Imports System.Collections

'Create a simple class
Public Class Person
    private _Name;
    private _Surname;
    	    
    Public Sub New()
        _Name = ""
        _Surname = ""
    End Sub

    Public Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return _Name
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As String)
            _Name=Value
        End Set
    End Property
    
    Public Property Surname() As String
        Get
            Return _Surname
        End Get
        Set(ByVal Value As String)
            _Surname=Value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

'Let's assume we have a chief for each sector of an enterprise
'and we want to keep in memory their names

public chiefs as new Hashtable

public sub CreateChiefsTable()
    dim p1 as new Person
    p1.Name="John"
    p1.Surname="Smith"
    'add the person into the hashtable and identify him
    'with the sector name as key.
    chiefs.Add("Sector Alpha",p1)

    dim p2 as new Person
    p2.Name="Michael"
    p2.Surname="Brown"
    'add a second person.
    chiefs.Add("Sector Beta",p2)	
end sub

'Accessing the data is really simple.
'Create a sub that shows the name and surname of the chief
'of a specific sector.

public sub ShowChiefInfo(ByVal Sector as string)
    if chiefs.ContainsKey(Sector) then
        dim p as person
	p=directCast(chiefs(Sector),Person)
	MessageBox.show(p.Name + " " + p.Surname)
    else
	MessageBox.Show("Wrong sector")
    end if
end sub

'Cycling the items is easy too
'Create a sub that shows each sector chief info

public sub ShowChiefs()
    'cycle all Hastables keys
    for each Sector as string in chiefs.keys
	dim p as person
	p=directCast(chiefs(Sector),Person)
	MessageBox.show(Sector + ": " + p.Name + " " + p.Surname)
    next
end sub