Core MCSD

About the Author
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE Establishing the Development Environment
1 The Visual Basic Integrated Design Environment
MCSD 1.1 Installing Visual Basic
Installation Requirements
Installing over Beta or Pre-Release
Versions
Performing the Installation
Installing Additional Tools and
Components after Visual Basic is Installed
The Integrated Development Environment
The Project Explorer
Visual Basic Designers
Code Windows
The Toolbox
MCSD 1.2 Adding Controls to Forms
MCSD 1.3 Adding ActiveX Controls to the Toolbox
The properties Window
Design-time and Run-time Properties
Read/Write and Read-only Properties
MCSD 1.4 Setting Properties for Controls
The Form Layout Window
The Toolbar
The Menu Bar
The Immediate Window
Visual Basic Projects and Groups
Adding Forms, Modules, and More to Projects
Setting the Project Type and Name
Selecting the Startup Object
Setting Project Help and the Description
Setting Version Information
Setting Application Title and Icon
Setting Command Line Arguments
MCSD 1.5 Setting Conditional Compilation Arguments
MCSD 1.6 Setting Compiler Options
Compile to P-Code or Native Code
Optimize for Fast Code
Optimize for Small Code
No Optimization
Favor Pentium Pro
Create Symbolic Debug Info
DLL Base Address
Assume No Aliasing
Remove Array Bounds Checks
Remove Integer Overflow Checks
Remove Floating Point Error Checks
Allow Unrounded Floating Point Operations
Remove Safe Pentium FDIV Checks
Compiling On Demand
Managing Add-ins
Configuring the IDE
Using the Object Browser
MCSD 1.7 Using Visual Component Manager
Publishing Components to the Visual
Component Manager
Retrieving Components from the Visual
Component Manager
MCSD 1.8 Source Code Version Control
Installing Microsoft SourceSafe
Using the Visual SourceSafe Administrator
Using the Visual SourceSafe Explorer
Visual SourceSafe in Visual Basic
Summary
PART TWO Deriving the Physical Design and Creating User Services
2 Working with Forms
MCSD 2.1 Assessing the Impact of the Design
Performance
Maintainability
Extensibility
Availability
Forms in Overview
Implicitly Loading Forms
Lifetime of Forms
Form Properties
Name
Caption
AutoRedraw
Visible
Enabled
hWnd
Font
BorderStyle
ControlBox
MaxButton and MinButton
BackColor and ForeColor
StartupPosition
Top, Left, Width, and Height
windowState
ScaleMode, ScaleTop, ScaleLeft, ScaleHeight, and ScaleWidth
Form Methods
Show and Hide
Move
Line, Circle, PSet, and Cls
ValidateControls
MCSD 2.2 Adding Code to Form Events
Initialize
Load
Activate
QueryUnload
Unload
Deactivate
Terminate
MCSD 2.3 Form-level Data Validation
Resize
Paint
GotFocus and LostFocus
Multiple-Form Applications
Creating New Forms in Code
Form Arrays
Multiple Document Interface Applications
Adding MDI Child Forms at Run-time
Arranging MDI Child Forms at Run-time
Menus and MDI Forms
Adding a Window List Menu item
MCSD 2.4 Using the Forms Collection
Dialog Boxes
Summary
3 Working with Controls
Control Overview
Control Properties, Methods, and Events
Properties
Methods
Events
MCSD 3.1 Setting Properties for Controls in
Code
MCSD 3.2 Adding Code to Control Events
Writing Code that Processes Data Entered on a Form
Using DoEvents with Multiple Event Handlers
Standard Control Properties
Name
Caption
Access Keys for Controls
Text
Visible
Enabled
Tag
Index
Font
Parent
Value
BackColor and ForeColor
MousePointer
Top, Left, Width, and Height
hWnd
CausesValidation
Standard Control Methods
Move
SetFocus
Standard Control Events
Click
DblClick
Change
GotFocus and LostFocus
Mouse Events
Key Events
Validate
Implementing Navigational Design
The TabStop Property
The TabIndex Property
Control Arrays
MCSD 3.3 Enabling and Disabling Controls
Based on User Input
MCSD 3.4 The Controls Collection
MCSD 3.5 Adding and Deleting Controls at Run-time
Using Control Arrays
Using the Controls Collection
Adding Unreferenced Controls at Run-time
Dragging and Dropping inside a Form
OLE Dragging and Dropping
Dragging Data
Dropping Data
MCSD 3.6 Field-level Data Validation
Using the Change, KeyPress, LostFocus,
and Validate Events
Summary
4 Visual Basic Core Controls and Syntax
Naming Conventions in Visual Basic
Variable Type Ranges
Declaring Variables
Variable Scope
Declarations with Public
Declarations with Private
Declarations with Dim
Declarations with Static
The Const Statement
Declaring Arrays
Redimensioning Arrays
Creating a User-defined Type
String-handling Functions
The If Statement
The Select Case Structure
The Choose Function
The Switch Function
The For Loop
The Do Loop
The While Loop
The For Each Statement
The With Statement
The Exit Statements
Working with Procedures
Declaring Sub-procedures
Declaring Functions
Passing Arguments to Procedures
Using Named Arguments
Using Optional Arguments
Passing an Undetermined Number of Arguments
Calling by Value or by Reference
Passing and Returning Arrays
Procedure Scope
Calling Dynamic Link Libraries
Handling Windows Data Types
Callback Functions
MCSD 4.1 Using Conditional Compilation
Structuring Code for Conditional Compiling
Declaring Conditional Compilation
Constants
Setting Constants in Code
Setting Constants in the Project
Properties Dialog Box
Setting Constants on the Command Line
Predefined Compiler Constants
Text Boxes
Frames
Labels
Command Buttons
Check Boxes
Option Buttons
Scroll Bars
List Boxes
Combo Boxes
Picture Boxes
Timers
Common Dialogs
The File Open and File Save Dialog Box
The Color Dialog Box
The Font Dialog Box
The Printer Dialog Box
The Help Dialog Box
Lightweight Controls
Summary
5 Creating Menus
Menu Overview
Access Keys and Shortcuts
Menus and Menu Items in Code
Menu Design
The Menu Editor
Creating a File Menu
Creating Menu Items in the File Menu
Creating an Edit Menu
The Menu Editor Step-by-step
Adding Code to Menu Items
Adding Code to Menus
Creating a Menu Separator
Adding Access Characters
Adding Shortcuts
Standard Shortcuts
Creating Submenus
MCSD 5.1 Dynamically Modifying the
Appearance of Menus
Adding and Removing Check Marks in Menus
Adding or Removing Check Marks at
Design-Time
Adding or Removing Check Marks at Run-time
Enabling and Disabling Menu Items
Enabling or Disabling Menu Controls at
Design-time
Enabling or Disabling Menu Controls at Run-time
Making Menu Items Visible or Invisible
Making Menu Controls Visible or Invisible
at Design-time
Making Menu Controls Visible or Invisible at Run-time
Changing Menu Captions
Changing Menu Captions at Design-time
Changing Menu