Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 2012 in 24 Hours, Complete Starter Kit

Introduction 1

PART I: The Visual Basic 2012 Environment

HOUR 1: Jumping in with Both Feet: A Visual Basic 2012 Programming Tour 5

Starting Visual Basic 2012 . . . . . . . . . 6

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . 7

Understanding the Visual Studio 2012 Environment . . . . . 10

Changing the Characteristics of Objects . . . . . . . 11

Adding Controls to a Form. . . . . . . . . 16

Designing an Interface . . . . . . . . . 17

Writing the Code Behind an Interface . . . . . . . 21

Running a Project . . . . . . . . . . 25

HOUR 2: Navigating Visual Basic 2012 29

Using the Visual Basic 2012 Start Page . . . . . . . 30

Navigating and Customizing the Visual Basic Environment. . . 32

Working with Toolbars. . . . . . . . . . 37

Adding Controls to a Form Using the Toolbox . . . . . . 38

Setting Object Properties Using the Properties Window . . . . 39

Managing Projects . . . . . . . . . . 45

A Quick-and-Dirty Programming Primer . . . . . . 51

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . 53

HOUR 3: Understanding Objects and Collections 57

Understanding Objects. . . . . . . . . . 58

Understanding Properties . . . . . . . . . 58

Understanding Methods. . . . . . . . . 65

Building a Simple Object Example Project. . . . . . 67

Understanding Collections . . . . . . . . . 72

Using the Object Browser . . . . . . . . . 75

HOUR 4: Understanding Events 79

Understanding Event-Driven Programming . . . . . . 79

Building an Event Example Project . . . . . . . 87

Keeping Event Names Current . . . . . . . . 92

PART II: Building a User Interface

HOUR 5: Building Forms: The Basics 95

Changing a Form's Name . . . . . . . . . 96

Changing a Form's Appearance . . . . . . . . 97

Showing and Hiding Forms. . . . . . . . . 107

HOUR 6: Building Forms: Advanced Techniques 117

Working with Controls . . . . . . . . . 117

Creating Topmost Nonmodal Windows. . . . . . . 134

Creating Transparent Forms . . . . . . . . 135

Creating Scrollable Forms. . . . . . . . . 135

Creating MDI Forms . . . . . . . . . . 137

Setting the Startup Form. . . . . . . . . 140

HOUR 7: Working with Traditional Controls 145

Displaying Static Text with the Label Control . . . . . 145

Allowing Users to Enter Text Using a Text Box . . . . . 146

Creating Buttons. . . . . . . . . . 153

Creating Containers and Groups of Option Buttons . . . . 157

Displaying a List with the List Box . . . . . . . 161

Creating Drop-Down Lists Using the Combo Box . . . . . 168

HOUR 8: Using Advanced Controls 173

Creating Timers . . . . . . . . . . 174

Creating Tabbed Dialog Boxes. . . . . . . . 177

Storing Pictures in an Image List Control. . . . . . 180

Building Enhanced Lists Using the List View Control . . . . 182

Creating Hierarchical Lists Using the

Tree View Control. . . . . . . . . . 187

HOUR 9: Adding Menus and Toolbars to Forms 195

Building Menus . . . . . . . . . . 196

Using the Toolbar Control. . . . . . . . . 207

Creating a Status Bar. . . . . . . . . . 213

PART III: Making Things Happen-Programming

HOUR 10: Creating and Calling Code Procedures 217

Creating Visual Basic Code Modules. . . . . . . 217

Writing Code Procedures . . . . . . . . . 219

Calling Code Procedures. . . . . . . . . 225

Exiting Procedures. . . . . . . . . . 231

Avoiding Infinite Recursion. . . . . . . . . 232

HOUR 11: Using Constants, Data Types, Variables, and Arrays 237

Understanding Data Types . . . . . . . . . 238

Defining and Using Constants. . . . . . . . 242

Declaring and Referencing Variables . . . . . . . 244

Working with Arrays . . . . . . . . . . 250

Determining Scope . . . . . . . . . . 254

Declaring Variables of Static Scope. . . . . . . 258

Naming Conventions. . . . . . . . . . 259

Using Variables in Your Picture Viewer Project . . . . . 261

HOUR 12: Performing Arithmetic, String Manipulation, and Date/Time Adjustments 269

Performing Basic Arithmetic Operations with Visual Basic . . . 270

Comparing Equalities . . . . . . . . . 274

Understanding Boolean Logic . . . . . . . . 274

Manipulating Strings . . . . . . . . . . 278

Working with Dates and Times . . . . . . . . 283

HOUR 13: Making Decisions in Visual Basic Code 293

Making Decisions Using If...Then . . . . . . . 293

Branching Within a Procedure Using GoTo . . . . . . 304

HOUR 14: Looping for Efficiency 309

Looping a Specific Number of Times Using For...Next . . . . 309

Using Do...Loop to Loop an Indeterminate Number of Times . . . 315

HOUR 15: Debugging Your Code 323

Adding Comments to Your Code . . . . . . . . 324

Identifying the Two Basic Types of Errors. . . . . . 326

Using Visual Basic's Debugging Tools . . . . . . . 328

Writing an Error Handler Using Try...Catch...Finally . . . 336

HOUR 16: Designing Objects Using Classes 347

Understanding Classes . . . . . . . . . 348

Instantiating Objects from Classes . . . . . . . 357

HOUR 17: Interacting with Users 367

Displaying Messages Using the MessageBox.Show() Function . . . 367

Creating Custom Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . 373

Using InputBox() to Get Information from a User . . . . . 377

Interacting with the Keyboard . . . . . . . . 379

Using the Common Mouse Events . . . . . . . 382

HOUR 18: Working with Graphics 389

Understanding the Graphics Object. . . . . . . 389

Working with Pens . . . . . . . . . . 392

Using System Colors . . . . . . . . . . 393

Working with Rectangles . . . . . . . . . 396

Drawing Shapes . . . . . . . . . . 397

Drawing Text . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Persisting Graphics on a Form. . . . . . . . 400

Building a Graphics Project Example . . . . . . . 400

PART IV: Working with Data

HOUR 19: Performing File Operations 409

Using the OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog Controls . . . 409

Manipulating Files with the File Object. . . . . . 415

Manipulating Directories with the Directory Object . . . . 424

HOUR 20: Working with the Registry and Text Files 427

Working with the Registry . . . . . . . . . 427

Reading and Writing Text Files . . . . . . . . 439

HOUR 21: Working with a Database 451

Introducing ADO.NET . . . . . . . . . 452

Manipulating Data . . . . . . . . . . 456

HOUR 22: Controlling Other Applications Using Automation 469

Automating Microsoft Excel . . . . . . . . 470

Automating Microsoft Word . . . . . . . . 476

PART V: Deploying Solutions and Beyond

HOUR 23: Deploying Applications 481

Understanding ClickOnce Technology. . . . . . . 481

Using the Publish Wizard to Create a ClickOnce Application . . . 482

Testing Your Picture Viewer ClickOnce Install Program . . . . 486

Uninstalling an Application You've Distributed . . . . . 486

Setting Advanced Options for Creating ClickOnce Programs . . . 488

HOUR 24: The 10,000-Foot View 491

The .NET Framework . . . . . . . . . . 491

Common Language Runtime . . . . . . . . 492

Microsoft Intermediate Language . . . . . . . 493

Namespaces . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Common Type System . . . . . . . . . 496

Garbage Collection . . . . . . . . . . 496

Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . 497

9780672336294, 9/17/2012