VB.NET shared indexer - what am I doing wrong? - vb.net

Question

I have this class:
''' <summary>
''' Utility class for managing ASP.NET session state.
''' </summary>
Public Class SessionHelper
''' <summary>
''' Private constructor to prevent instantiation since classes cannot be declared Shared in VB.
''' </summary>
Private Sub New()
End Sub
''' <summary>
''' Retrieves the current session state.
''' </summary>
''' <returns></returns>
Public Shared ReadOnly Property Session As HttpSessionState
Get
Return HttpContext.Current.Session
End Get
End Property
''' <summary>
''' Retrieves the current system connection string.
''' </summary>
''' <returns></returns>
Public Shared ReadOnly Property ConnectionString As String
Get
Dim raw As String = Session(SessionConstants.DotNetConnectionString)
If raw Is Nothing Then Return Nothing
Return raw.Replace(",", ";")
End Get
End Property
''' <summary>
''' Gets or sets a session variable.
''' </summary>
''' <param name="key">The key of the session variable.</param>
''' <returns>The value of the session variable.</returns>
Public Shared Property Item(ByVal key As String) As Object
Get
Return Session(key)
End Get
Set(value As Object)
Session(key) = value
End Set
End Property
End Class
And I get a compile error when I try to call the shared indexer:
SessionHelper("DotNetConnectionString")
Error BC30109 'SessionHelper' is a class type and cannot be used as an expression.
What am I doing wrong? Or does VB just not support shared indexers? I can call it explicitly as SessionHelper.Item("DotNetConnectionString") but the indexer syntax is not working.

Answer 1

You are accessing the method like a default indexer by leaving out the "Item" method name, but the method is not declared 'Default'. In fact, you can't declare shared indexers in VB.
e.g., you have to change your call to the shared method:
SessionHelper.Item("DotNetConnectionString")
Note: I noticed after posting that Ahmed had included the same information in a comment, so he deserves full credit.