Preface..................................................................................................................................9
Organization of This Book........................................................................................9
Conventions Used in This Book..............................................................................9
How to Contact Us....................................................................................................10
Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................11
Chapter 1. Introduction.....................................................................................................13
1.1 What Is the Microsoft .NET Framework?..................................................13
1.2 What Is Visual Basic .NET?............................................................................14
1.3 An Example Visual Basic .NET Program...................................................14
Chapter 2. The Visual Basic .NET Language...............................................................23
2.1 Source Files.........................................................................................................23
2.2 Identifiers.............................................................................................................23
2.3 Keywords..............................................................................................................24
2.4 Literals...................................................................................................................27
2.5 Types......................................................................................................................31
2.6 Namespaces........................................................................................................40
2.7 Symbolic Constants..........................................................................................42
2.8 Variables...............................................................................................................43
2.9 Scope......................................................................................................................44
2.10 Access Modifiers..............................................................................................44
2.11 Assignment........................................................................................................45
2.12 Operators and Expressions.........................................................................46
2.13 Statements........................................................................................................52
2.14 Classes................................................................................................................60
2.15 Interfaces...........................................................................................................85
2.16 Structures..........................................................................................................88
2.17 Enumerations...................................................................................................91
2.18 Exceptions..........................................................................................................93
2.19 Delegates...........................................................................................................98
2.20 Events................................................................................................................101
2.21 Standard Modules.........................................................................................104
2.22 Attributes.........................................................................................................104
2.23 Conditional Compilation.............................................................................108
2.24 Summary..........................................................................................................109
Chapter 3. The .NET Framework..................................................................................111
3.1 Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) and Common Language
Runtime (CLR)..........................................................................................................111
3.2 Common Type System (CTS).....................................................................111
3.3 Portions of the CLI..........................................................................................112
3.4 Modules and Assemblies...............................................................................113
3.5 Application Domains.......................................................................................116
3.6 Common Language Specification (CLS).................................................116
3.7 Intermediate Language (IL) and Just-In-Time (JIT) Compilation117
3.8 Metadata.............................................................................................................117
3.9 Memory Management and Garbage Collection....................................118
3.10 A Brief Tour of the .NET Framework Namespaces...........................122
Programming Visual Basic .NET
3
3.11 Configuration...................................................................................................125
3.12 Summary..........................................................................................................131
Chapter 4. Windows Forms I: Developing Desktop Applications.............................133
4.1 Creating a Form................................................................................................133
4.2 Handling Form Events....................................................................................143
4.3 Relationships Between Forms.....................................................................145
4.4 MDI Applications...............................................................................................147
4.5 Component Attributes....................................................................................155
4.6 2-D Graphics Programming with GDI+...................................................160
4.7 Printing.................................................................................................................174
4.8 Summary.............................................................................................................186
Chapter 5. Windows Forms II: Controls, Common Dialog Boxes, and Menus......187
5.1 Common Controls and Components.........................................................187
5.2 Control Events...................................................................................................204
5.3 Form and Control Layout..............................................................................204
5.4 Common Dialog Boxes...................................................................................210
5.5 Menus...................................................................................................................215
5.6 Creating a Control...........................................................................................227
5.7 Summary.............................................................................................................236
Chapter 6. ASP.NET and Web Forms: Developing Browser-Based Applications237
6.1 Creating a Web Form.....................................................................................238
6.2 Handling Page Events.....................................................................................251
6.3 More About Server Controls........................................................................253
6.4 Adding Validation.............................................................................................268
6.5 Using Directives to Modify Web Page Compilation.............................283
6.6 ASP.NET Objects: Interacting with the Framework...........................291
6.7 Discovering Browser Capabilities...............................................................296
6.8 Maintaining State.............................................................................................298
6.9 Application-Level Code and global.asax.................................................304
6.10 Web-Application Security...........................................................................307
6.11 Designing Custom Controls.......................................................................320
6.12 Summary..........................................................................................................328
Chapter 7. Web Services................................................................................................329
7.1 Creating a Web Service.................................................................................329
7.2 Testing a Web Service with a Browser....................................................333
7.3 Web-Service Descriptions.............................................................................335
7.4 Consuming a Web Service............................................................................335
7.5 Web-Service Discovery..................................................................................340
7.6 Limitations of Web Services........................................................................340
7.7 Summary.............................................................................................................341
Chapter 8. ADO.NET: Developing Database Applications.......................................343
8.1 A Brief History of Universal Data Access................................................343
8.2 Managed Providers..........................................................................................343
8.3 Connecting to a SQL Server Database....................................................344
SQL Server Authentication.............................................................................................347
8.4 Connecting to an OLE DB Data Source...................................................348
8.5 Reading Data into a DataSet.......................................................................349
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8.6 Relations Between DataTables in a DataSet........................................360
8.7 The DataSet's XML Capabilities.................................................................362
8.8 Binding a DataSet to a Windows Forms DataGrid..............................364
8.9 Binding a DataSet to a Web Forms DataGrid.......................................367
8.10 Typed DataSets.............................................................................................368
8.11 Reading Data Using a DataReader.........................................................370
8.12 Executing Stored ProceduresThrough a SqlCommand Object....371
8.13 Summary..........................................................................................................374
Appendix A. Custom Attributes Defined in the System Namespace......................375
Appendix B. Exceptions Defined in the System Namespace...................................381
Appendix D. Resources for Developers......................................................................391
D.1 .NET Information.............................................................................................391
D.2 Discussion Lists................................................................................................392
Netiquette.........................................................................................................................392
Appendix E. Math Functions..........................................................................................395
Colophon...........................................................................................................................398
