sb.AppendLine($" Private fieldName As dataType") sb.AppendLine($" Public Property propName() As dataType") sb.AppendLine(" Get") sb.AppendLine($" Return fieldName") sb.AppendLine(" End Get") sb.AppendLine(" Set(value As dataType)") sb.AppendLine($" fieldName = value") sb.AppendLine(" End Set") sb.AppendLine(" End Property") sb.AppendLine() Next
Marcus , a junior developer at DataFlow Solutions , was drowning. His boss needed three different CSV parsers, two JSON validators, and a SQL INSERT builder — all by Friday. Writing the same boilerplate ( Try-Catch , Using blocks, List(Of T) loops) over and over was burning his nights.
Public Shared Function GenerateCsvReader(className As String, delimiter As String) As String Dim sb As New StringBuilder() sb.AppendLine("Imports System.IO") sb.AppendLine("Imports System.Text") sb.AppendLine() sb.AppendLine($"Public Class classNameCsvReader") sb.AppendLine(" Public Shared Function ReadCsv(filePath As String) As List(Of Dictionary(Of String, String))") sb.AppendLine(" Dim results As New List(Of Dictionary(Of String, String))()") sb.AppendLine(" Dim lines As String() = File.ReadAllLines(filePath, Encoding.UTF8)") sb.AppendLine(" If lines.Length = 0 Then Return results") sb.AppendLine($" Dim headers As String() = lines(0).Split(delimiter)") sb.AppendLine(" For i As Integer = 1 To lines.Length - 1") sb.AppendLine(" Dim values As String() = lines(i).Split(delimiter)") sb.AppendLine(" Dim row As New Dictionary(Of String, String)()") sb.AppendLine(" For j As Integer = 0 To headers.Length - 1") sb.AppendLine(" If j < values.Length Then") sb.AppendLine(" row(headers(j)) = values(j)") sb.AppendLine(" Else") sb.AppendLine(" row(headers(j)) = String.Empty") sb.AppendLine(" End If") sb.AppendLine(" Next") sb.AppendLine(" results.Add(row)") sb.AppendLine(" Next") sb.AppendLine(" Return results") sb.AppendLine(" End Function") sb.AppendLine("End Class") Return sb.ToString() End Function
Then Marcus built — a small VB.NET utility that generates repetitive code from simple templates. It saved him 12 hours that week. His boss gave him a bonus. Other devs asked for it. Here is Marcus’s generator, polished and ready for you. The Code: CodeForge.vb (Full Generator) Imports System.Text Imports System.IO ''' <summary> ''' Generates VB.NET boilerplate code from JSON-like definitions. ''' Story: Built to eliminate repetitive CRUD, parsing, and validation code. ''' </summary> Public Class CodeForge
' ToString override sb.AppendLine(" Public Overrides Function ToString() As String") sb.AppendLine($" Return $""className: String.Join(", ", properties.Keys.Select(Function(k) $"k=k")) """) sb.AppendLine(" End Function") sb.AppendLine("End Class") Return sb.ToString() End Function
' 3. Generate SQL INSERT builder Dim columns As New List(Of String) From "OrderId", "Product", "Quantity" Dim sqlBuilderCode As String = CodeForge.GenerateSqlInsertBuilder("Orders", columns) CodeForge.SaveToFile(sqlBuilderCode, "C:\Generated\OrdersSqlBuilder.vb")
Public Shared Function GenerateSqlInsertBuilder(tableName As String, columnNames As List(Of String)) As String Dim sb As New StringBuilder() sb.AppendLine("Imports System.Data.SqlClient") sb.AppendLine() sb.AppendLine($"Public Class tableNameSqlBuilder") sb.AppendLine(" Public Shared Function BuildInsertCommand(conn As SqlConnection, parameters As Dictionary(Of String, Object)) As SqlCommand") sb.AppendLine($" Dim columns As String = String.Join(" & "","" & ", columnNames.Select(Function(c) $""""c""""))") sb.AppendLine($" Dim valuesPlaceholders As String = String.Join(" & "","" & ", columnNames.Select(Function(c) $"@""c"))") sb.AppendLine($" Dim sql As String = $""INSERT INTO tableName (columns) VALUES (valuesPlaceholders)""") sb.AppendLine(" Dim cmd As New SqlCommand(sql, conn)") sb.AppendLine(" For Each kvp In parameters") sb.AppendLine(" cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue(kvp.Key, kvp.Value)") sb.AppendLine(" Next") sb.AppendLine(" Return cmd") sb.AppendLine(" End Function") sb.AppendLine("End Class") Return sb.ToString() End Function