Sams Teach Yourself More Visual Basic .NET in 21 Days

599 Pages·2001·13.097 MB·English

by  Lowell Mauer

Lowell Mauer
Teach Yourself
More Visual
Basic .NET
21
in Days
800 East 96th St.,Indianapolis,Indiana,46240 USA
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Sams Teach Yourself More Visual Basic ASSOCIATEPUBLISHER
Linda Engelman
.NET in 21 Days
MANAGINGEDITOR
Copyright ©2002 by Sams Publishing Charlotte Clapp
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced,stored in a ACQUISITIONSEDITOR
retrieval system,or transmitted by any means,electronic,mechanical,photo- Sondra Scott
copying,recording,or otherwise,without written permission from the publish-
DEVELOPMENTEDITOR
er. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information
Susan Shaw Dunn
contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation
of this book,the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or PROJECTEDITOR
omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use Anthony Reitz
of the information contained herein. For information,address Sams Publishing,
201 W. 103rd Street,Indianapolis,IN 46290. COPYEDITOR
Rachel Lopez
International Standard Book Number:0-672-32271-4
INDEXER
Library of Congress Catalog Number:2001093573 Ginny Bess
Printed in the United States of America PROOFREADER
Suzanne Thomas
First Printing:December 2001
TECHNICALEDITORS
05 04 03 02 4 3 2 1
Simon Mordzynski
Trademarks Deon Schaffer
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service TEAMCOORDINATOR
marks have been appropriately capitalized. Sams Publishing cannot attest to Lynne Williams
the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be MEDIADEVELOPER
regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or servicemark.
Dan Scherf
Warning and Disclaimer INTERIORDESIGNER
Gary Adair
Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as
possible,but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information provided is on COVERDESIGNER
an“as is”basis. The author and the publisher shall have neither liability nor Aren Howell
responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages aris-
ing from the information contained in this book or from the use of the pro- PAGELAYOUT
grams accompanying it. Julie Swenson
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What’s New in This Edition?
With every release of Visual Basic,Microsoft has added new functionality to enhance the
applications that can be created. Visual Basic 6 took the first real step toward a
client/server development tool that could create robust Windows applications. This
newest release of Visual Basic,titled Visual Basic .NET,makes the jump from a mostly
Windows-based application system to a truly dynamic development environment that
allows you to design both Windows and Web-centric applications. The previous Sams
Teach Yourself More Visual Basic in 21 Dayscovered many of the more advanced fea-
tures of the Visual Basic language.
You are probably wondering,“Why should I buy the new edition of this book?”The
answer is simple:Microsoft has done it again. Microsoft has dramatically enhanced Web
development and language portability from within Visual Basic .NET by using the .NET
Framework as the starting point.
In addition,every topic in this book includes additions and enhancements. You will see
that many of your old friends in the Visual Basic language and development environment
have changed to some degree. You will see how to incorporate these new features,func-
tions,and controls into your applications. I think you will find this book both informative
and useful as a reference after you start coding your applications. Have fun and good
luck!
—Lowell Mauer
Author,Sams Teach Yourself More Visual Basic .NET in 21 Days
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction 1
WEEK 1 At a Glance 5
Day 1 Writing Professional Visual Basic Applications 7
2 The Face of a Windows Application 41
3 Creating Simple Forms 77
4 Understanding the .NET Framework 99
5 Working with Objects,Collections,and Array Processing 111
6 Understanding Procedures,Functions,and Logic 137
7 Building Complex Forms 159
WEEK 1 In Review 189
WEEK 2 At a Glance 193
Day 8 Designing a Database Application 195
9 Processing Data 217
10 Accessing the Database 253
11 Enhancing the Application with Custom Objects 289
12 Working with Crystal Reports 303
13 Coping with Error Handling 331
14 Testing and Debugging the Application 355
WEEK 2 In Review 379
WEEK 3 At a Glance 381
Day 15 Programming for the Internet 383
16 Creating a Web Application 407
17 Adding Data Access to the Web 429
18 Building Online Help 443
19 Tuning and Tweaking Performance 461
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20 Finishing the Application 479
21 Working with Web Services 511
WEEK 3 In Review 533
Appendix 535
Appendix A Answers to Quizzes and Exercises 535
Index 553
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Contents
Introduction 1
WEEK 1 At a Glance 5
DAY 1 Writing Professional Visual Basic Applications 7
A Brief Look at What’s New in Visual Basic.NET ................................................8
Changes to the Visual Basic Language ............................................................8
The New Windows Forms ................................................................................9
The New Web Forms ......................................................................................10
Transitioning from Visual Basic 6 ..................................................................10
Taking a Brief Look at the .NET Framework ......................................................12
Understanding the Common Language Runtime ............................................13
Visual Basic and the .NET Framework ..........................................................14
What Makes a Professional Application? ............................................................14
Application Types ............................................................................................15
Picking the Right Application ........................................................................16
Project Life Cycle ............................................................................................16
Starting a Demo Project ........................................................................................25
The Project ......................................................................................................26
Environment Properties ..................................................................................30
Controls Added to the Toolbox ............................................................................30
LinkLabel ........................................................................................................31
NotifyIcon ........................................................................................................32
Error Provider ..................................................................................................32
ToolTip ............................................................................................................33
Controls that Changed ....................................................................................33
Making Controls Come Alive ..............................................................................34
Using Controls Together ................................................................................34
Summary ..............................................................................................................38
Q&A ......................................................................................................................38
Workshop ..............................................................................................................39
Quiz ................................................................................................................39
Exercise ..........................................................................................................39
DAY 2 The Face of a Windows Application 41
What the Common Dialog Is All About ..............................................................42
Why Use It? ....................................................................................................42
Interfacing with the Common Dialog Controls ..............................................43
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viii Sams Teach Yourself More Visual Basic .NET in 21 Days
The Many Faces of the Common Dialog Control ................................................45
Open and Save Dialogs ..................................................................................45
Colors ..............................................................................................................52
Accessing Fonts ..............................................................................................55
Setting Print Options ......................................................................................57
Help ................................................................................................................58
The Three Types of Applications ..........................................................................59
SDI ..................................................................................................................62
MDI ................................................................................................................63
Explorer ..........................................................................................................70
Summary ..............................................................................................................74
Q&A ......................................................................................................................75
Workshop ..............................................................................................................75
Quiz ................................................................................................................75
Exercises ..........................................................................................................76
DAY 3 Creating Simple Forms 77
Working with Toolbars ........................................................................................77
Adding a Toolbar ............................................................................................78
Other Toolbar Features ....................................................................................83
Adding Menus ......................................................................................................84
Creating an Application Menu ........................................................................84
Creating and Using Context Menus ................................................................92
Merging Menus ..............................................................................................93
Inheriting Forms ..................................................................................................94
Inheriting Forms in Code ................................................................................94
The Inheritance Picker ....................................................................................95
Summary ..............................................................................................................97
Q&A ......................................................................................................................97
Workshop ..............................................................................................................97
Quiz ................................................................................................................98
Exercise ..........................................................................................................98
DAY 4 Understanding the .NET Framework 99
What Is the .NET Framework? ..........................................................................100
Understanding the Common Language Runtime (CLR) ....................................102
Explaining the Metadata ................................................................................104
CLR Execution ..............................................................................................104
Programming in .NET ........................................................................................107
Identifying the Major Namespaces ..............................................................107
Visual Basic and the .NET Framework ........................................................108
Working with the .NET Tools ............................................................................109
Summary ............................................................................................................110
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Contents ix
Q&A ....................................................................................................................110
Workshop ............................................................................................................110
Quiz ..............................................................................................................110
Exercise ........................................................................................................110
DAY 5 Working with Objects, Collections, and Arrays 111
What Are Objects and Collections? ....................................................................112
Objects ..........................................................................................................112
Collections ....................................................................................................113
Using System Objects ..................................................................................114
Accessing Objects ..............................................................................................118
Finding the Object’s Class ............................................................................118
Creating Objects ............................................................................................119
Acting on Objects and Collections ................................................................120
Creating Your Own Class ..............................................................................124
Browsing Your Objects ..................................................................................129
Processing Loops ................................................................................................131
Counter Loops ..............................................................................................131
Conditional Loops ........................................................................................133
Summary ............................................................................................................134
Q&A ....................................................................................................................134
Workshop ............................................................................................................135
Quiz ..............................................................................................................135
Exercise ........................................................................................................135
DAY 6 Understanding Procedures, Functions, and Logic 137
Scoping Out the Variables ..................................................................................138
Defining the Variables ..................................................................................138
Where Do Variables Live? ............................................................................140
Watching Out for Problems ..........................................................................142
Passing Information ............................................................................................143
Subroutines and Functions ............................................................................144
Reference or Value ........................................................................................148
The Vulcan Way or Adding Logic to the Program ............................................150
Changing the Flow ........................................................................................150
Summary ............................................................................................................156
Q&A ....................................................................................................................156
Workshop ............................................................................................................156
Quiz ..............................................................................................................157
Exercise ........................................................................................................157
DAY 7 Building Complex Forms 159
Designing the Form ............................................................................................159
The Good,the Bad,and the Ugly ................................................................160
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x Sams Teach Yourself More Visual Basic .NET in 21 Days
What Size Is It? ............................................................................................166
Using the Form Editor Features ....................................................................167
Putting It All Together ........................................................................................169
Menus ............................................................................................................171
Toolbars ........................................................................................................173
Standard Forms ..............................................................................................175
Status Bars ....................................................................................................178
Common Dialog Controls ............................................................................179
The Tab Control ............................................................................................180
Using the Date Controls ....................................................................................181
The MonthCalendar Control ........................................................................181
The DateTimePicker Control ........................................................................185
Summary ............................................................................................................186
Q&A ....................................................................................................................186
Workshop ............................................................................................................186
Quiz ..............................................................................................................187
Exercise ........................................................................................................187
WEEK 1 In Review 189
Professional Applications and the Windows Interface ......................................189
Using Collections and Other VB Concepts ........................................................190
Designing Complex Forms ................................................................................191
WEEK 2 At a Glance 193
DAY 8 Designing a Database Application 195
What Is a Database? ..........................................................................................196
Local Databases ............................................................................................196
Remote Databases ........................................................................................197
Building the Initial Design ................................................................................198
Choosing the Tasks ........................................................................................198
Setting the Limits ..........................................................................................204
Creating the Database ........................................................................................205
Building the Tables ........................................................................................205
Defining the Indexes ......................................................................................208
Building the Application Prototype ....................................................................209
Using the Data Form Wizard ........................................................................211
Adding Forms ................................................................................................214
Summary ............................................................................................................216
Q&A ....................................................................................................................216
Workshop ............................................................................................................216
Quiz ..............................................................................................................216
Exercise ........................................................................................................216
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Contents xi
DAY 9 Processing Data 217
Designing a Database ........................................................................................218
Laying Out the Database Structure ..............................................................219
Setting Up Tables and Columns ....................................................................219
Establishing Relationships ............................................................................224
Defining Queries ..........................................................................................225
Using SQL:The Short Course ............................................................................226
Using the SELECT Statement ......................................................................227
Accessing Multiple Tables ............................................................................228
Creating Calculated Values ............................................................................229
Changing the Tables Names ..........................................................................229
Filtering the Data ..........................................................................................229
Using Table Views ........................................................................................231
Working with Stored Procedures ..................................................................233
Using Triggers ..............................................................................................238
Working with the Visual Database Tools ............................................................239
Exploring Data in the Server Explorer ..........................................................240
Creating the Database ....................................................................................241
Adding Tables and Columns ........................................................................241
Adding an Index to a Table ..........................................................................243
Adding Views ................................................................................................244
Adding Triggers and Stored Procedures ......................................................246
Displaying Data from a Table ......................................................................247
Using the Database Designer ........................................................................247
Summary ............................................................................................................250
Q&A ....................................................................................................................251
Workshop ............................................................................................................251
Quiz ..............................................................................................................251
Exercise ........................................................................................................251
DAY 10 Accessing the Database 253
Visual Basic and Data Access ............................................................................253
Data Access Objects ......................................................................................254
ADO versus ADO.NET ................................................................................254
Working with the ActiveX Data Control ............................................................255
Using the ActiveX Data Control ..................................................................257
Displaying the Data on the Form ..................................................................261
Knowing the Current Record ........................................................................262
Programmed Access with the Data Control ..................................................263
ActiveX Data Objects ........................................................................................266
Opening a Database ......................................................................................266
Accessing the Data ........................................................................................268
Introducing ADO.NET ......................................................................................273
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