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Writing VB.NET functions using "run .net script" action

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Posted on by CU15081355-0

Hi all,

Can someone give me an example of how to write and run any simple user-defined functions using VB.net in the "run .net script" action please?

Something I've tried but doesn't work is:

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Public Function EchoInput(input As String) As String

Return input

End Function

sOutput = EchoInput("hello world")

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This is where sOutput is an out parameter of type string defined in the action.

The error I received is talking about "end sub is expected"..

Can someone try this, explain what is wrong and how to make this work in the expected way?

Thanks so much!

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Power Automate Desktop

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trice602 16,244 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

Try this one.

' Define a function that returns "Hello, World!" Function GetHelloWorld() As String Return "Hello, World!" End Function ' Call the function and store the result in the output variable Dim result As String result = GetHelloWorld() ' Store the result in the output dictionary Output("result") = result

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CU15081355-0 22 on at

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@trice602

Hi, thanks for the reply, but I believe you didn't try to run your code in PAD.
Lets simplify what you gave, I will just define a function, I won't even call the function.

' Define a function that returns "Hello, World!"
Function GetHelloWorld() As String
Return "Hello, World!"
End Function

And I get the following error when I run it:
'End Sub' expected., Statement cannot appear within a method body. End of method assumed., Compilation error found, in .NET script line:3: 'End Sub' must be preceded by a matching 'Sub'

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eetuRobo 4,543 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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I don't know why running functions does not seem to work in the VB.NET language in Power Automate Desktop. Seems to work just fine if you don't use any functions.

Do you need to specifically run functions in the VB.NET -action or could you do without?

Result:

One not clean way you could use it would be to save the functions in .vb file that you run from PowerShell script. But then if I am not mistaken it needs to be made into a project or executable file.
Make it to a project with PowerShell script:

Run the vb program:

You could even have the PAD write the vb.net script:

After running the flow:

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CU15081355-0 22 on at

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@ER-31070620-0

Thanks for confirming that it doesn't work for you. The workaround you mentioned is something I did think of already but thought user-defined functions should just work. I would use them to keep my code neat and easy to read. Sometimes you might even want to do some recursion, you never know!

I'll just write everything in-line for now. Boo Microsoft.

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