Difference Between Functions and Subs in VB.NET With Examples

This tutorial will teach you about the Difference Between Functions and Subs in VB.NET With Examples.

A procedure is a method that performs a task when it’s called. There are two types of procedures in VB.Net and they are:

Functions – return a value

Sub procedures or Subs – do not return a value

What is a Function? The Function statement is composed of the name, parameter and the body of a function.

This is the syntax in performing the Function statement:

[Modifiers] Function FunctionName [(ParameterList)] As ReturnType

Statements…….
End Function

Where,

Modifiers: it specifies the access level of the function and its values are:

Public, Private, Protected, Friend, Protected Friend, and information concerning overriding overloading shadowing and sharing.

FunctionName: point out the name of the function

parameter list: identifies the list of the parameters

ReturnType: identifies the data type of the variable the function returns

Example of Functions in VB.NET:

Step 1: Create a function called Compute. This function will simply compute the value provided by the user.

 Function Compute(ByVal input1 As Integer, ByVal input2 As Integer) As Integer

        Dim output As Integer

        output = input1 * input2

        Return output

    End Function

Step 2: Call the function and Provide values.

Dim ComputedOutput As Integer
'pass the return value from Function to ComputedOutput variable
ComputedOutput = Compute(20, 5)
'Display the result
MsgBox(ComputedOutput)

Sub in VB.NET

In Visual Basic, a Sub procedure is a series of statements composed by the Sub and End Sub statements. It performs a task that returns control to the calling code, but it does not return any value. it is also used to declare the name, parameter and the body of a subprocedure.

This is the syntax in declaring a parameter in the parameter list:

[Optional] [ByVal | ByRef] [ParamArray] parameter name As datatype

You can also visit this site for the advanced tutorial in the declaring parameter list. Click Here

This is syntax in performing a Sub statement:

[Modifiers] Sub SubName [(ParameterList)]

Statements…..

End Sub

Example:

Step 1: Create a Subroutine then add the code below:

Public Sub cArea(ByVal len As Double, ByVal wid As Double)
' Declare a variable.
Dim area As Double
If len = 0 Or wid = 0 Then
' If the argument = 0 then the Sub will exit immediately.
Exit Sub
End If
'It calculate area of rectangle.
area = len * wid
' Print the area to the message Box.
MsgBox(area)
End Sub

Step 2: Add a button and add the code below.

This code will call the subroutine.

 Private Sub BtnGetArea_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtnGetArea.Click
        
cArea(20, 30)

 End Sub

Conclusion

In conclusion, the difference between functions and sub in vb.net is that functions return a value while the sub doesn’t return a value.

Inquiries

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