index.md

title	Declared Elements in Visual Basic
ms.custom
ms.date	07/20/2015
ms.prod	.net
ms.reviewer
ms.suite
ms.technology	devlang-visual-basic
ms.topic	article
ms.assetid	0d1d1bb5-ac0b-485f-8922-cdcec5574c79
caps.latest.revision	15
author	dotnet-bot
ms.author	dotnetcontent

Declared Elements in Visual Basic

A declared element is a programming element that is defined in a declaration statement. Declared elements include variables, constants, enumerations, classes, structures, modules, interfaces, procedures, procedure parameters, function returns, external procedure references, operators, properties, events, and delegates.

Declaration statements include the following:

• Dim Statement

• Const Statement

• Enum Statement

• Class Statement

• Structure Statement

• Module Statement

• Interface Statement

• Function Statement

• Sub Statement

• Declare Statement

• Operator Statement

• Property Statement

• Event Statement

• Delegate Statement

In This Section

Declared Element Names
Describes how to name elements and use alphabetic case.

Declared Element Characteristics
Covers characteristics, such as scope, possessed by declared elements.

References to Declared Elements
Describes how the compiler matches a reference to a declaration and how to qualify a name.

Related Sections

Program Structure and Code Conventions
Presents guidelines for making your code easier to read, understand, and maintain.

Statements
Describes statements that name and define procedures, variables, arrays, and constants.

Declaration Contexts and Default Access Levels
Lists the types of declared elements and shows for each one its declaration statement, in what context you can declare it, and its default access level.