VB.NET Turning Option Strict Off In-Line

Question

Is there a way to turn option strict off for just a single line of code?

I'm doing some maintenance work and I need to "cheat" in just one place and I don't want to lower the standard for the entire file.

Answer 1

Sadly, it is not possible for a single line of code in a file. See the MSDN docs.

On the other hand, you could probably make your single line of code a separate function, put that in a new file with partial class attributes, and put Option Strict Off on that one file. The IL compiler will probably inline your function anyway, so it will be equivalent speedwise, but will be ugly from a practical point of view.

Answer 2

Since it must appear in the declarations section of the module then option strict can't be used in the middle of code. But it can be done on a per-module basis which might help a little.

And there is no mention in the "Visual Basic 2005 in a nutshell" book that suggests there's another method of turning it on or off.

Answer 3

A couple other ideas:

• You could code with it mostly off and turn it on now and then to make sure the rest of your code complies
• You could configure it so that Option Strict is ON for release builds but OFF for debug builds.