Best practice for structuring/grouping a collection of string constant in VB.NET?

Question

I would like a wau to organize and group a collection of strings in the same way as an enum. That is with a name used in code and a value. Since enums can only be created as integrals, I usually do like this:

**Public Structure SomeStrings
    Public Shared ReadOnly Property Something1 As String
        Get
              Return "Something1"            
        End Get
    End Property
    Public Shared ReadOnly Property Something2 As Color
        Get
            Return "Something2"
        End Get
    End Property
End Structure**

Is there a better way to do it?

VB.NET also has `Consts` and you can use static readonly *fields* (instead of properties) for this as well. — millimoose, Jul 18 '13 at 10:39
Have you considered using [String Resource files](http://visualbasic.about.com/od/usingvbnet/a/netres090117.htm)? — DaveShaw, Jul 18 '13 at 10:39
@millimoose: can you group consts in any way? e.g. use in code like this: SomeStrings.Something1 — SuppaiKamo, Jul 18 '13 at 10:49
@DaveShaw: I know the resource files, but can you group a collection there? — SuppaiKamo, Jul 18 '13 at 10:49
@SuppaiKamo In VB.NET, you'd make `SomeStrings` a [module](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aaxss7da.aspx). — millimoose, Jul 18 '13 at 18:59

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

4

Is there a better way?

Yes, use Shared ReadOnly fields instead of properties. You can even get proper IDE auto-completion like for real enums by using an undocumented XML doc tag:

''' <completionlist cref="SomeStrings"/>
Public Structure SomeStrings
    Public Shared ReadOnly Something1 As String = "Something1"
    ' etc.
End Structure

For more details, refer to my previous answer explaining this feature.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

Community

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answered Jul 18 '13 at 10:44

Konrad Rudolph

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Can you group the strings like this? e.g. use in code like this: SomeStrings.Something1? Or is it simply keeping the Public Shared ReadOnly statements in a structure like in my approach? – SuppaiKamo Jul 18 '13 at 10:50
I never knew about ``. This is a total game changer! – Steven Liekens Jul 18 '13 at 11:44
@Konrad: my bad, didn't see the "Structure" in your code, works perfectly! – SuppaiKamo Jul 19 '13 at 06:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 18 '13 at 18:43

0

You might want to look into creating resources.

An other option could be to use a dictionary.

Dim d As New Dictionary(Of Integer, String)

d.Add(1, "String 1")
d.Add(2, "String 2")

Console.WriteLine(d(2))

answered Jul 18 '13 at 18:43

the_lotus

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Best practice for structuring/grouping a collection of string constant in VB.NET?

2 Answers2