Using the Imports key word at the top of your document enables you to not have to fully type out the namespace everytime you use it. It's the same in C#, except VB has some namespaces imported for you as a standard, whereas C# always needs everything you need imported (using C#)
So this code:
Public Class Test
Public Sub New
Dim cmb As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
End Sub
End Class
Could be a lot shorter like this:
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Public Class Test
Public Sub New
Dim cmb As New SqlCommand
End Sub
End Class
You always have to Import the entire namespace.
So this won't work:
Imports System
Imports Data.SqlClient
You can also define aliases for namespace, like so:
Imports MyAlias = System.Data.SqlClient
More on Imports
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