Rod Stephens 
Visual Basic 2012 Programmer’s Reference [PDF ebook] 

INTRODUCTION xxvii

PART I: IDE

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE IDE 3

Introducing the IDE 3

Different IDE Appearances 4

IDE Configurations 5

Projects and Solutions 6

Starting the IDE 6

Creating a Project 8

Saving a Project 11

Summary 13

CHAPTER 2: MENUS, TOOLBARS, AND WINDOWS 15

IDE Tools 15

Menus 16

File 16

Edit 18

View 19

Project 20

Build 24

Debug 24

Data 24

Format 25

Tools 25

Test 28

Window 28

Help 29

Toolbars 30

Secondary Windows 30

Toolbox 32

Properties Window 33

Summary 33

CHAPTER 3: WINDOWS FORMS DESIGNER 35

Introducing Windows Forms Designer 35

Setting Designer Options 35

Adding Controls 37

Selecting Controls 38

Copying Controls 39

Moving and Sizing Controls 40

Arranging Controls 40

Setting Properties 40

Setting Group Properties 41

Using Smart Tags 41

Adding Code to Controls 42

Summary 43

CHAPTER 4: WPF DESIGNER 45

Introducing WPF Designer 45

Editor Weaknesses 46

Recognizing Designer Windows 47

Adding Controls 48

Selecting Controls 49

Moving and Sizing Controls 50

Setting Properties 51

Setting Group Properties 51

Adding Code to Controls 52

Summary 53

CHAPTER 5: VISUAL BASIC CODE EDITOR 55

Editing Code 55

Margin Icons 56

Outlining 58

Tooltips 59

Intelli Sense 60

Code Coloring and Highlighting 61

Code Snippets 63

Architectural Tools 64

Rename 64

Go To Definition 64

Go To Type Definition 64

Highlight References 65

Find All References 65

Generate From Usage 65

The Code Editor at Run Time 66

Summary 68

CHAPTER 6: DEBUGGING 69

Debugging and Testing 69

The Debug Menu 70

The Debug ➪ Windows Submenu 72

The Breakpoints Window 74

The Command and Immediate Windows 75

Summary 77

PART II: GETTING STARTED

CHAPTER 7: SELECTING WINDOWS FORMS CONTROLS 81

Controls 81

Controls Overview 82

Choosing Controls 86

Containing and Arranging Controls 87

Making Selections 89

Entering Data 90

Displaying Data 90

Providing Feedback 91

Initiating Action 92

Displaying Graphics 94

Displaying Dialog Boxes 94

Third-Party Controls 95

Summary 96

CHAPTER 8: USING WINDOWS FORMS CONTROLS 97

Using Controls and Components 97

Controls and Components 98

Creating Controls 99

Properties 101

Properties at Design Time 101

Properties at Run Time 104

Useful Control Properties 106

Position and Size Properties 109

Methods 110

Events 110

Creating Event Handlers at Design Time 111

Validation Events 112

Summary 114

CHAPTER 9: WINDOWS FORMS 115

Using Forms 115

Transparency 116

About, Splash, and Login Forms 117

Mouse Cursors 118

Icons 120

Application Icons 121

Notification Icons 121

Properties Adopted by Child Controls 122

Property Reset Methods 123

Overriding Wnd Proc 123

MRU Lists 125

Dialog Boxes 126

Wizards 128

Summary 129

CHAPTER 10: SELECTING WPF CONTROLS 131

WPF Controls and Code 131

Controls Overview 132

Containing and Arranging Controls 133

Making Selections 136

Entering Data 137

Displaying Data 137

Providing Feedback 138

Initiating Action 138

Presenting Graphics and Media 139

Providing Navigation 140

Managing Documents 140

Digital Ink 141

Summary 142

CHAPTER 11: USING WPF CONTROLS 143

WPF Controls 143

WPF Concepts 144

Separation of User Interface and Code 144

WPF Control Hierarchies 145

WPF in the IDE 145

Editing XAML 146

Editing Visual Basic Code 147

XAML Features 148

Objects 148

Resources 151

Styles 152

Templates 153

Transformations 156

Animations 156

Drawing Objects 159

Procedural WPF 162

Documents 166

Flow Documents 166

Fixed Documents 168

XPS Documents 169

Summary 169

CHAPTER 12: WPF WINDOWS 171

Using WPF Windows 171

Window Applications 172

Page Applications 174

Browser Applications 174

Frame Applications 176

Summary 177

CHAPTER 13: PROGRAM AND MODULE STRUCTURE 179

Solutions and Projects 179

Hidden Files 180

Code File Structure 184

Code Regions 185

Conditional Compilation 186

Namespaces 193

Typographic Code Elements 195

Comments 195

XML Comments 195

Line Continuation 198

Implicit Line Continuation 199

Line Joining 200

Summary 200

CHAPTER 14: DATA TYPES, VARIABLES, AND CONSTANTS 203

Variables 203

Data Types 204

Type Characters 207

Data Type Conversion 210

Narrowing Conversions 210

Data Type Parsing Methods 212

Widening Conversions 213

The Convert Class 213

To String 213

Variable Declarations 214

Attribute_List 214

Accessibility 215

Shared 216

Shadows 216

Read Only 219

Dim 219

With Events 220

Name 221

Bounds_List 222

New 223

As Type and Inferred Types 224

Initialization_Expression 225

Initializing Collections 228

Multiple Variable Declarations 229

Option Explicit and Option Strict 230

Scope 233

Block Scope 233

Procedure Scope 234

Module Scope 234

Namespace Scope 235

Restricting Scope 235

Parameter Declarations 236

Property Procedures 238

Enumerated Data Types 240

Anonymous Types 243

Nullable Types 244

Constants 244

Accessibility 245

As Type 245

Initialization_Expression 246

Delegates 246

Naming Conventions 248

Summary 249

CHAPTER 15: OPERATORS 251

Understanding Operators 251

Arithmetic Operators 252

Concatenation Operators 253

Comparison Operators 253

Logical Operators 255

Bitwise Operators 257

Operator Precedence 257

Assignment Operators 259

The String Builder Class 260

Date and Time Span Operations 261

Operator Overloading 262

Summary 266

CHAPTER 16: SUBROUTINES AND FUNCTIONS 267

Managing Code 267

Subroutines 268

Attribute_List 268

Inheritance_Mode 272

Accessibility 273

Subroutine_Name 274

Parameters 274

Implements interface.subroutine 279

Statements 281

Functions 281

Property Procedures 283

Extension Methods 284

Lambda Functions 285

Relaxed Delegates 287

Asynchronous Methods 290

Calling End Invoke Directly 291

Handling a Callback 293

Using Async and Await 295

Summary 297

CHAPTER 17: PROGRAM CONTROL STATEMENTS 299

Controlling Programs 299

Decision Statements 299

Single-Line If Then 300

Multiline If Then 300

Select Case 301

Enumerated Values 304

IIf 304

If 306

Choose 306

Looping Statements 308

For Next 308

Non-Integer For Next Loops 311

For Each 311

Enumerators 314

Iterators 316

Do Loop Statements 316

While End 318

Summary 318

CHAPTER 18: ERROR HANDLING 321

The Struggle for Perfection 321

Bugs versus Unplanned Conditions 322

Catching Bugs 323

Catching Unplanned Conditions 324

Global Exception Handling 326

Structured Error Handling 328

Exception Objects 330

Throwing Exceptions 331

Re-throwing Exceptions 333

Custom Exceptions 334

Debugging 335

Summary 336

CHAPTER 19: DATABASE CONTROLS AND OBJECTS 337

Data Sources 337

Automatically Connecting to Data 338

Connecting to the Data Source 338

Adding Data Controls to the Form 341

Automatically Created Objects 344

Other Data Objects 345

Data Overview 346

Connection Objects 347

Transaction Objects 350

Data Adapters 352

Command Objects 356

Data Set 358

Data Table 360

Data Row 363

Data Column 365

Data Relation 366

Constraints 368

Data View 370

Data Row View 373

Simple Data Binding 373

Currency Manager 374

Complex Data Binding 377

Summary 379

CHAPTER 20: LINQ 381

The Many Faces of LINQ 381

Introduction to LINQ 383

Basic LINQ Query Syntax 384

From 385

Where 386

Order By 386

Select 387

Using LINQ Results 389

Advanced LINQ Query Syntax 390

Join 390

Group By 391

Aggregate Functions 393

Set Operations 394

Limiting Results 394

LINQ Functions 395

LINQ Extension Methods 397

Method-Based Queries 397

Method-Based Queries with Lambda Functions 399

Extending LINQ 401

LINQ to Objects 403

LINQ to XML 404

XML Literals 404

LINQ into XML 405

LINQ out of XML 406

LINQ to ADO.NET 409

LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities 409

LINQ to Data Set 410

PLINQ 413

Summary 414

CHAPTER 21: METRO-STYLE APPLICATIONS 417

Building Metro-Style Applications 417

Starting a New Project 418

Special Image Files 419

Building Metro Bones 420

Control Layout 421

XAML Code 421

Zooming in on the Controls 424

Visual Basic Code 424

Testing 428

Summary 429

PART III: OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING

CHAPTER 22: OOP CONCEPTS 433

Introducing OOP 433

Classes 434

Encapsulation 436

Inheritance 437

Inheritance Hierarchies 438

Refi nement and Abstraction 438

“Has-a” and “Is-a” Relationships 441

Adding and Modifying Class Features 441

Interface Inheritance 443

Polymorphism 444

Method Overloading 445

Extension Methods 446

Summary 447

CHAPTER 23: CLASSES AND STRUCTURES 449

Packaging Data 449

Classes 450

Attribute_list 450

Partial 451

Accessibility 452

Shadows 453

Inheritance 454

Implements interface 456

Structures 456

Structures Cannot Inherit 457

Structures Are Value Types 457

Memory Required 457

Heap and Stack Performance 459

Object Assignment 459

Parameter Passing 460

Boxing and Unboxing 461

Class Instantiation Details 461

Structure Instantiation Details 464

Garbage Collection 466

Finalize 467

Dispose 469

Constants, Properties, and Methods 471

Events 473

Declaring Events 473

Raising Events 474

Catching Events 475

Shared Variables 477

Shared Methods 477

Summary 479

CHAPTER 24: NAMESPACES 481

Handling Name Confl icts 481

The Imports Statement 482

Automatic Imports 484

Namespace Aliases 486

Namespace Elements 486

The Root Namespace 487

Making Namespaces 487

Classes, Structures, and Modules 488

Resolving Namespaces 489

Summary 492

CHAPTER 25: COLLECTION CLASSES 493

Grouping Data 493

What Is a Collection? 494

Arrays 494

Array Dimensions 496

Lower Bounds 497

Resizing 497

Speed 498

Other Array Class Features 498

Collections 499

Array List 499

String Collection 501

Name Value Collection 501

Dictionaries 503

List Dictionary 503

Hashtable 504

Hybrid Dictionary 505

String Dictionary 505

Sorted List 505

Collections Util 505

Stacks and Queues 506

Stack 506

Queue 508

Generics 509

Collection Initializers 511

Iterators 512

Summary 513

CHAPTER 26: GENERICS 515

Class Creators 515

Advantages of Generics 516

Defining Generics 516

Generic Constructors 517

Multiple Types 518

Constrained Types 520

Instantiating Generic Classes 521

Imports Aliases 522

Derived Classes 523

Generic Collection Classes 523

Generic Methods 524

Generics and Extension Methods 524

Summary 526

PART IV: INTERACTING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT

CHAPTER 27: PRINTING 529

Printing Concepts 529

Basic Printing 530

Drawing Basics 534

Graphics Objects 534

Pens 536

Brushes 538

A Booklet Example 540

Summary 545

CHAPTER 28: CONFIGURATION AND RESOURCES 547

The Need for Configuration 547

My 548

Me and My 549

My Sections 549

Environment 550

Setting Environment Variables 550

Using Environ 551

Using System.Environment 551

Registry 553

Native Visual Basic Registry Methods 554

My.Computer.Registry 556

Configuration Files 559

Resource Files 562

Application Resources 562

Using Application Resources 563

Embedded Resources 564

Localization Resources 564

Application 566

Application Properties 566

Application Methods 567

Application Events 568

Summary 569

CHAPTER 29: STREAMS 571

Stream Concepts 571

Stream 572

File Stream 574

Memory Stream 575

Binary Reader and Binary Writer 576

Text Reader and Text Writer 578

String Reader and String Writer 579

Stream Reader and Stream Writer 580

Open Text, Create Text, and Append Text 581

Custom Stream Classes 582

Summary 583

CHAPTER 30: FILESYSTEM OBJECTS 585

Programming Approaches 585

Permissions 586

Visual Basic Methods 586

File Methods 586

File System Methods 588

Sequential-File Access 589

Random-File Access 589

Binary-File Access 592

.NET Framework Classes 592

Directory 592

File 594

Drive Info 595

Directory Info 596

File Info 598

File System Watcher 600

Path 602

My.Computer.File System 604

My.Computer.File System.Special Directories 606

Summary 606

PART V: APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: USEFUL CONTROL PROPERTIES, METHODS, AND EVENTS 611

APPENDIX B: VARIABLE DECLARATIONS AND DATA TYPES 619

APPENDIX C: OPERATORS 629

APPENDIX D: SUBROUTINE AND FUNCTION DECLARATIONS 637

APPENDIX E: CONTROL STATEMENTS 641

APPENDIX F: ERROR HANDLING 647

APPENDIX G: WINDOWS FORMS CONTROLS AND COMPONENTS 649

APPENDIX H: WPF CONTROLS 657

APPENDIX I: VISUAL BASIC POWER PACKS 665

APPENDIX J: FORM OBJECTS 669

APPENDIX K: CLASSES AND STRUCTURES 681

APPENDIX L: LINQ 685

APPENDIX M: GENERICS 695

APPENDIX N: GRAPHICS 699

APPENDIX O: USEFUL EXCEPTION CLASSES 711

APPENDIX P: DATE AND TIME FORMAT SPECIFIERS 715

APPENDIX Q: OTHER FORMAT SPECIFIERS 719

APPENDIX R: THE APPLICATION CLASS 725

APPENDIX S: THE MY NAMESPACE 729

APPENDIX T: STREAMS 747

APPENDIX U: FILESYSTEM CLASSES 755

APPENDIX V: VISUAL STUDIO VERSIONS 771

INDEX 773

Rod Stephens is a VB programming guru and the author of more than two dozen programming books, including Stephens’ Visual Basic Programming 24-Hour Trainer. He also writes frequently for such magazines as Visual Basic Developer, Visual Basic Programmer’s Journal, and Dr. Dobb’s Journal. Rod’s VB Helper website (vb-helper.com) provides thousands of pages of tips, tricks, and code examples for VB programmers.