How to: Get a Value from a Property

You retrieve a property's value by including the property name in an expression.

The property's Get procedure retrieves the value, but you do not explicitly call it by name. You use the property just as you would use a variable. Visual Basic makes the calls to the property's procedures.

To retrieve a value from a property

1. Use the property name in an expression the same way you would use a variable name. You can use a property anywhere you can use a variable or a constant.

   -or-

   Use the property name following the equal (=) sign in an assignment statement.

   The following example reads the value of the Visual Basic Now property, implicitly calling its Get procedure.

   Dim ThisMoment As Date 
   ' The following statement calls the Get procedure of the Visual Basic Now property.
   ThisMoment = Now
   

2. If the property takes arguments, follow the property name with parentheses to enclose the argument list. If there are no arguments, you can optionally omit the parentheses.

3. Place the arguments in the argument list within the parentheses, separated by commas. Be sure you supply the arguments in the same order that the property defines the corresponding parameters.

The value of the property participates in the expression just as a variable or constant would, or it is stored in the variable or property on the left side of the assignment statement.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create a Property

How to: Declare a Property with Mixed Access Levels

How to: Call a Property Procedure

How to: Declare and Call a Default Property in Visual Basic

How to: Put a Value in a Property

Concepts

Procedures in Visual Basic

Property Procedures

Procedure Parameters and Arguments

Differences Between Properties and Variables in Visual Basic

Reference

Property Statement