Overloading and Overriding in Visual

Basic.NET 2005
(Page 1 of 5 )

This article gives you an in-depth understanding of the differences between overloading and
overriding in Visual Basic.NET 2005. It is assumed that the reader knows something about
object-oriented programming in Visual Basic.NET.

Two downloadable zip files are available for this article, one on overloading and one on
overriding.

If you are new to OOP in Visual Basic.NET, I strongly suggest that you go through the following
links:
Using Constructors with Object-Oriented Database Development
Properties and Object-Oriented Database Development
Using Methods with Object-Oriented Database Development
An Introduction to Object-Oriented Database Development
The entire source code for this article is available in the form of downloadable zip files. The
solution was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition on Microsoft
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. I didn't really test it in any other environment. I
request that you post in the discussion area if you have any problems in execution.
A sample class without overloading
Before taking a direct look at overloading, let us try to understand the following class:
Public Class Sample
Private _x As Double
Private _y As Double

Public Property X() As Double

Get
Return _x
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Double)
_x = value
End Set
End Property
 Public Property Y() As Double
Get
Return _y
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Double)
_y = value
End Set
End Property

Public Sub SetTwoValues(ByVal a As Double, ByVal b As Double)

_x = a
_y = b
End Sub

Public Sub SetSingleValue(ByVal a As Double)

_x = a
_y = a
End Sub

Public Function GetProduct() As Double

Return _x * _y
End Function

End Class
The above class has two private fields ("_x" and "_y") which are only accessible within the class
(and not outside the class). Further, it has two public properties and three public methods (public
members are accessible even outside the class).
The following is the sample code needed to test the above sample class:
Dim obj As New Sample
obj.X = 5
obj.Y = 30
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj.GetProduct())

Dim obj2 As New Sample

obj2.SetTwoValues(10, 20)
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj2.GetProduct())
Dim obj3 As New Sample
obj3.SetSingleValue(10)
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj3.GetProduct())
I created three objects (or instances) for the class "Sample" named "obj," "obj2" and "obj3." The
first object uses properties to assign values. The second object uses a method named
"SetTwoValues" to assign two values. The third object uses another method named
"SetSingleValue" to assign only a single value.

Overloading and Overriding in Visual

Basic.NET 2005 - A sample class with method
overloading
(Page 2 of 5 )

When we have ten parameters to pass, with different combinations, to methods which have
similar logic, naming those methods differently from each other would be confusing when
working with objects. In such a situation, we can implement more methods with the same name
and with a difference in parameters.
A rewrite of the class in the previous section, which implements overloading (more methods
with the same name and different parameters) is as follows:
Public Class Sample2
Private _x As Double
Private _y As Double

Public Property X() As Double

Get
Return _x
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Double)
_x = value
End Set
End Property
 Public Property Y() As Double
Get
Return _y
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Double)
_y = value
End Set
End Property

Public Sub SetValues(ByVal a As Double, ByVal b As Double)

_x = a
_y = b
End Sub

Public Sub SetValues(ByVal a As Double)

_x = a
_y = a
End Sub

Public Function GetProduct() As Double

Return _x * _y
End Function

End Class
As you can see, for the above class there exist two methods with the same name, "SetValues,"
but with different parameters. Those are called overloaded methods. The following is the code
that tests the above class:
Dim obj As New Sample2
obj.X = 5
obj.Y = 30
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj.GetProduct())

Dim obj2 As New Sample2

obj2.SetValues(10, 20)
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj2.GetProduct())
 Dim obj3 As New Sample2
obj3.SetValues(10)
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj3.GetProduct())
If you observe the "obj2" and "obj3," we are calling the same "SetValues" method. Based on the
number of parameters, and based on their data types, we are passing to the method; the
respective method with the best match gets picked up and executed automatically.

Overloading and Overriding in Visual

Basic.NET 2005 - A sample class with
constructor overloading
(Page 3 of 5 )

Overloading is not limited only to methods. We can even overload constructors, properties, and
so forth. The following is a rewrite of the above class which includes both method and
constructor overloading:
Public Class Sample3
Private _x As Double
Private _y As Double

Public Sub New()

End Sub

Public Sub New(ByVal a As Double)

_x = a
_y = a
'Me.SetValues(a)
End Sub

Public Sub New(ByVal a As Double, ByVal b As Double)

_x = a
_y = b
'Me.SetValues(a, b)
 End Sub

Public Property X() As Double

Get
Return _x
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Double)
_x = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property Y() As Double

Get
Return _y
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Double)
_y = value
End Set
End Property

Public Sub SetValues(ByVal a As Double, ByVal b As Double)

_x = a
_y = b
End Sub

Public Sub SetValues(ByVal a As Double)

_x = a
_y = a
End Sub

Public Function GetProduct() As Double

Return _x * _y
End Function

End Class
As you can see from the comments in the above class, I am trying to call overloaded methods
from overloaded constructors, which is possible.
The following is the code to test the constructors in the above class:
Dim obj As New Sample3(10, 20)
MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj.GetProduct())

Dim obj2 As New Sample3(10)

MessageBox.Show("Product = " & obj.GetProduct())

Overloading and Overriding in Visual

Basic.NET 2005 - Method overriding in
Visual Basic 2005
(Page 4 of 5 )

In all of the previous sections, we worked with only "overloading." This section focuses on
"overriding."
Before proceeding further, please note that there is no relationship or similarity between
"overloading" and "overriding." They are completely different. To demonstrate "overriding," one
needs to work with inheritance. If you are new to inheritance in Visual Basic.NET, I strongly
suggest that you go through the following article:
Inheritance with VB.NET 2005
Let us start with defining two simple classes as follows:
Public Class Parent
Public Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From Parent")
End Sub
End Class

Public Class Child

Inherits Parent
Public Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From child")
End Sub
End Class
From the above, we have two classes, "Parent" and "Child." The "Child" class gets inherited
from the "Parent" class. The parent class has a method named "DispMsg," and the same method
is redefined in the child with the same name.
If we create a parent object (instance), we will have only one method and we can call it without
any problem. But if we create a child object, we will have two methods -- one inherited from the
parent -- with the same name and signature. Thus the program gives out a warning and defaults
to the child method whenever "DispMsg" is called from the child object.
To eliminate this warning, we should either "override" or "shadow" the parent (or inherited)
method. I shall cover the "shadow" technique in my upcoming articles. For now, let us
concentrate on the "override" technique.
The following are the modifications to the previous classes which are needed to implement
overriding:
Public Class Parent
Public Overridable Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From Parent")
End Sub
End Class

Public Class Child

Inherits Parent
Public Overrides Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From child")
End Sub
End Class
To override (or redefine) an inherited method in the child class, the same method must be
declared with "overridable" in the parent and with "overrides" in the child. To test the above
classes, you can use the following code:
Dim objP As New Parent
objP.DispMsg() 'displays "From Parent"

Dim obj As New Child

obj.DispMsg() 'displayes "From Child"
Please note that even if you use a parent reference with the child object, the result would be the
same as accessing the child member. Try testing it out using the following:
CType(obj, Parent).DispMsg()'displayes "From Child"
DirectCast(obj, Parent).DispMsg()'displayes "From Child"
Dim RefParent As Parent = obj
RefParent.DispMsg()'displayes "From Child"

Overloading and Overriding in Visual

Basic.NET 2005 - Multi-level method
overriding in Visual Basic 2005 inheritance
(Page 5 of 5 )

In the previous section, I covered the meaning of overriding. In this section, I shall extend the
same concept further to multi-level inheritance and overriding in Visual Basic 2005.
Let us redefine our classes as follows:
Public Class Parent
Public Overridable Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From Parent")
End Sub
End Class

Public Class Child

Inherits Parent
Public Overrides Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From child")
End Sub
End Class

Public Class GrandChild

Inherits Child
Public Overrides Sub DispMsg()
MessageBox.Show("From grand child")
End Sub
End Class
If you observe the above code, I defined three classes with multi-level inheritance (child
inherited from parent and grandchild inherited from child). You can still see that the
same "DispMsg" method is defined in all of the classes.
If a method is defined with "overridable" in the parent, it can be overridden in child classes using
"overrides." If a class has a method already defined with "overrides," it is implicitly declared as
"overridable" and we need not define both "overrides" and "overridable" at the same time.
To test the above code, simply create an object based on the "GrandChild" class and try to call
"DispMsg" as shown:
Dim obj As New GrandChild
obj.DispMsg() 'displays "From grant child"
Even in this case, if you try to convert the "GrandChild" object to any of its parent or
grandparent classes and access the "DispMsg" method, you will receive the same output.
In my next article, I shall introduce "shadows." I hope you enjoyed the article and any
suggestions, bugs, errors, enhancements etc. are highly appreciated at
http://jagchat.spaces.live.com