So I spent 2 hours trying to figure out this weird error in VB.NET. Finally figured it out but I can’t figure out why it sometimes would work and sometimes won’t. I had 2 DLLs both of which had a MODULE called _Main.vb which had a variable called “MDIParentForm”. If I import both DLLs as references for a third assembly and do:
MDIParentForm = Something
Which “MDIParentForm” am I setting? The one in the first Assembly? in the second Assembly? Seemed like if I ran it in “Debug” mode it would set one Assembly and in “Release” it would set the other assembly and break my code… I’m a C#/Java programmer by nature so don’t really get how “Module” works in VB.NET and since no namespace or classname is required to call its members how the heck do you know what member you are setting?
VB has more than one ‘feature’ that can lead to coding horrors such as this one.
The solution is to qualify the module member with the module name.
The fact that VB allows you to use unqualified module members doesn’t mean that this is a good idea.