Visual Basic 2015 in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself 119

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