Question

Can a function return a value byref instead of the default byval? That is to say, allow me to directly edit the variable that it is retrieving instead of just giving me a copy of that variable.

Right now I’m trying to write a function that will return, based on what the user has selected through a combobox, a particular setting (eg. My.Settings.somethingHere). I then want to be able to edit the setting directly through just calling the function. Is that at all possible?

private function myFunction() as byte
  select case comboBox1.text
     case "a"
       return my.settings.a
     case "b"
       return my.settings.b
  end select
end function

private sub something()
  myFunction() -= 1
end sub

Answer 1

Function can’t return reference of byte instead you may create property (Writable) to assign value.

 Public WriteOnly Property Change As SByte
        Set(value As SByte)
            Select Case comboBox1.text
                Case "a"
                    My.Settings.a = value
                Case "b"
                    My.Settings.b = value
            End Select
        End Set
 End Property

and assign value to Change property,

private sub something()
  Change -= 1
end sub