Course 2559—Five days—Instructor-led  

Introduction to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programming

Table of Contents

Introduction
At Course Completion
Microsoft Certified Professional Exams
Prerequisites
Course Materials and Software
Course Outline

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To take this course in the United States and Canada, you can go to Find a Training Provider to locate and register with a Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center (Microsoft CTEC). Elsewhere, please contact your Regional Education Service Center.

This course also has an Optic Pack version available for visually impaired students.

Introduction

The goal of this course is to enable developers with programming experience in a non-graphical environment, in addition to developers with limited programming experience in a graphical environment, to design and develop a simple GUI-based application by using Microsoft Visual Basic® .NET and the Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET development environment.

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At Course Completion

After completing the course, students will be able to design, develop, and deploy a simple application by using Visual Basic .NET. This includes the following skills:

• Use Microsoft Windows® Forms and controls to create a user interface with menus, status bars, dialog boxes, and advanced controls.
• Create methods (functions and subroutines) that take parameters and return values.
• Test and debug an application.
• Implement structured exception handling.
• Apply object-oriented programming techniques to create classes, add methods, and add properties.
• Create a simple Visual Basic .NET application that is based on the Web Forms application template and that uses an XML Web service.
• Access and manipulate data in a Microsoft SQL Server™ database by using ADO .NET.

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Microsoft Certified Professional Exams

There is no Microsoft Certified Professional exam associated with this course.

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Prerequisites

Before attending this course, students must:

• Have an understanding of and experience with structured programming. Microsoft MSDN® Training Course 1587: Introduction to Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 6, may help students gain basic skills in programming techniques. However, additional experience writing code is necessary for students to fully benefit from attending Course 2559.
• Be familiar and comfortable with using a mouse and keyboard to perform common tasks-such as navigating the file system, opening files, and saving files-in a GUI-based application environment-such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

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Course Materials and Software

 Course Outline

Module 1: Getting Started

This module introduces Visual Basic .NET and explains how it fits into the .NET platform. It explains how to use the programming tools in Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET and provides enough practice so that students can create their first application in Visual Basic .NET.

Lessons

• Basic .NET Concepts
• Exploring the Development Environment
• Creating a Visual Basic .NET Project

Lab 1.1: Creating Your First Application

• Exercise 1: Creating Your First Application in Visual Basic .NET

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Begin a Visual Basic .NET project based on the Windows Application template.
• Use the standard toolbar, programming tools, and programming windows in the development environment to work with applications.
• Create a simple application in Visual Basic .NET.

Module 2: Working with Forms and Controls

This module explains fundamental programming concepts, including event-driven programming, classes, objects, properties, methods, and events. This module also explains how to use forms and controls to create a user interface. This includes the following: how to create a form, set properties, call methods, and write code for events; how to add controls to a form; how to manage multiple forms; how to use message boxes; how to use naming conventions; and how to format and document code.

Lessons

• Understanding Programming Concepts
• Working with Windows Forms
• Working with Controls
• Styling Your Code

2.1: Creating the User Interface

• Exercise 1: Creating the Main Form

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Explain fundamental programming concepts, including event-driven programming, classes, objects, properties, methods, and events.
• Use forms and controls to create a user interface.
• Create and manage multiple forms in a simple application.
• Interact with a user by using the MessageBox function.
• Use Visual Basic naming conventions and standards for formatting and documenting your code.

Module 3: Using Variables and Arrays

This module explains how to name, declare, assign values to, and use variables and constants. It explains how to declare variables with different levels of scope, how to create your own data structures, and how to convert variable values from one data type to another. It also describes how to store data in an array.

Lessons

• Introduction to Data Types
• Using Variables
• Variable Scope
• Creating and Using Structures
• Converting Data Types
• Storing Data in Arrays

Lab 3.1: Creating and Using Variables

• Exercise 1: Using Static Variables
• Exercise 2: Creating, Using, and Converting Variables

Lab 3.2: Using Structures and Arrays

• Exercise 1: Creating a Structure Variable
• Exercise 2: Creating and Using Arrays

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Describe the various data types you can use to declare variables.
• Name, declare, initialize, and use variables and constants.
• Declare variables with different levels of scope.
• Create user-defined data structures.
• Convert variable values from one data type to another.
• Store data in arrays.

Module 4: Working with Procedures

This module describes how to create and use Sub and Function procedures, including predefined functions, and how to structure code for increased reusability.

Lessons

• Creating Procedures
• Using Procedures
• Using Predefined Functions

Lab 4.1: Creating and Using Procedures

• Exercise 1: Creating Functions in a Module
• Exercise 2: Working with the Main Form

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Differentiate between a Sub procedure and a Function procedure.
• Create and call Sub and Function procedures.
• Write procedures in modules to enable code reuse.
• Pass arguments by value and by reference.
• Use predefined functions in application code.

Module 5: Decision Structures and Loops

This module explains how to implement decision structures and loop structures to control program output and execution.

Lessons

• Using Conditional Expressions
• Using Decision Structures
• Using Conditional Loop Structures

Lab 5.1: Using Decision Structures

• Exercise 1: Checking User Input
• Exercise 2: Confirming Application Close

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Create formulas and conditional expressions by using arithmetic, comparison, and logical operators.
• Use If…Then structures to evaluate whether a condition is true or false and direct the program's flow accordingly.
• Use Select Case structures to test different values of the same expression and then run corresponding statements.
• Use Do…Loop structures to execute statements until a specific condition is met or while a specific condition is true.
• Use For…Next structures to execute statements a set number of times.
• Choose the appropriate decision structure or loop based on the requirements of the application.

Module 6: Handling Errors and Exceptions

This module explains types of errors that can occur in a program and explains how to use the debugging tools provided with Visual Basic .NET to help diagnose and correct the errors. These tools include the Visual Studio .NET debugger, debugging windows, and structured exception handling.

Lessons

• Types of Errors
• Using the Debugger
• Handling Exceptions

Lab 6.1: Using Structured Exception Handling

• Exercise 1: Using Try…Catch Blocks
• Exercise 2: Using Try…Catch…Finally Blocks

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Define and give examples of syntax, run-time, and logic errors.
• Debug code by using the Visual Studio .NET debugger.
• Implement structured exception handling in an application.

Module 7: Validating User Input

This module explains how to validate user input at both the field level and the form level. It describes how to handle invalid input by providing error messages and guiding users through the process of finding and fixing errors. It describes how to use control properties and methods to restrict and validate data entry.

Lessons

• Restricting User Input
• Validating Field Data
• Validating Form Data

7.1: Validating User Input

• Exercise 1: Validating Field Data
• Exercise 2: Validating Form Data

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Restrict the type of data that can be entered in a field.
• Test user input at the field level to determine if it is valid, and display messages to help the user correct invalid data.
• Set control properties to specify the order of data entry, the type of data to enter, and how to display the data when the application is run.
• Validate user input at the form level, and guide users through the process of finding and fixing errors.

Module 8: Enhancing the User Interface

This module explains how to create menus, status bars, and toolbars to enhance the usability of an application.

Lessons

• Creating Menus
• Creating Status Bars
• Creating Toolbars

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Create custom menus to group application commands.
• Create a status bar to provide users with feedback about an application.
• Create a toolbar to provide a graphical interface for the user to access key functions of your application.

Module 9: Web Forms and XML Web Services

This module explains how to create a Web Form application and how to invoke a simple XML Web service.

Lessons

• Working with Web Forms
• Using XML Web Services

Lab 9.1: Creating a Web Application

• Exercise 1: Creating the User Interface
• Exercise 2: Using XML Web Services

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Create a basic Web Form.
• Discover an XML Web service, and invoke the XML Web service from a browser and from a Web Form.

Module 10: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming Concepts

This module explains how to create and use classes. The module explains the concepts of abstraction, encapsulation, instantiation, initialization, constructors, and destructors. This module also describes inheritance, polymorphism, and namespaces.

Lessons

• Basic Concepts
• Working with Classes
• Using Shared Members
• Polymorphism, Inheritance, and Namespaces

Lab 10.1: Creating a Derived Class

• Exercise 1: Creating a Derived Form Class

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Explain object-oriented programming concepts, including abstraction, encapsulation, class, and object.
• Create a new class, including its methods, properties, and data members with appropriate access levels.
• Create and use an instance of a class, including instance and shared data members, and shared and non-shared methods.
• Explain how constructors and destructors work.
• Explain inheritance, polymorphism, and namespaces.

Module 11: Using ADO.NET

This module explains how to use Microsoft ADO.NET with a Windows Form application to create, read, update, and delete records in Access and Microsoft SQL Server™ databases.

Lessons

• Database Concepts
• Overview of ADO.NET
• Working with Data

Lab 11.1: Accessing Data with ADO.NET

• Exercise 1: Using the Data Form Wizard

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Define basic database terminology, including database, table, record, field, and key.
• Describe some commonly used ADO.NET objects.
• Create and open a connection to a database.
• Create, read, update, and delete records in a database.
• Use the Data Form Wizard to create a simple data access application.
• Display and modify data extracted from a database.

Module 12: Working with Forms and Controls

This module explains various deployment options available in Visual Basic .NET. It also explains how to deploy Windows-based applications.

Lessons

• Assembly Overview
• Choosing a Deployment Option
• Deploying Windows-based Applications

Lab 12.1: Deploying an Application

• Exercise 1: Using the Setup Wizard
• Exercise 2: Installing the Loan Application

After completing this module, students will be able to :

• Describe an assembly.
• List the different types of application deployment.
• Create a Setup program for a Windows-based application by using the Setup wizard.