VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Friend Keyword

Description

The Friend keyword is used to declare classes, module-level variables (but not local variables), constants, enumerations, properties, methods, functions, and subroutines.

When the Friend keyword is used, the item being declared has direct access scope inside of the class module in which the item is declared, as well as in all derived classes in the same project. However, if the item is declared using Protected Friend, then the scope is all derived classes, including those that are in other projects.

For more information on access modifiers, including Friend, see the following topics, as well as Chapter 4:

Class Statement

Const Statement

Enum Statement

Function Statement

Property Statement

Sub Statement