Making VB.NET as Strict & Robust as C#

🔥 Making VB.NET as Strict & Robust as C# – Best Practices 🚀

Do you want VB.NET to behave more like C# in terms of strictness, type safety, and reliability? 🤔 By default, VB.NET allows some loose coding practices that can lead to hidden bugs. But don’t worry—I’ll show you how to enforce strict rules and improve code quality with just a few changes! 💡

โปรเจกต์นี้พัฒนาด้วย Visual Studio 2022
🖥️✨ อาจารย์แนะนำให้ติดตั้งพร้อมกับ .NET 8
🚀 หรือเวอร์ชันใหม่ล่าสุด
🔄 ตามวิดีโอสอนฟรีด้านล่างนี้เลยครับ 🎬👇

This project was developed using Visual Studio 2022.
I recommend installing it along with .NET 8
or the latest version.
Check out the free tutorial video below! 🎥👇

Here’s an example of Visual Basic .NET source code in the Main module of the project:

' File-level VB.NET compiler options:

Option Strict On ' Enforces strict type checking, prevents implicit type conversions

Option Explicit On ' Requires all variables to be declared before use

Option Infer On ' Enables type inference (like C# var), lets compiler determine types

Option Compare Binary ' Uses binary (case-sensitive) string comparisons instead of text

' Main module for the Enterprise Grade Inventory Management System

Module Program

' Entry point of the application

Sub Main(args As String())

Try

' Display application title and header

Console.WriteLine("Enterprise Grade Inventory Management System")

Console.WriteLine("----------------------------------------")

Console.WriteLine()

' Synchronously execute the asynchronous application initialization

InitializeApplicationAsync().Wait()

' Handle user-initiated cancellation of the initialization process

Catch ex As OperationCanceledException

Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & "Program terminated by user.")

Environment.Exit(1)

' Environment.Exit(1) is a method in .NET that immediately terminates

' the current running application with a specific exit code.

' In this context: 1 indicates an abnormal termination or error condition

' It forcefully stops the application

Catch ex As Exception

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & "Critical Error")

Console.WriteLine("--------------")

Console.WriteLine("An unexpected error has occurred:")

Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & "The application needs to close.")

Console.WriteLine("Please contact system administrator if this persists.")

Environment.Exit(1)

End Try

' Prompt user to press any key before application closes

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & "Press any key to exit...")

Console.ReadKey()

End Sub

' Asynchronous method to initialize the entire application

Private Async Function InitializeApplicationAsync() As Task

' Attempt system initialization with retry mechanism

Await InitializeWithRetryAsync()

' Start the main program loop (menu system)

Await MainProgramLoopAsync()

End Function

' Implements a retry mechanism for system initialization

Private Async Function InitializeWithRetryAsync() As Task

' Maximum number of initialization attempts

Const MaxRetries As Integer = 3

Dim retryCount As Integer = 0

Try

' Attempt to initialize the system

Await SystemInitialization.InitializeSystemAsync()

' Verify the system's integrity

If Await SystemInitialization.VerifySystemIntegrityAsync() Then

' System initialization successful

Console.WriteLine("System verification passed. Ready to start.")

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & "Press any key to continue...")

Console.ReadKey(True) ' Pause for user acknowledgment

Exit Do ' Exit retry loop if successful

Else

' Throw exception if system verification fails

Throw New Exception("System verification failed.")

End If

Catch ex As Exception

' Increment retry counter

retryCount += 1

' Check if maximum retry attempts have been reached

If retryCount >= MaxRetries Then

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & "Initialization Failed")

Console.WriteLine("---------------------")

Console.WriteLine($"Failed to initialize after {MaxRetries} attempts.")

Console.WriteLine("Error: " & ex.Message)

Throw ' Throw final error if all attempts fail

End If

' Inform user about retry attempt

Console.WriteLine(Environment.NewLine & $"Initialization attempt {retryCount} of {MaxRetries} failed.")

Console.WriteLine("Press any key to retry or Esc to cancel...")

' Get user input for retry or cancel

Dim key = Console.ReadKey(True)

If key.Key = ConsoleKey.Escape Then

' Allow user to cancel initialization

Throw New OperationCanceledException("Initialization cancelled by user.")

End If

End Try

Loop

End Function

' Main program loop to display and handle the menu system

Private Async Function MainProgramLoopAsync() As Task

' Call the main menu display method from MenuSystem module

' Await MenuSystem.DisplayMainMenuAsync()

Await Task.CompletedTask

End Function

End Module

🛠️ Step 1: Configure Your Project Settings

To make your VB.NET project as strict and robust as C#, modify your .vbproj file:

<RootNamespace>EnterpriseInventory</RootNamespace>

<OptionCompare>Binary</OptionCompare>

<Nullable>enable</Nullable>

</PropertyGroup>

</Project>

This ensures: ✅ Option Strict On – Prevents implicit data type conversions
✅ Option Explicit On – Forces explicit variable declarations
✅ Option Compare Binary – Uses binary comparison for better performance
✅ Option Infer On – Allows type inference
✅ Nullable enable – Helps prevent null reference exceptions like in C#

🛠️ Step 2: Configure in Visual Studio

If you prefer Visual Studio settings, follow these steps:

1️⃣ Right-click on your project → Select Properties
2️⃣ Go to the Compile tab
3️⃣ Set these options:

Option Strict = On
Option Explicit = On
Option Compare = Binary
Option Infer = On

🛠️ Step 3: Set at the File Level

For individual files, add these directives at the top:

Option Strict On

Option Explicit On

Option Infer On

Option Compare Binary

This is useful when you only want strict settings for specific files instead of the whole project.

🚀 Bonus: Why Enable Null Reference Checking?

In VB.NET, Nothing can sometimes lead to unexpected null reference errors. Enabling <Nullable>enable</Nullable> in the project settings helps:
✔️ Catch potential null references at compile time
✔️ Reduce runtime exceptions
✔️ Make VB.NET behave more like C# in handling nullability

💬 What do you think?

Have you used these settings before? Let me know in the comments! Or if you have any VB.NET coding challenges, feel free to ask! 👇

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