Advanced Visual Basic Techniques [Paperback]

Rod Stephens (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471188816 | ISBN-13: 978-0471188810 | Publication Date: July 8, 1997

Essential skills for the Visual Basic programmer to create high-powered business applications.

This book shows professional Visual Basic programmers how to master high-level techniques for developing applications with Visual Basic 5. Teaching by example, author Rod Stephens demonstrates advanced methods for object, database, client/server, and Internet programming. He provides fifteen fully functioning applications that each teach a different set of programming skills. CD-ROM contains all fully functioning applications included in the book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Essential skills for the Visual Basic programmer to create high-powered business applications. This book shows professional Visual Basic programmers how to master high-level techniques for developing applications with Visual Basic 5. Teaching by example, author Rod Stephens demonstrates advanced methods for object, database, client/server, and Internet programming. He provides fifteen fully functioning applications that each teach a different set of programming skills. CD-ROM contains all fully functioning applications included in the book.

From the Back Cover

Learn advanced programming techniques using Visual Basic 5
* Master advanced database and client/server techniques
* Build powerful Internet and Web applications
* Provides more than a dozen complete business applications you can use and customize For the Visual Basic programmer who needs to create high-powered business applications.

This invaluable guide shows experienced Visual Basic programmers how to master high-level techniques for developing applications with Visual Basic 5. VB expert Rod Stephens covers advanced methods for object, database, client/server, and Internet programming. Teaching by example, he's created 15 fully functioning applications that each demonstrate a different set of programming skills. After reviewing the basic techniques that all professional programmers should know, Stephens moves on to more advanced skills for:
* ActiveX and OLE programming, such as how to build useful
* VB programming tools like VB add-ons and ActiveX controls
* Database programming using VB objects, such as how to build a networked personnel system
* Client/server programming, such as how to build an asynchronous report server
* Internet and Web programming, such as how to build a Web server that captures survey results.

Advanced Visual Basic Techniques introduces all of the latest features and upgrades of Visual Basic and includes many applications that programmers can use directly or customize to their specific needs.

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (July 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471188816
• ISBN-13: 978-0471188810
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,700,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How NOT to use Visual Basic, April 2, 2000

By 

Great Movie Addict (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Visual Basic Techniques (Paperback)

Nothing "advanced" here. Samples sometimes approach the intermediate stage, but stop short. The samples (most of which refuse to run) are, however, perfect examples of how NOT to design user input screens and how NOT to write VB code. In one so-called "real-world" example, the author assumes that salespeople and office clerks communicate with corporate databases by composing and submitting their own SQL statements. This example is so poorly designed that anyone (especially a non-techy) could blow up this program by just looking at it. The Query sample is easily outdone by VB's own Visdata utility. In another example, a VB Timer is used to create a redundant ActiveX control, when the Timer itself would have sufficed. In yet another, multiple copies of the same drop-down boxes are used (in a real-world database, this would soon blow out all available stack areas). In another, the author uses the Change Event to track user input instead of the more relevant Key Press and other events. In another, he displays a nearly full-screen HTML pseudo-help screen to deliver one, eight-word sentence -- ignoring the fact that this would be the perfect place to teach beginners how to use Popup menus! In fact, Help screens are much easier to design that this, but the author ignores the tools that VB itself provides for the work. In another sample, he uses "advanced" scrolling techniques to move 50 individual VB controls one at a time, instead of moving their container once, then blithely mentions later that moving the container is really how to do it, then proceeds to repeat the mistake in later examples. VB's own (free) Help and user manuals are far more sophisticated and accurate. Because there are so many useless examples and contrived (and often incorrect and sadly ineffcient or inadequate) programming solutions, I would not recommend this book to beginners, much less to "advanced" programmers. Readers who grant 5 stars to this tome have either never bothered to look into VB's own guides, or have never programmed before, or both. Some rather basic Windows API calls are used inappropriately, data labels are used when Grids would be suitable (and more advanced), and the author incorrectly assumes that database users know exactly what they're looking for and how to find it. Many VB beginners know better than to design interfaces or write code like this; advanced users would be too embarrassed to use most of these designs; and urging beginners to use VB as presented here would set them off on the wrong track.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Definetly not a teaching tool!!, February 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Advanced Visual Basic Techniques (Paperback)

Fair in Database explanation. Most of it useless. Does not explain his objects, most fail when loaded. If I had not removed the cd I would return it, must be friends that gave five stars!!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I returned the book., July 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Visual Basic Techniques (Paperback)

I bought this book with high expectations. The author certainly covers some very interesting topics. There is a wealth of code provided that demonstrates how to implement various advanced features. However, the associated text is almost worthless. The vast majority of the written commentary is just that, it is essentially a big comment block for the included code examples. Instead of explaining why the code works as it does and how to implement such features, it is a basic narrative of what the code is doing. I got more out of reading the code and looking things up in a manual than I did actually reading the book. This was not what I was looking for when I bought this book.