The Book of Visual Studio - Lagout.org

1 The Book of Visual Studio .NET A Guide for Developers Robert B. Dunaway NO STARCH PRESS San Francisco Copyright 2002 Robert B. Dunaway All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10-05 04 03 02 No Starch Press and the No Starch Press logo are registered trademarks of No Starch Press, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

2 Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we are using the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Publisher: William Pollock Editorial Director: Karol Jurado Cover and Interior Design: Octopod Studios Composition: 1106 Design, LLC Developmental Editor: William Pollock Copyeditor: Kenyon Brown Proofreader: Mei Levenson Indexer: Broccoli Information Management Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Publishers Group West, 1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710; phone: 800-788-3123; fax: 510-658-1834.

3 Distributed to the book trade in Canada by Jacqueline Gross & Associates, Inc., One Atlantic Avenue, Suite 105, Toronto, Ontario M6K 3E7 Canada; phone: 416-531-6737; fax 416-531-4259. For information on translations or book distributors outside the United States and Canada, please contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly: No Starch Press, Inc. 555 De Haro Street, Suite 250, San Francisco, CA 94107 phone: 415-863-9900; fax: 415-863-9950; The information in this book is distributed on an "As Is" basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor No Starch Press, Inc.

4 Shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it. Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Dunaway, Robert B. The book of Visual Studio .NET/Robert B. Dunaway. p. cm. Includes index. 1-886411-69-7 (pbk.) 1. Microsoft Visual Studio . 2. framework. 3. Web site development--Computer programs. I. Title. D86 2002 '76--dc21 2001030346 Dedication To Tamarah: Your steadfast love has inspired me to become a better man. I love you. To my Grandfather: The principles and love you have shown me remain.

5 I miss you. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is the product of a combined effort. My thanks to all involved at No Starch Press. I would like to thank Bill Pollock for believing in me as a first time writer and for his patience throughout the writing of this book. Thank you for the countless hours you spent guiding and editing my work so that it would be more enjoyable and understandable to read. Special thanks to Karol Jurado, the Editorial Director, for coordinating the entire effort and fielding my many questions. You've help make this an experience I would like to repeat. I would also like to thank Ken Brown, the copyeditor, and Mei Levenson, our proofreader.

6 I know that catching my grammatical errors is no trivial task. Special thanks to William H. Bennethum, whose friendship, criticism, and encouragement means the world to me. Your comments and insight concerning this book have been invaluable. Thanks to Cheryl and Jeffery Dunaway, for your love and for teaching me that nothing was out of my reach. Thanks to Michael and Cathy Browning, for your guidance in my career and your continued support. Special thanks to my Grandmother, Maude Jump, for your continued love and support. Robert B. Dunaway Cincinnati, Ohio Introduction: Introducing .NET When designing the contents, format, and general layout of this book, the challenges that developers face when implementing Microsoft.

7 NET technologies were considered. The .NET initiative offers both a new set of technologies and a new paradigm for development, because it is not only a development environment but also an entire suite of servers and services that work together to deliver solutions to solve today's business problems. The book could have perhaps more easily addressed a single vertical portion of the .NET suite of technologies, but then how would you know how or where that portion fits into .NET model, and how could you take advantage of other services that are provided by the vast set of .NET technologies? The truth is that you probably could not.

8 One book simply cannot adequately cover all of the technologies that are required to deliver a complete .NET solution..NET encompasses several new technologies, including new versions and enhancements of nearly every current technology. These products include SQL Server, Windows XP, .NET Enterprise Server, and industry-standard technologies such as XML and SOAP. This book provides you with a solid understanding of Visual Studio .NET and of how to use it to implement a variety of .NET solutions (a considerable challenge, given the number of technologies that make up the .NET framework). You'll focus mainly on Visual Studio 7.

9 NET, while still getting an overview of several .NET-related technologies. In fact, you'll get quite a bit more than a simple overview of Visual Studio .NET and related technologies; you'll learn exactly where each technology fits into the big picture of .NET, and you'll run sample code that demonstrates your ability to take advantage of that technology today! Good luck and enjoy. Level of Expertise The Book of Visual Studio .NET assumes that you are familiar with Windows-based programming, object-oriented programming, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows XP, or .NET Enterprise Server. It will also be helpful for you to understand SQL Server, COM, and COM+ because they are required to build a scalable and reliable Windows DNA application.

10 Knowing these technologies will make the transition to the .NET Framework easier for you to handle. While the book assumes this knowledge, it will discuss much of this technology throughout because of the way .NET integrates it to build business solutions. If you are lacking in any one of these areas, do not fear; you won't be by the time you finish this book. Note While many of the examples are written in Visual Basic (VB), and the book has included a chapter on Visual Basic .NET, don't expect to learn Visual Basic .NET here. If you already know Visual Basic, you will be better able to take advantage of these code examples.