C# vs VB.NET Case - Sensitivity: what to do
Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history that man can never learn anything from history. -- George Bernard Shaw
This one seems to keep coming up, and basically revolves around developer misunderstanding (or more frequently, lack of knowledge) of Naming Guidelines.
The typical question often looks like the following:
"I have a class implented in a c# dll which has two different properties of same name Say "A" and "a".
Now, is their any way to use any one or both of these properties of this class in a vb.net project.because it will give the following error
Error 2 'A' is ambiguous because multiple kinds of members with this name exist in class 'ClassLibrary3.Class1'"
Yes, there is a solution: Write your classes and methods correctly in the first place!
Case Sensitivity
To avoid confusion and guarantee cross-language interoperation, follow these rules regarding the use of case sensitivity:
Do not use names that require case sensitivity. Components must be fully usable from both case-sensitive and case-insensitive languages. Case-insensitive languages cannot distinguish between two names within the same context that differ only by case. Therefore, you must avoid this situation in the components or classes that you create. Do not create two namespaces with names that differ only by case. For example, a case insensitive language cannot distinguish between the following two namespace declarations:
namespace ee.cummings;
namespace Ee.Cummings;
Do not create a function with parameter names that differ only by case. The following example is incorrect.
void MyFunction(string a, string A)
Do not create a namespace with type names that differ only by case. In the following example, Point p and POINT p are inappropriate type names because they differ only by case.
System.Windows.Forms.Point p
System.Windows.Forms.POINT p
Do not create a type with property names that differ only by case. In the following example, int Color and int COLOR are inappropriate property names because they differ only by case.
int Color {get, set}
int COLOR {get, set}
Do not create a type with method names that differ only by case. In the following example, calculate and Calculate are inappropriate method names because they differ only by case.
void calculate()
void Calculate()
There! That wasn't so hard, was it?
Even if you didn't want clr compatibility It would be insane to use or maintain code that does not abide by these standards.
ReplyDeletethat's what CLS is for, you can use the CLSCompliant attribute
ReplyDeleteIt would have been nice if C# was case insensitive to begin with.
ReplyDeleteUsing case as a diferentiator for unrelated properties/variables/functions etc is plain confusing.
"It would have been nice": C# follows a respected line of programming languages and even operating system - C, C++, Javascript and UNIX - all of which are case-sensitive.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't designed by idiots.
I am running into this problem trying to use a C# class someone else wrote in my vb.net project. The class has 2 properties with the same name but one is capitalized and the other is not. Neither one shows up in my vb.net project. Is there a way to get this to work without modifying the c# class?
ReplyDeleteThanks
From reading the post and subsequent comments, one would deduce that the C# class was not written in such a manner as to be eaeily consumed by a case-insesitive language.
ReplyDelete