Programming in VB.NET - Course Outline

The Object Technology Company

Programming in VB.NET
Rapid Application Development

Duration: 5 days

Class size: Up to 12 students

Who should attend?
Engineers, marketers, and others who wish to develop applications rapidly using VB.NET. Familiarity with programming concepts assumed. Exposure to object-oriented concepts helpful but not essential. Knowledge of .NET technologies, IIS and/or Windows Forms programming would be helpful but is not required.

What will you gain?
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will have a firm grasp of Visual Basic.NET 2005 syntax, .NET Framework essentials, and the ability to build basic Windows Forms and ASP.NET web applications that access a SQL Server data source.

Course Contents & Activities:
The course introduces VB.NET as a language and environment for rapid application development. Beginning with an introduction to programming and language constructs, it proceeds to illustrate, step by step, how to use the Visual Studio environment to rapidly build, test and deploy applications. The course includes tips on high-quality application design, database access and ASP.NET. The course comprises lectures, hands-on demonstrations, and intensive lab exercises. An overview of the contents is as below:

Language and Framework Basics
- What is .NET?
- What is VB.NET 2005?
- Command line compiler
- IDEs
- Visual Basic.NET 2005 Express Edition
Basic language elements
- Built-in types
- Reference Types
- Value Types
- Decision Making
  - If...Then...Else
  - Select Case
  - Iteration
    - For
    - While...Wend
    - Do...Until
- Functions
  - Parameters
- Code Snippets
- Namespaces
  - Code Modules
  - Imports
  - Referencing namespaces explicitly and implicitly
Command line applications and Object Oriented VB Programming
- First command-line application (Hello, World)
- Lab1: Console Application with VB.NET

Classes and Objects
- Static Variables and Methods
- Instantiating Objects from Classes
- Inheritance
- Interfaces
- Character Strings
- String buffers
- Framework String classes and utility methods
- Date and Time functions and calculations
- Arrays
- Collections

Exception Handling
- Try/Catch

Using the file system
- Enumerating files, directories
- Opening a file
- Read only, read/write

Streams
- Text Streams
- Binary Streams

Cryptography – encrypting and decrypting a file
- LAB #2: File Functions and Exception Handling

Windows Applications
- What are Windows Forms?
- Using Controls
  - Naming conventions
  - Microsoft recommendations
  - Labels
  - LinkLabels
  - Buttons
- Responding to events
- LAB #3: Basic Windows Forms Programming

More controls
- Text Boxes
- Checkboxes
- Radio Buttons
- Listboxes
- ComboBoxes
- PictureBoxes
- Menus
- Toolbar
- Tabbed forms
- Changing and Adding Controls at Run Time
- Custom Windows controls

Forms
- Modeless forms
- Modal forms
- LAB #4: Using Advanced Windows Controls with Forms

GDI+
- Fonts
- Vector Graphics (lines, boxes, circles)
- Using the common dialog control
- Printing

Installing and Configuring Windows Applications
- Creating an Installer
- LAB #5: Building An Application Installer

ASP.NET 2.0 applications
- Components of a VB.NET 2005 web application
- Creating a first VB.NET 2005 web application (Hello Web)
- Web controls
- Reading HTTP header variables (response object)
- Validation controls
- Master pages
- Web Parts
- LAB #6: Building A Basic Web Application

Custom Web Controls
Installing and Configuration Web Applications
- Creating an Installer
- web.config file
- LAB #7: Installing And Configuring Web Applications

Data Access, Interoperability, Advanced Topics
- Database essentials
  - Layout (schema)
  - Relationships
  - Data bound controls
  - Connecting to a database
  - LAB #8: Accessing A Database From Windows Forms and ASP.NET
- Application Security (optional)
- Interoperability (optional)
  - COM interoperability (interop)
  - Windows API interoperability (pInvoke)
  - Creating Custom Events (optional)

Programming in VB.NET takes students through the theory and practice of the language and the environment. It allows them to build a VB.NET application step by step, culminating in the construction of a real application that uses VB.NET, Database technology and ASP.NET.