What's wrong with "Public Path As String * 256" in VB.NET 2008?

You look like you are trying to multiply a string type by an integer, which is a mismatch and not allowed.
Removing the  *256 will allow it to work.

If you are trying to set the length of the path variable to 256 then I don't think you can. You would have to accept the input for path and then use:

        path = path.Substring(0, 256)

to cut it down.

VB6 style Fixed-length strings aren't really supported in .Net.

The correct approach really depends in HOW the original string was being used.  What is being done in the original app?

Hi Idle -

I am trying to get someone else's DLL to work in my application and the documentation that was provided included this in the Declarations Section.

I know this form of declaration used to be valid. I'm not misled into thinking that I'm asking the system to multiply a string times a number. See:

http://www.workflowstudios.com/lance/blog.nsf/d6plinks/LSPN-76LLMJ

The question is, if VB.NET no longer allows it, what can I do in its place?

You can try to substitute a StringBuilder and set its initial length to 256:

    Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder(256)

Hello Experts -

This is what I really started with:

<StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack:=4)> Public Structure gbInfo
        Public vol As gbArray
        Public oi As gbArray
        Public size As Int32
        Public datasize As Int32
        Public reccnt As Int32
        <VBFixedString(256), MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst:=256)> Public path As String
        <VBFixedString(16), MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst:=16)> Public name As String
        <VBFixedString(48), MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst:=48)> Public description As String
        <VBFixedString(16), MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst:=16)> Public symbol As String
        Public begindate As Double
        Public Function isNull() As Boolean
         isNull = dt.isNull
        End Function
 End Structure

And, the compiler was getting hung up on the strange looking <VBFixedString> " thingies".

So, I pulled the <VBFixedStrings> things and just said, for example:

Public Path As String * 256

But, the compiler doesn't like this declaration either.

You are a genius Idle. Have you ever thought about going on Jeopardy?

Adding the "Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices" fixed it.

I guess fixed length strings are supported in VB.NET 2008, if you can get past the unusual way of declaring them!

Thanks.

I would not have figured out this one in a million years.