Access Modifiers
C# supports the following access modifiers, which you can use when declaring a class, method, or property:
Public: A public class, method, or property has no access restrictions.
Protected: A protected method or property can be accessed only within the class
itself or a derived class.
Internal: An internal class, method, or property can be accessed only by a component
within the same assembly (dll file). Because ASP.NET pages are compiled into
different assemblies than the contents of the App_Code folder, you cannot access an
internal member of a class outside of the App_Code folder.
Private: A private class, method, or property can be accessed only within the class
itself.
Visual Basic .NET supports the following access modifiers (also called access levels), which
you can use when declaring a class, method, or property:
Public: A Public class, method, or property has no access restrictions.
Protected:A Protected method or property can be accessed only within the class
itself or a derived class.
Friend—A Friend class, method, or property can be accessed only by a component
within the same assembly (dll file). Because ASP.NET pages are compiled into different
assemblies than the contents of the App_Code folder, you cannot access a Friend
member of a class outside of the App_Code folder.
Protected Friend—A Protected Friend method or property can be accessed within
the class itself or a derived class, or any other class located in the same assembly.
Private—A Private class, method, or property can be accessed only within the class
itself.