Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 .NET (English)

Studies the syntax and features of Visual Basic 2008, paying special attention to its object oriented nature.

• Introduction to .NET

  Introduces the .NET Framework, which facilitates application development. This is the technology upon which any work in Visual Studio 2008 is based, including programming done in Visual Basic 2008.

• Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

  Introduces the Visual Studio 2008 development environment, which consists of a code editor and a variety of tools that facilitate the development process. The solution and project concepts are also defined, and the MSDN library is introduced.

• Programming fundamentals (I)

  Studies fundament programming concepts such as variables, constants and data types, specifically for Visual Basic 2008.

• Programming fundamentals (II)

  Continues the study of fundamental programming concepts such as operators, overflow, implicit and explicit conversion, logical expressions, etc. Indicates their use in Visual Basic 2008.

• Arrays and control structures

  Introduces the concept of an array as a data structure; and control structures, which permit us to modify execution flow of a program.

• Procedures

  Introduces the concept of procedures as a way to divide a program into smaller more managable units. Provides the appropriate syntax for Visual Basic 2008, centering on the Sub and Function procedures.

• Thinking in terms of objects (I)

  Introduces the concept of an object as the fundamental Visual Basic 2008 programming element. Describes the differences between procedural and object oriented programming.

• Thinking in terms of objects (II)

  Explains how to create objects of a specific class, and the concept of scope and the ReadOnly and WriteOnly properties.

• Inheritance

  Explains the concept of inheritance in an object oriented language and how to use it in Visual Basic 2008. Highlights the benefits of using this feature in a project.

• Interfaces and namespaces

  Studies object oriented concepts such as abstract classes, interfaces and namespaces. Presents both the theory and implementation of these concepts in Visual Basic 2008.

• Advanced array features

  Describes advanced array uses, such as creating arrays with elements that consist of a specific class; multi-dimensional arrays; and methods with a variable number of parameters.

• Value data types as classes and the String class

  Explains the process of boxing, which consists in the ability to treat any data type as a class (data type by reference), with the advantages that implies. Also studies the String class which facilitates the manipulation of text strings, and StringBuilder, which can be more efficient than String in some cases.

• Collections

  Introduces the concept of a collection as an alternative data structure instead of an array, since it provides more functionality. Studies the ArrayList and HashTable collections, whose main feature is the ability to store any type of element.

• Generic collections

  Introduces generic collections, which are more efficient than classic collections, since the programmer determines the type of element it can hold, which allows for more secure code.

Describes the development of Windows applications using the Windows Forms technology and Visual Basic 2008. Focuses mainly on the development of the user interface typical in this type of application. Also introduces and alternative technology, the Windows Presentation Foundation.

• Introduction

  Introduces the features of the Visual Studio 2008 Integrated Development Environment which facilitate the development of Windows applications. Shows the benefits of visual programming in this type of project.

• Forms

  Windows applications are composed of one or more windows that appear as the user interacts with them. Windows are known as forms in the Visual Basic 2008 programming environment and they are studied in detail in this lesson.

• Working With Menus

  Explains how to create menus with the menu editor in Visual Studio 2008. Also provides examples of creating context menus.

• Status Bars and Toolbars

  Explains how to create toolbars in the Visual Studio 2008 IDE. Also studies the Open dialog box (OpenFileDialog) and the status bar.

• Dialog Boxes

  Explains the characteristics that should be met by an application window that is a dialog box. Introduces template dialog boxes such as MessageBox, FontDialog and ColorDialog.

• Basic controls (I)

  Introduces the concept of a control, which are graphical elements that appear in forms in Visual Studio 2008 and are used to collect data and present the output produced by the application. Some of these are studied, such as Labels, Text boxes, GroupBox and Command Buttons.

• Basic controls (II)

  Studies the use of Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, ListBox and ComboBoxes in a Visual Studio 2008 application.

• Graphics (I)

  Introduces the graphical features of the .NET Framework, using the Visual Basic 2008 language. Studies the Graphics class and explains how to draw lines, rectangles, polygons, ellipses and circles, and specify colors.

• Graphics (II)

  Explains how to use the graphical features of the .NET Framework to draw arcs, curves, paths and fills. Uses Visual Basic 2008 to do so.

• Graphics (III)

  Studies some advanced graphics features of the .NET Framework: applying transformations, drawing text, anti-aliasing, and drawing images. Uses Visual Basic 2008 to do so.

• Mouse and key events

  Studies how to program mouse and key events in a Windows application. Also introduces a strategy to obtain drawing persistence on the screen.

• MDI appllications

  Studies the concept of MDI applications, in which we find a main window which contains other windows, in a parent-child relationship. Uses Visual Basic 2008 to develop a simple MDI application.

• Exceptions

  Explains the concept of exceptions as the method provided by the .NET Framework to manage errors at runtime. Studies exception management and preparation during development.

• Introduction to Windows Presentation Foundation

  Introduces a new technology from Microsoft to develop applications with a multimedia rich interface. This technology is called the Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF, which coexists with Windows Forms.

Describes the ADO .NET technology as the fundamental method of database access when developing applications with Visual Basic 2008. Studies the two methods of data access: connected and disconnected.

• Databases

  Shows the tools provided by Visual Studio 2008 to work visually with databases. Uses SQL Server 2008 to create an example database, including tables, relationships and other properties.

• SQL language

  Reviews the syntax of the SQL database query language, both for database selection and modification queries.

• Introduction to ADO .NET

  Introduces the ADO .NET architecture, which allows us to develop database applications using two access methods: connected and disconnected. Studies the basic ADO .NET objects, such as Connection, command and DataReader. Uses Visual Basic 2008 to do so.

• Data Provider

  Studies the classes that make up a data provider, paying particular attention to using parameters in queries, and the use of transactions to maintain database consistency.

• The DataSet Object

  Studies the concept of a DataSet, as the structure provided by ADO .NET for disconnected database access. Shows that a DataSet is made up of a hierarchy of objects and collections that can be managed in the code: tables, relationships, columns, records, etc. In other words, they allow the data to be presented with the same structure as the database.

• Programming the DataSet

  Studies how to update the DataSet in the code, such as using the code to add new, modify and delete records from the DataSet. Uses Visual Basic 2008 to do so.

• Data Access in Visual Studio (I)

  Introduces the tools provided in Visual Studio 2008 to develop applications with data access. Explains the concept of a typed DataSet and the differences compared to a generic DataSet. Also introduces each of the objects created by Visual Studio to facilitate programming in this type of application: TableAdapter, TableAdapterManager, BindingSource and BindingNavigator.

• Data Access in Visual Studio (II)

  Studies the objects and controls created by Visual Studio when using the data access tools, such as the Data Source Configuration Wizard and the Data Sources window. Explains the purpose and use of these objects.

• Data Binding Scenarios (I)

  Describes common situations when developing data access applications using the tools provided in Visual Studio. Explains how to deal with these situations.

• Data Binding Scenarios (II)

  Describes common situations when developing data access applications using the tools provided in Visual Studio. Explains how to deal with these situations, such as the use of query parameters to fill the DataSet.

• Data Binding Scenarios (III)

  Describes common situations when developing data access applications using the tools provided in Visual Studio. Describes the process of updating a DataSet by modifying, deleting and adding new records, and updating the database with these changes.

• Writing database independent code

  Introduces the concept of the ADO .NET DbProviderFactory, created specifically to develop database independent applications; in other words, whose code can be used with different databases such as SQL Server, Oracle, Access, etc.