Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook [Paperback]

Evangelos Petroutsos (Author), Mark Ridgeway (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782128793 | ISBN-13: 978-0782128796 | Publication Date: December 20, 2002

Perhaps you've had a taste of .NET programming and are hungry for more advanced coverage of the new Visual Basic. Or perhaps you've mastered VB-6 and are ready to move to the .NET framework and the capabilities of Visual Basic .NET. Either way, Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook gives you what you want, and need.

If your goals involve web programming, this book offers detailed instruction that will help you achieve them. You'll learn to use Visual Basic .NET to build and deploy XML-based Web services, create ASP.NET-based web applications, and implement support for mobile devices. As you progress, you'll master some of the trickier aspects of form design, solve tough database connectivity challenges, and secure your applications with built-in .NET features.

If you're a Windows programmer who knows VB-6 inside and out, you'll find many compelling reasons for making the shift to VB.NET. This book provides the specialized coverage you need to do it quickly and effectively. You'll learn how the newest Visual Basic lets you build dramatically better Windows applications. You may cringe at the thought of mastering a new file I/O methodology, for example, but wait until you see all that streams has to offer, beginning with faster data access. And, you'll also learn new, more -effective approaches to building custom Windows services and controls.

Visual Basic .NET is at the forefront of the convergence of Windows and web programming. Whatever your focus, whatever your career path, Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook is the resource best suited to helping you navigate this convergence--skillfully and successfully.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Perhaps you’ve had a taste of .NET programming and are hungry for more advanced coverage of the new Visual Basic. Or perhaps you’ve mastered VB-6 and are ready to move to the .NET framework and the capabilities of Visual Basic .NET. Either way, Visual Basic .NET Developer’s Handbook gives you what you want, and need.

If your goals involve web programming, this book offers detailed instruction that will help you achieve them. You’ll learn to use Visual Basic .NET to build and deploy XML-based Web services, create ASP.NET-based web applications, and implement support for mobile devices. As you progress, you’ll master some of the trickier aspects of form design, solve tough database connectivity challenges, and secure your applications with built-in .NET features.

If you’re a Windows programmer who knows VB-6 inside and out, you’ll find many compelling reasons for making the shift to VB.NET. This book provides the specialized coverage you need to do it quickly and effectively. You’ll learn how the newest Visual Basic lets you build dramatically better Windows applications. You may cringe at the thought of mastering a new file I/O methodology, for example, but wait until you see all that streams has to offer, beginning with faster data access. And, you’ll also learn new, more -effective approaches to building custom Windows services and controls.

Visual Basic .NET is at the forefront of the convergence of Windows and web programming. Whatever your focus, whatever your career path, Visual Basic .NET Developer’s Handbook is the resource best suited to helping you navigate this convergence—skillfully and successfully.

About the Author

Evangelos Petroutsos is a computer engineer who gained much of his experience at the California Institute of Technology and MCI. Currently, he writes computer books and works as a freelance computer consultant and trainer. He has authored and co-authored dozens of programming titles, including several earlier editions of this book, Mastering Visual Basic .NET, and Mastering Visual Basic .NET Database Programming.

Mark Ridgeway is head of IT at Braemar College in Woodend, Australia, where he runs a computer network and teaches young minds to take nothing for granted. He has written a number of articles and tutorials on developing for the Mobile Internet and is the author of .NET Wireless Programming, also from Sybex.

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (December 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782128793
• ISBN-13: 978-0782128796
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,752,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great information...if you're up for the challenge, April 7, 2004

By 

Kyralessa (St Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook (Paperback)

This is a tough book; "Learn VB .NET in 10 Minutes" it ain't. But if you're willing to put the effort into it, this is a book that contains real meat instead of the fluff you get with so many computer books.

There are a few things you should realize before you begin:

1) This is not an introduction to VB .NET; use some other book for that. This book comes after you've done "Hello World" and a few other minor programs and are wondering how to get from tinkerer to guru.

2) There's a LOT of SQL Server stuff in this book, so if you haven't worked with SQL Server or another OLTP database (Oracle, DB2, Informix, etc.), you won't understand it. You don't have to be a SQL Server guru but you do have to know how to create tables, stored procedures, etc. Knowledge of Access is not enough.

3) Many examples use the built-in SQL Server integration in Server Explorer in the Visual Studio .NET IDE; this requires VS .NET Enterprise. If you have a different version of VS .NET (I have Academic), then get SQL Server Developer Edition (it's reasonably inexpensive) and use the Enterprise Manager to do these parts. Trust me, while you can use Access to do some (not all) of the work, the information in the book is intense enough that you're better off not making things even more complex by trying to use a different database from the examples.

4) It's slow going. That's normal in a nearly 1000-page book which is, unlike most computer books, packed full of information. Don't get discouraged. Realize that you may come to subjects you know nothing about (say, XML) and may have to set the book down, go do some reading, and come back to it. Realize also that if you're used to skimming content-lite books, you'll have to resist the temptation here, or you'll miss a lot.

With all that in mind, if you're a so-so VB .NET programmer looking to make a career of it, or a VB5/6 programmer wanting to learn what's new about .NET, this book is _the_ book you need.

However...I do have to take away a star because of typos in the code. There aren't many, but they seem to occur especially in sections where very similar code is repeated. Think of them as code-reading practice!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the money, March 30, 2006

By 

one bald guy (southeast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook (Paperback)

The publisher has not seen fit to publish an errata for this book. It certainly needs one.

In chapter 9 the ExplorerStyle sample program demonstrates how to implement custom sorting via a ListView's ListViewItemSorter property and a class implemented using the ICompare interface. Their claim, that the ListView.Sorting property can be used once a ListView.ListViewItemSorter has been assigned, is incorrect. It's impossible to sort the list in descending order by setting the ListView.Sorting property.

Later in that chapter they demonstrate a technique to persist and to reload data using the serialization tools of the .NET Framework. Their sample code is able to persist the data but their code to read and to rebuild the TreeView from the saved data is incorrect. The resulting structure is wrong and the content of the final node is wrong. In addition the data they store in the TreeView.Tag property is not reloaded and assigned to the proper nodes.

In chapter 12 they attempt to demonstrate the use of the Inherits keyword by creaing a child class and supplying a unique Method (CheckDigit) in that class. Unfortunately they didn't think through their example. Later they can't use the child class in their sample code. In order to demonstrate their Method they have to create a dummy instance of the child class so that they can invoke that Method on an instance of the parent class.

Now you might say that my review reflects only two chapters of the book. I reply that I've only read three chapters (chapters 8, 9, and 12) and so far I am mightly unimpressed. The topics of chapters 9 and 12 are not that advanced. The fact that the authors can't get the basics right doesn't give me much confidence in their knowledge of more advanced topics.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but some errors in typos, April 4, 2005

By 

Allan Lee - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Visual Basic .NET Developer's Handbook (Paperback)

This is a good book. The authors know a great deal about the subject. The only draw back is you need to have some VB.NET coding and store procedures writing before attempting to read this book: some of the codes do not work and will require your knowledge to correct them first !

Still worth it, it keeps you mentally alert.