Enum Oddity

[Charles Law]

Hi Guys

I'm sure there is a plausible explanation for this, but ...

<code>
Public Enum Test
Abra = 5
Cadabra = 76
End Enum

Dim t as Test

t = Test.Cadabra
</code>

At the end of this I expect t to contain 76, but it doesn't. It contains
Cadabra.

In the command window, I get the following

?t
Cadabra

Alternatively,

?CInt(t)
76

Why do I have to explicitly convert to Int? After all, I thought this was
just a good way to get the intellisense to prompt me with values for t when
I type

t =

Can anyone explain?

TIA

Charles

[Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]]

Charles,

So I get the advantage of intellisense. When I type
What I normally do in that case is define const members of a class
Public NotInheritable Class Special
Const Abra As Integer = &H1
Const Cadabra As Integer = &H2
Private Sub New()
End Sub
End Class MyVal = Special.
Of course I need to type the name of the class, however I then get the names
of the constants...

Note the Notinheritable prevents others from inheriting the Special class,
while Private Sub New prevents others form instantiating the Special class,
as Special is intended only to offer constants.

Hope this helps
Jay

"Charles Law" <bl***@nowhere. com> wrote in message
news:ep******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl... Hi Armin

So I get the advantage of intellisense. When I type

MyVal =

I want the convenience of a list popping up to choose from.

It is rare that I need the underlying value, as people have indicated, it is not common to use them in this way. However, I have the case where a
parameter in a structure can take values from a set list, e.g.

Public Enum Special
Abra = &H1
Cadabra = &H2
End Enum

Public Structure MyStruct
Dim Param1 as Integer
Dim Param2 as Special
End Structure

Then, I may want to do this

Dim MyStructInstanc e As MyStruct

MyStructInstanc e.Param2 = Abra Or Cadabra

Should Param2 now contain 3? It probably will in this case. But what about

MyStructInstanc e.Param2 = Abra

Now, perhaps Param2 contains Abra. I haven't tried this, but this is the
type of thing I wish to do.

Am I going about this the wrong way? The values will not always be binary as above, but sometimes. How would you do it?

Charles
"Armin Zingler" <az*******@free net.de> wrote in message
news:eS******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P11.phx.gbl...

"Charles Law" <bl***@nowhere. com> schrieb

Hi Herfried

Ah, but why does the following do the same?

<code>
Dim str As String

str = String.Format(" t={0}", t)
</code>

str now contains "t=Cadabra" . It is very painful, not to say error
prone if I have to remember to write

<code>
Dim str As String

str = String.Format(" t={0}", CInt(t))
</code>

Or is that what you would expect?

Also what I would expect.

Why do you use an enum if you are interested in the numeric values? (see
also my other post)
--
Armin

http://www.plig.net/nnq/nquote.html
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html

[Charles Law]

A good bit of lateral thinking.

Thanks again.

Charles
"Jay B. Harlow [MVP - Outlook]" <Ja************ @msn.com> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@tk2msf tngp13.phx.gbl. ..

Charles,

So I get the advantage of intellisense. When I type
What I normally do in that case is define const members of a class

Public NotInheritable Class Special
Const Abra As Integer = &H1
Const Cadabra As Integer = &H2

Private Sub New()
End Sub

End Class

MyVal = Special.

Of course I need to type the name of the class, however I then get the

names of the constants...

Note the Notinheritable prevents others from inheriting the Special class,
while Private Sub New prevents others form instantiating the Special class, as Special is intended only to offer constants.

Hope this helps
Jay

"Charles Law" <bl***@nowhere. com> wrote in message
news:ep******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl...

Hi Armin

So I get the advantage of intellisense. When I type

MyVal =

I want the convenience of a list popping up to choose from.

It is rare that I need the underlying value, as people have indicated, it

is

not common to use them in this way. However, I have the case where a
parameter in a structure can take values from a set list, e.g.

Public Enum Special
Abra = &H1
Cadabra = &H2
End Enum

Public Structure MyStruct
Dim Param1 as Integer
Dim Param2 as Special
End Structure

Then, I may want to do this

Dim MyStructInstanc e As MyStruct

MyStructInstanc e.Param2 = Abra Or Cadabra

Should Param2 now contain 3? It probably will in this case. But what

about
MyStructInstanc e.Param2 = Abra

Now, perhaps Param2 contains Abra. I haven't tried this, but this is the
type of thing I wish to do.

Am I going about this the wrong way? The values will not always be

binary as

above, but sometimes. How would you do it?

Charles
"Armin Zingler" <az*******@free net.de> wrote in message
news:eS******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P11.phx.gbl...

"Charles Law" <bl***@nowhere. com> schrieb
> Hi Herfried
>
> Ah, but why does the following do the same?
>
> <code>
> Dim str As String
>
> str = String.Format(" t={0}", t)
> </code>
>
> str now contains "t=Cadabra" . It is very painful, not to say error
> prone if I have to remember to write
>
> <code>
> Dim str As String
>
> str = String.Format(" t={0}", CInt(t))
> </code>
>
> Or is that what you would expect?

Also what I would expect.

Why do you use an enum if you are interested in the numeric values? (see also my other post)
--
Armin

http://www.plig.net/nnq/nquote.html
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html