Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Developing Applications Part 1 Course

In this course you will learn how to use Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Basic 2005 to build Windows applications to run on the .NET 2.0 platform. You will become familiar with the Windows Forms and Windows Forms controls, focusing on new Visual Studio 2005 features. You'll see how to use new .NET 2.0 features like Application events and the My namespace. Access data using ADO.NET and its DataTable, DataReader, DataAdapter, and DataSet classes. You will learn to take advantage of new Visual Studio 2005 data binding features, and explore the range of controls and components provided by Visual Studio 2005. You will build solid applications using structured exception handling, and debug your applications using new Visual Studio 2005 debugging features, access legacy code in COM components, Win32 APIs using P/Invoke, and remote code in Web Services. You will also learn how to add professional-looking menus and toolbars using the new ToolStrip controls, and add unprecedented flexibility to your user interfaces using the new container controls and to deploy and maintain your application more easily than ever before, taking advantage of Click-Once deployment.

Who should attend this course
This course is designed for those with limited experience and knowledge of working in Visual Basic, and also those who have some experience of working in previous versions and want to gain a solid grasp of how Visual Basic 2005, based on the .NET 2.0 platform, differs from earlier versions. If you have any background in programming, and especially of object-oriented concepts, this will be an advantage.

Topics covered on the 4 day Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Developing Applications Part 1 course

In this part of the course you will...

• Learn how to create effective Windows Forms, exploring the new range of controls and components available in Visual Basic 2005
• Learn about the Visual Basic 2005 event model, including programmatically assigning event handlers
• Use structured exception handling to respond to run-time errors
• Learn about the String and Date types and associated classes
• Learn about the ADO.NET architecture and use ADO.NET to connect to a SQL Server
• Discover how to create a simple data-bound form and be introduced to the DataSet Designer

Introduction to Windows Forms

• .NET Does Windows
• Adding Controls to a Form
• A Peek behind the Scenes
• Adding Event Handling Code
• Adding a Menu to the Form
• Adding Non-Graphical Components

Taking Advantage of the Form Event Model

• How Visual Basic Handles Events
• Exploring Form and Control Events

Common Windows Forms Controls

• Label, TextBox, and Button
• CheckBox and RadioButton
• ComboBox, ListBox, and CheckedListBox
• LinkLabel, NumericUpdown, PictureBox and ProgressBar

Exception Handling

• Perspectives on Exception Handling
• Getting Started with Exception Handling
• Catching Specific Exceptions
• Raising Errors
• Running Code Unconditionally
• Handling Unhandled Exceptions
• Creating Exception Classes

Working with Strings and Dates

• Basic .NET Data Types
• Working with Text: The String Class
• Working with Dates and Times

Accessing Data

• Overview of ADO.NET
• Connecting to Data
• Executing Commands
• Working with Data
• Choosing an ADO.NET Provider

Data Binding Techniques

• Data Binding Basics
• Creating a Data Source
• Creating Data-Bound Forms
• Data Binding Components and Controls
• Displaying Data from Related Tables
• Displaying Data from Lookup Tables
• Adding Search Capabilities to a Form
• Filtering by Values from a Lookup Table
• Data Validation
• Working with Local Data