Difference in the properties for the same dll in c#.net and vb.net

Question

I am adding a dll for my project. My project is in vb.net and dll is written in c#.net. When I add this to a vb.net project the properties that are available are different (less in number) to the properties that are available if the same dll is added to a c# project.

Object Browser view when added to a VB.Net Project

Object Browser view when added to a c# project

If you see in c# view you can access properties like "hits" and "facets" which are not accessible in vb.net.

Can anyone please help me understand this issue.

Might your DLL be out of date? Maybe hits and facets have been added recently and you are using a DLL in your VB project which was compiled before hand? — JMK, Jun 17 '13 at 12:09
How are `hits` and `facets` defined? Is there anything unusual about them? — Tim S., Jun 17 '13 at 12:11
@MatthewWatson - Can you please expand on your comment. VB allows `Dim i As UInteger = 42` for example. — Chris Dunaway, Jun 17 '13 at 13:21
@dittu - Do you, perhaps, have "Hide Advanced Members" turned on in VS for VB.Net? — Chris Dunaway, Jun 17 '13 at 13:23
@ChrisDunaway I tried turning of Hide Advanced Members and it didn't help. I downloaded the source code for the above mentioned dll from github and I am trying to make it CLS-complaint by changing the property names. — dittu, Jun 17 '13 at 13:57
@dittu - You won't be able to make a reference that has a `uint` propery CLS compliant. This is because `uint` is of the type `System.Uint32` which is not CLS compliant. The answer to your question is to use `System.Uint32` in your C# code. — Security Hound, Jun 17 '13 at 14:15
@dittu - Yes...There is actually http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1561557/what-is-the-uint32-data-type-in-visual-basic-net?rq=1 and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uint32.aspx?cs-save-lang=1&cs-lang=vb#code-snippet-1 — Security Hound, Jun 17 '13 at 14:51
@ChrisDunaway What I really meant was that `uint` cannot be used by code that requires CLS-Compliance, but I guess if VB has the same type but with a different name, it should be able to use it. — Matthew Watson, Jun 17 '13 at 14:57
@MatthewWatson - There are CLS alternatives documented by MSDN. `System.Int64` would be the CLS compliant alternative to `System.UInt32` and `Decmial` would be the alternative to `System.UInt64` — Security Hound, Jun 17 '13 at 15:03

nvoigt · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-17T14:29:42.850

6

There are differences between VB.NET and C#. Make sure you compile your C# dll with the assembly attribute CLSCompliant set to true so your compiler can determine if all your publics are compatible to the other .NET languages.

edited Jun 17 '13 at 14:29

answered Jun 17 '13 at 12:15

nvoigt

75,013
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This answer does not make a great deal of sense. VB.NET and C# generate the same CL code when compiled – Security Hound Jun 17 '13 at 13:01
@Ramhound, what would you expect VB to do with a C# uint, not having an unsigned int type of it's own? – nvoigt Jun 17 '13 at 13:23
You would just use `UInt32`. **Int32 and int are exactly the same value type.** I am going to issue a downvote for the first sentence. It should be stated that neither `Uint32` nor `uint` are CLS compliant. – Security Hound Jun 17 '13 at 14:07
-1. .NET is not .NET? What is it then? If `a != a`, we got a major logical problem here. :) – Victor Zakharov Jun 17 '13 at 14:09
@Ramhound I changed my first sentence. I'm not here to argue about our differing understanding of english as a means to transport fun. – nvoigt Jun 17 '13 at 14:31
@Neolisk I changed my first sentence. I'm not here to argue about our differing understanding of english as a means to transport fun. – nvoigt Jun 17 '13 at 14:31

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '13 at 14:51

0

To clarify my situation I am using a dll downloaded from github. When I downloaded the source code from github I found out that it is not CLSComplaint. When I changed the property name and added DataMember attribute (for jsonserilzation) all the properties are available in vb.net project as well, but the problem I will be facing is merging of the code changes to any updates in the particular class library in original version to the CLSComplaint one which I don't want to commit to GitHub until I speak with author.

As a work around I added GetHitCount(CLSComplaint property name)

public int GetHitCount
{
    get { return hits.total;}
}

this exposes the "hits" property which is not available when the dll is added to vb.net project.

answered Jun 17 '13 at 14:51

dittu

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1
6

If you want a CLS compliant unsigned integer then you need to use http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.int64.aspx instead of the unsigned integer the original code used. Your accepted answer is actually wrong. As I pointed out VB.NET and C# are compiled into the same code ( when CLS code is used of course ). – Security Hound Jun 17 '13 at 14:59
@Ramhound all the integers in the particular class I am looking into are System.Int32 type there are no unsigned(Uint32 types). I might have misunderstood your comment. Let me know if I am wrong. – dittu Jun 17 '13 at 15:35
I could have sworn your original question was asking about two properties that were unsigned integers. – Security Hound Jun 17 '13 at 15:53

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 17 '13 at 15:03

It's likely that "hits" and "facets" in the C# project have members in the class that have the same name, but different case. This is a very common issue for VB projects referencing C# dlls, and it also will result in the C# dll not being CLS Compliant. VB is case-insensitive, so it cannot determine which "hits" is being needed if there also is a "Hits" member - as a result VB will not display either member.

You can still call "hits" and "facets", but you will need to use "InvokeMember" to do this (using reflection).

Difference in the properties for the same dll in c#.net and vb.net

3 Answers3