Visual basic 2005 jumpstart (2005)

VisualBasic2005Jumpstart
ByWei-MengLee
...............................................
Publisher:O'Reilly
PubDate:September2005
ISBN:0-596-10071-X
Pages:214

TableofContents|Index|Errata

Okay,allyouVB6developers--time'sup.AsofMarch2005,Microsoftnolonger
supportsthisversionofVisualBasic.Andyoucan'tblamethem.Threeyearsago,
theyintroducedthe.NETFramework--anelegant,powerfulplatform--alongwiththe
newcomponent-basedVB.NETlanguage.Butroughlyfivemillionofyoudecidedto
stickwithVB6,mostlytomaintainlegacyWindowsandCOMprojects.
Now,withtheupcomingreleaseofVB2005,Microsofthasseveralattractivereasons
toupgradethatyou'llfindhardtoresist,includingthereturnofsomeVB6features.
Andwehavetheperfectbooktohelpyoumaketheconversion:VisualBasic2005
Jumpstart.Now,youcantest-drivethebetaversionofVB2005withthreehands-on
projectsthatenableyoutolearnthesyntaxofthisnewlanguagequickly.

VB2005notonlyletsyouconvertthebulkofyourexistingVB6code,butoffers
severalfamiliarfeatures,suchascompile-and-rundebugging,newMyClassesthat
simplifyuseof.NETlibrariesandframeworks,lotsofIDEsupportforWindows,web
andmobileGUIdevelopment,anddataaccesscontrolsthatcloselyresemblewhat
youusenow.Therealplusisthatyou'llbeusingthesefeatureswiththe.NET
platform,whichismoresecure,lesscomplexthanCOM,andoffersOneClick
deployment.

VisualBasic2005Jumpstartletsyougetthefeelofthisplatformforbuilding
smart/richWindowsFormsclients,ASP.NETwebapplications,andwebservices.

AuthorWei-MengLee,aMicrosoft.NETMVP,veteranO'Reillyauthorandfrequent
contributortotheO'ReillyNetwork,hasputtogetherthreeusefultest-driveprojects,
completewithcodesamples,thatletyoudevelop:
ApersonallibraryWindowsapplication
AWeb-basedshoppingcartapplication
AstockenquiryWebService
Ourjumpstartguideisthequick,painlesswaytomigratefromVB6toVB2005,and
theperfecttrainingmanualformovingyourorganizationtothemorerobust,dynamic
andsecureworldof.NET.


VisualBasic2005Jumpstart
ByWei-MengLee
...............................................
Publisher:O'Reilly
PubDate:September2005
ISBN:0-596-10071-X
Pages:214

TableofContents|Index|Errata



Copyright



AbouttheAuthor

Foreword



Preface



WhoThisBookIsFor



WhatYouNeedtoUseThisBook



ConventionsUsedinThisBook



UsingCodeExamples



SafariEnabled

I'dLiketoHearfromYou



CommentsandQuestions




Acknowledgments
Chapter1.IntroducingVisualBasic2005



Section1.1.CreatetheApplicationandItsMainWindow



Section1.2.AddaMenuandToolbar



Section1.3.ConnecttoaDatabaseandBrowseRecords



Section1.4.CreateanExitDialogBox

Section1.5.HandleExitandCloseEvents



Section1.6.RunandDebugtheApplication



Section1.7.InspectanObjectatRuntime



Section1.8.AddanAboutBox



Section1.9.ConfiguretheApplication



Section1.10.Summary



Chapter2.ProgrammingwithVisualBasic



Section2.1.DataTypes

Section2.2.Variables



Section2.3.Constants



Section2.4.Strings



Section2.5.Arrays




Section2.6.TypeConversion



Section2.7.Operators



Section2.8.Statements

Section2.9.FunctionsandSubroutines



Section2.10.ErrorHandling



Section2.11.MyNamespace



Section2.12.Summary



Chapter3.PuttingObject-OrientedProgrammingtoWork



Section3.1.WorkingwithClassesandObjects



Section3.2.ReusingandCustomizingClasses

Section3.3.DesigningYourOwnClasses



Section3.4.ControllingHowClassesAreImplemented




Section3.5.Summary
Chapter4.DevelopingaWindowsApplication



Section4.1.CreatingtheWindowsApplicationandBuildingtheMainWindow



Section4.2.ViewingBookInformationOffline



Section4.3.DeployingtheApplication



Section4.4.AutomaticUpdating

Section4.5.Summary



Chapter5.BuildingWebApplications



Section5.1.BuildingtheStorefront



Section5.2.CreatingaShoppingCart



Section5.3.MembersArea



Section5.4.TestingtheApplication




Section5.5.Summary
Chapter6.MovingfromVB6toVB2005

Section6.1.Migrate,Replace,Rewrite,orReuse?



Section6.2.UsingCOMObjectsinVB2005



Section6.3.UpgradingVB6Applications



Section6.4.Summary



Colophon



Index


Copyright
Copyright©2005O'ReillyMedia,Inc.Allrightsreserved.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
PublishedbyO'ReillyMedia,Inc.,1005GravensteinHighwayNorth,
Sebastopol,CA95472.
O'Reillybooksmaybepurchasedforeducational,business,orsalespromotional
use.Onlineeditionsarealsoavailableformosttitles(safari.oreilly.com).For

moreinformation,contactourcorporate/institutionalsalesdepartment:(800)
998-9938or
Table
Editor:

JohnOsborn

ProductionEditor:

AdamWitwer

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EllieVolckhausen

InteriorDesigner:

DavidFutato

PrintingHistory:



September2005:

FirstEdition.

NutshellHandbook,theNutshellHandbooklogo,andtheO'Reillylogoare
registeredtrademarksofO'ReillyMedia,Inc.VisualBasic2005Jumpstart,the
imageofmoorfrogs,andrelatedtradedressaretrademarksofO'ReillyMedia,

Inc.
Microsoft,MSDN,the.NETlogo,VisualBasic,VisualC++,VisualStudio,and
WindowsareregisteredtrademarksofMicrosoftCorporation.
Manyofthedesignationsusedbymanufacturersandsellerstodistinguishtheir
productsareclaimedastrademarks.Wherethosedesignationsappearinthis
book,andO'ReillyMedia,Inc.wasawareofatrademarkclaim,thedesignations
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Whileeveryprecautionhasbeentakeninthepreparationofthisbook,the
publisherandauthorassumenoresponsibilityforerrorsoromissions,orfor
damagesresultingfromtheuseoftheinformationcontainedherein.
ThisbookusesRepKover™,adurableandflexiblelay-flatbinding.
ISBN:0-596-10071-X
[M]


AbouttheAuthor
Wei-MengLee(MicrosoftMVP)isatechnologistandfounderofDeveloper
LearningSolutions(),atechnology
companyspecializinginhands-ontraininginthelatestMicrosofttechnologies.
Wei-Mengspeaksregularlyatinternationalconferencesandhasauthored
numerousbookson.NET,XML,andwirelesstechnologies,includingASP.NET
2.0:ADeveloper'sNotebookandthe.NETCompactFrameworkPocketGuide
(bothfromO'Reilly).HewritesextensivelyfortheO'ReillyNetworkontopics
rangingfrom.NETtoMacOSX.Wei-MengiscurrentlyaMicrosoftRegional
DirectorforSingapore.VisitWei-Meng'sblogat
.

Foreword
VisualBasicrevolutionizedprogrammingwhenitwasfirstreleasedin1991by
makingiteasierthaneverfordeveloperstobuildWindowsprograms.This
successcontinuedwithVisualBasic6.0,whichbecameoneoftheworld'smost
popularprogramminglanguages.ThetransitionfromVisualBasic6.0toVisual
Basic.NEToffereddevelopersanewrangeofdevelopmentpossibilities.Using
thesamesetofdevelopmentskills,developerscouldnowtargetWindows,Web,
Mobile,andOfficeapplicationsbetterthaneverbefore.VisualBasic2005isthe
mostpowerfulandaccessibleversionofVisualBasic.Theadditionoffeatures
liketheMynamespaceandEditandContinuehelpdeveloperstoaddress
businessproblemswiththeproductivitythatisthehallmarkofVisualBasic
development.
ThisbookisagreatwaytotakeyourVisualBasic6.0developmentskills
forwardtobecomeanexpertinVisualBasic2005programming.I'mhappyto
havepartneredwithWei-MengandO'Reillytocreatethisbookwhichisapart
ofanongoingefforttoenableVisualBasic6.0developerstoleveragetheir
existingskills.ExperiencedVBprogrammerswillseehowtheirexistingVisual
BasicskillscanbeappliedtoquicklybecomeproductiveinVisualBasic2005.
Ihopethatyoufindthisbookusefulandlookforwardtohearingfromyouwith
anycomments.Pleasefeelfreetocontactmedirectlyat
JayRoxe
ProductManager,VisualBasic
MicrosoftCorporation


Preface
WhoThisBookIsFor
WhatYouNeedtoUseThisBook
ConventionsUsedinThisBook
UsingCodeExamples

SafariEnabled
I'dLiketoHearfromYou
CommentsandQuestions
Acknowledgments


WhoThisBookIsFor
VisualBasic2005JumpstartiswrittenforVB6programmerswhohaveyetto
movetoVisualBasic2005,thelatestreleaseofMicrosoftVisualBasic,oneof
theworld'smostpopularprogramminglanguages.WithVB2005,Microsofthas
givenVB6developersahostofreasonstoupgradenow,includingthereturnof
VB6featuresomittedfromearlierversionsofVB.NET.
Myaimistoprovideyouwithastartingpointajumpstartthatdemonstrateshow
easyitistobecomeproductivewiththenewlanguagewhenit'spairedwiththe
VisualStudio2005developmentenvironment.
Togetthemostoutofthisbook,you'llneedacopyofVisualStudio2005that
supportsVisualBasic(see"WhatYouNeedtoUseThisBook").Iencourage
youtoworkyourwaythroughthesampleapplications,especiallythosein
Chapters1,Chapters4,andChapters5,astheyarepurposefullysmalland
designedtoshowoffthebestofthenewfeaturesinVB2005.You'llbesurprised
athoweasilyandquicklyyoucanbuildarelativelysophisticatedWindowsor
webapplication.Thecompletesourcecodeforthebook(alongwithanyerrata)
isavailableontheO'Reillywebpageforthisbook,
/>
HowThisBookIsOrganized
VisualBasic2005Jumpstartconsistsofsixchapters,eachofwhichfocusesona
particularaspectoftheVB2005languageoratypeofprojectthatVB6
programmersarelikelytoencounterinmakingthemovetothenewtool.

Chapter1,IntroducingVisualBasic2005

You'lluseVB2005andVisualStudio2005tobuildasimpleWindows
applicationthatanyVB6programmerwillrecognize.Thoughthe
applicationissimple,buildingitillustratesanumberofpowerfulfeatures


presentintheVB2005languageandtheVisualStudio2005development
tool.AmongthesearenewWindowscontrolswithSmartTasks,new
Windowsapplicationtemplates,restoredsupportforedit-and-continue,
improvedIntelliSenseandCodeEditorfacilities,theDataSource
ConfigurationWizard,andApplicationSettings.

Chapter2,ProgrammingwithVisualBasic
youwillbetakenonawhirlwindtouroftheVB2005languageandits
syntax,andyou'llseehowitcompareswiththatofVB6.IfyouareaVB6
programmer,you'llbehappytolearnthatmuchofwhatyoualreadyknow
isstillsupported(orenhanced)inVB2005.You'llalsobeintroducedtothe
Mynamespace,whichvastlyexpandsthetroveoffunctionsavailableto
VisualBasicprogrammersandprovideseasieraccesstotherich
functionalityofthe.NETFrameworkClassLibrary.

Chapter3,PuttingObject-OrientedProgrammingtoWork
Youwillbeintroducedtothesupportforobject-orientedprogramming
(OOP)availableinVB2005andwilllearnwhyitmatters.Aprincipal
reasonforusingOOPfeaturesinVB2005isthesupporttheyprovidefor
reusing,customizing,andcontrollingtheuseothersmakeofyourcode,and
you'lllearnaboutavarietyoftechniquesforaccomplishingthesetasks.
You'llalsolearnabouttheVB2005ClassDesigner,howtoextendan
existingclassbyinheritingfromit,genericclasses,Partialclasses,and
advancedOOPconceptssuchasabstractclassesandmethods,interfaces,
attributes,andaccessmodifiers.

Chapter4,DevelopingaWindowsApplication
YouwillbuildaWindowsapplicationthatdemonstratestheeasewith
whichVisualStudio2005andVB2005canbeusedtocreateprofessional


Windowsapplications.Youwillalsolearnhowtoconsumewebservices
andhowdatacanbepersistedinaSQLdatabase,andyouwillseehow
ClickOncemakesdeploymentandupdatingofsmartclientseasyand
effortless.

Chapter5,BuildingWebApplications
Youwillbuildasimplee-commercewebapplicationusingnewcontrolsin
ASP.NET2.0thatletyoubuildpowerfulapplicationswithoutwritingmuch
VB2005codeatall.YouwillseehowtouseaMasterPagetomaintaina
consistentlookandfeelforthepagesofyoursite.Youwillalsoseehow
informationaboutuserscouldbepersistedusingthenewProfileservice.
Lastbutnotleast,youwilllearnhoweasyitistoimplementsecurityin
yourwebapplicationsusingnewASP.NET2.0securitycontrolswiththe
Membershipclassthatpowersthem.

Chapter6,MovingfromVB6toVB2005
Youwilllearnaboutthevariousfactorsthatyouneedtoconsiderwhen
decidingwhethertoupgradeanexisitngapplication.UpgradingfromVB6
toVB2005requirescarefulreviewoftheapplicationaswellasanalysisof
thevariousbenefitsthatamigrationwillbringyou.Youwillalsolearnhow
youcancontinuetouseyourlegacyCOMcomponentsinVB2005and
howthenewRegFreeCOMfeatureinVB2005shieldsyoufromthe
notoriousDLLhellproblem.Finally,thechapterendswithademonstration
oftheVisualBasic6.0CodeAdvisorandtheUpgradeWizard,whichaim

toeasetheupgradeofyourexistingVB6applicationstoVB2005,should
youdecidetogothatroute.


WhatYouNeedtoUseThisBook
Totryoutthemanyhands-onprojectsandcodesamplesinthisbook,you'llneed
toinstallanyeditionofVisualStudio2005onacomputerrunningWindows.
YoucanalsouseacombinationofthenewVisualStudioExpressEditions.To
workyourwaythroughalloftheexamples,you'llneedtoinstallVisualBasic
2005ExpressEdition,VisualWebDeveloper2005ExpressEdition,andSQL
Server2005ExpressEdition,allofwhichareavailableontheMSDNwebsite.


ConventionsUsedinThisBook
Thefollowingtypographicalconventionsareusedinthisbook:

Plaintext
Indicatesmenutitles,menuoptions,menubuttons,andkeyboard
accelerators(suchasAltandCtrl).

Italic
Indicatesnewterms,URLs,emailaddresses,filenames,fileextensions,
pathnames,directories,andUnixutilities.

Constantwidth
Indicatescommands,options,switches,variables,attributes,keys,
functions,types,controls,classes,namespaces,methods,modules,
properties,parameters,values,objects,events,eventhandlers,XMLtags,
HTMLtags,macros,thecontentsoffiles,ortheoutputfromcommands.

Constantwidthbold
Showscommandsorothertextthatshouldbetypedliterallybytheuser.
Boldisalsousedincodesamplestohighlightlinesofcodethatare
discussedinthetext.

Constantwidthitalic


Showstextthatshouldbereplacedwithuser-suppliedvalues.

Thisiconsignifiesatip,suggestion,orgeneralnote.

Thisiconindicatesawarningorcaution.


UsingCodeExamples
Thisbookisheretohelpyougetyourjobdone.Ingeneral,youmayusethe
codeinthisbookinyourprogramsanddocumentation.Youdonotneedto
contactusforpermissionunlessyou'rereproducingasignificantportionofthe
code.Forexample,writingaprogramthatusesseveralchunksofcodefromthis
bookdoesnotrequirepermission.SellingordistributingaCD-ROMof
examplesfromO'Reillybooksdoesrequirepermission.Answeringaquestionby
citingthisbookandquotingexamplecodedoesnotrequirepermission.
Incorporatingasignificantamountofexamplecodefromthisbookintoyour
product'sdocumentationdoesrequirepermission.
Weappreciate,butdonotrequire,attribution.Anattributionusuallyincludesthe
title,author,publisher,andISBN.Forexample:"VisualBasic2005Jumpstart,
byWei-MengLee.Copyright2005O'ReillyMedia,Inc.,0-596-10071-X."
Ifyoufeelyouruseofcodeexamplesfallsoutsidefairuseorthepermission
givenabove,feelfreetocontactusat

SafariEnabled

WhenyouseeaSafari®Enabledicononthecoverofyourfavorite
technologybook,thatmeansthebookisavailableonlinethroughtheO'Reilly
NetworkSafariBookshelf.
Safarioffersasolutionthat'sbetterthane-books.It'savirtuallibrarythatlets
youeasilysearchthousandsoftoptechbooks,cutandpastecodesamples,
downloadchapters,andfindquickanswerswhenyouneedthemostaccurate,
currentinformation.Tryitforfreeat.


I'dLiketoHearfromYou
Pleasesendcomments,suggestions,anderratato
Youcanalsovisitmywebsiteat:
foralistofarticlesthatIhavewrittenon.NET.CheckouttheCodeLibrary
sectiontodownloadsamplecodefortopicson.NET,VB2005,ASP.NET2.0,
andthe.NETCompactFramework.


CommentsandQuestions
Pleaseaddresscommentsandquestionsconcerningthisbooktothepublisher:
O'ReillyMedia,Inc.
1005GravensteinHighwayNorth
Sebastopol,CA95472
(800)998-9938(intheUnitedStatesorCanada)
(707)829-0515(internationalorlocal)
(707)829-0104(fax)
Wehaveawebpageforthisbook,wherewelisterrata,examples,andany

additionalinformation.Youcanaccessthispageat:
/>Tocommentorasktechnicalquestionsaboutthisbook,sendemailto:

Formoreinformationaboutourbooks,conferences,ResourceCenters,andthe
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Acknowledgments
Iamverygratefultomyeditor,JohnOsborn,forgivingmethisopportunityto
writeabookonVB2005.Hispatienceandattentiontodetailhavedefinitely
madethisbookabetterread.Johnhaspainstakinglyreadandrereadeverysingle
wordIhavewrittenandhasalwayschallengedmetorethinkwhatIhave
written,andforthisIammuchhonoredtoworkwithJohn.Abigthankyou,
John!
SpecialthanksarealsoduetoJayRoxe,ProductManagerofVisualBasicat
Microsoft,forhissupportandreviewofthisbook.Jayhasplayedan
instrumentalroleinshapingtheoutlineofthisbookandprovidedmanyuseful
suggestionsforimprovingitscontent.Thanksforthehardwork,Jay!
Ialsowishtoexpressmygratitudetothereviewersfortheircommentsand
numeroussuggestions.TheyincludeRobertGreen,JeffBarr,PaulYuknewicz,
andJosephBinder.
Asalways,ithasbeenapleasureworkingwiththeO'Reillyteam.Abigthank
youtotheunsungheroesbehindthescenesthatmadethisbookpossible.
Thanks!


Chapter1.IntroducingVisualBasic2005
WhenMicrosoftreleaseditsnewversionofVisualBasicin2002,many
developerswillinglyupgradedtotakeadvantageofthenewwebfunctionality,

security,andperformanceprovidedbythe.NETplatformonwhichitwasbuilt.
Butindoingso,manyalsofelttheywereleavingbehindthefeaturesthathad
madeVisualBasic6.0suchapopulartoolfortherapiddevelopmentof
Windowsapplicationsinthefirstplace.
ThereleaseofVisualBasic2005(VB2005)isinmanywaysareturntoVisual
Basic'srootsastheRapidApplicationDevelopment(RAD)toolofchoice.Many
ofthemostpopularfeaturesofearlierversionsareback,suchasEditand
Continue,alongwithdozensofnewcontrols,betterIntelliSense,animproved
debugger,andahostofothertoolsthatspeedupprogramming,debugging,
testing,anddeployment.
Besidesthemanytoolsaddedtoitsinteractivedevelopmentenvironment(IDE),
VisualBasic2005providesmoresupportthaneverfordevelopingthenext
generationofnetwork-enabledWindowsclientsandwebapplications,whilea
newsetoffunctionalityuniquetoVB2005theMynamespacegivesyouthe
meansbywhichtoperformmanycommontaskswithouthavingtoworkyour
waythroughthecomplextypesofthe.NETclasslibraries.
ThebestwaytolearnaboutVisualStudio2005isbyusingthetooltobuildan
application.Inthefollowingsections,you'llassembleastraightforward
Windowsclientthatenablesuserstoconnecttoadatabaseandbrowseorupdate
theinformationtheyfindthere.You'llworkwiththeauthorstableofthepub's
databasethatshipswithSQLServer2005.You'llalsoseehowyoucanextend
theapplicationusingsomeofthefeaturesnewtoVB2005,suchasproject
templatesandapplicationconfigurationtools.Figure1-1showshowthemain
windowofthethecompletedapplicationwilllookwhenyou'vefinishedyour
work.

AlthoughthisbookusesMicrosoftVisualStudio2005asthetoolto
buildthesampleapplications,youcanalsouseMicrosoftVisualBasic

2005ExpressEdition.

Figure1-1.ThecompletedpubsdatabaseWindowsclient


1.1.CreatetheApplicationandItsMainWindow
Let'sstartbyusingVisualStudio2005tocreateaWindowsapplication,onethat
youcanprogramwithVB2005.
1. First,youneedtofireupVisualStudio2005andopenanewprojectby
selectingFile NewProject…ontheVisualStudio2005menu.Visual
StudiodisplaystheNewProjectdialogshowninFigure1-2.
2. IntheProjecttypeswindowoftheNewProjectdialog,selectVisualBasic
andthenselecttheWindowsApplicationtemplateintheVisualStudio
installedtemplatesdialogwindow.KeepthedefaultprojectName,
WindowsApplication1,providedbyVisualStudio.ClickOK.
VisualStudio2005willpresentyouwithitsfamiliarWindowsdevelopment
environment,showninFigure1-3,includingadesignersurfaceforForm1,
whichwillbecomethestartupwindowofyourapplication.


1.2.AddaMenuandToolbar
Let'snowaddamenuandtoolbartotheform.InVB2005,youcancreate
professionallookingWindowsapplications,completewithmenusandtoolbars
thatlooklikethoseusedwithMicrosoftOfficeapplications.
Figure1-2.CreatinganewWindowsapplication

Figure1-3.ThedevelopmentenvironmentofVisualStudio2005


1. IntheMenus&ToolbarstabinToolbox,showninFigure1-4,locateand

thendraganddroptheToolStripContainercontrolontotheform.
TheToolStripContainercontrolallowsothercontrols(suchasthe
ToolStripcontrol)toanchorinthefourpositionsavailable(left,right,
top,andbottom).
Figure1-4.ThevariouscontrolsundertheMenus&Toolbars
tabinToolbox

IntheToolStripContainerTasksmenu,clickonthe"DockFillin
Form"link(seeFigure1-5)todocktheToolStripContainercontrol
ontotheform.ThiswillcausetheToolStripContainercontroltofill
uptheentireformandautomaticallyresizeitselfwhentheformisresized.