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
