VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Static Statement

Syntax

Static varname[([subscripts])] [As [New] type] _
       [,varname[([subscripts])] [As [New] type]] . . .

varname (required; any)

The name of the variable, following Visual Basic naming conventions

subscripts (optional; Integer)

Denotes varname as an array and specifies the dimension and upper bounds of the array

New (optional; Keyword)

Used to automatically create an instance of the object referred to by the object variable, varname

type (optional; Keyword)

Data type of the variable varname

Description

Used at procedure level to declare a Static variable and to allocate the relevant storage space in memory. Static variables retain their value between calls to the procedure in which they are declared.

Rules at a Glance

• A Static variable’s scope is limited to the procedure in which it is created.

• The subscripts argument has the following syntax:

                          upperbound [, upperbound]

• Using the subscripts argument, you can declare up to 60 multiple dimensions for the array.

• The New keyword specifies that a new instance of the object will be created. Use of the New keyword in the Static statement therefore eliminates the subsequent need to instantiate the object.

• You cannot use the New keyword to declare variables of any intrinsic data type or to declare instances of dependent objects.

• If you don’t use the New keyword with an object variable, you must use an assignment statement to assign an existing object to the variable before you can use the variable.

• datatype may be Boolean, ...