Microsoft Visual Basic 2015: Reloaded - irsccsdept.org · Visual Studio 2015 •Visual Basic 2015 ... (IDE): •Contains all the tools and features needed to create, run, ... Microsoft

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Microsoft Visual Basic 2015: ReloadedSixth Edition

Chapter One

An Introduction to Visual Basic 2015



whole or in part.

Microsoft Visual Basic 2015: Reloaded, Sixth Edition

2

Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

• Define some of the terms used in object-oriented programming

• Create, start, and end a Visual Basic 2015 Windows application

• Manage the windows in the integrated development environment (IDE)

• Set the properties of an object

• Manipulate controls



whole or in part.


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Objectives (cont’d.)

• Use label, button, and picture box controls

• Use the options on the FORMAT menu

• Write Visual Basic code

• Save, close, and open a solution

• Run a project’s executable file

• Write an assignment statement

• Print an application’s code and interface

• Find and correct a syntax error



whole or in part.

Visual Studio 2015

• Visual Basic 2015 is an object-oriented programming language (OOP)

• Object: anything that can be seen, touched, or used

• Class: a pattern used to create an object

• Instance: an object created from a class; object is said to be instantiated

• Integrated Development Environment (IDE):

• Contains all the tools and features needed to create, run, and test programs

• Download a free copy at www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads


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http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads



whole or in part.


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Visual Studio 2015 (cont'd.)

• Application: program or suite of programs

• Windows-based application:

• Has a Windows user interface

• Runs on a personal computer

• User interface: what the user sees and interacts with when using an application

• Web-based application:

• Has a Web user interface

• Runs on a server

• Accessed with a computer browser



whole or in part.


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Starting and Configuring Visual Studio

Figure 1-1: How to start Visual Studio Community 2015



whole or in part.


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Starting and Configuring Visual Studio(cont’d.)

Figure 1-2: How to configure Visual Studio Community 2015



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-3: Options dialog box



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-4: Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015 startup screen



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Creating a Visual Basic Windows Forms Application• Windows applications consist of solutions,

projects, and files

• Solution: a container that stores projects and files for an entire application

• Project: a container that stores files associated with a specific portion of the solution

• A solution may contain one or more projects



whole or in part.

Creating a Visual Basic Windows Forms Application (cont’d.)


11Figure 1-5: How to create a Visual Basic 2015 Windows application



whole or in part.



12Figure 1-6: New Project dialog box



whole or in part.



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Figure 1-7: Solution and Visual Basic Project



whole or in part.



14Figure 1-8: How to manage the Windows in the IDE

Managing the Windows in the IDE



whole or in part.

Creating a Visual Basic Windows Forms Application (cont’d.)• The Windows Form Designer Window

• Allows you to create (design) the GUI

• Graphical user interface (GUI):

• What the user sees and interacts with

• Windows Form object (or form):

• Foundation for the user interface

• Add other objects such as buttons/text boxes to form

• Title bar with caption and Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons

• Tab at top of designer window has Form1.vb [Design]


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whole or in part.



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Figure 1-9: Windows Form Designer window



whole or in part.


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Creating a Visual Basic Windows Forms Application (cont’d.)• The Solution Explorer Window

• Displays a list of projects contained in this solution

• Displays the items contained in each project

Figure 1-10: Solution Explorer window



whole or in part.


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Creating a Visual Basic Windows Forms Application (cont’d.)• Source file

• A file containing program instructions

• Code

• Program instructions

• Form file

• A file containing code associated with a Windows form

• Give each form file a meaningful name using the Properties window



whole or in part.

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• The Properties Window

• Properties

• A set of attributes that determine an object’s appearance and behavior

• Properties window• Displays properties of the selected object

• Default property values are assigned when an object is created




whole or in part.

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Creating a Visual Basic Windows

Forms Application (cont’d.)

Figure 1-11: Properties window




whole or in part.

Properties of a Windows Form


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Figure 1-12: Partial list of the form’s properties



whole or in part.


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Properties of a Windows Form (cont'd.)

• Class definition• Block of code that defines the attributes and behaviors

of an object

• All class definitions are contained in namespaces

• Namespace: • Defines a group of related classes

• Dot member access operator• The period that separates words in an object’s name to

indicate a hierarchy of namespaces



whole or in part.


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• Name and Text Properties• Assign meaningful names to forms and use a naming

convention

• Pascal case• First letter of each word in the name is uppercase

• First part of name is object’s purpose

• Second part of name is object’s class

• Text property• Controls the caption displayed on form’s title bar



whole or in part.


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• StartPosition property• Determines the form’s position on the screen when

application starts

• Font Property• General shape of characters in text

• Recommended font is Seqoe UI font

• Size Property

• Two numbers separated by a comma and a space

• The first number represents the object’s width, and the second number represents its height



whole or in part.


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The Toolbox Window

• Toolbox• Contains objects that can be added to other objects,

such as a form

• Each tool has an icon and a name to identify it

• Each tool represents a class from which objects, called controls, can be created

• Controls• Objects displayed on a form

• Represented as icons in the toolbox

• Controls on a form can be selected, sized, moved, deleted, locked in place on the form and unlocked



whole or in part.


26Figure 1-13: Toolbox window

The Toolbox Window (cont’d.)



whole or in part.

The Toolbox Window (cont'd.)


27Figure 1-14: How to add a control to a form



whole or in part.



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Figure 1-15: How to manipulate the controls on a form



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-16: Olivia application’s user interface



whole or in part.


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• Label control:• Displays text that user cannot edit

• Used as “prompts” to explain controls or display output

• Name should end with “Label”

• Control names use camel case

• Camel case: • Lowercase first word; uppercase first letter of each

subsequent word in the name

• Not necessary to assign meaningful names for labels used as prompts because they are never used in code

• Labels used for output should have meaningful names



whole or in part.


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• Button control

• Performs an immediate action when clicked

• Its name should end with “Button”

• Picture Box Control

• Displays an image on the form



whole or in part.

Using the Format Menu• Format menu:

• provides options for manipulating controls on the form

• First control selected is the reference control


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Figure 1-17: How to use the Format menu to align/size/center controls



whole or in part.

The Code Editor Window

• Events:

• User actions while program is running

• Examples: clicking, double-clicking, scrolling

• Event procedure:

• Set of instructions to be processed when an event occurs

• Tells the object how to respond to an event

• Code Editor window:

• Used to enter event procedure’s code


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whole or in part.

The Code Editor Window (cont'd.)


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Figure 1-18: How to open the Code Editor window



whole or in part.


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The Code Editor Window (cont’d.)

• Class statement

• Used to define a class

• Syntax

• Rules of the language

Figure 1-19 Code Editor window



whole or in part.



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Figure 1-20: Code template for the exitButton’s Click procedure



whole or in part.


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• Procedure header

• First line in the code template

• Handles clause indicates for which objects’ events this code will execute

• Procedure footer

• Last line in the code template

• Keyword

• A word with special meaning in a programming language

• Sub procedure

• Block of code that performs a task



whole or in part.


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• Me.Close() instruction

• Closes the current form at run time

• If the current form is the only form, the application is terminated

• Me keyword: refers to the current form

• Method

• Predefined VB procedure that can be invoked (called) when needed

• Sequential processing

• Each line is executed in sequence

• Also called a sequence structure



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-21: Me.Close() instruction entered in the Click event procedure



whole or in part.


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Saving a Solution

• An asterisk (*) appears on the designer and Code Editor tabs if a change was made since the last time the solution was saved

Figure 1-22: How to save a solution



whole or in part.


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Starting and Ending an Application• Startup form

• The form to be displayed when the application starts

Figure 1-23: How to specify the startup form



whole or in part.

Starting and Ending an Application (cont'd.)


42

Figure 1-24: Project Designer window



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-25: How to start an application



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-26: Result of starting the Olivia application



whole or in part.


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• When you start a VB application, the IDE creates an executable file

• Executable file

• Can be run outside of Visual Studio 2015

• Has a file extension of .exe

• Stored in the project’s bin\Debug folder



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-27: How to change the executable file’s name in the Project Designer window



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-28: How to end a running application



whole or in part.


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Assigning a Value to a Property During Run Time• Properties window

• Used to set property values at design time

• Assignment statement

• Assigns a value to a variable or property of a control

• Used to set property values at run time

• String

• Zero or more characters enclosed in quotation marks

• Assignment operator

• the = sign

• Value of expression on the right of the = sign is assigned to the object and property on the left of the = sign



whole or in part.


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Assigning a Value to a Property During Run Time (cont’d.)

Figure 1-29: How to assign a value to an object’s property during run time



whole or in part.


50

Figure 1-30: Assignment statements entered in the Code Editor window

Assigning a Value to a Property During Run Time (cont’d.)



whole or in part.

Printing the Code and User Interface


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Figure 1-31: How to print the code and interface during design time



whole or in part.


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Closing the Current Solution

• Closing a solution closes all projects and files in that solution

• You are prompted to save any files that have unsaved changes

Figure 1-32: How to close a solution



whole or in part.


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Opening an Existing Solution

• Only one solution can be open at any one time

• If a solution is already open, opening a different one will close the currently open solution

Figure 1-33: How to open an existing solution



whole or in part.

Syntax Errors• Bug

• An error in a program’s code

• Debugging

• The process of locating and correcting bugs in a program

• Syntax error

• Occurs when you break one of the programming language’s rules

• Most syntax errors are caused by typing errors

• Rest the mouse pointer on the mistyped instruction to see details about the error


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whole or in part.

Syntax Errors (cont’d.)

• Syntax errors should be corrected before starting an application

• If you start an application with a syntax error, a dialog box appears

• Click No to open the Error List window


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whole or in part.


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Figure 1-34: Syntax error in the exitButton’s Click procedure

Figure 1-35: Result of placing the mouse pointer on the jagged blue line



whole or in part.


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Figure 1-36: Message dialog box

Figure 1-37: Result of starting an application that contains a syntax error



whole or in part.

Programming Tutorial 1


58

Figure 1-55: Correct size for the picture box



whole or in part.

Programming Tutorial 2


59Figure 1-65: Sample run of the Cake Shoppe application



whole or in part.

Programming Example


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Figure 1-67: User interface



whole or in part.

Summary• Object-oriented programming language allows

programmers to use objects to accomplish a goal

• Object: can be seen, touched, or used and has attributes that control its appearance and behavior

• Class: a pattern from which an object can be created

• Applications created in Visual Studio 2015 are composed of solutions, projects, and files

• Windows Form Designer window: used to create GUI applications


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whole or in part.

Summary (cont'd.)

• A form is the foundation for the user interface

• Windows Form object is instantiated from the Windows Form class

• Solution Explorer window: displays names of projects and files in the solution

• Properties window: lists an object’s properties

• All class definitions are contained in namespaces

• System.Windows.Forms namespace contains definition of the Windows Form class and class definitions for objects added to a form


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whole or in part.

Summary (cont'd.)

• Name property: used to refer to an object in code

• Text property of a form: specifies the text to be displayed in the title bar of the form and in the taskbar when running

• Form’s StartPosition property sets the position of the form when it first appears at run time

• Recommended font is Segoe UI in 9-point size

• Toolbox: contains tools for creating the GUI

• A control’s Text property value is displayed inside the control


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whole or in part.

Summary (cont'd.)

• Controls on a form can be selected, sized, moved, deleted, restored or locked or unlocked

• Label control: contains text that a user cannot edit

• Identifying label’s BorderStyle and AutoSize properties are usually set to None and True

• A label control that displays program output, usually has its BorderStyle and AutoSize properties set to FixedSingle and False

• Button control: performs an immediate action when clicked


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whole or in part.

Summary (cont'd.)

• Picture box control: displays an image on a form

• Format menu provides options for aligning and sizing controls on a form

• Event procedure: the code that tells an object how to respond to an event

• Format menu provides options for aligning and sizing controls on a form

• Event procedure: the code that tells an object how to respond to an event


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whole or in part.

Summary (cont'd.)

• Use the Class Name and Method Name list boxes to select an object and event to code

• Code Editor: provides code templates for each object’s event procedures

• Me.Close() instruction: can terminate an application

• You should save the solution every 10 or 15 minutes

• Computer automatically creates an executable file when you start a Visual Basic application in the IDE


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whole or in part.

Summary (cont'd.)

• Use an assignment statement to assign a value to a property during run time

• You should print your application’s code and its user interface

• Closing a solution closes all projects and files in it

• The process of locating and correcting errors (bugs) in a program is called debugging


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Microsoft Visual Basic 2015: Reloaded - irsccsdept.org · Visual Studio 2015 •Visual Basic 2015 ... (IDE): •Contains all the tools and features needed to create, run, ... Microsoft

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