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A characteristic of a declared element is an aspect of that element that affects how code can interact with it. Every declared element has one or more of the following characteristics associated with it:
Data type — the values the element can hold, and how it stores those values. For more information, see Data Types.
Lifetime — the period of execution time during which the element is available for use. For more information, see Lifetime in Visual Basic.
Scope — the set of all code that can refer to the element without qualifying its name. For more information, see How to: Control the Scope of a Variable.
Access level — the permission for code to make use of the element. For more information, see How to: Control the Availability of a Variable.
Characteristics of the Elements
The following table shows the declared elements and the characteristics that apply to each one.
| Element | Data Type | Lifetime | Scope 1 | Access Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Constant | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Enumeration | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structure | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Property | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Method | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Procedure (Sub or Function) |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Procedure parameter | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Function return | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Operator | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Interface | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Class | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Event | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Delegate | No | No | Yes | Yes |
1 Scope is sometimes referred to as visibility.
See also
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