Visual Basic 2010 for Students

Cover......Page 1
Visual Basic 2010 for Students......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Detailed contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 19
 The history of Visual Basic......Page 24
 What is a program?......Page 25
 Programming principles......Page 27
 Exercises......Page 28
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 29
 Installation and configuration......Page 30
 Creating a first program......Page 31
 Controls at design-time......Page 36
 Events and the Button control......Page 38
 Documenting property settings......Page 40
 Editor facilities......Page 41
 The message box......Page 43
 Programming pitfalls......Page 44
 Exercises......Page 45
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 47
 Objects, methods, properties, classes – an analogy......Page 48
 A first drawing......Page 49
 Creating the program......Page 50
 The graphics coordinate system......Page 51
 Explanation of the program......Page 52
 Methods for drawing......Page 53
 Colours......Page 55
 Adding meaning with comments......Page 57
 New language elements......Page 58
 Exercises......Page 59
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 60
 Introduction......Page 61
 The nature of Double......Page 62
 Declaring variables......Page 63
 Calculations and operators......Page 66
 The arithmetic operators......Page 68
 The Mod operator......Page 70
 Strings and numbers: the & operator......Page 71
 Text boxes and labels......Page 73
 Converting between numbers......Page 76
 The role of expressions......Page 77
 Grammar spot......Page 78
 Exercises......Page 79
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 81
 Introduction......Page 83
 A first method......Page 84
 Passing arguments......Page 86
 Parameters and arguments......Page 88
 A triangle method......Page 89
 Local variables......Page 92
 Name clashes......Page 93
 Function methods and results......Page 94
 Building on methods......Page 97
 Passing arguments by reference......Page 100
 References – an example......Page 101
 References: a Swap method......Page 103
 Me and objects......Page 104
 Overloading......Page 105
 Passing objects to methods......Page 106
 Grammar spot......Page 107
 Summary......Page 108
 Exercises......Page 109
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 111
 Instance variables......Page 113
 The form constructor......Page 116
 The TrackBar class......Page 118
 Imports and namespaces......Page 120
 Members, methods and properties......Page 121
 The Random class......Page 122
 The Timer class......Page 125
 New language elements......Page 128
 Exercises......Page 129
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 131
 Introduction......Page 132
 Comparison operators......Page 133
 And, Or, Not......Page 138
 Nested Ifs and ElseIf......Page 141
 Select......Page 145
 Boolean variables......Page 149
 Grammar spot......Page 152
 New language elements......Page 153
 Exercises......Page 154
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 157
 Introduction......Page 159
 For......Page 160
 While......Page 163
 And, Or, Not......Page 167
 Do...Loop......Page 168
 Nested loops......Page 169
 Combining control structures......Page 171
 Programming principles......Page 173
 Grammar spot......Page 174
 Exercises......Page 175
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 178
 Introduction......Page 180
 Using the debugger......Page 182
 Case study in debugging......Page 184
 Common errors......Page 185
 New IDE facilities......Page 189
 Exercises......Page 190
 Introduction......Page 191
 Designing a class......Page 192
 Private variables......Page 194
 Public methods......Page 195
 Properties......Page 197
 Method or property?......Page 200
 Multiple constructors......Page 201
 Private methods......Page 202
 Operations on objects......Page 203
 Object destruction......Page 204
 Shared methods and properties......Page 205
 Programming principles......Page 206
 Programming pitfalls......Page 208
 New language elements......Page 209
 Exercises......Page 210
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 212
 Introduction......Page 214
 Using inheritance......Page 215
 Protected......Page 216
 Additional items......Page 217
 Overriding......Page 218
 Class diagrams......Page 219
 MyBase......Page 220
 Constructors......Page 221
 Abstract classes......Page 223
 Programming principles......Page 224
 Summary......Page 226
 Exercises......Page 227
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 228
 Introduction......Page 229
 Formatting numbers......Page 230
 Library mathematical functions and constants......Page 232
 Constants......Page 233
 Case study – money......Page 234
 Graphs......Page 236
 Exceptions......Page 239
 Exercises......Page 241
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 244
 Introduction......Page 245
 Adding items to a list......Page 246
 The length of a list......Page 247
 Indices......Page 248
 Lookup......Page 250
 Arithmetic on a list box......Page 252
 For Each......Page 253
 Searching......Page 254
 Using a list – generics......Page 255
 Methods and properties of lists......Page 256
 Lists of objects......Page 258
 Programming principles......Page 259
 Summary......Page 260
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 261
 Introduction......Page 262
 Indices......Page 264
 The length of an array......Page 266
 Passing arrays as parameters......Page 267
 The For Each statement......Page 268
 Using constants......Page 269
 Initializing an array......Page 270
 A sample program......Page 271
 Searching......Page 273
 Arrays of objects......Page 275
 Programming pitfalls......Page 277
 Exercises......Page 278
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 282
 Introduction......Page 284
 Declaring an array......Page 285
 Indices......Page 286
 The size of an array......Page 287
 Constants......Page 288
 Initializing an array......Page 289
 A sample program......Page 290
 Programming principles......Page 292
 Exercises......Page 293
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 296
 Using strings – a recap......Page 297
 Comparing strings......Page 299
 Amending strings......Page 300
 Examining strings......Page 302
 An example of string processing......Page 306
 Case study – Ask Frasier......Page 308
 Grammar spot......Page 310
 Exercises......Page 311
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 312
 Introduction......Page 313
 A Try-Catch example......Page 315
 Classifying exceptions......Page 318
 The search for a catcher......Page 320
 Throwing – an introduction......Page 322
 Handling – some possibilities......Page 323
 Programming principles......Page 324
 New IDE facilities......Page 325
 Exercises......Page 326
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 327
 Introduction......Page 328
 The StreamReader and StreamWriter classes......Page 329
 File output......Page 330
 File input......Page 331
 File searching......Page 334
 Files and exceptions......Page 336
 Message boxes and dialogs......Page 338
 Using file dialogs......Page 339
 Creating a menu......Page 341
 The Directory class......Page 344
 New language elements......Page 347
 Exercises......Page 348
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 349
 Introduction......Page 351
 A first console program......Page 352
 The command prompt: cd and dir......Page 353
 The dir command......Page 354
 Ways of running programs......Page 355
 Classes in console applications......Page 356
 Command-line arguments......Page 357
 Scripting and output redirection......Page 359
 Scripting and batch files......Page 360
 Grammar spot......Page 361
 Exercises......Page 362
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 363
 Introduction......Page 365
 Identifying objects, methods and properties......Page 366
 Case study in design......Page 371
 Looking for reuse......Page 376
 Composition or inheritance?......Page 377
 Guidelines for class design......Page 381
 Exercises......Page 383
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 385
 Introduction......Page 386
 Program layout......Page 387
 Comments......Page 388
 Using constants......Page 389
 Classes......Page 390
 Nested Ifs......Page 391
 Nested loops......Page 393
 Complex conditions......Page 395
 Documentation......Page 396
 Exercises......Page 397
 Introduction......Page 399
 Program specifications......Page 400
 Black box (functional) testing......Page 401
 White box (structural) testing......Page 404
 Inspections and walkthroughs......Page 406
 Incremental development......Page 407
 Summary......Page 408
 Exercises......Page 409
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 410
 Interfaces for design......Page 413
 Interfaces and interoperability......Page 416
 Summary......Page 417
 Exercises......Page 418
 Introduction......Page 419
 Polymorphism in action......Page 420
 Programming principles......Page 423
 Summary......Page 424
 Exercises......Page 425
 The elements of a database......Page 426
 The SQL language – introduction......Page 428
 The VB database classes......Page 429
 Adding a data connection to Visual Basic......Page 431
 Example 1: creating a BindingNavigator program......Page 432
 Example 2: a DataGridView program......Page 434
 Example 3: SQL example......Page 437
 Programming principles......Page 441
 Summary......Page 442
 Answers to self-test questions......Page 443
 Selected library components......Page 444
 Keywords......Page 450
Bibliography......Page 451
Index......Page 452