Vb Coding Practices

Visual Basic Coding Practices

Application skill for VB.NET style (archived awesome-guidelines capsules). Legacy VB6 Wikibooks Hungarian rules apply only when maintaining pre-.NET code.

Core Principle

VB.NET quality is Framework-aligned naming plus Strict options and readable blocks, PascalCase public API, Try/Catch, no legacy On Error or Hungarian on new code.

When to Use / NOT

• VB.NET libraries, WinForms/WPF/ASP.NET VB projects, .vb modules and classes.
• Setting up Option Strict, XML docs, dotnet format, analyzer/build CI.

NOT when:

• C# / F#, use language-specific practice skills.
• Pure VB6/VBA maintenance, Wikibooks Hungarian may apply locally; do not mix into new.NET modules without migration plan.

Workflow

1. Formatting, indent, statements, comments (vb-style-formatting-layout.md).
2. Naming, PascalCase/camelCase, m_ fields (vb-style-naming-types.md).
3. Idioms, options, Try/Catch, LINQ, events (vb-style-idioms-control.md).
4. Docs/verify, XML docs, file layout, build (vb-style-docs-verify.md).
5. Verify, dotnet build, dotnet format, tests on changed projects.

Red Flags

• Missing Option Strict/Explicit on hand-written files
• Tab characters without space conversion
• Multiple statements per line (: separator)
• Heavy _ continuation where implicit works
• My or my in identifier names
• Hungarian prefixes on new VB.NET (strName, iCount)
• On Error Goto instead of Try/Catch
• Not x Is Nothing instead of x IsNot Nothing
• Type suffix characters ($, %, #)
• Class containing only Shared methods (use Module)
• Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility usage
• Single-letter names without clear geometric/index role
• Asterisk comment boxes
• End-of-line comment preference over own-line (MS style)
• Multiple public types in one file
• Public API without XML documentation
• LINQ join expressed only via Where
• Empty Else/Case Else without documented intent
• Bug fix without build/test verification

Verification

• dotnet build on affected projects
• dotnet format --verify-no-changes when repo configures it
• Option Strict/Explicit header on new/changed .vb
• Public API XML doc spot-check
• Capsule checklist on legacy-vs-.NET naming boundary

References

• awesome-guidelines/references/vb-style-learning-note.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/vb-style-formatting-layout.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/vb-style-naming-types.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/vb-style-idioms-control.md
• awesome-guidelines/references/vb-style-docs-verify.md