James Foxall

Visual Basic 2015 in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself - Sams Teach Yourself James Foxall

Marc Notes: Visual Basic . NET (VB. NET) is a multi-paradigm, high level programming language, implemented on the . NET Framework. This book covers the features of the new release of Visual Basic . NET. Biographical Note: James Foxall is President & CEO of Tigerpaw Software, a commercial software company providing complete business automation to more than 40,000 users in 28 countries in the IT/Networking, Telecommunications, Systems Integrator, Security, and Point of Sale industries. In his current role as President and CEO, James provides the vision and management to keep Tigerpaw focused on its customers and properly serving its markets. James has a Masters degree in Business Administration and a BS degree in Management of Information Systems. Devoted to creating better businesses through technology, James has written 15 books, which have been published in over a dozen languages around the world. He is considered an authority on business process improvement and application interface and behavior standards of Windows applications, and serves the business community as an international speaker on automating business processes in the SMB environment."Table of Contents: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Part I: The Visual Basic 2015 Environment Hour 1: Jumping in with Both Feet: A Visual Basic 2015 Programming Tour . 1 Starting Visual Basic 2015 . . . . . . . . . . 2 Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . 3 Understanding the Visual Studio 2015 Environment . . . . . 6 Changing the Characteristics of Objects . . . . . . . 7 Adding Controls to a Form. . . . . . . . . 13 Designing an Interface . . . . . . . . . . 15 Writing the Code Behind an Interface. . . . . . . 20 Running a Project . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Hour 2: Navigating Visual Basic 2015 . . . . . . . . 31 Using the Visual Basic 2015 Start Page . . . . . . . 31 Navigating and Customizing the Visual Basic Environment . . . 34 Working with Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . 40 Adding Controls to a Form Using the Toolbox . . . . . . 41 Setting Object Properties Using the Properties Window . . . . 43 Managing Projects . . . . . . . . . . . 50 A Quick-and-Dirty Programming Primer. . . . . . . 57 Getting Help. . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Hour 3: Understanding Objects and Collections . . . . . . 63 Understanding Objects . . . . . . . . . . 64 Understanding Properties. . . . . . . . . . 64 Understanding Methods. . . . . . . . . . 72 Building a Simple Object Example Project . . . . . . . 73 Understanding Collections . . . . . . . . . 79 Using the Object Browser . . . . . . . . . . 82 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Hour 4: Understanding Events . . . . . . . . . . 87 Understanding Event-Driven Programming . . . . . . 87 Building an Event Example Project . . . . . . . . 97 Keeping Event Names Current . . . . . . . . 103 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Part II: Building a User Interface Hour 5: Building Forms: The Basics . . . . . . . . 107 Changing a Form s Name . . . . . . . . . 108 Changing a Form s Appearance . . . . . . . . 109 Showing and Hiding Forms . . . . . . . . . 122 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Hour 6: Building Forms: Advanced Techniques . . . . . . 131 Working with Controls . . . . . . . . . . 131 Creating Topmost Nonmodal Windows. . . . . . . 151 Creating Transparent Forms . . . . . . . . . 151 Creating Scrollable Forms . . . . . . . . . 152 Creating MDI Forms . . . . . . . . . . 154 Setting the Startup Form . . . . . . . . . 158 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Hour 7: Working with Traditional Controls . . . . . . . 163 Displaying Static Text with the Label Control. . . . . . 163 Allowing Users to Enter Text Using a Text Box. . . . . . 164 Creating Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . 172 Creating Containers and Groups of Option Buttons . . . . . 176 Displaying a List with the List Box . . . . . . . . 180 Creating Drop-Down Lists Using the Combo Box . . . . . 188 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Hour 8: Using Advanced Controls. . . . . . . . . 193 Creating Timers . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Creating Tabbed Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . 197 Storing Pictures in an Image List Control . . . . . . 200 Building Enhanced Lists Using the List View Control . . . . 202 Creating Hierarchical Lists Using the Tree View Control . . . . 207 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Hour 9: Adding Menus and Toolbars to Forms . . . . . . 215 Building Menus . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Using the Toolbar Control . . . . . . . . . 229 Creating a Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . 235 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Part III: Making Things Happen Programming Hour 10: Creating and Calling Code Procedures . . . . . . 239 Creating Visual Basic Code Modules . . . . . . . 239 Writing Code Procedures . . . . . . . . . 242 Calling Code Procedures . . . . . . . . . 248 Exiting Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . 254 Avoiding Infinite Recursion . . . . . . . . . 255 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 258 Hour 11: Using Constants, Data Types, Variables, and Arrays . . . . 259 Understanding Data Types. . . . . . . . . 260 Defining and Using Constants . . . . . . . . 263 Declaring and Referencing Variables . . . . . . . 266 Working with Arrays . . . . . . . . . . 273 Determining Scope . . . . . . . . . . 276 Declaring Variables of Static Scope . . . . . . . . 281 Using Variables in Your Picture Viewer Project. . . . . . 282 Renaming Variables . . . . . . . . . . 286 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 289 Hour 12: Performing Arithmetic, String Manipulation, and Date/Time Adjustments . .. 291 Performing Basic Arithmetic Operations with Visual Basic . . . 291 Comparing Equalities . . . . . . . . . . 295 Understanding Boolean Logic. . . . . . . . . 296 Manipulating Strings. . . . . . . . . . 298 Working with Dates and Times . . . . . . . . 304 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 310 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Hour 13: Making Decisions in Visual Basic Code . . . . . . 313 Making Decisions Using If... Then. . . . . . . 313 Branching Within a Procedure Using GoTo . . . . . . 324 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Hour 14: Looping for Efficiency . . . . . . . . . 329 Looping a Specific Number of Times Using For... Next . . . . 329 Using Do... Loop to Loop an Indeterminate Number of Times . . . 336 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Hour 15: Debugging Your Code . . . . . . . . . 343 Adding Comments to Your Code . . . . . . . . 344 Identifying the Two Basic Types of Errors . . . . . . 346 Using Visual Basic s Debugging Tools . . . . . . . 349 Breaking Only When a Condition Is Met. . . . . . . 358 Breaking Only When a Breakpoint Is Hit a Certain Number of Times . 359 Sending Messages to the Output Window Using Tracepoints. . . 360 Writing an Error Handler Using Try... Catch... Finally . . . 360 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 369 Hour 16: Designing Objects Using Classes . . . . . . . 371 Understanding Classes. . . . . . . . . . 372 Instantiating Objects from Classes . . . . . . . . 381 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Hour 17: Interacting with Users . . . . . . . . . 391 Displaying Messages Using the MessageBox. Show() Function. . . 391 Creating Custom Dialog Boxes. . . . . . . . 398 Using InputBox() to Get Information from a User . . . . . 401 Interacting with the Keyboard . . . . . . . . 404 Using the Common Mouse Events . . . . . . . . 406 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Hour 18: Working with Graphics . . . . . . . . . 413 Understanding the Graphics Object . . . . . . . 413 Working with Pens . . . . . . . . . . 416 Using System Colors . . . . . . . . . . 417 Working with Rectangles . . . . . . . . . 421 Drawing Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Drawing Text . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Persisting Graphics on a Form . . . . . . . . 425 Building a Graphics Project Example . . . . . . . 425 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 432 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 433 Part IV: Working with Data Hour 19: Performing File Operations . . . . . . . . 435 Using the OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog Controls . . . 435 Manipulating Files with the File Object. . . . . . . 443 Manipulating Directories with the Directory Object . . . . 452 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 453 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 454 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 455 Hour 20: Working with the Registry and Text Files . . . . . . 457 Working with the Registry . . . . . . . . . 457 Reading and Writing Text Files . . . . . . . . 470 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 480 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 481 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 482 Hour 21: Working with a Database . . . . . . . . 483 Introducing ADO. NET . . . . . . . . . . 484 Manipulating Data . . . . . . . . . . 491 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 503 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 503 Hour 22: Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . 505 Preparing the Picture Viewer Project . . . . . . . 506 Printing and Previewing a Document . . . . . . . 509 Changing Printer and Page Settings . . . . . . . 519 Scaling Images to Fit a Page . . . . . . . . . 522 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 527 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 528 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 528 Hour 23: Sending Emails. . . . . . . . . . 529 Understanding the Classes Used to Send Emails . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Sending Email from Your Picture Viewer Application . . . . 530 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 544 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 544 Part V: Deploying Solutions and Beyond Hour 24: Deploying Applications . . . . . . . . . 545 Understanding ClickOnce Technology. . . . . . . 545 Using the Publish Wizard to Create a ClickOnce Application . . . 547 Testing Your Picture Viewer ClickOnce Install Program . . . . 552 Uninstalling an Application You ve Distributed . . . . . 553 Setting Advanced Options for Creating ClickOnce Programs. . . 556 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557 Workshop. . . . . . . . . . . . 557 Exercises. . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Appendix A: The 10,000-Foot View . . . . . . . . 559 TOC, 9780672337451, 7/19/2015 "Publisher Marketing: Get Started Now! 24 proven, one-hour lessons In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you ll learn how to build complete, reliable, and modern Windows applications with Microsoft(r) Visual Basic(r) 2015. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds on what you ve already learned, giving you a strong foundation for success with every aspect of VB 2015 development. Notes present interesting pieces of information. Tips offer advice or teach an easier way to do something. Cautions advise you about potential problems and help you steer clear of disaster. Learn How To Master VB 2015 by building a complete feature-rich application Navigate VB 2015 and discover its new shortcuts Work with objects, collections, and events Build attractive, highly-functional user interfaces Make the most of forms, controls, modules, and procedures Efficiently store data and program databases Make decisions in code Use powerful object-oriented techniques Work with graphics and text files Manipulate filesystems and the Registry Add email support Create efficient modules and reusable procedures Interact effectively with users Write code to preview and print documents Debug with VB 2015 s improved breakpoint features Distribute your software Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672337451 as they become available. " Contributor Bio:  Foxall, James James Foxall is vice president of Tigerpaw Software, Inc. (www.tigerpawsoftware.com), a Bellevue, Nebraska, Microsoft Certified Partner specializing in commercial database applications. He manages the development, support, training, and education of Tigerpaw CRM+, an award-winning CRM product designed to automate contact management, marketing, service and repair, proposal generation, inventory control, and purchasing. At the start of 2008, the current release of Tigerpaw CRM+ had more than 16,000 licensed users. Foxall's experience in creating certified Office-compatible software has made him an authority on application interface and behavior standards of applications for the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office environments. Foxall has been writing commercial production Visual Basic code for more than 14 years, in both single-programmer and multiple-programmer environments. He's the author of numerous books, including "Practical Standards for Microsoft Visual Basic "and "MCSD in a Nutshell: The Visual Basic Exams," He also has written articles for "Access-Office-VBA Advisor "and "Visual Basic Programmer's Journal," Foxall has a bachelor's degree in management of information systems (MIS). He is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and an international speaker on Microsoft Visual Basic. When not programming or writing about programming, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing guitar, listening to amazing bands like Pink Floyd and OSI, and playing computer games. You can reach him at www.jamesfoxall.com/forums.