Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step--Version 2003: Amazon.ca: Michael Halvorsen: Books

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For the several million developers using "traditional" Visual Basic 6, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step will put the new VB .NET within reach with a very approachable tour of the new version's features used to build traditional client-side software. If you've been put off by the newfangled books on .NET that spin the new VB as Internet-focused and unrelated to your existing expertise, this title shows you how to leverage your knowledge to get going with Microsoft's newest platform.

The salient feature of this text is the author's patient presentation style, which stresses "traditional" VB programming. (While VB 6 did technically support Web programming, the unarguable reality is that most developers have built form-based programs for years.) This volume shows you how to use the same techniques for the new VB .NET. The author begins his presentation here with a clever slot-machine application to get you started. Other early sections cover the basics of VB .NET from a language perspective, including basics like variables, data types, and flow control statements. This handsomely printed volume makes use of two-toned color (in blue) to highlight differences between VB 6 in VB .NET, making it an invaluable resource for programmers making this transition.

Other essential technologies get their due here as well, from basic control programming with Windows Forms, integrating with ActiveX controls, to a very approachable guide to the new ADO.NET APIs for databases. Coverage of how to bind data to a variety of controls, plus using the new VB .NET DataGrid control, will show you how to do all you did in VB 6 in the new .NET. Instead of getting bogged down in details, the author does a good job of presenting what working programmers need to know. Later chapters delve into .NET APIs for working with files, strings, and collections. This title doesn't pretend to cover ASP.NET in any detail, though there is a useful introduction to the subject, as well as how to use the Microsoft Internet Explorer Object to build VB applications that display HTML and other Internet content.

The reality is that most VB 6 programmers will have to learn a lot when it comes to .NET. Before launching into a whole new paradigm of Web development, this book shows that today's VB has a lot to do with the older VB 6 standard. This text will be nearly indispensable for any VB 6 programmers making the leap to .NET. It even suggests that rumors of the death of the traditional client-side VB application may be somewhat exaggerated. This title shows you that the new easier deployment and productivity features of VB .NET may extend the life of such applications in one of the best-available tutorials for learning VB .NET, bar none. --Richard Dragan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

Get on the fast track to professional application development with Visual Basic .NET 2003. This practical, hands-on tutorial expertly guides you through the fundamentals—using step-by-step exercises, code samples, optimization tips, and real-world advice to accelerate your productivity. Work at your own pace, learning core programming skills by selecting just the chapters and lessons you need. Upgrade your Visual Basic 6 applications quickly with the help of “Upgrade Notes” sidebars, a special upgrading index, and insights into the enhanced Visual Basic .NET Upgrade Wizard. It’s everything you need to start creating .NET-connected software now!

Discover how to:

Create a compelling user interface with Toolbox controls, menus, and dialog boxes
Use methods in the .NET Framework 1.1 class libraries
Utilize the new debugging tools and structured error handlers to build robust code
Manage data in your programs using collections, arrays, and string processing techniques
Automate Microsoft Office applications and manage processes
Manage Windows® Forms and create graphics and animation effects
Use inheritance and other new object-oriented programming capabilities
Write custom code for printers and dialog boxes for printing
Manage Access databases and create custom database applications with Microsoft ADO.NET
Display HTML documents using Microsoft Internet Explorer
Use Web Forms to build Internet interfaces
Deploy Visual Basic .NET applications
Port Visual Basic 6 programs to Visual Basic .NET

CD features:

Code examples in Visual Basic .NET 2003
All the book’s practice files
Fully searchable eBook

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

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First Sentence
Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 is an important upgrade and enhancement of the popular Visual Basic development system and an iterative upgrade of the Visual Basic .NET 2002 software. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

49 Reviews

5 star:		(18)
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3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
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Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (49 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Not better than online tools., Jan 3 2012

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David Sabine (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step--Version 2003 (Paperback)

Microsoft Certifications are valuable to the industry but has also enabled scammers to legitimize and perpetuate the production and sale of over-priced and over-rated books. What I've learned from these books is that they are not better than online tools -- but it's necessary to purchase these volumes just to participate in the certification process.

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2.0 out of 5 stars A Beginners Book Through and Through, Jun 30 2004

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RobS (Cherry Hill, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step--Version 2003 (Paperback)

This is a good book for the novice developer. It's more a beginners VB guide than a .NET tutorial. I am taking a.NET class and this is the required book. I was hoping for more. Not enough discussion about .NET. A better book would have been VB .NET The Tutorials by Karl Moore which I have also. The ultimate .NET book in my opinion is Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference) by Franseco Balena.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Pass It By, Jun 22 2004

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Mike Nicosia (Hicksville, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Visual Basic .Net Step by Step (Paperback)

I had not worked with VB in over 7 years so i thought i would get a quick read from this book. What a waste of time and money! Why do authors think teaching you how to move a button across the screen is a good programming example?? The first 9 chapters is full of such foolish code examples but the funniest part comes in chapter 10 where the author states that now "you can safely call yourself an intermediate vb programmer" - that is hilarious and pathetically ridiculous at the same time. For the stupidity of that remark alone i would delete 5 stars. Do yourself a favor - don't even think of buying this book.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars I hate it.
To summarize, I hate this book because you can't use it without reading it through from page one. I use this book for a class I am enrolled in. Read more

Published on May 8 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Book for Transition from VB6 to .NET
This book was assigned as part of a MS Certification program that I enrolled in at Techskills. While the author did a good job of describing the differences between the two VB... Read more

Published on April 19 2004 by Brew Apprentice