Visual Basic 2015 in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself

  In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you’ll learn how to build complete, reliable, and modern Windows applications with Microsoft® Visual Basic® 2015. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a strong foundation for success with every aspect of VB 2015 development.   Notes present interesting pieces of information. Tips offer advice or teach an easier way to do something. Cautions advise you about potential problems and help you steer clear of disaster.   Learn How To   Master VB 2015 by building a complete feature-rich application Navigate VB 2015 and discover its new shortcuts Work with objects, collections, and events Build attractive, highly-functional user interfaces Make the most of forms, controls, modules, and procedures Efficiently store data and program databases Make decisions in code Use powerful object-oriented techniques Work with graphics and text files Manipulate filesystems and the Registry Add email support Create efficient modules and reusable procedures Interact effectively with users Write code to preview and print documents Debug with VB 2015’s improved breakpoint features Distribute your software   Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672337451 as they become available. Who Should Read This Book Those who have little or no programming experience or who might be picking up Visual Basic as a second language.   Bug Alert Description: Changing the startup form's name in a VB WinForms app does not update the "Startup form" #4517 Explanation: In the latest Visual Basic update on GitHub, Microsoft accidentally introduced a significant bug that you should be aware of. In the Visual Basic project properties dialog on one of the tabs (Application), is a drop down box for selecting the "startup object". This can be either a Main method or a System.Windows.Forms instance (or System.Windows.Window for WPF). When you do a rename on a form (say from the code editor in source or from the solution explorer) currently set as the startup form the rename doesn't cascade to the startup object project property cause the project to enter an invalid state where the user must now manually reset this project property from the now nonexistent Form to the new name. This is a huge annoyance. The fix for the bug (until Microsoft addresses) can be found here: http://www.jamesfoxall.com/teach-visual-basic-2015-errata/    

Table of Contents:
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