Generate a UUID in Visual Basic .NET

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is a powerful programming language developed by Microsoft. It is built on the .NET Framework and is widely used for developing applications on Windows computers. UUIDs, also known as GUIDs, are unique identifiers that are essential for various applications and systems.

How to Generate a UUID in VB.NET

In VB.NET, you can generate Version 4 UUIDs effortlessly using the built-in support provided by the .NET Framework. Follow the example below to generate a UUID in your VB.NET code:

Imports System.Diagnostics
 
Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Dim myuuid As Guid = Guid.NewGuid()
        Dim myuuidAsString As String = myuuid.ToString()
 
        Debug.WriteLine("The generated UUID is: " & myuuidAsString)
    End Sub
End Module

Explanation

• The code snippet above demonstrates how to generate a UUID using VB.NET.
• The Guid.NewGuid() method is used to create a new Guid instance, which is stored in the variable myuuid.
• The ToString() method is then used to convert the Guid instance to a string representation, which is stored in the variable myuuidAsString.
• The generated UUID is outputted using Debug.WriteLine() for testing and debugging purposes. The output will be similar to the following:

The UUID is: 119D2163-F16A-47AF-9DF7-418D3AF1455A

Converting from a string to a UUID

In certain scenarios, you may need to convert a string representation of a UUID back into a Guid instance. VB.NET provides a convenient way to achieve this. See the code example below:

Imports System.Diagnostics
 
Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Dim myuuid As Guid = Guid.NewGuid()
        Dim myuuidAsString As String = myuuid.ToString()
 
        Dim sameUuid As New Guid(myuuidAsString)
        Debug.Assert(sameUuid.Equals(myuuid))
    End Sub
End Module

Explanation

• The code snippet demonstrates how to convert a string representation of a UUID back into a Guid instance.
• The Guid(String) constructor method is used to create a new Guid instance (sameUuid) by passing the string representation of the UUID (myuuidAsString).
• The Debug.Assert() method is used to assert that the two Guid instances (sameUuid and myuuid) are equal. By following the above steps, you can easily generate and manipulate UUIDs in your Visual Basic .NET applications.