book

Visual Basic® 2008 Programmer's Reference

Name: Visual Basic® 2008 Programmer's Reference
Author: Rod Stephens
ISBN: 9780470182628

by Rod Stephens

February 2008

Intermediate to advanced

1247 pages

31h 55m

English

Wrox

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Copyright
About the Author
Credits
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Should You Use Visual Basic 2008?Who Should Read This BookHow This Book Is OrganizedPart I: IDEPart II: Getting StartedPart III: Object-Oriented ProgrammingPart IV: GraphicsPart V: Interacting with the EnvironmentPart VI: AppendixesHow to Use This BookNecessary EquipmentConventionsThe Book's Web SiteWrox Erratap2p.wrox.comVisual Basic 2008 Version 1 Warning
I. IDE
1. Introduction to the IDE
1.1. Different IDE Appearance1.2. IDE Configurations1.3. Projects and Solutions1.4. Starting the IDE1.5. Creating a Project1.6. Saving a Project1.7. Summary
2. Menus, Toolbars, and Windows
2.1. Menus2.1.1. File2.1.2. Edit2.1.3. View2.1.4. Project2.1.5. Build2.1.6. Debug2.1.7. Data2.1.8. Format2.1.9. Tools2.1.9.1. Macros2.1.9.2. Options2.1.10. Test2.1.11. Window2.1.12. Community2.1.13. Help2.2. Toolbars2.3. Secondary Windows2.3.1. Toolbox2.3.2. Properties Window2.4. Summary
3. Customization
3.1. Adding Commands3.2. Removing Commands3.3. Modifying Commands3.4. Making Keyboard Shortcuts3.5. Summary
4. Windows Form Designer
4.1. Setting Designer Options4.2. Adding Controls4.3. Selecting Controls4.4. Copying Controls4.5. Moving and Sizing Controls4.6. Arranging Controls4.7. Setting Properties4.7.1. Setting Group Properties4.7.2. Setting Properties for Several Controls4.7.3. Using Smart Tags4.7.4. Using Command Verbs4.8. Adding Code to Controls4.9. Summary

5. WPF Designer
5.1. Early Version Warning5.2. Recognizing Designer Windows5.3. Adding Controls5.4. Selecting Controls5.5. Copying Controls5.6. Moving and Sizing Controls5.7. Setting Properties5.8. Setting Group Properties5.9. Adding Code to Controls5.10. Summary
6. Visual Basic Code Editor
6.1. Margin Icons6.2. Outlining6.3. Tooltips6.4. IntelliSense6.5. Code Coloring and Highlighting6.6. Code Snippets6.6.1. Using Snippets6.6.2. Creating Snippets6.7. The Code Editor at Runtime6.8. Summary
7. Debugging
7.1. The Debug Menu7.2. The Debug Windows Submenu7.3. The Breakpoints Window7.4. The Command and Immediate Windows7.5. Summary
II. Getting Started
8. Selecting Windows Forms Controls
8.1. Controls Overview8.2. Choosing Controls8.2.1. Containing and Arranging Controls8.2.2. Making Selections8.2.3. Entering Data8.2.4. Displaying Data8.2.5. Providing Feedback8.2.6. Initiating Action8.2.7. Displaying Graphics8.2.8. Displaying Dialog Boxes8.2.9. Supporting Other Controls8.3. Third-Party Controls8.4. Summary
9. Using Windows Forms Controls
9.1. Controls and Components9.2. Creating Controls9.2.1. Creating Controls at Design Time9.2.2. Adding Controls to Containers9.2.3. Creating Controls at Runtime9.3. Properties9.3.1. Properties at Design Time9.3.1.1. Compound Properties9.3.1.2. Restricted Properties9.3.1.3. Collection Properties9.3.2. Properties at Runtime9.3.3. Useful Control Properties9.3.3.1. Anchor and Dock9.3.3.2. Dock9.3.4. Position and Size Properties9.4. Methods9.5. Events9.5.1. Creating Event Handlers at Design Time9.5.2. WithEvents Event Handlers9.5.3. Setting Event Handlers at Runtime9.5.4. Control Array Events9.5.5. Validation Events9.5.5.1. Integrated Validation9.5.5.2. Separated Validation9.5.5.3. Deferred Validation9.6. Summary
10. Windows Forms
10.1. Transparency10.2. About, Splash, and Login Forms10.3. Mouse Cursors10.4. Icons10.4.1. Application Icons10.4.2. Notification Icons10.5. Properties Adopted by Child Controls10.6. Property Reset Methods10.7. Overriding WndProc10.8. SDI and MDI10.8.1. MDI Features10.8.2. MDI Events10.8.3. MDI versus SDI10.9. MRU Lists10.10. Dialog Boxes10.11. Wizards10.12. Summary
11. Selecting WPF Controls
11.1. Controls Overview11.2. Containing and Arranging Controls11.3. Making Selections11.4. Entering Data11.5. Displaying Data11.6. Providing Feedback11.7. Initiating Action11.8. Presenting Graphics and Media11.9. Providing Navigation11.10. Managing Documents11.11. Digital Ink11.12. Summary
12. Using WPF Controls
12.1. WPF Concepts12.1.1. Separation of User Interface and Code12.1.2. WPF Control Hierarchies12.2. WPF in the IDE12.2.1. Editing XAML12.2.2. Editing Visual Basic Code12.3. XAML Features12.3.1. Objects12.3.2. Resources12.3.3. Styles12.3.4. Templates12.3.5. Transformations12.3.6. Animations12.3.7. Drawing Objects12.3.7.1. Line12.3.7.2. Ellipse12.3.7.3. Rectangle12.3.7.4. Polygon12.3.7.5. Polyline12.3.7.6. Path12.4. Procedural WPF12.5. Documents12.5.1. Flow Documents12.5.2. Fixed Documents12.5.3. XPS Documents12.6. Summary
13. WPF Windows
13.1. Window Applications13.2. Page Applications13.2.1. Browser Applications13.2.2. Frame Applications13.2.3. PageFunction Applications13.2.4. Wizard Applications13.3. Summary
14. Program and Module Structure
14.1. Hidden Files14.2. Code File Structure14.2.1. Code Regions14.2.2. Conditional Compilation14.2.2.1. Setting Constants in Code14.2.2.2. Setting Constants with the Project's Compilation Settings14.2.2.3. Predefined Constants14.2.2.4. DEBUG14.2.2.4.1. Assert14.2.2.4.2. Fail14.2.2.4.3. IndentSize, Indent, Unindent, and IndentLevel14.2.2.4.4. Write, WriteLine, WriteIf, and WriteLineIf14.2.2.5. TRACE14.2.2.6. CONFIG14.2.2.7. Debugging Level Constants14.2.3. Namespaces14.3. Typographic Code Elements14.3.1. Comments14.3.2. XML Comments14.3.3. Line Continuation14.3.4. Line Joining14.3.5. Line Labels14.4. Summary
15. Data Types, Variables, and Constants
15.1. Data Types15.2. Type Characters15.3. Data Type Conversion15.3.1. Narrowing Conversions15.3.2. Data Type Parsing Methods15.3.3. Widening Conversions15.4. Variable Declarations15.4.1. Attribute_List15.4.2. Accessibility15.4.3. Shared15.4.4. Shadows15.4.5. ReadOnly15.4.6. Dim15.4.7. WithEvents15.4.8. Name15.4.9. Bounds_List15.4.10. New15.4.11. As Type and Inferred Types15.4.12. Initialization_Expression15.4.12.1. Initializing Arrays15.4.12.2. Initializing Object Arrays15.4.12.3. Initializing XML Variables15.4.13. Multiple Variable Declarations15.5. Option Explicit and Option Strict15.6. Scope15.6.1. Block Scope15.6.2. Procedure Scope15.6.3. Module Scope15.6.4. Namespace Scope15.6.5. Restricting Scope15.7. Parameter Declarations15.8. Property Procedures15.9. Enumerated Data Types15.10. Anonymous Types15.11. Nullable Types15.12. Constants15.12.1. Accessibility15.12.2. As Type15.12.3. Initialization_Expression15.13. Delegates15.14. Naming Conventions15.15. Summary
16. Operators
16.1. Arithmetic Operators16.2. Concatenation Operators16.3. Comparison Operators16.4. Logical Operators16.5. Bitwise Operators16.6. Operator Precedence16.7. Assignment Operators16.8. The StringBuilder Class16.9. Date and TimeSpan Operations16.10. Operator Overloading16.11. Operators with Nullable Types16.12. Summary
17. Subroutines and Functions
17.1. Subroutines17.1.1. Attribute_List17.1.2. Inheritance_Mode17.1.3. Accessibility17.1.4. Subroutine_Name17.1.5. Parameters17.1.5.1. ByVal17.1.5.2. ByRef17.1.5.3. Arrays Declared ByVal and ByRef17.1.5.4. Parenthesized Parameters17.1.5.5. Optional17.1.5.6. Optional versus Overloading17.1.5.7. Parameter Arrays17.1.6. Implements interface.subroutine17.1.7. Statements17.2. Functions17.3. Property Procedures17.4. Extension Methods17.5. Lambda Functions17.6. Relaxed Delegates17.7. Partial Methods17.8. Summary
18. Program Control Statements
18.1. Decision Statements18.1.1. Single Line If Then18.1.2. Multiline If Then18.1.3. Select Case18.1.3.1. To18.1.3.2. Is18.1.3.3. Comma-Separated Expressions18.1.4. Enumerated Values18.1.5. IIf18.1.6. If18.1.7. Choose18.2. Looping Statements18.2.1. For Next18.2.2. Non-integer For Next Loops18.2.3. For Each18.2.4. Enumerators18.2.5. Iterators18.2.6. Do Loop Statements18.2.7. While End18.2.8. Exit and Continue18.3. GoTo18.4. Summary
19. Error Handling
19.1. Bugs versus Unplanned Conditions19.1.1. Catching Bugs19.1.2. Catching Unexpected Conditions19.1.3. Global Exception Handling19.2. Structured Error Handling19.2.1. Exception Objects19.2.2. StackTrace Objects19.2.3. Throwing Exceptions19.2.4. Custom Exceptions19.3. Visual Basic Classic Error Handling19.3.1. On Error GoTo Line19.3.2. On Error Resume Next19.3.3. On Error GoTo 019.3.4. On Error GoTo −119.3.5. Error-Handling Mode19.4. Structured versus Classic Error Handling19.5. The Err Object19.6. Debugging19.7. Summary
20. Database Controls and Objects
20.1. Automatically Connecting to Data20.1.1. Connecting to the Data Source20.1.2. Adding Data Controls to the Form20.2. Automatically Created Objects20.3. Other Data Objects20.4. Data Overview20.5. Connection Objects20.6. Transaction Objects20.7. Data Adapters20.8. Command Objects20.8.1. DataSet20.8.2. DataTable20.8.3. DataRow20.8.4. DataColumn20.8.5. DataRelation20.8.6. Constraints20.8.6.1. ForeignKeyConstraint20.8.6.2. UniqueConstraint20.9. DataView20.10. DataRowView20.11. Simple Data Binding20.12. CurrencyManager20.13. Complex Data Binding20.14. Summary
21. LINQ
21.1. Introduction to LINQ21.2. Basic LINQ Query Syntax21.2.1. From21.2.2. Where21.2.3. Order By21.2.4. Select21.2.5. Using LINQ Results21.3. Advanced LINQ Query Syntax21.3.1. Join21.3.2. Group By21.3.3. Aggregate Functions21.3.4. Set Operations21.3.5. Limiting Results21.4. LINQ Functions21.5. LINQ Extension Methods21.5.1. Method-Based Queries21.5.2. Method-Based Queries with Lambda Functions21.5.3. Extending LINQ21.6. LINQ to Objects21.7. LINQ to XML21.7.1. XML Literals21.7.2. LINQ Into XML21.7.3. LINQ Out Of XML21.8. LINQ to ADO.NET21.8.1. LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities21.8.2. LINQ to DataSet21.9. Summary
22. Custom Controls
22.1. Custom Controls in General22.1.1. Creating the Control Project22.1.2. Setting the Toolbox Icon22.1.3. Testing in the UserControl Test Container22.1.4. Making a Test Project22.1.5. Test the Control22.1.6. Implement Properties, Methods, and Events22.1.7. Assign Attributes22.1.8. Manage Design Time and Runtime22.2. Derived Controls22.2.1. Shadowing Parent Features22.2.2. Hiding Parent Features22.3. Composite Controls22.4. Controls Built from Scratch22.5. Components22.6. Invisible Controls22.7. Picking a Control Class22.8. Controls and Components in Executable Projects22.8.1. UserControls in Executable Projects22.8.2. Inherited UserControls in Executable Projects22.8.3. Controls in Executable Projects22.8.4. Inherited Controls in Executable Projects22.8.5. Components in Executable Projects22.9. Custom Component Security22.9.1. Strongly Named Assemblies22.9.2. Using a Signature Authority22.10. Summary
23. Drag and Drop, and the Clipboard
23.1. Drag-and-Drop Events23.1.1. A Simple Example23.1.2. Learning Data Types Available23.1.3. Dragging Within an Application23.1.4. Accepting Dropped Files23.1.5. Dragging Objects23.1.6. Changing Format Names23.1.7. Dragging Multiple Data Formats23.2. Using the Clipboard23.3. Summary
24. UAC Security
24.1. UAC Overview24.2. Designing for UAC24.3. Elevating Programs24.3.1. User24.3.2. Calling Program24.3.3. Called Program24.4. Summary
III. Object-Oriented Programming
25. OOP Concepts
25.1. Classes25.2. Encapsulation25.3. Inheritance25.3.1. Inheritance Hierarchies25.3.2. Refinement and Abstraction25.3.3. "Has-a" and "Is-a" Relationships25.3.4. Adding and Modifying Class Features25.3.5. Interface Inheritance25.4. Polymorphism25.5. Overloading25.6. Extension Methods25.7. Summary
26. Classes and Structures
26.1. Classes26.1.1. Attribute_list26.1.2. Partial26.1.3. Accessibility26.1.4. Shadows26.1.5. Inheritance26.1.6. Of type_list26.1.7. Inherits parent_class26.1.8. Implements interface26.2. Structures26.2.1. Structures Cannot Inherit26.2.2. Structures Are Value Types26.2.3. Memory Required26.2.4. Heap and Stack Performance26.2.5. Object Assignment26.2.6. Parameter Passing26.2.7. Boxing and Unboxing26.3. Class Instantiation Details26.4. Structure Instantiation Details26.5. Garbage Collection26.5.1. Finalize26.5.2. Dispose26.6. Constants, Properties, and Methods26.7. Events26.7.1. Declaring Events26.7.1.1. attribute_list26.7.1.2. accessibility26.7.1.3. Shadows26.7.1.4. parameters26.7.1.5. Implements interface.event26.7.2. Raising Events26.7.3. Catching Events26.7.4. Declaring Custom Events26.7.5. Shared Variables26.7.6. Shared Methods26.8. Summary
27. Namespaces
27.1. The Imports Statement27.1.1. Automatic Imports27.1.2. Namespace Aliases27.1.3. Namespace Elements27.2. The Root Namespace27.3. Making Namespaces27.4. Classes, Structures, and Modules27.5. Resolving Namespaces27.6. Summary
28. Collection Classes
28.1. What Is a Collection?28.2. Arrays28.2.1. Array Dimensions28.2.2. Lower Bounds28.2.3. Resizing28.2.4. Speed28.2.5. Other Array Class Features28.2.5.1. Array.Reverse28.2.5.2. Array.Sort28.2.5.3. Array.BinarySearch28.3. Collections28.3.1. ArrayList28.3.2. StringCollection28.3.3. Strongly Typed Collections28.3.4. Read-Only Strongly Typed Collections28.3.5. NameValueCollection28.4. Dictionaries28.4.1. ListDictionary28.4.2. Hashtable28.4.3. HybridDictionary28.4.4. Strongly Typed Dictionaries28.4.5. Other Strongly Typed Derived Classes28.4.6. StringDictionary28.4.7. SortedList28.5. CollectionsUtil28.6. Stacks and Queues28.6.1. Stack28.6.2. Queue28.7. Generics28.8. Summary
29. Generics
29.1. Advantages of Generics29.2. Defining Generics29.2.1. Generic Constructors29.2.2. Multiple Types29.2.3. Constrained Types29.3. Using Generics29.3.1. Imports Aliases29.3.2. Derived Classes29.4. Predefined Generic Classes29.5. Generic Methods29.6. Generics and Extension Methods29.7. Summary
IV. Graphics
30. Drawing Basics
30.1. Drawing Overview30.2. Drawing Namespaces30.2.1. System.Drawing30.2.2. System.Drawing.Drawing2D30.2.3. System.Drawing.Imaging30.2.4. System.Drawing.Text30.2.5. System.Drawing.Printing30.3. Graphics30.3.1. Drawing Methods30.3.1.1. DrawBezier30.3.1.2. DrawBeziers30.3.1.3. DrawClosedCurve30.3.1.4. DrawPath30.3.2. Filling Methods30.3.3. Other Graphics Properties and Methods30.3.4. Anti-Aliasing30.3.4.1. SmoothingMode30.3.4.2. TextRenderingHint30.3.4.3. InterpolationMode30.3.4.4. Speed Considerations30.3.5. Transformation Basics30.3.5.1. Transformation Mathematics30.3.5.2. Transformation Code30.3.6. Advanced Transformations30.3.7. Saving and Restoring Graphics State30.4. Drawing Events30.5. Summary
31. Brushes, Pens, and Paths
31.1. Pen31.1.1. Alignment31.1.2. CompoundArray31.1.3. Custom Line Caps31.1.4. Pen Transformations31.2. Brush31.2.1. SolidBrush31.2.2. TextureBrush31.2.3. HatchBrush31.2.4. LinearGradientBrush31.2.5. PathGradientBrush31.3. GraphicsPath Objects31.4. Garbage-Collection Issues31.5. Summary
32. Text
32.1. Drawing Text32.2. Text Formatting32.2.1. FormatFlags32.2.2. Tab Stops32.2.3. Trimming32.3. MeasureString32.4. Font Metrics32.5. Summary
33. Image Processing
33.1. Image33.2. Bitmap33.2.1. Loading Bitmaps33.2.2. Saving Bitmaps33.2.3. Implementing AutoRedraw33.2.4. Pixel-by-Pixel Operations33.2.4.1. GetPixel and SetPixel33.2.4.2. Unsafe Pixel Manipulation33.3. Metafile Objects33.4. Summary
34. Printing
34.1. How Not to Print34.2. Basic Printing34.3. Printing Text34.4. Centering Printouts34.5. Fitting Pictures to the Page34.6. Simplifying Drawing and Printing34.7. Summary
35. Reporting
35.1. Report Objects35.2. Building a Report35.3. CrystalReportViewer35.4. Customizing a Report35.5. External Reports35.6. ReportDocument35.7. Summary
V. Interacting with the Environment
36. Configuration and Resources
36.1. My36.1.1. Me and My36.1.2. My Sections36.2. Environment36.2.1. Setting Environment Variables36.2.2. Using Environ36.2.3. Using System.Environment36.3. Registry36.3.1. Native Visual Basic Registry Methods36.3.2. My.Computer.Registry36.4. Configuration Files36.5. Resource Files36.5.1. Application Resources36.5.2. Using Application Resources36.5.3. Embedded Resources36.5.4. Satellite Resources36.5.5. Localization Resources36.5.6. ComponentResourceManager36.6. Application36.6.1. Application Properties36.6.2. Application Methods36.6.3. Application Events36.7. Summary
37. Streams
37.1. Stream37.2. FileStream37.3. MemoryStream37.4. BufferedStream37.5. BinaryReader and BinaryWriter37.6. TextReader and TextWriter37.7. StringReader and StringWriter37.8. StreamReader and StreamWriter37.9. OpenText, CreateText, and AppendText37.10. Custom Stream Classes37.11. Summary
38. File-System Objects
38.1. Permissions38.2. Visual Basic Methods38.2.1. File Methods38.2.2. File-System Methods38.2.3. Sequential-File Access38.2.4. Random-File Access38.2.5. Binary-File Access38.3. .NET Framework Classes38.3.1. Directory38.3.2. File38.3.3. DriveInfo38.3.4. DirectoryInfo38.3.5. FileInfo38.3.6. FileSystemInfo38.3.7. FileSystemWatcher38.3.8. Path38.4. My.Computer.FileSystem38.5. My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories38.6. Summary
39. Windows Communication Foundation
39.1. Early Version Warning39.2. WCF Concepts39.3. WCF Example39.4. Building the Initial Service39.5. Building QuoteService39.6. Testing QuoteService39.7. Building QuoteClient39.8. Hosting the Service39.9. Summary
40. Useful Namespaces
40.1. High-Level Namespaces40.1.1. The Microsoft Namespace40.1.2. The System Namespace40.2. Advanced Examples40.2.1. Regular Expressions40.2.2. XML40.2.3. Cryptography40.2.4. Reflection40.2.5. Direct3D40.3. Summary
VI. Appendices
A. Useful Control Properties, Methods, and Events
A.1. PropertiesA.2. MethodsA.3. EventsA.4. Event SequencesA.4.1. Mouse EventsA.4.2. Resize EventsA.4.3. Move Events
B. Variable Declarations and Data Types
B.1. Variable DeclarationsB.2. Initialization ExpressionsB.3. WithB.4. UsingB.5. Enumerated Type DeclarationsB.6. XML VariablesB.7. Option Explicit and Option StrictB.8. Option InferB.9. Data TypesB.10. Data Type CharactersB.11. Literal Type CharactersB.12. Data Type Conversion FunctionsB.13. CType and DirectCast
C. Operators
C.1. Arithmetic OperatorsC.2. Concatenation OperatorsC.3. Comparison OperatorsC.4. Logical OperatorsC.5. Bitwise OperatorsC.6. Operator PrecedenceC.7. Assignment OperatorsC.7.1. Choose, If, and IIfC.8. Date and TimeSpan OperatorsC.9. Operator Overloading
D. Subroutine and Function Declarations
D.1. SubroutinesD.2. FunctionsD.3. Property ProceduresD.4. Lambda FunctionsD.5. Extension MethodsD.6. Partial Methods
E. Control Statements
E.1. Decision StatementsE.1.1. Single-Line If ThenE.1.2. Multiline If ThenE.1.3. Select CaseE.1.4. If and IIfE.1.5. ChooseE.2. Looping StatementsE.2.1. For NextE.2.2. For EachE.2.3. Do LoopE.2.4. While EndE.3. GoTo
F. Error Handling
F.1. Structured Error HandlingF.2. Throwing ExceptionsF.3. Classic Error Handling
G. Windows Forms Controls and Components
G.1. Components' PurposesG.2. PointerG.3. BackgroundWorkerG.4. BindingNavigatorG.5. BindingSourceG.6. ButtonG.7. CheckBoxG.8. CheckedListBoxG.9. ColorDialogG.10. ComboBoxG.11. ContextMenuStripG.12. DataGridViewG.13. DataSetG.14. DateTimePickerG.15. DirectoryEntryG.16. DirectorySearcherG.17. DomainUpDownG.18. ErrorProviderG.19. EventLogG.20. FileSystemWatcherG.21. FlowLayoutPanelG.22. FolderBrowserDialogG.23. FontDialogG.24. GroupBoxG.25. HelpProviderG.26. HScrollBarG.27. ImageListG.28. LabelG.29. LinkLabelG.30. ListBoxG.31. ListViewG.31.1. ListView Helper CodeG.31.2. Custom ListView SortingG.32. MaskedTextBoxG.33. MenuStripG.34. MessageQueueG.35. MonthCalendarG.36. NotifyIconG.37. NumericUpDownG.38. OpenFileDialogG.39. PageSetupDialogG.40. PanelG.41. PerformanceCounterG.42. PictureBoxG.43. PrintDialogG.44. PrintDocumentG.45. PrintPreviewControlG.46. PrintPreviewDialogG.47. ProcessG.48. ProgressBarG.49. PropertyGridG.50. RadioButtonG.51. ReportViewerG.52. RichTextBoxG.53. SaveFileDialogG.54. SerialPortG.55. ServiceControllerG.56. SplitContainerG.57. SplitterG.58. StatusStripG.59. TabControlG.60. TableLayoutPanelG.61. TextBoxG.62. TimerG.63. ToolStripG.64. ToolStripContainerG.65. ToolTipG.66. TrackBarG.67. TreeViewG.68. VScrollBarG.69. WebBrowser
H. WPF Controls
I. Visual Basic Power Packs
I.1. Microsoft Power PacksI.1.1. Interop Forms ToolkitI.1.2. Printer Compatibility LibraryI.1.3. PrintForm ComponentI.1.4. Line, OvalShape, and RectangleShapeI.2. GotDotNet Power PackI.3. Power Toys Pack Installer
J. Form Objects
J.1. PropertiesJ.2. MethodsJ.3. EventsJ.4. Property-Changed Events
K. Classes and Structures
K.1. ClassesK.2. StructuresK.3. ConstructorsK.4. Events
L. LINQ
L.1. Basic LINQ Query SyntaxL.1.1. FromL.1.2. WhereL.1.3. Order ByL.1.4. SelectL.1.5. DistinctL.1.6. JoinL.1.7. Group ByL.1.8. Limiting ResultsL.2. Using Query ResultsL.3. LINQ FunctionsL.4. LINQ to XMLL.4.1. LINQ Into XMLL.4.2. LINQ Out Of XMLL.5. LINQ to DataSetL.5.1. Method-Based Queries
M. Generics
M.1. Generic ClassesM.2. Generic ExtensionsM.3. Generic MethodsM.4. Prohibited Generics
N. Graphics
N.1. Graphics NamespacesN.1.1. System.DrawingN.1.2. System.Drawing.Drawing2DN.1.3. System.Drawing.ImagingN.1.4. System.Drawing.PrintingN.2. Drawing ClassesN.2.1. GraphicsN.2.2. PenN.2.3. BrushesN.2.4. GraphicsPathN.2.5. StringFormatN.2.6. ImageN.2.7. BitmapN.2.8. Metafile
O. Useful Exception Classes
O.1. Standard Exception ClassesO.2. Custom Exception Classes
P. Date and Time Format Specifiers
P.1. Standard Format SpecifiersP.2. Custom Format Specifiers
Q. Other Format Specifiers
Q.1. Standard Numeric Format SpecifiersQ.2. Custom Numeric Format SpecifiersQ.3. Numeric Formatting SectionsQ.4. Composite FormattingQ.5. Enumerated Type Formatting
R. The Application Class
R.1. PropertiesR.2. MethodsR.3. Events
S. The My Namespace
S.1. My.ApplicationS.2. My.ComputerS.2.1. AudioS.2.2. ClipboardS.2.3. ClockS.2.4. FileSystemS.2.5. InfoS.2.6. KeyboardS.2.7. MouseS.2.8. NameS.2.9. NetworkS.2.10. PortsS.2.11. RegistryS.2.12. ScreenS.3. My.FormsS.4. My.ResourcesS.5. My.User
T. Streams
T.1. Stream Class SummaryT.2. StreamT.3. BinaryReader and BinaryWriterT.4. TextReader and TextWriterT.5. StringReader and StringWriterT.6. StreamReader and StreamWriterT.7. Console StreamsT.8. Text File Stream Methods
U. File-System Classes
U.1. Visual Basic MethodsU.2. Framework ClassesU.2.1. FileSystemU.2.2. DirectoryU.2.3. FileU.2.4. DriveInfoU.2.5. DirectoryInfoU.2.6. FileInfoU.2.7. FileSystemWatcherU.2.8. PathU.3. My.Computer.FileSystemU.4. My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories
V. Index of Examples

Content preview from Visual Basic® 2008 Programmer's Reference

Chapter 1. Introduction to the IDE

The chapters in the first part of this book describe the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE). They explain the most important windows, menus, and toolbars that make up the environment, and show how to customize them to suit your needs. They explain some of the tools that provide help while you are writing Visual Basic applications and how to use the IDE to debug programs.

Even if you are an experienced Visual Basic programmer, you should at least skim this material. The IDE is extremely complex and provides hundreds (if not thousands) of commands, menus, toolbars, windows, context menus, and other tools for editing, running, and debugging Visual Basic projects. Even if you have used the IDE for a long time, there are sure to be some features that you have overlooked.

When I teach Visual Basic, for example, I cover the IDE's keyboard shortcuts (such as Alt+Space to open IntelliSense, and Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V to copy, cut, and paste) early in the class. The students don't really write enough code to take full advantage of these tools for several weeks, however, so we revisit the topic later.

These chapters describe some of the most important of those features, and you may discover something useful that you've never noticed before.

Even after you've read these chapters, you should periodically spend some time wandering through the IDE to see what you've missed. Every month or so, spend a few minutes exploring little-used menus ...

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Visual Basic® 2008 Programmer's Reference

by Rod Stephens

Chapter 1. Introduction to the IDE

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