A delegate is a data type that holds a reference to a method with a compatible signature. It is similar to a function pointer in C and C++.
System.Delegate class.The following example declares a delegate named MyDelegate that can encapsulate a method that takes a string as an argument and returns void.
Private Delegate Sub MyDelegate(ByVal message As String)
The delegate type can be declared using the delegate keyword. After a delegate declaration, you can call those methods whose return type and parameter-list match with the delegate using its instance.
Let's create a simple method that will take a string as a parameter and print that string to the console window.
Private Sub PrintMessage(ByVal message As String)
Console.WriteLine(message)
End Sub
A delegate object is created with the help of the new keyword or you can assign the method name directly to the delegate object as shown below.
Private Sub Welcome(ByVal message As String)
Console.WriteLine("Welcome: " & message)
End Sub
Private Sub GoodBye(ByVal message As String)
Console.WriteLine("Bye-bye: " & message)
End Sub
Once a delegate is instantiated, a method call made to the delegate is passed by the delegate to that method.
Public Sub Example1()
Dim delegate1 As MyDelegate = New MyDelegate(AddressOf PrintMessage)
Dim delegate2 As MyDelegate = AddressOf PrintMessage
delegate1("This is a VB.NET Tutorial.")
delegate1("You are learning Delegates.")
End Sub
Let's run the above code, and you will see the following output.
This is a VB.NET Tutorial.
You are learning Delegates.
Let's look into another example where we use a single delegate object and different methods with that object. Here are the delegate declaration and MathUtility class implementation.
Private Delegate Function MyMathDelegate(ByVal number1 As Integer, ByVal number2 As Integer) As Integer
Module MathUtility
Function Add(ByVal number1 As Integer, ByVal number2 As Integer) As Integer
Return (number1 + number2)
End Function
Function Subtract(ByVal number1 As Integer, ByVal number2 As Integer) As Integer
Return (number1 - number2)
End Function
Function Multiply(ByVal number1 As Integer, ByVal number2 As Integer) As Integer
Return (number1 * number2)
End Function
End Module
The following code first instantiates the delegate object and uses different methods one by one.
Public Sub Example2()
Dim mathDelegate As MyMathDelegate = New MyMathDelegate(AddressOf MathUtility.Add)
Dim num1 As Integer = 10
Dim num2 As Integer = 20
Console.WriteLine("Add({0}, {1}) = {2}", num1, num2, mathDelegate(num1, num2))
mathDelegate = AddressOf MathUtility.Subtract
Console.WriteLine("Subtract({0}, {1}) = {2}", num1, num2, mathDelegate(num1, num2))
mathDelegate = AddressOf MathUtility.Multiply
Console.WriteLine("Multiply({0}, {1}) = {2}", num1, num2, mathDelegate(num1, num2))
End Sub
Let's run the above code and you will see the following output.
Add(10, 20) = 30
Subtract(10, 20) = -10
Multiply(10, 20) = 200
A useful property of delegate objects is that multiple objects can be assigned to one delegate instance using the Delegate.Combine method.
The following code shows how you can use the multicasting of a delegate.
Private Delegate Sub MyDelegate(ByVal message As String)
Private Sub Welcome(ByVal message As String)
Console.WriteLine("Welcome: " & message)
End Sub
Private Sub GoodBye(ByVal message As String)
Console.WriteLine("Bye-bye: " & message)
End Sub
Public Sub CombineDelegatesExample()
Dim welcomeDel As MyDelegate = AddressOf Welcome
Dim goodByeDel As MyDelegate = AddressOf GoodBye
Dim welcomeGoodByeDel As MyDelegate = [Delegate].Combine(welcomeDel, goodByeDel)
Console.WriteLine("Call welcomeDel.")
welcomeDel("Mark")
Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Call goodByeDel.")
goodByeDel("John")
Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Call welcomeGoodByeDel.")
welcomeGoodByeDel("Stella")
End Sub
Let's run the above code and you will see the following output.
Call welcomeDel.
Welcome: Mark
Call goodByeDel.
Bye-bye: John
Call welcomeGoodByeDel.
Welcome: Stella
Bye-bye: Stella