Can I name a variable using the contents of another variable and if so how do I do it? RSS

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  HowandWhy

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  Can I name a variable using the contents of another variable and if so how do I do it?

  Jan 01, 2013 07:24 AM|LINK

  Environment: Windows 8; WebMatrix; Visual Basic

  1. Can I name a variable using the contents of another variable and if so how do I do it?

  To use an example;

                       i.      A database field contains the value "UK1"

                     ii.      I have recovered that value to a variable called "Publisher_Code"

                    iii.      Another field in the database contains the value 6

                  iv.      I have recovered that value to a variable called "Series_Count"

                    v.      I now want to create a VB array variable called and sized somewhat like this -
  

  Dim Series_Codes_[the contents of Publisher_Code](Series_Count) As Array

     Bottom line - I don't know the syntax for invoking the contents of Publisher_Code while I'm declaring the variable.

  I have seen a similar query to this elsewhere and the reply included some references to using objects and the following C# code snippet, but I couldn't work out how to adapt that to VB and to my specific example above,

  var obj = { someprop:"someval", otherprop:… },
      name = "someprop";
  obj[name]; // "someval"

  The same post also included this line -

  "You can't really, variable names (identifiers) are static (as long as you don't use

  eval

  ) in a scope."

  Eval doesn't seem to be a VB statement, so though I would be willing to use something that 'evaluates' the dim statement I again do not know how to effect such 'evaluation'.

  With hopes for a positive answer and thanks in anticipation

  Best regards

  Philip, Perth, Western Australia

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  Mark - MSFT

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  Microsoft

  Re: Can I name a variable using the contents of another variable and if so how do I do it?

  Jan 02, 2013 05:49 AM|LINK

  Hi,

  HowandWhy

  Dim Series_Codes_[the contents of Publisher_Code](Series_Count) As Array

  You can't do this, declare a variable, you need specify its name, but you can use Dictionary type like below:

  Dim vartable = New Dictionary(Of String, String)()
  Dim temp As String = "test3"
  vartable("test1") = "test1"
  vartable("test2") = "test2"
  vartable(temp) = "tttttttt"
  

  HowandWhy

  var obj = { someprop:"someval", otherprop:… }, 
      name = "someprop"; 
  obj[name]; // "someval"

  That's javascript way, so you may try Dictionary type.

  Best Regards

  Please mark the replies as answers if they help or unmark if not.
  If you have any feedback about my replies, please contact msdnmg@microsoft.com
  Microsoft One Code Framework
  • Marked as answer by howandwhy on Jan 02, 2013 01:37 PM
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  HowandWhy

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  Re: Can I name a variable using the contents of another variable and if so how do I do it?

  Jan 02, 2013 01:37 PM|LINK

  Thank you