Visual Basic 2005 express edition for dummies

318 Pages·2006·3.169 MB·English

by  Richard Mansfield

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Visual Basic® 2005
Express Edition
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Richard Mansfield
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Visual Basic®2005 Express Edition For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005927625
ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-9705-3
ISBN-10: 0-7645-9705-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1B/QZ/RR/QV/IN
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction ................................................................1
Part I: The Basics of Visual Basic Express ....................11
Chapter 1: What It’s All About: Visual Basic Express Takes a Bow ...........................13
Chapter 2: Up and Running ............................................................................................23
Chapter 3: At Your Service: Loads of Built-In Helpers ................................................35
Chapter 4: Tackling Essential Tools ..............................................................................51
Part II: Programming the Practical Way ......................75
Chapter 5: Common Tasks .............................................................................................77
Chapter 6: It’s All about My ............................................................................................97
Chapter 7: Whose Type Are You: Managing Variable Types ....................................105
Chapter 8: Superstrings: Managing Arrays ................................................................129
Chapter 9: Pretty Printing ............................................................................................143
Chapter 10: Testing and Deployment ..........................................................................161
Part III: Dealing with Databases ...............................179
Chapter 11: The Basics of Databases ..........................................................................181
Chapter 12: Quick Database User-Interface Techniques ..........................................191
Chapter 13: Managing DataSets ...................................................................................209
Part IV: Programming for the Web ............................225
Chapter 14: Painless Internet Programming ..............................................................227
Chapter 15: Everything’s Eventual: Web Page Management ....................................245
Part V: The Part of Tens ...........................................263
Chapter 16: Ten Great Visual Basic Express Tips and Tricks ..................................265
Chapter 17: Ten Important VB Resources ..................................................................277
Appendix A: About the CDs .......................................283
Bonus Appendix B: A Dictionary of VB.NET ....On the Web
Index.......................................................................287
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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................1
Understanding Visual Basic ............................................................................2
Tapping into the Power ...................................................................................2
About This Book ...............................................................................................3
How to Use This Book ......................................................................................4
Foolish Assumptions ........................................................................................5
How This Book Is Organized ...........................................................................6
Part I: The Basics of Visual Basic Express ...........................................6
Part II: Programming the Practical Way ...............................................6
Part III: Dealing with Databases ............................................................6
Part IV: Programming for the Web ........................................................7
Part V: The Part of Tens .........................................................................7
Appendixes ..............................................................................................7
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................8
What You Need to Get Started ........................................................................8
Icons Used in This Book ..................................................................................9
Where to Go from Here ....................................................................................9
Part I: The Basics of Visual Basic Express .....................11
Chapter 1:What It’s All About: Visual Basic Express Takes a Bow . . .13
Something Strange Happened in Orlando ...................................................14
Visual Basic through the years ...........................................................14
Visual Basic today ................................................................................15
What Does Visual Basic Express Have to Offer? ........................................15
Defaults that serve a purpose .............................................................16
The Express initiatives .........................................................................16
Finding help ...........................................................................................18
Taking a First Look .........................................................................................19
Creating a user interface helps organize your project ....................20
Programming for the Web ....................................................................21
Chapter 2:Up and Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Finding Resources from Microsoft ...............................................................23
Building a Basic VB Program ........................................................................24
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Expanding Your Program ...............................................................................28
Frightening Yourself with the “Starter” Kits ...............................................32
Checking Out Additional Resources ............................................................33
Chapter 3:At Your Service: Loads of Built-In Helpers . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
IntelliSense Is Available .................................................................................36
Reusing Code Snippets ..................................................................................38
Automatic math: Snippets in action ...................................................38
Improving the code in code snippets ................................................39
Customizing code snippets .................................................................40
Customizing the Way You Work ....................................................................41
Automatic windows ..............................................................................42
Controlling your keyboard ..................................................................42
Changing toolbars ................................................................................44
Your IDE, your way ...............................................................................44
Aligning and Sizing Controls .........................................................................45
Using Help .......................................................................................................46
Error or “Exception” Helpers ........................................................................48
Chapter 4:Tackling Essential Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Introducing the Toolbox and Its Controls ...................................................51
Adjusting a Control’s Properties ..................................................................53
Changing a property in the Properties window ................................54
Some important properties (and many that aren’t) ........................55
Enabling Users to Change Properties ..........................................................65
Working Around Application Settings ................................................66
A more complex but flexible Application Settings workaround .....67
Storing persistent data: Its various hideouts ....................................68
Changing a property with the Application Settings feature ............70
Understanding the Solution Explorer ..........................................................72
Adding other files .................................................................................72
Finding your solution ...........................................................................73
Part II: Programming the Practical Way .......................75
Chapter 5:Common Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Mastering Events ............................................................................................77
Using Subroutines ..........................................................................................78
Writing a simple sub .............................................................................79
Passing parameters ..............................................................................79
Using Functions ..............................................................................................80
Understanding Scope .....................................................................................81
When variables are local .....................................................................82
Public: The greatest scope of all .........................................................84
Scoping procedures ..............................................................................85
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Going Round and Round in Loops ...............................................................85
Using a For...Next loop .........................................................................85
Working with Do loops .........................................................................89
Exploring While...Wend: A simple loop ..............................................90
For...Each: Looping in object collections ...........................................91
Making Decisions via Branching ..................................................................91
Understanding If...Then .......................................................................92
Multiple choice: The Select Case command .....................................94
Chapter 6:It’s All about My . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Comparing My to Classic VB and .NET ........................................................97
Classic VB ..............................................................................................98
A .NET version ......................................................................................98
The new My version .............................................................................98
Getting Familiar with My ...............................................................................99
Browsing through My help ..................................................................99
The major My categories ...................................................................100
Using My While Programming ....................................................................101
Chapter 7:Whose Type Are You: Managing Variable Types . . . . . . .105
Two Main Kinds of Data ...............................................................................106
Strings are like words .........................................................................106
You can do math with numbers ........................................................108
Understanding Variables .............................................................................109
Assigning a value to a variable .........................................................109
Storing string or numeric variables .................................................110
Naming Variables ..........................................................................................111
Creating a Variable .......................................................................................111
Declaring variables explicitly ............................................................112
Declaring variables implicitly ...........................................................113
Manipulating Variables ................................................................................114
Some variable efficiencies .................................................................115
Saving time with += .............................................................................116
Understanding Data Types for Numeric Variables ...................................117
Converting Data Types ................................................................................118
Creating Expressions with Operators ........................................................120
Comparing values ...............................................................................121
Using arithmetic operators ...............................................................124
The logical operators .........................................................................125
Setting operator precedence .............................................................127
Chapter 8:Superstrings: Managing Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Working in a Zero-Based World ..................................................................130
Initializing Arrays .........................................................................................131
Creating Arrays of Objects ..........................................................................131
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Searching and Sorting Arrays .....................................................................133
Customizing the Sorting Rules ....................................................................135
Using Many Members ..................................................................................136
The ArrayList Powerhouse ..........................................................................137
Why use an ArrayList? .......................................................................137
Working with ranges ...........................................................................139
Data Binding ..................................................................................................139
Enumerators .................................................................................................140
Using Hashtables ..........................................................................................141
Chapter 9:Pretty Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Quick and Easy Printing Using My .............................................................144
Printing Just the Way You Want with the Printer Objects .......................146
Parsing text for the printer ................................................................147
Using the PrintPage event .................................................................149
Determining printable page size .......................................................150
Looping through the text ...................................................................152
Triggering PrintPage with the Button control .................................153
Letting Users Set Print Options ..................................................................155
Using the PrintPreview Control ..................................................................155
Printing Graphics .........................................................................................156
Understanding With...End With ........................................................157
Fine-tuning your graphics print options ..........................................159
Chapter 10:Testing and Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Finding and Fixing Syntax Errors ................................................................162
Tracking Down Logic Errors .......................................................................164
The voyeur technique ........................................................................164
Using Debug.WriteLine .......................................................................167
The Immediate window responds ....................................................167
The watch technique .........................................................................167
Setting breakpoints ............................................................................168
Fixing Errors with the Minor Debugging Tools .........................................169
Step Over (Shift+F8) ...........................................................................169
Step Out (Ctrl+Shift+F8) .....................................................................170
Run to Cursor (right-click in Break mode) ......................................170
Set Next Statement (right-click in Break mode) .............................170
Show Next Statement (right-click in Break mode) .........................171
The Call Stack ......................................................................................171
Adding Structured Error Handling .............................................................171
How runtime errors occur .................................................................172
Understanding Try .............................................................................173
The official syntax for Try...Catch...Finally ......................................175
Understanding Finally ........................................................................176
Throwing exceptions ..........................................................................177
Tips for using Try...End Try ...............................................................178
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Part III: Dealing with Databases ................................179
Chapter 11:The Basics of Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Processing Data ............................................................................................181
Understanding Tables, Columns, Rows, and All the Rest .......................182
Tables, fields, and rows .....................................................................183
Joining and querying tables ..............................................................185
Why use multiple tables? ...................................................................187
Tangled relationships: Using unique data to tie tables together ....188
Let the database do it for you: AutoNumber fields ........................188
Indexes — a Key to Success ........................................................................189
Imagine nonalphabetic yellow pages ...............................................189
Hey, let’s index every field! ................................................................190
Chapter 12:Quick Database User-Interface Techniques . . . . . . . . . .191
Organizing the Entry Fields .........................................................................191
Navigating through Fields with the Tab Key .............................................192
Binding to Data .............................................................................................193
Loading a sample database ...............................................................193
Connecting to a database ..................................................................194
Binding controls to a dataset ............................................................197
Using the DataGridView ...............................................................................199
Saving Data to a DataSet ..............................................................................203
Saving Data to a Database ...........................................................................204
Everything is stored together ...........................................................204
Saving edited records .........................................................................206
Chapter 13:Managing DataSets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
Delving into DataSets ...................................................................................209
Building a DataSet Programmatically ........................................................211
Importing namespaces .......................................................................211
Declaring the global variables ..........................................................213
Building a DataSet in code .................................................................214
Analyzing the code .............................................................................216
Playing around ....................................................................................219
Understanding Collections ..........................................................................219
Opening an Existing DataSet .......................................................................220
Adding and Removing Data .........................................................................221
Adding data to a DataSet ...................................................................222
Removing data from a DataSet ..........................................................223
Moving through the DataSet .......................................................................223
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Part IV: Programming for the Web ..............................225
Chapter 14:Painless Internet Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Creating the Simplest Web Program ..........................................................228
Setting up the program ......................................................................228
Testing your program .........................................................................230
Positioning objects with the Style Builder ......................................233
Coming to Grips with ASP.NET ...................................................................234
The purpose of ASP ............................................................................234
HTML’s limitations ..............................................................................234
Firewalls and other necessary evils .................................................235
Getting to Know WebControls ....................................................................235
Displaying images ...............................................................................236
Containing with the Panel container ................................................236
The Table control ...............................................................................236
The rich Calendar ...............................................................................237
The AdRotator ....................................................................................238
Using Style Objects with WebControls ............................................240
Attaching a Database to Your Web Page ...................................................241
Chapter 15:Everything’s Eventual: Web Page Management . . . . . . .245
Understanding Server-Side Controls in ASP.NET .....................................246
The problem of persistence ..............................................................247
Fleshing out your ASP.NET project ...................................................247
Viewing the code ................................................................................249
Adding Simple Validation ............................................................................250
Managing State with Server-Side Controls ................................................252
Identifying a user’s first visit .............................................................253
Preserving values within a single page ............................................255
Preserving values across pages ........................................................256
Storing data with the Session property ...........................................258
Exploring the Application object (an alternative to Session) .......260
Why Not Use Cookies? .................................................................................260
Part V: The Part of Tens .............................................263
Chapter 16:Ten Great Visual Basic Express Tips and Tricks . . . . . .265
Using the ConversionWizard to Master VB Express ...............................265
Moving from Classic VB or VB6 to VB Express ........................................267
Managing Directories ...................................................................................267
Talking to the Clipboard ..............................................................................268
Randomizing .................................................................................................269
Detecting Keystrokes ...................................................................................271
CStr versus .ToString ...................................................................................271
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Simplifying Source Code Two Ways ...........................................................272
Combining the declaration and the assignment .............................272
Avoiding repetition .............................................................................272
Understanding How the Registry Works with VB Express ......................273
Reading from the Registry .................................................................274
Writing to the Registry .......................................................................275
Drawing Directly on a Control ....................................................................276
Chapter 17:Ten Important VB Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277
Reading the Latest Info ................................................................................277
Getting Answers to VB Express Questions ...............................................278
Keeping Visual Basic Healthy .....................................................................278
Visiting Other Web Sites of Interest ...........................................................278
Discovering Microsoft’s Plans for the Future
of Database Technology ...........................................................................279
Importing Favorite Settings .........................................................................279
Using the Application Test Center .............................................................279
Creating Menus via the MenuStrip .............................................................280
Protecting Your Intellectual Property ........................................................281
Graphics Transformations: Kitten with a Whip ........................................282
Appendix A: About the CDs ........................................283
System Requirements ..................................................................................283
Using the CD with Microsoft Windows ......................................................283
What You’ll Find ............................................................................................284
If You’ve Got Problems (Of the CD Kind) ..................................................285
Appendix B: A Dictionary of VB.NET ................On the Web
Index........................................................................287