get the hang of the framework VB is a lot better than it used to be, be it in features or in the language itself. If anything read over MSDN, there's a crazy amount of documentation and help material to go over. Still should consider getting used to using the proper MessageBox class though. While you're at it, poke around the various namespaces in the object browser, there's an absurd amount of functionality built into the platform right out of the box.

Just to save yourself a bit of typing, you can import the namespace so you don't have to constantly name the whole method every time you use it. Example:

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        MsgBox("OS Version: " + My.Computer.Info.OSVersion)
    End Sub

End Module

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