VB.NET: Assign value to variable inside an IF condition?

Question

is there any possibility to assign a value to a variable inside an IF condition in VB.NET?

Something like that:

Dim customer As Customer = Nothing

If IsNothing(customer = GetCustomer(id)) Then
    Return False
End If

Thank you

Answer 1

Sorry, no. On the other hand, it would get really confusing, since VB.NET uses the same operator for both assignment and equality.

If a = b Then 'wait, is this an assignment or comparison?!

Instead, just set the variable and compare:

Dim customer As Customer = Nothing

customer = GetCustomer(id)

If IsNothing(customer) Then
    Return False
End If

Answer 2

No, I'm fairly sure this is not possible - but be thankful!

This is a "feature" of C-based languages that I would never encourage the use of, because it is probably misused or misinterpreted more often than not.

I think the best approach is to try and express "one thought per line", and resist coding that combines two operations in the same line. Combining an assignment and a comparison in this way usually doesn't achieve much other than making the code more difficult to understand.