Question

In VB.NET, I have to compare some objects within a select case statement.

Since select case uses = operator by default and this is not defined for objects, a compile error is thrown.

I presently use this workaround:

Select Case True
    Case sender Is StyleBoldButton

    Case sender Is StyleUnderButton

    Case sender Is StyleItalicButton

End Select

which actually works.

Is there something prettier to see and more understandable?

Answer 1

Anything that has the requisite comparison operators (=, >=, <=, etc.) defined is fair game for Select Case. Rightly (or wrongly), references just aren’t compared with = in VB; one must use Is. (Or Object.Equals(objA As Object, objB As Object) – but, really, why? when you’ve got Is?)

But take a look at Object equality behaves different in .NET – perhaps the VB way is less confusing? Whatever, I think you’re stuck with the If-ElseIf ladder since Select Case doesn’t do Is. (well, it does, but that’s a different Is, more like the it of Hypercard.) I think the ladder looks smart and easy to follow:

If sender Is StyleBoldButton Then 

ElseIf sender Is StyleUnderButton Then

ElseIf sender Is StyleItalicButton Then

Else

End If 

As you have pointed out, the Select Case True pattern is an “OrElse” short-circuit workaround in VB6 – a wonky way to meet a real need. But that’s not needed in VB.NET. In that spirit, maybe it’s better to use design patterns more in line with the best practices expected of an object-oriented language. For example, as Denis Troller suggested, why not give each button its own event handler?

But if you insist on something like an Is-able Select, here’s something I probably won’t use myself:

With sender
    If .Equals(StyleBoldButton) Then

    ElseIf .Equals(StyleUnderButton) Then

    ElseIf .Equals(StyleItalicButton) Then

    Else

    End If
End With

Here I’m counting on .Equals to work like the C# == when faced with two object types to compare (see http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2011/02/01/equality-in-net.aspx). The beauty of this is that sender is mentioned only once; however there’s all this ElseIf .Equals( ... ) Then you’ll have to type for each “Case”.

Another way I won’t use myself is using GetHashCode():

Select Case sender.GetHashCode()

    Case StyleBoldButton.GetHashCode()

    Case StyleUnderButton.GetHashCode()

    Case StyleItalicButton.GetHashCode()

    Case Else

End Select

Here I’m counting on what (very) little I know of GetHashCode() to uniquely (enough) identify these controls. (See Default implementation for Object.GetHashCode() ).