Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Programming for the Absolute Beginner ( No Experience Required )

TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 8
INTRODUCTION......Page 14
1 AN INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL BASIC 2008 EXPRESS......Page 18
Project Preview: The Joke Machine......Page 19
A Quick Overview of Visual Basic......Page 20
GUI Development......Page 21
Introducing Visual Basic 2008 Express......Page 22
What Can\'t Visual Basic 2008 Express Do?......Page 24
What\'s New in Visual Basic 2008 Express......Page 25
More IntelliSense......Page 26
New Language Features......Page 27
Integrated Power Pack Controls......Page 28
Visual C# 2008 Express......Page 29
The Microsoft .NET Framework......Page 30
.NET Components......Page 31
.NET 2.0......Page 32
Designing the Game......Page 35
Summary......Page 43
2 NAVIGATING THE VISUAL BASIC 2008 EXPRESS DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT......Page 46
Project Preview: The Click Race Game......Page 47
Getting Comfortable Moving Around the Visual Basic 2008 Express IDE......Page 49
Navigating the IDE Menu......Page 51
Form Designer Basics......Page 52
Understanding the Code Editor......Page 54
What\'s in the Toolbox?......Page 62
Working with Solution Explorer......Page 63
Understanding How to Use the Properties Window......Page 64
The Component Tray......Page 66
Other Windows......Page 67
IDE Components Specific to WPF Applications......Page 68
Designing the Game......Page 71
Summary......Page 79
3 CREATING AN APPLICATION INTERFACE......Page 82
Project Preview: The Speed Typing Game......Page 83
Specifying a Windows Starting Position......Page 85
Specifying Windows Border Style......Page 86
Dynamically Altering Title Bar Messages......Page 87
Setting Up Control Tab Order and Focus......Page 89
Adding a Status Bar to Your Application......Page 90
Posting a Notify Icon in the System Tray......Page 95
Adding a Splash Screen to Your Application......Page 96
Leveraging the Convenience of Built-in Dialogs......Page 98
Windows Forms Versus WPF Applications......Page 106
GUI Design for WPF Applications......Page 107
Creating Console Applications Using Text-Based Interfaces......Page 112
ClickOnce Application Deployment......Page 114
Designing the Game......Page 116
Summary......Page 128
4 WORKING WITH MENUS AND TOOLBARS......Page 130
Project Preview: The Lottery Assistant Game......Page 131
Designing a Menu System......Page 134
Adding Menus, Menu Items, and Submenus......Page 136
Enhancing Windows Menus......Page 140
Enabling and Disabling Menus and Menu Items......Page 145
Hiding and Displaying Menus and Menu Items......Page 147
Context Menus......Page 148
Adding Convenience with Toolbars......Page 151
Adding Graphics to Your Toolbars......Page 153
Associating Program Statements with Toolbar Buttons......Page 154
Back to the Lottery Assistant Game......Page 156
Designing the Game......Page 157
Summary......Page 172
Project Preview: The Story of Mighty Molly......Page 174
Enhancing Your Code with Comments......Page 177
Alternative Ways of Storing Data......Page 178
Data Types......Page 179
Working with Constants......Page 180
Declaring Your Own Constants......Page 181
Using Visual Basic Built-in Constants......Page 182
Defining Variables......Page 184
Assigning Data to Variables......Page 185
Rules for Naming Variables......Page 188
Recognizing Variables as Objects......Page 189
Variable Conversion......Page 190
Functions and Methods for Manipulating Strings......Page 193
Loading Array Elements......Page 195
Retrieving Array Elements......Page 196
Erasing Arrays......Page 197
Working with Structures......Page 198
Reserved Words......Page 199
Designing the Game......Page 200
Summary......Page 213
6 APPLYING CONDITIONAL LOGIC......Page 216
Project Preview: The Guess a Number Game......Page 217
Applying Conditional Logic......Page 218
The If...Then Statement......Page 219
The Single Line If…Then Statement......Page 220
The If…Then…Else Statement......Page 221
The If…Then…ElseIf Statement......Page 224
The Select Case Statement......Page 226
Comparison Operators......Page 228
Designing the Game......Page 229
Summary......Page 244
Project Preview: The Dice Poker Game......Page 246
Do Loops......Page 249
For...Next......Page 254
For…Each…Next......Page 258
While......Page 260
Breaking Out of Loops......Page 261
Exit Do......Page 262
Designing the Game......Page 263
Summary......Page 284
Project Preview: The Hangman Game......Page 286
Creating Procedures......Page 287
Handling Events......Page 288
Sub Procedures......Page 289
Function Procedures......Page 291
Passing Arguments......Page 293
Passing Optional Arguments......Page 295
Date-Related Objects......Page 297
String Manipulation Functions......Page 300
Lambda Expressions......Page 301
Designing the Game......Page 303
Summary......Page 322
9 GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING......Page 324
Project Preview: The Rock, Paper, Scissors Game......Page 325
Object-Oriented Programming......Page 326
OOP Terms......Page 327
Encapsulation......Page 328
Polymorphism......Page 329
Creating a New Class......Page 330
Defining Class Properties......Page 333
Adding Class Methods......Page 335
Inheriting from Another Class......Page 336
Designing the Game......Page 337
Summary......Page 351
Project Preview: The VB Doodle Game......Page 354
Working with Graphic Images......Page 356
Drawing Vector Graphics......Page 357
Drawing Text......Page 364
Drawing Using Power Pack Controls......Page 365
Adding Sounds to Your Applications......Page 366
RAD Development with the My Namespace......Page 368
Back to the VB Doodle Game......Page 370
Designing the Game......Page 371
Summary......Page 383
Project Preview: The Tic-Tac-Toe Game......Page 386
Dealing with Errors......Page 387
Syntax Errors......Page 388
Run-Time Errors......Page 390
Establishing Breakpoints......Page 391
Setting Up Breakpoints......Page 392
Edit and Continue......Page 394
A Run-time Exception Demonstration......Page 395
Structured Exception Handlers......Page 397
Back to the Tic-Tac-Toe Game......Page 399
Designing the Game......Page 400
Summary......Page 420
B......Page 422
C......Page 423
D......Page 424
F......Page 425
I......Page 426
L......Page 427
O......Page 428
R......Page 429
S......Page 430
T......Page 431
V......Page 432
Y......Page 433