Collapsing and Hiding Sections of Code

 

The #Region directive enables you to collapse and hide sections of code in Visual Basic .NET files. #Region lets you specify a block of code that you can expand or collapse when using the Outlining and Hiding Code feature of the Visual Studio .NET Code editor. The ability to hide code selectively makes your files more manageable and easier to read.

#Region directives support code block semantics such as #If...#End If. This means they cannot begin in one block and end in another; the start and end must be in the same block. #Region directives are not supported within functions.

Syntax

The syntax for #Region is as follows:

#Region "identifier string"
'code region
#End Region

The identifier string requires the quotes and acts as the title of the region when it is collapsed. The region is collapsed by default.

To collapse and hide a section of code

• Place the section of code between the #Region and #End Region statements, as in the following example:
   
  #Region "This is the code to be collapsed"
      Private components As System.ComponentModel.Container
      Dim WithEvents Form1 As System.Windows.Forms.Form
  
     Private Sub InitializeComponent()
        components = New System.ComponentModel.Container
        Me.Text = "Form1"
     End Sub
  #End Region

Multiple #Region Blocks

The #Region block can be used multiple times in a code file; thus, users can define their own blocks of procedures and classes that can, in turn, be collapsed. #Region blocks also can be nested within other #Region blocks.

Note   Hiding code does not prevent it from being compiled, and will not affect the #If...#End If statements.