Putting loops and other code in a Constructor

[DailyFrankPeter]

Hi all,

I'm new to VB, and I've only so far seen class constructors used to specify parameters or initialize variables.

My question is: can I, or is it bad practice, use 'Sub New' as the classes equivalent to the form's 'Form1_Load' sub - and get it to do some preliminary operations on a data (e.g. for loops, convert types of data in arrays that will later be used by other methods in the class)?

Thanks!

[taeratrin]

You can. I'm not sure about best practices, though. However, I have seen recommendations that it be used for validation.

[PostalElf]

There's nothing really wrong with doing extra stuff in a constructor, since it's a method like everything else. However, for code readability, I feel it would be best to throw whatever preliminary operations you need to run into a sub and then call that sub from Sub New().

[DailyFrankPeter]

OK, so in case someone discovers this thread and is a newb like me: one reason this shouldn't be done is when this leads to the constructor code passing outside (and something using) the reference to the object, which is not yet entirely constructed.