Beginning Visual Basic 2010

Introduction xxix

Chapter 1: Welcome to Visual Basic 2010 1

Event-Driven Programming 2

Installing Visual Basic 2010 3

The Visual Studio 2010 IDE 6

The Profile Setup Page 7

The Menu 7

The Toolbars 9

Creating a Simple Application 10

Windows in the Visual Studio 2010 IDE 11

The Toolbox 13

Modified Hungarian Notation 15

The Code Editor 16

Using the Help System 20

Summary 20

Chapter 2: The Microsoft .Net Framework 23

Microsoft’s Reliance on Windows 23

MSN 1.0 24

The .NET Vision 25

This Sounds Like Java 26

Where Now? 27

Writing Software for Windows 27

The .NET Framework Classes 28

Executing Code 29

Common Language Runtime 30

Code Loading and Execution 31

Application Isolation 31

Security 31

Interoperability 32

Exception Handling 32

The Common Type System and Common Language Specification 33

Summary 33

Chapter 3: Writing Software 37

Information and Data 37

Algorithms 38

What is a Programming Language? 39

Working with Variables 39

Comments and Whitespace 42

Comments 42

Whitespace 43

Data Types 44

Working with Numbers 44

Common Integer Math Operations 45

Integer Math Shorthand 47

The Problem with Integer Math 48

Floating-Point Math 49

Other States 51

Single-Precision Floating-Point Numbers 51

Working with Strings 51

Concatenation 53

Using the Concatenation Operator Inline 54

More String Operations 54

Substrings 55

Formatting Strings 56

Localized Formatting 58

Replacing Substrings 58

Using Dates 59

Formatting Date Strings 60

Extracting Date Properties 61

Date Constants 62

Defining Date Literals 63

Manipulating Dates 64

Boolean 65

Storing Variables 65

Binary 66

Bits and Bytes 66

Representing Values 67

Converting Values 68

Methods 70

Why Use Methods? 70

Methods You’ve Already Seen 71

Building a Method 75

Choosing Method Names 77

Scope 78

Summary 80

Chapter 4: Controlling the Flow 83

Making Decisions 83

The If Statement 84

The Else Statement 86

Allowing Multiple Alternatives with ElseIf 86

Nested If Statements 88

Single-Line If Statement 88

Comparison Operators 88

Using Not Equal To 88

Using the Numeric Operators 90

The And and Or Operators 93

Using the And Operator 95

More on And and Or 96

String Comparison 97

Select Case 98

Case-Insensitive Select Case 101

Multiple Selections 104

The Case Else Statement 105

Different Data Types with Select Case 105

Loops 106

The For ... Next Loop 106

Using the Step Keyword 108

Looping Backwards 109

The For Each ... Next Loop 110

The Do ... Loop Loops 111

Do While ... Loop 113

Acceptable Expressions for a Do ... Loop 114

Other Versions of the Do ... Loop 114

Nested Loops 115

Quitting Early 117

Quitting Do ... Loops 118

Infinite Loops 119

Summary 120

Chapter 5: Working With Data Structures 123

Understanding Arrays 123

Defining and Using Arrays 123

Using For Each ... Next 126

Passing Arrays As Parameters 128

Sorting Arrays 130

Going Backwards 131

Initializing Arrays with Values 132

Understanding Enumerations 133

Using Enumerations 134

Determining the State 137

Setting Invalid Values 139

Understanding Constants 139

Using Constants 140

Different Constant Types 142

Structures 142

Building Structures 142

Adding Properties to Structures 145

Working with ArrayLists 146

Using an ArrayList 146

Deleting from an ArrayList 149

Showing Items in the ArrayList 152

Working with Collections 153

Creating CustomerCollection 154

Adding an Item Property 155

Building Lookup Tables with Hashtable 157

Using Hashtables 157

Cleaning Up: Remove, RemoveAt, and Clear 160

Case Sensitivity 162

Advanced Array Manipulation 164

Dynamic Arrays 164

Using Preserve 165

Summary 166

Chapter 6: Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) 169

What is XAML? 170

XAML Syntax 171

Windows Presentation Foundation 174

Creating a Rich WPF User Interface 175

Using WPF Common Controls 180

Wiring Up Events 186

Summary 189

Chapter 7: Building Windows Applications 193

Responding to Events 193

Setting Up a Button Event 194

Building a Simple Application 201

Building the Form 201

Counting Characters 205

Counting Words 207

Creating More Complex Applications 213

The Text Editor Project 213

Creating the Toolbar 214

Creating the Status Bar 218

Creating an Edit Box 220

Clearing the Edit Box 222

Responding to Toolbar Buttons 224

Using Multiple Forms 230

The About Dialog Box 230

Summary 233

Chapter 8: Displaying Dialog Boxes 237

The MessageBox 237

Available Icons for MessageBox 238

Available Buttons for MessageBox 239

Setting the Default Button 239

Miscellaneous Options 239

The Show Method Syntax 240

Example Message Boxes 241

The OpenFileDialog Control 244

The OpenFileDialog Control 245

The Properties of OpenFileDialog 246

OpenFileDialog Methods 247

Using the OpenFileDialog Control 247

The SaveDialog Control 252

The Properties of SaveFileDialog 252

SaveFileDialog Methods 253

Using the SaveFileDialog Control 253

The FontDialog Control 257

The Properties of FontDialog 257

The Methods of FontDialog 257

Using the FontDialog Control 258

The ColorDialog Control 260

The Properties of ColorDialog 261

Using the ColorDialog Control 261

The PrintDialog Control 263

The Properties of PrintDialog 264

Using the PrintDialog Control 264

The PrintDocument Class 264

The Properties of the PrintDocument Class 265

Printing a Document 265

The FolderBrowserDialog Control 271

The Properties of FolderBrowserDialog 272

Using the FolderBrowserDialog Control 272

Summary 275

Chapter 9: Creating Menus 277

Understanding Menu Features 277

Images 278

Access Keys 278

Shortcut Keys 278

Check Marks 278

The Properties Window 279

Creating Menus 280

Designing the Menus 280

Adding Toolbars and Controls 282

Coding Menus 283

Coding the View Menu and Toolbars 287

Testing Your Code 288

Context Menus 290

Creating Context Menus 291

Enabling and Disabling Menu Items and Toolbar Buttons 294

Summary 297

Chapter 10: Debugging and Error Handling 299

Major Error Types 300

Syntax Errors 300

Execution Errors 303

Logic Errors 304

Debugging 305

Creating a Sample Project 305

Setting Breakpoints 321

Debugging Using the Watch Window and QuickWatch Dialog Box 327

Debugging with the Autos Window 330

Debugging with the Locals Window 330

Error Handling 331

Using Structured Error Handling 333

Summary 335

Chapter 11: Building Objects 339

Understanding Objects 339

Encapsulation 341

Methods and Properties 341

Events 341

Visibility 342

What is a Class? 342

Building Classes 343

Reusability 344

Designing an Object 345

State 346

Behavior 346

Storing State 347

Real Properties 349

Read/Write Properties 352

The IsMoving Method 355

Constructors 357

Inheritance 359

Adding New Methods and Properties 360

Adding a GetPowerToWeightRatio Method 363

Changing Defaults 365

Polymorphism: Scary Word, Simple Concept 366

Overriding More Methods 367

Inheriting from the Object Class 369

Objects and Structures 369

The Framework Classes 370

Namespaces 370

The Imports Statement 373

Creating Your Own Namespace 373

Inheritance in the .NET Framework 377

Summary 377

Chapter 12: Advanced Object-Oriented Techniques 381

Building a Favorites Viewer 381

Internet Shortcuts and Favorites 381

Using Classes 384

Scanning Favorites 390

Viewing Favorites 397

An Alternative Favorite Viewer 399

Building a Favorites Tray 399

Displaying Favorites 401

Using Shared Properties and Methods 404

Using Shared Properties 405

Using Shared Methods 408

Understanding Object-Oriented Programming and Memory Management 410

Garbage Collection 411

Releasing Resources 412

Defragmentation and Compaction 413

Summary 414

Chapter 13: Building Class Libraries 417

Understanding Class Libraries 418

Creating a Class Library 418

Building a Class Library for Favorites Viewer 420

A Multitiered Application 423

Using Strong Names 424

Signing Assemblies 425

Assembly Versions 428

Registering Assemblies 428

Gacutil Utility 428

Why is My Assembly Not Visible in the References Dialog Box? 429

Designing Class Libraries 429

Using Third-Party Class Libraries 430

Viewing Classes with the Object Browser 431

Summary 432

Chapter 14: Creating Windows Forms User Controls 435

Windows Forms Controls 436

Creating and Testing a User Control 436

Exposing Properties from User Controls 440

Adding Properties 440

Exposing Methods from User Controls 442

Exposing Events from User Controls 443

Design Time or Runtime 447

Creating a Command Link Control 449

Building the Command Link Control 450

Using the Command Link Control 458

Summary 460

Chapter 15: Accessing Databases 463

What is a Database? 464

Microsoft Access Objects 464

Tables 464

Queries 464

The SQL SELECT Statement 465

Queries in Access 467

Data Access Components and Controls 471

DataSet 471

DataGridView 472

BindingSource 472

BindingNavigator 472

TableAdapter 472

Data Binding 473

Summary 479

Chapter 16: Database Programming With Sql Server and ADO.Net 483

ADO.NET 485

ADO.NET Data Namespaces 485

The SqlConnection Class 486

Working with the Connection String Parameters 486

Opening and Closing the Connection 487

The SqlCommand Class 488

The Connection Property 488

The CommandText Property 489

The Parameters Collection 489

The ExecuteNonQuery Method 490

The SqlDataAdapter Class 490

The SelectCommand Property 491

Using Command Builders to Create the Other Commands 493

The Fill Method 493

The DataSet Class 494

DataView 495

The Sort Property 496

The RowFilter Property 496

The Find Method 497

The ADO.NET Classes in Action 497

Examining a DataSet Example 498

Data Binding 506

BindingContext and CurrencyManager 506

Binding Controls 507

Binding Example 508

Summary 533

Chapter 17: Dynamic Data Web Site 537

Creating a Dynamic Data Linq to SQL Web Site 537

Customizing the Design of a Dynamic Data Web Site 541

Page Templates 542

Entity Templates 542

Field Templates 542

Filter Templates 542

Summary 547

Chapter 18: ASP.Net 549

Thin-Client Architecture 550

Web Forms versus Windows Forms 551

Windows Forms Advantages 551

Web Forms Advantages 551

Web Applications: The Basic Pieces 552

Web Servers 552

Browsers 552

HyperText Markup Language 552

JavaScript 553

Cascading Style Sheets 553

Active Server Pages 553

Benefits of ASP.NET Web Pages 553

Special Website Files 554

Global.asax 554

Web.config 554

Development 554

Controls: The Toolbox 555

Building Web Sites 555

Creating a Web Form for Client- and Server-Side Processing 555

Website Locations with VS 2010 560

Performing Data Entry and Validation 562

Site Layout, Themes, and Navigation 568

Using the GridView to Build a Data-Driven Web Form 574

Summary 579

Chapter 19: Visual Basic 2010 and Xml 583

Understanding XML 583

What Does XML Look Like? 585

XML for Visual Basic Newcomers 586

The Rules 587

The Address Book Project 587

Creating the Project 587

The SerializableData Class 589

Loading the XML File 594

Changing the Data 597

Sending E-mail 598

Creating a List of Addresses 599

Ignoring Members 603

Loading Addresses 605

Adding New Addresses 606

Navigating Addresses 607

Deleting Addresses 609

Testing at the Edges 611

Integrating with the Address Book Application 611

Demonstrating the Principle of Integration 612

Reading the Address Book from Another Application 613

Summary 618

Chapter 20: Deploying Your Application 621

What is Deployment? 621

ClickOnce Deployment 622

XCOPY Deployment 627

Creating a Visual Studio 2010 Setup Application 627

User Interface Editor 630

Deploying Different Solutions 633

Private Assemblies 634

Shared Assemblies 634

Deploying Desktop Applications 635

Deploying Web Applications 635

Deploying XML Web Services 636

Useful Tools 636

Summary 637

Appendix A: Exercise Solutions 639

Appendix B: Where to Now? 655

Index 661