Private Methods and Properties

[Anthony Giambalvo]

I am converting a class I created in Visual Basic which includes private methods and properties (used only by other methods and properties in the class). How do I implement this with PowerBasic 5/9? Do I use a HIDDEN interface for these elements? I notice that an INTERFACE can be defined AS HIDDEN, but there is no documentation that explains what this does or how it works. There is also no PRIVATE or EXPORT attribute that can be added to a method or property, so I have no idea where else to look. Any ideas?

TIA,

[jcfuller]

I am converting a class I created in Visual Basic which includes private methods and properties (used only by other methods and properties in the class). How do I implement this with PowerBasic 5/9? Do I use a HIDDEN interface for these elements? I notice that an INTERFACE can be defined AS HIDDEN, but there is no documentation that explains what this does or how it works. There is also no PRIVATE or EXPORT attribute that can be added to a method or property, so I have no idea where else to look. Any ideas?

TIA,

Depends on how you are using it. If a server then use hidden. If not why do you need private?

James

[Anthony Giambalvo]

Depends on how you are using it. If a server then use hidden. If not why do you need private?

James,
The methods are used by most public methods and properties to manipulate class variables at a low level, and can be dangerous if called directly by a malicious or careless programmer. They are there to make programming the class easier, and not intended for class users to call.

[jcfuller]

CLASS METHODS??

James

[Anthony Giambalvo]

CLASS METHODS??

Interface methods. The only class methods I use are Create and Destroy. Would class methods be used to do what I want? My only point of reference with classes is VB6, which doesn't provide for multiple interface definitions within a class, but does provide Private and Public methods.

[David Roberts]

> Would class methods be used to do what I want?

Yes.

Anthony, James has answered your question.

GoTo Programming Reference > Objects and Com Programming > What is a Class Method? Here

Create and Destroy are special class methods.

[Anthony Giambalvo]

>
Yes.

Yes, David. Thank you. I did read that before I actually received the compiler, but my memory is not what it used to be .

The question still remains, though. What is AS HIDDEN used for in the interface definition, then? It is shown in the INTERFACE block definition, but never mentioned in the documentation (that I can see, at least). None of the example code I've seen uses it.

[David Roberts]

It is to do with the hResult. Do a search for 'hidden'.

[Kev Peel]

"AS HIDDEN" interfaces are not included in the TLB, so no-one else will know about that particular interface if you publish the ActiveX DLL. Simple as that

[David Roberts]

Aha. Thanks, Kev. A better search is "as hidden" but all the "hidden" refs still get thrown up but the "as hidden" get highlighted as well.

[Anthony Giambalvo]

Thanks Kev and David. I searched for AS HIDDEN, but did not see that information. I will spend more time tonight rereading the documentation. Seems like a good night for some light reading.