| Finding Your Best Starting Point | xi |
| Finding Your Best Starting Point in This Book xii / New Features in Visual Basic .NET xiii / Corrections, Comments, and Help xv / Visit the Microsoft Press World Wide Web Site xvi | |
| About the CD-ROM and Practice Files | xvii |
| System Requirements xvii / Installing the Practice Files on Your Computer xviii / Using the Practice Files xix / Uninstalling the Practice Files xxiv / Need Help with the Practice Files? xxiv | |
| Conventions and Features in This Book | xxv |
| PART 1 GETTING STARTED WITH MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC .NET | 1 |
| CHAPTER 1 Opening and Running a Visual Basic .NET Program | 3 |
| The Visual Studio .NET Development Environment 5 / The Visual Studio .NET Tools 10 / The Properties Window 16 / Moving and Resizing the Programming Tools 20 / Getting Help 26 / One Step Further: Exiting Visual Studio .NET 30 / Quick Reference 31 | |
| CHAPTER 2 Writing Your First Program | 33 |
| Lucky Seven: Your First Visual Basic Program 35 / Programming Steps 35 / Creating the User Interface 36 / Setting the Properties 43 / Writing the Code 49 / Running Visual Basic .NET Applications 57 / Building an Executable File 58 / One Step Further: Adding to a Program 61 / Quick Reference 62 | |
| CHAPTER 3 Working with Toolbox Controls | 65 |
| The Basic Use of Controls: The "Hello World" Program 66 / Using the DateTimePicker Control 72 / Controls for Gathering Input 80 / Using the LinkLabel Control 88 / One Step Further: Installing ActiveX Controls 92 / Quick Reference 95 | |
| CHAPTER 4 Working with Menus and Dialog Boxes | 97 |
| Adding Menus Using the MainMenu Control 98 / Adding Access Keys to Menu Commands 101 / Processing Menu Choices 104 / Using Dialog Box Controls 108 / Event Procedures That Manage Common Dialog Boxes 113 / One Step Further: Assigning Shortcut Keys to Menus 121 / Quick Reference 124 | |
| PART 2 PROGRAMMING FUNDAMENTALS | 125 |
| CHAPTER 5 Visual Basic .NET Variables and Operators | 127 |
| The Anatomy of a Visual Basic Program Statement 129 / Using Variables to Store Information 130 / Using Variables in a Program 132 / Using a Variable to Store Input 136 / Using a Variable for Output 139 / Working with Specific Data Types 142 / Working with Visual Basic Operators 150 / Working with Math Methods in the .NET Framework 159 / One Step Further: Using Parentheses in a Formula 163 / Quick Reference 164 | |
| CHAPTER 6 Using Decision Structures | 165 |
| Event-Driven Programming 166 / Using Conditional Expressions 168 / If.Then Decision Structures 169 / Select Case Decision Structures 180 / One Step Further: Detecting Mouse Events 186 / Quick Reference 188 | |
| CHAPTER 7 Using Loops and Timers | 189 |
| Writing For.Next Loops 190 / Writing Do Loops 200 / The Timer Control 206 / One Step Further: Using a Timer Object to Set a Time Limit 209 / Quick Reference 212 | |
| CHAPTER 8 Debugging Visual Basic .NET Programs | 215 |
| Finding and Correcting Errors 216 / Debugging 101: Using Break Mode 218 / Tracking Variables Using a Watch Window 224 / Using the Command Window 226 / One Step Further: Removing Breakpoints 228 / Quick Reference 229 | |
| CHAPTER 9 Trapping Errors Using Structured Error Handling | 231 |
| Processing Errors Using Try...Catch 233 / Writing a Disk Drive Error Handler 237 / More Complex Try...Catch Error Handlers 240 / Comparing Error Handlers to Defensive Programming Techniques 247 / One Step Further: The Exit Try Statement 248 / Quick Reference 250 | |
| PART 3 MANAGING CORPORATE DATA | 253 |
| CHAPTER 10 Using Modules and Procedures | 255 |
| Working with Standard Modules 257 / Working with Public Variables 261 / Creating Procedures 266 / Writing Function Procedures 267 / Writing Sub Procedures 273 / One Step Further: Passing Arguments by Value and by Reference 280 / Quick Reference 282 | |
| CHAPTER 11 Using Arrays and Collections to Manage Data | 285 |
| Working with Arrays of Variables 287 / Preserving Array Contents Using ReDim Preserve 298 / Working with Object Collections 300Creating Your Own Collections 307 / One Step Further: Visual Basic for Applications Collections 311 / Quick Reference 313 | |
| CHAPTER 12 Exploring Text Files and String Processing | 315 |
| Displaying Text Files by Using a Text Box Object 316 / Creating a New Text File on Disk 324 / Processing Text Strings with Program Code 328 / Protecting Text with Encryption 339 / One Step Further: Using the Xor Operator 342 / Quick Reference 348 | |
| CHAPTER 13 Automating Microsoft Office Applications and Managing Processes | 351 |
| Programming Application Objects by Using Automation 352 / Automating Excel from Visual Basic 358 / One Step Further: Starting and Stopping Windows Applications Using the Process Component 366 / Quick Reference 370 | |
| CHAPTER 14 Deploying Visual Basic .NET Applications | 371 |
| Planning a Deployment 373 / Creating a Deployment Project 376 / Customizing Your Deployment Options 386 / Building a Deployment Project and Testing Setup 392 / One Step Further: Examining Setup Files and Uninstalling 396 / Quick Reference 400 | |
| PART 4 ADVANCED USER INTERFACE DESIGN | 401 |
| CHAPTER 15 Managing Windows Forms | 403 |
| Adding New Forms to a Program 405 / Working with Multiple Forms 406 / Positioning Forms on the Windows Desktop 413 / Adding Controls to a Form at Runtime 419 / Organizing Controls on a Form 422 / One Step Further: Specifying the Startup Object 425 / Quick Reference 428 | |
| CHAPTER 16 Adding Graphics and Animation Effects | 431 |
| Adding Artwork Using the System.Drawing Namespace 433 / Adding Animation to Your Programs 437 / Expanding and Shrinking Objects While a Program Is Running 444 / One Step Further: Changing Form Transparency 446 / Quick Reference 448 | |
| CHAPTER 17 Inheriting Forms and Creating Base Classes | 449 |
| Inheriting a Form Using the Inheritance Picker 450 / Creating Your Own Base Classes 455 / One Step Further: Inheriting a Base Class 463 / Quick Reference 466 | |
| CHAPTER 18 Working with Printers | 469 |
| Using the PrintDocument Class 470 / Printing Multipage Text Files 479 / One Step Further: Adding Print Preview and Page Setup Dialog Boxes 486 / Quick Reference 492 | |
| PART 5 DATABASE PROGRAMMING | 495 |
| CHAPTER 19 Getting Started with ADO.NET | 497 |
| Database Programming with ADO.NET 498 / Using Bound Controls to Display Database Information on a Form 511 / Creating Navigation Controls 515 / One Step Further: Displaying the Current Record Position 518 / Quick Reference 521 | |
| CHAPTER 20 Data Presentation Using the DataGrid Control | 523 |
| Using DataGrid to Display Database Records 524 / Formatting DataGrid Cells 533 / One Step Further: Updating the Original Database 535 / Quick Reference 538 | |
| PART 6 INTERNET PROGRAMMING | 539 |
| CHAPTER 21 Displaying HTML Documents Using Internet Explorer | 541 |
| Getting Started with the Internet Explorer Object 542 / Displaying HTML Documents 547 / One Step Further: Responding to Internet Explorer Events 551 / Quick Reference 554 | |
| CHAPTER 22 Using Web Forms to Build Interactive Web Applications | 555 |
| Inside ASP.NET 556 / Getting Started with a Web Application 560 / Using the Web Forms Designer 566 / Adding Web Forms Controls to a Web Application 569 / One Step Further: Creating a Link to Another Web Page 575 / Quick Reference 579 | |
| PART 7 APPENDIXES | 581 |
| APPENDIX A Upgrading Visual Basic 6 Programs to Visual Basic .NET | 583 |
| Assessing Visual Basic 6 Programs for Compatibility 584 / Running the Visual Basic Upgrade Wizard 587 | |
| APPENDIX B Where to Go for More Information | 595 |
| Visual Basic .NET Web Sites 596 / Books for Visual Basic .NET Programming 597 | |
| UPGRADING INDEX | 599 |
| INDEX | 603 |
