I'm having problems with the theory of shadowing.

I have found a definition in a Microsoft book that states:-
"If a class with a shadowed or hidden member is inherited, the shadowed or hidden member is not inherited, and the new class will expose the base member."

In other words when you have:-

1) A base class function
2) A child class function
  ( that inherits the base class and shadows it )
3) A child class that inherits the child class
   function in 2)

Any occurance of the 3) child Class will use the
base class implementation, not the child class implementation in 2).

I tried this and found that my project in fact used
the child class implementation in 2).

Can anybody explain why this contradicts the Microsoft book description? Am I doing something wrong with my test?


Example:-

Base Class 1
------------

Public Function setStringA(ByVal strText1 As String) _
                                          As String
        Return strText1 & " Base SetStringA"
End Function


Child Class 2
-------------
Inherits Person

Public Shadows Function SetStringA(ByVal strText1 _
                                   As String) As String
        Return strText1 & " " & " Simple Shadow SetStringA"
End Function


Child Class 3
-------------

Public Class Extra
    Inherits Employee
End Class


In A Form
---------

Private Sub btnShadow_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,_
                            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
                            Handles btnShadow.Click
     Dim myObj As New Extra
     Dim strReturnValue As String
     strReturnValue = myObj.SetStringA("Testing")
     MessageBox.Show(strReturnValue)
End Sub


Clicking the form = messagebox value “Testing Simple Shadow SetStringA" instead of the expected "Testing Base SetStringA".

A) The correction to your test:
Your second class is not achieving anything different. The idea is that Shadowing allows you to hide an inherited public member. The following would result in what Microsoft describes:

Public Class Person
    Public Function setStringA(...) As String
        ...
    End Function
End Class

Public Class FirstChildClass
    Inherits Person
    Private Shadows Function setStringA(...) As String
        ...
    End Function
End Class

Public Class SecondChildClass
    Inherits FirstChildClass
End Class

Of course, if you hide the method by shadowing it as Private, then you can't call that method of the child class or the matching base class' method either. As long as it's public, it will be inherited.

B)
<opinion>
The shadow "functionality" of VB.NET throws mud in the face of OOP. Using Shadows to hide a public method of an inherited class throws a monkey wrench into the concept of inheritance and should be avoided. If you have to use shadowing, then the class design should probably be re-thought.
</opinion>