Customer Reviews

Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Before I rave about this title, let me start with a caveat. This is not a beginner's "Learn VB.NET" or "Learn to Program" book - it's for intermediate to advanced programmers.

That being said, this is a great book for anyone who actually needs to do _real_work_ (shudder) with Windows Forms.

Unlike a lot of books out there, this isn't a huge tome that rehashes the MSDN docs or goes into all the minutiae of Microsoft's latest GUI framework. Instead, Mr. Sells has condensed much of his deep knowledge of WinForms into these chapters, detailing many of the traps you need to avoid - and tricks you'll need to use - if you want to create WinForms apps that do more than just say "hello world".

The author is a true expert on Windows Forms. I don't know how he did it, but he knows stuff - key stuff - that you can't find in any of the written docs from Microsoft. He shares this vital information in a style that is both logical and concise.

IMO, if you need to build WinForms apps, this book will return the money you spend on it many times over.

If you are a VB.NET developer - or one coming from a 'classic' VB background - and you want a no-nonsense guide to the key elements of WinForms development, this book is for you. In-depth practical experience shines through every chapter.

Should be considered *THE* reference for any Windows Forms developer for .NET. This book covers everything from intro material to details of threading and security, and covers it all well. Keep it nearby when developing.

Building UI's can be a real pain, but it's a great feeling when you know you built a great UI. This book can get you there in a hurry. This is one of those books thats so fun to read you actually forget you are learning some really great techniques.

If you are an advnaced developer, I think there are some great ideas in here and they certainly explain a lot of the how's and why's that you may have missed. If you are a newbie, this book will save you tons of time and effort stumbling around.

Content wise it's superb. Every chapter was compelling and interesting.

Editorially - great, I have yet to find any typos or grammar problems, and the code all works.

I also really like the layout of the book. The examples are great, everything is clear and easy to understand; they just did a really good job on this.

I must say, Chris Sells is the most enjoyable CS author i have ever read. This book was actually recommended by Carl Franklin of franklins.net and i must say that i haven't been happier. Chris communicates on levels that some of us rarley go. Chris starts off with here is console app, and then scales all the way up into windows apps, custom painting, printing, threading, etc. Chris you are one gifted author, and when .NET 2.0 comes out, i'll be the first to order your book.

I was a little frustrated with myself in trying to pick up .NET development. After all, I could code VB6 w/o effort, but I was struggling to find a book that would be more than a beginner's guide but that would help get me locked into solid .NET development using Winforms. Chris Sells', Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET, was the book I was looking for. From learning the basics of the new .NET Winforms, Controls, and IDE to more advanced concepts new to VB programmers such as inheritance, multithreading, and useful tips and hints, this book covers a great deal. I especially enjoyed the straightforward style of writing used in this book that avoided unnecessary commentary, rants, or other footnotes that many authors feel the need to add but that don't help much with learning the concepts at hand. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it both for the beginner and the experienced looking for a great presentation that will help in your quest to learn Smart Client development using VS.NET.

Chris Sells book on window forms programming is a huge let down. I kept hearing it was the defacto book on Winforms develpment; I bought the 1.1 version and the 2.0 versions.
After doing considerable 1.1 programming, and trying to use his book; I couldn't believe how terrible it was.

The section that is dedicated to data grids and data binding is all combined and co-mingled. It stops after it tells you how to populate a grid. With no discusion of how to access the data, use the data in a n-tier database update application, and with no hint as to validation of the data or an of the miriad of incidental programming tasks you MUST perform on a data grid. I have very seldom, if ever, have found what I needed in this book.

Please don't buy this book, and please don't recommend it to anyone. For 1.1 there is a much better book by Eric Brown, Windows Forms Programming C#, if you can get it. It took me months to get mine on Amazon - but it was worth the wait... I love it.

I have been programming in Visual Basic 6.0 for over 7 years now. I have often thought of making the switch to [VB], but could never find the book that would help me make the transition. Sure I read all of the books I could find. It wasn't until I was surfing around Safari Books Online and I came across this book. I figured this was going to be another boring, hard to read technical book on Visual Basic programming. I almost passed over it, but then I thought, "No. I'll take a look." I had the book on my Safari bookshelf for a long time and I used it FREQUENTLY to answer questions that I had come up while learning [VB].

I just recently was able to obtain a hard copy of the book and I have it sitting here next to my computer. I can sure find the answers a lot faster in the hard copy. :-) And what I have discovered is that the information that Chris Sells gives in this book is good for any version of VB.NET. I'm looking forward to giving it a try when Visual Basic (..) 2005 comes out in November. Then we shall really put Chris to the test. LOL. Of course, he had better work on getting a revised edition out because there are a lot more new controls and features in 2005 that I want to see him cover so that I can upgrade my copy of his book to help with that as well.

Awesome Work Chris. Don't ever stop writing books. At least not as far as the Visual Basic (...) books are concerned. (...)