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/

Autorentext

James Foxall is President & CEO of Tigerpaw Software, a commercial software company providing complete business automation to more than 40,000 users in 28 countries in the IT/Networking, Telecommunications, Systems Integrator, Security, and Point of Sale industries. In his current role as President and CEO, James provides the vision and management to keep Tigerpaw focused on its customers and properly serving its markets.

James has a Masters degree in Business Administration and a BS degree in Management of Information Systems. Devoted to creating better businesses through technology, James has written 15 books, which have been published in over a dozen languages around the world. He is considered an authority on business process improvement and application interface and behavior standards of Windows applications, and serves the business community as an international speaker on automating business processes in the SMB environment.

Inhalt

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

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