VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Const Statement

Syntax

[accessmodifier] Const constantname [As type] = constantvalue

accessmodifier (optional; Keyword)

One of the keywords Public, Private, Protected, Friend, or Protected Friend. For more information, see Section 4.7 in Chapter 4.

constantname (required; String literal)

The name of the constant.

type (optional; Keyword)

The data type; it can be Byte, Boolean, Char, Short, Integer, Long, Single, Double, Decimal, Date, or String, as well as any of the data types defined in the Base Class Library.

constantvalue (required; Numeric or String)

A literal, constant, or any combination of literals and constants that includes arithmetic or logical operators, except Is.

Description

Associates a constant value with a name. This feature is provided to make code more readable. The name is referred to as a symbolic constant.

Rules at a Glance

• The rules for constantname are the same for those of any variable: the name can be up to 255 characters in length and can contain any alphanumeric character, although it must start with an alphabetic character. In addition, the name can include almost any other character except a period or any of the data type definition characters ($, &, %, !).

• The constantvalue expression cannot include any of the built-in functions or objects, although it can be a combination of absolute values and operators. The expression can also include previously defined constants. For example:

  Private Const CONST_ONE = 1 Private Const CONST_TWO = 2 Private Const ...