How to specify a range of array elements

Question

I'm working on an application that fills in a number of arrays. But being originally a VB6 application, it doesn't use element zero of any of them. This stops things like

my_array.Min

from working properly. I have no plans to tamper with the innards of the application, but it would be very convenient if I could specify a range of array elements in this sort of statement; something like

my_array(1:100).Min

Does such a construction exist, and if so, what is it?

What is Min? Can you show code that compiles in VB.NET?

Tim Schmelter
– Tim Schmelter

2013-03-13 15:48:20 +00:00
Commented Mar 13, 2013 at 15:48 — Tim Schmelter
– Tim Schmelter, Commented Mar 13, 2013 at 15:48

Konrad Rudolph · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-13 15:47:40Z

2

Unfortunately .NET doesn’t have a convenient array slice construct¹ (although you can use Linq to approximate it) but you’re solving the wrong X in an XY problem here.

The real solution is not to use 1-based arrays. Do change the innards of your application.

Incidentally, the default base for arrays in VB6 was also zero. You explicitly needed to specify Option Base 1 for 1-based arrays.

¹ There’s ArraySegment(T) but before .NET 4.5 this structure was completely broken since it didn’t implement the IList(T) interface and was thus unusable. It does implement that now, but it’s too late – nobody is using the class.

answered Mar 13, 2013 at 15:47

Konrad Rudolph

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2 Comments

Christian Hayter Over a year ago

+1. I guess Brian is referring to code written by devs who were unaware of VB6's default behaviour, e.g. writing Dim a(5) and only accessing elements 1-5. This is a common problem. :-(

Brian Hooper Over a year ago

Thanks for that. Sigh. All I wanted to do was chop the unused bottom half off a graph, and now the worms are out of the can and wriggling everywhere. I suppose a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

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