Recipe 3.5. Creating Object Instances

You need to create an instance of a class or structure.

Use the New keyword to create a new class or structure instance.

There are three basic places you use the New keyword:

When you declare a new instance of a type. The Dim statement offers a few different variations when using the New keyword. Both of the following examples create a new instance of a project-specific Employee class. Other than the minor syntax differences, the two lines are functionally identical:
```
 Dim someEmployee As New Employee Dim someEmployee As Employee = New Employee 
```
When you assign new instances to existing variables. Once you have a variable defined, you can assign it an instance using New:
```
 Dim someEmployee As Employee someEmployee = New Employee 
```
In-line, whenever you need an instance that you don't capture in a variable. Sometimes you simply need a class to exist only within a statement, perhaps as an argument to another function. This is quite common when working with GDI+ graphic elements, such as pens. The following code block draws a line on a form during its Paint event. It creates a new Pen object that disappears once the call to DrawLine() ends:
```
 Private Sub Form1_Paint(ByVal sender As Object, _       ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs) _       Handles Me.Paint    e.Graphics.DrawLine(New Pen(Color.Red), 0, 0, 100, 100) End Sub 
```

All three uses of New can be intermixed within the same block of code, and you can choose what best fits the needs and logic of the code block.