A Programmer’s Introduction to Visual Basic.NETis the ...

1 Dear Reader,I wanted to take this opportunity to explain the rationale behind this bookshowing up on your shelf for some time ago, Sams Publishing determined that the next big thingto hit the programmer/developer community would be Microsoft s and the .NET Framework. After discussions with many of you,our authors and key Microsoft team members, Sams dedicated itself to astrategy that would support your efforts to learn the .NET Framework asefficiently and as quickly as Programmer s Introduction to Visual the perfect exampleof how our strong relationship with Microsoft and our dedication to bring-ing you authors who are already respected sources in the community suc-cessfully blend and show that Sams Publishing is the source for.

2 You a Beta2 compliant book by May 2001 was not an easy called upon a respected author, Craig Utley, to take on this holds a unique place in the VB community where he has been devel-oping in VB since version He brings years of experience as a trainer,writer, and speaker to this project and gives you the solid reference youneed to make the transition from VB to hope this book gives you the tools you need to begin to learn Iinvite your comments and ideas as I work to make Sams the publisher youlook to as your .NET learning behalf of all of the Sams Publishing team,Paul BogerPublisherSams BogerPublisherSams Publishing201 West 103rd Street00 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9:57 AM Page iVisual West 103rd StreetIndianapolis, IN 46290 USAA Programmer s Introduction toCraig Utley00 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9:57 AM Page iiiA Programmer s Guide to Visual 2001 by Sams PublishingAll rights reserved.

3 No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission fromthe publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of theinformation contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken inthe preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsi-bility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damagesresulting from the use of the information contained Standard Book Number: 0-672-32203-XLibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001087650 Printed in the United States of AmericaFirst Printing: May 200104 03 02 014 3 2 1 TrademarksAll terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or ser-vice marks have been appropriately capitalized.

4 Sams Publishing cannotattest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this bookshould not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or ser-vice and DisclaimerEvery effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurateas possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information pro-vided is on an as is basis. The author and the publisher shall have nei-ther liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to anyloss or damages arising from the information contained in this KronzekDEVELOPMENTEDITORK evin HowardMANAGINGEDITORC harlotte ClappPROJECTEDITORC arol BowersCOPYEDITORM ichael HenryINDEXEREric SchroederTECHNICALEDITORBoyd NolanTEAMCOORDINATORP amalee NelsonINTERIORDESIGNERGary AdairCOVERDESIGNERGary AdairPAGELAYOUTG loria Schurick00 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9.

5 57 AM Page ivOverview ForewordviiiIntroduction11 Why Should You Move to Visual First Application213 Major Changes494 Building Classes and Assemblies with with Access with and Web applications with and Web Services with Windows Services with VB6 Projects to Common Language Specification187 Index19100 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9:57 AM Page vContents INTRODUCTION11 WHYSHOULDYOUMOVE 3 Visual : A New Framework ..3 The Common Language Execution ..8 Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) ..8 The Just-In-Time Compiler ..9 Executing Code .. Common Type System ..12 Classes.

6 13 Interfaces ..13 Value Types ..14 Delegates ..14 The .NET Framework Class Library ..14 Self-Describing Components ..15 Cross-Language Interoperability ..16 The ..17 Code Access Security (CAS)..18 Role-Based Security ..18 Summary .. APPLICATION21 The Start Page ..21 Creating a New Project ..23 Examining the IDE ..25 Creating Your First Application Enhancements ..36 Resizing Controls Controls to the Form Edges ..38 Easier Menus ..41 Setting Tab Order ..42 Line and Shape Controls: You re Outta Here ..44 Form .. CHANGES49 General Changes ..49 Default Properties ..49 Subs and Functions Require Parentheses.

7 50 Changes to Boolean Operators ..5100 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9:57 AM Page viDeclaration Changes ..52 Support for New Assignment Operators ..52 ByValIs Now the Default ..53 Block-Level Scope .. Changes ..54 Array Changes ..57 Option Type Changes ..59 Structured Error Handling ..62 Structures Replace UDTs ..64 IDE Changes ..66 New Items ..66 Constructors and Destructors ..66 Namespaces ..67 Inheritance ..69 Overloading ..69 Free Collection ..72 Summary ..724 BUILDINGCLASSES ANDASSEMBLIES 73 Creating Your First Class Library ..74 Adding a Souped-Up Class ..74 Creating Properties.

8 75 Building a Test Client ..76 Read-only and Write-only Properties ..79 Parameterized Properties ..79 Default Properties ..80 Constructors in Your Classes ..80 Classes Without Constructors ..81 Adding Methods to Events ..82 The Final Code ..84 Compiling the the Assembly in Other applications ..87 How .NET Locates ..905 INHERITANCE 91 What Is Inheritance? ..91 Interface Inheritance in VB6 .. s Implementation Quick Inheritance Example ..94 Shared Members ..95 Inheritance Keywords ..9600 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9:57 AM Page viiForcing or Preventing Inheritance ..96 Overriding Properties and Methods.

9 97 Polymorphism ..99 Polymorphism with Inheritance ..100 Polymorphism with to Use and When Not to Use Inheritance ..102 Summary ..1036 DATABASEACCESS 105 Accessing a Database from a Windows Application ..106 Using the DataAdapter Configuration Wizard ..122 About ..122 DataSets ..122 Working with the Objects ..123 XML Integration ..128 The XML Designer ..129 Summary ..1317 BUILDINGWEBAPPLICATIONS 133 Your First Application ..134 How Works ..137 Web Pages and Code ..138 Server Controls ..138 Validation Controls ..142 Data Binding ..149 Handling Re-entrant Pages.

10 151 Summary ..1528 BUILDINGWEBSERVICES 153 Creating Your First Web Service ..154 Testing the Web Service ..155 Creating a Web Service Client ..156 How Web Services Work ..162 And You Thought Disco Was Web Services ..163 Summary ..1649 BUILDINGWINDOWSSERVICES 165 Creating Your First Windows Services Installers to Your Service ..168 Configuring Your Service ..169 Understanding Windows Services ..170 Service Lifetime and Events ..171 Debugging Your Service ..172 Summary ..173viii00 2203-x FM 5/25/01 9:57 AM Page viii10 UPGRADINGVB6 PROJECTS 175 Upgrading Your First VB6 Application.