Access Levels in Visual Basic

Article
09/15/2021

The access level of a declared element is the extent of the ability to access it, that is, what code has permission to read it or write to it. This is determined not only by how you declare the element itself, but also by the access level of the element's container. Code that cannot access a containing element cannot access any of its contained elements, even those declared as Public. For example, a Public variable in a Private structure can be accessed from inside the class that contains the structure, but not from outside that class.

Public

The Public keyword in the declaration statement specifies that the element can be accessed from code anywhere in the same project, from other projects that reference the project, and from any assembly built from the project. The following code shows a sample Public declaration:

Public Class ClassForEverybody

You can use Public only at module, interface, or namespace level. This means you can declare a public element at the level of a source file or namespace, or inside an interface, module, class, or structure, but not in a procedure.

Protected

The Protected keyword in the declaration statement specifies that the element can be accessed only from within the same class, or from a class derived from this class. The following code shows a sample Protected declaration:

Protected Class ClassForMyHeirs

You can use Protected only at class level, and only when you declare a member of a class. This means you can declare a protected element in a class, but not at the level of a source file or namespace, or inside an interface, module, structure, or procedure.

Friend

The Friend keyword in the declaration statement specifies that the element can be accessed from within the same assembly, but not from outside the assembly. The following code shows a sample Friend declaration:

Friend stringForThisProject As String

You can use Friend only at module, interface, or namespace level. This means you can declare a friend element at the level of a source file or namespace, or inside an interface, module, class, or structure, but not in a procedure.

Protected Friend

The Protected Friend keyword combination in the declaration statement specifies that the element can be accessed either from derived classes or from within the same assembly, or both. The following code shows a sample Protected Friend declaration:

Protected Friend stringForProjectAndHeirs As String

You can use Protected Friend only at class level, and only when you declare a member of a class. This means you can declare a protected friend element in a class, but not at the level of a source file or namespace, or inside an interface, module, structure, or procedure.

Private

The Private keyword in the declaration statement specifies that the element can be accessed only from within the same module, class, or structure. The following code shows a sample Private declaration:

Private _numberForMeOnly As Integer

You can use Private only at module level. This means you can declare a private element inside a module, class, or structure, but not at the level of a source file or namespace, inside an interface, or in a procedure.

At the module level, the Dim statement without any access level keywords is equivalent to a Private declaration. However, you might want to use the Private keyword to make your code easier to read and interpret.

Private Protected

The Private Protected keyword combination in the declaration statement specifies that the element can be accessed only from within the same class, as well as from derived classes found in the same assembly as the containing class. The Private Protected access modifier is supported starting with Visual Basic 15.5.

The following example shows a Private Protected declaration:

Private Protected internalValue As Integer

You can declare a Private Protected element only inside of a class. You cannot declare it within an interface or structure, nor can you declare it at the level of a source file or namespace, inside an interface or a structure, or in a procedure.

The Private Protected access modifier is supported by Visual Basic 15.5 and later. To use it, you add the following element to your Visual Basic project (*.vbproj) file. As long as Visual Basic 15.5 or later is installed on your system, it lets you take advantage of all the language features supported by the latest version of the Visual Basic compiler:

<PropertyGroup>
   <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion>
</PropertyGroup>

To use the Private Protected access modifier, you must add the following element to your Visual Basic project (*.vbproj) file:

<PropertyGroup>
   <LangVersion>15.5</LangVersion>
</PropertyGroup>

For more information see setting the Visual Basic language version.

Access Modifiers

The keywords that specify access level are called access modifiers. The following table compares the access modifiers:

Access modifier	Access level granted	Elements you can declare with this access level	Declaration context within which you can use this modifier
`Public`	Unrestricted: Any code that can see a public element can access it	Interfaces Modules Classes Structures Structure members Procedures Properties Member variables Constants Enumerations Events External declarations Delegates	Source file Namespace Interface Module Class Structure
`Protected`	Derivational: Code in the class that declares a protected element, or a class derived from it, can access the element	Interfaces Classes Structures Procedures Properties Member variables Constants Enumerations Events External declarations Delegates	Class
`Friend`	Assembly: Code in the assembly that declares a friend element can access it	Interfaces Modules Classes Structures Structure members Procedures Properties Member variables Constants Enumerations Events External declarations Delegates	Source file Namespace Interface Module Class Structure
`Protected` `Friend`	Union of `Protected` and `Friend`: Code in the same class or the same assembly as a protected friend element, or within any class derived from the element's class, can access it	Interfaces Classes Structures Procedures Properties Member variables Constants Enumerations Events External declarations Delegates	Class
`Private`	Declaration context: Code in the type that declares a private element, including code within contained types, can access the element	Interfaces Classes Structures Structure members Procedures Properties Member variables Constants Enumerations Events External declarations Delegates	Module Class Structure
`Private Protected`	Code in the class that declares a private protected element, or code in a derived class found in the same assembly as the bas class.	Interfaces Classes Structures Procedures Properties Member variables Constants Enumerations Events External declarations Delegates	Class