Static method in Visual Basic .NET

In Visual Basic .NET, a static method is a method that belongs to a class rather than to an instance of that class. A static method can be called directly on the class itself without creating an object of that class.

To define a static method in a class in Visual Basic .NET, you need to declare the method with the Shared keyword. Here is an example definition of a static method in a class:

Public Class MyClass
    Public Shared Function StaticMethod() As Integer
        ' Code for the static method goes here
    End Function
End Class

In this example, we have defined a static method called StaticMethod in the class MyClass. Note the use of the Shared keyword before the method definition. This indicates that the method is static.

To call this static method from elsewhere in your code, you can use the class name followed by the method name, like so:

Dim result As Integer = MyClass.StaticMethod()

In this code, we are calling the static method StaticMethod of the class MyClass, and storing the result in the variable result.

It is also possible to define static properties, which can be accessed in a similar way using the class name. Here is an example of a static property:

Public Class MyClass
    Public Shared Property StaticProperty As Integer
        Get
            Return _staticProperty
        End Get
        Set(value As Integer)
            _staticProperty = value
        End Set
    End Property
    
    Private Shared _staticProperty As Integer
End Class

In this example, we have defined a static property called StaticProperty in the class MyClass. Note the use of the Shared keyword before the property definition, indicating that it is a static property.