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title Creating and Using Components in Visual Basic
ms.date 07/20/2015
ms.prod .net
ms.technology
devlang-visual-basic
ms.topic article
helpviewer_keywords
components [Visual Basic]
ms.assetid ee6a4156-73f7-4e9b-8e01-c74c4798b65c
caps.latest.revision 9
author dotnet-bot
ms.author dotnetcontent

Creating and Using Components in Visual Basic

A component is a class that implements the xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent?displayProperty=nameWithType interface or that derives directly or indirectly from a class that implements xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent. A [!INCLUDEdnprdnshort] component is an object that is reusable, can interact with other objects, and provides control over external resources and design-time support.

An important feature of components is that they are designable, which means that a class that is a component can be used in the [!INCLUDEvsprvs] Integrated Development Environment. A component can be added to the Toolbox, dragged and dropped onto a form, and manipulated on a design surface. Notice that base design-time support for components is built into the [!INCLUDEdnprdnshort]; a component developer does not have to do any additional work to take advantage of the base design-time functionality.

A control is similar to a component, as both are designable. However, a control provides a user interface, while a component does not. A control must derive from one of the base control classes: xref:System.Windows.Forms.Control or xref:System.Web.UI.Control.

When to Create a Component

If your class will be used on a design surface (such as the Windows Forms or Web Forms Designer) but has no user interface, it should be a component and implement xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent, or derive from a class that directly or indirectly implements xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent.

The xref:System.ComponentModel.Component and xref:System.ComponentModel.MarshalByValueComponent classes are base implementations of the xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent interface. The main difference between these classes is that the xref:System.ComponentModel.Component class is marshaled by reference, while xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent is marshaled by value. The following list provides broad guidelines for implementers.

  • If your component needs to be marshaled by reference, derive from xref:System.ComponentModel.Component.

  • If your component needs to be marshaled by value, derive from xref:System.ComponentModel.MarshalByValueComponent.

  • If your component cannot derive from one of the base implementations due to single inheritance, implement xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent.

Component Classes

The xref:System.ComponentModel namespace provides classes that are used to implement the run-time and design-time behavior of components and controls. This namespace includes the base classes and interfaces for implementing attributes and type converters, binding to data sources, and licensing components.

The core component classes are:

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.Component. A base implementation for the xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent interface. This class enables object sharing between applications.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.MarshalByValueComponent. A base implementation for the xref:System.ComponentModel.IComponent interface.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.Container. The base implementation for the xref:System.ComponentModel.IContainer interface. This class encapsulates zero or more components.

Some of the classes used for component licensing are:

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.License. The abstract base class for all licenses. A license is granted to a specific instance of a component.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.LicenseManager. Provides properties and methods to add a license to a component and to manage a xref:System.ComponentModel.LicenseProvider.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.LicenseProvider. The abstract base class for implementing a license provider.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.LicenseProviderAttribute. Specifies the xref:System.ComponentModel.LicenseProvider class to use with a class.

Classes commonly used for describing and persisting components.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.TypeDescriptor. Provides information about the characteristics for a component, such as its attributes, properties, and events.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.EventDescriptor. Provides information about an event.

  • xref:System.ComponentModel.PropertyDescriptor. Provides information about a property.

Related Sections

Troubleshooting Control and Component Authoring
Explains how to fix common problems.

See Also

How to: Access Design-Time Support in Windows Forms