.NET is a revolutionary advance in programming technology that greatly simplifies application development. Microsoft’s popular Visual Basic programming language has been upgraded to take advantage of the new .NET features. Visual Basic has become a fully object-oriented programming language with capabilities comparable to C++, Java, and Microsoft’s new language C#.

This course is a practical introduction to programming in Visual Basic and the use of services provided by .NET. It emphasizes the Visual Basic language and how to build Visual Basic applications from an object-oriented perspective. Knowledge of the earlier version of the language, Visual Basic 6, is not required. It is current to Visual Studio 2012 and .NET 4.5, which continues the introduction of new features in the language, making Visual Basic increasingly parallel to C#.

One of the strengths of Visual Basic, and the reason it has enjoyed such widespread use, is the ease with which Windows application can be developed. Microsoft has revamped the way that Windows applications are built under .NET. Windows Forms, used by .NET languages, represents a class library that brings uniformity to the components of a Windows application. The course includes substantial coverage of using Windows Forms in Visual Basic, including creating database applications with ADO.NET.

The first part of the course covers the fundamentals of Microsoft’s Visual Basic programming language. It starts with a brief chapter, “.NET: What You Need To Know,” which gets you up and running in the .NET environment with a minimum of fuss. The next five chapters cover the Visual Basic language essentials.

The second part of the course discusses object-oriented programming in Visual Basic. It contains three chapters that focus on developing classes using Visual Basic and then extending them via Visual Basic’s inheritance capabilities. Interface-based programming and collection classes are also introduced.

The final part of the course introduces Windows Forms. Programmers familiar with previous versions of VB will notice that this significantly changes the programming model, yet also introduces flexibility not previously available. The chapters in this part evolve from building simple form-based applications to ones with dialogs and menus. It includes an introduction to database programming using ADO.NET. The course concludes with a chapter covering the newer features in Visual Basic. These include iterators and keywords to support asynchronous programming using the Task class, which were introduced in Visual Basic 2012. An appendix provides a tutorial on Visual Studio 2012.

The course is practical, with many example programs and a progressively developed case study. The student will receive a comprehensive set of materials, including course notes and all the programming examples.

• Gain an understanding of the .NET architecture
• Gain a working knowledge of the Visual Basic programming language
• Learn how to build object-oriented applications using Visual Basic
• Learn how to implement Windows desktop applications using Windows Forms, including programs that interact with databases
• Gain a working knowledge of auto-implemented properties, local type inference, object initializers, anonymous types, extension methods, collection initializers, LINQ, iterators, async keywords, and other newer features in Visual Basic

The student should have some programming experience.

• .NET: What You Need To Know
  • .NET Executables and the CLR
  • A .NET Testbed for Visual Basic Programming
  • Visual Studio 2012
• Fundamentals of Visual Basic Programming
  • Program Structure
  • Namespaces
  • Data Types
  • Variables
  • Conversions
  • Operators and Expressions
  • Console I/O
• Control Structures
  • If Statement
  • Select Case Statement
  • Do/Loop Statement
  • For/Next Statement
  • Exit and Continue
• Procedures
  • Subroutines
  • Functions
  • Pass-by-value Versus Pass-by-reference
  • Access modifiers
  • Overloading
  • Optional Parameters
• Advanced Data Types
  • Arrays
  • Enumerations
  • Structures
• Exception Handling
  • Error Detection
  • Exception Handling
• Object-Oriented Programming
  • Object-Oriented Concepts
  • Defining Classes
  • Methods and Properties
  • Auto-Implemented Properties
  • Shared Data and Methods
  • Constructors
• Inheritance
  • Inheritance
  • Controlling Base Class Construction
  • Access Control
  • Polymorphism
  • Events
  • Abstract and Not Inheritable Classes
  • Type Conversion in Inheritance
• Interfaces and Collections
  • Interface Fundamentals
  • Programming with Interfaces
  • Using Interfaces at Runtime
  • Resolving Ambiguities
  • Collections
  • Generic Types
  • Type-Safe Collections
• Introduction to Windows Forms
  • Creating Windows Applications Using Visual Studio 2012
  • Partial Classes
  • Handling Events
  • Common Controls
• Windows Forms Controls
  • Buttons, Labels and Textboxes
  • Radio Buttons and Group Boxes
  • Check Boxes
  • List Boxes and Combo Boxes
  • Timer Control
  • Flexible Event Handling
• User Interface Features
  • Message Boxes
  • Custom Dialogs
  • Modeless Dialogs
  • Common Dialogs
  • Menus
  • Context Menus
• Database Programming
  • ADO.NET
  • .NET Data Providers
  • Using Data Readers
  • Using Data Sets
  • Data Binding
• Newer Features in Visual Basic
  • Local Type Inference
  • Object Initializers
  • Array Initializers
  • Anonymous Types
  • Partial Methods
  • Extension Methods
  • Collection Initializers
  • Variance in Generic Interfaces
  • Language Integrated Query (LINQ)
  • Iterators
  • Asynchronous Programming Keywords
• Appendix A. Using Visual Studio 2012
  • Overview of Visual Studio 2012
  • Creating a Console Application
  • Project Configurations
  • Debugging
  • Multiple-Project Solutions

Course examples require Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 and Windows 7 or higher. See the appropriate course Setup Guide for details.

A good minimal hardware profile for this course consists of a 2 GHz or better CPU, 1 GB of RAM, and at least 10 GB of free disk space for tools installation and courseware.