| Learn the Basics
The course includes two beginner tutorials - one for
Visual Basic and one for Visual Basic .Net. These beginner tutorials are
intended for a complete beginner or for someone who needs a programming
refresher tutorial for Visual Basic and/or for Visual Basic .Net.
The beginner tutorials comprise of step-by-step instructions to write
programs that cover the basics of programming. Some of the topics covered
by these tutorials include:
Using Visual Basic. In
this lesson you will learn to use the tools of Visual Basic to write your
first program.
Scrollbars. Learn
to implement programs that include scrollbars.
Check
boxes and Edit boxes. Learn to implement programs
that include Check Boxes and Edit boxes. You'll learn to implement
programs that include "regular" check boxes, as well as
"fancy" check boxes that have pictures on their surfaces.
Menus.
Learn to implement programs that include Menus. You'll also learn
how to design menus with features such as check marks next to a menu item
that was selected, and so on.
Option
Buttons. Learn to implement programs that include
Option Buttons (also known as radio buttons).
Shapes.
Learn to implement programs that include shapes (circles, ovals,
rectangles, squares, and so on). You'll learn to display the shapes with
different characteristics (e.g., border filling), and so on. You'll also
learn how to implement transparent shapes.
Timers.
Learn to implement programs that utilize Timers. You'll learn to
appreciate the importance of timers in Windows.
Images.
Learn to implement programs that utilize Images. Display images
such as BMP images, JPEG pictures, and GIF images.
Pictures.
Learn to implement programs that utilize Pictures.
Toolbars
and Status bars. Learn to implement programs that
include Toolbars and Status bars. Learn to place objects on your Toolbars
and Status bars, learn to incorporate multiple toolbars and status bars in
your program, learn to create side toolbars (toolbars that are located on
the right/left side of the window).
Variable
Declarations. Learn all about variable declarations
(a very important topic in Visual Basic programming). Also learn how to
make Visual Basic check for typo errors that you may make.
Getting
User Input. Learn to implement programs that get data
and information from your users. You'll learn how to get user input, how
to check the validity of the user data, and how to use your user data from
within your program. You'll also learn about modal dialog boxes and you'll
learn how to place the Input Box at any desired location on the screen.
Decisions
Makers. Learn about the Decision Maker statements in
Visual Basic.
Random
Numbers. Learn that random numbers is something you
will frequently need in your future Visual Basic projects. In this
tutorial you'll learn how to generate random numbers.
Lines.
Learn to implement programs that draw lines. You'll learn to draw
lines with different length, thickness, and colors.
Points.
Learn to implement programs that draw points. You'll learn to draw
points with different diameters, and different colors. You'll also learn
to create some special effects.
Line
Method. Learn to use the Line method, a useful method
that enables you to quickly and easily draw lines, rectangles, and filled
rectangles. You'll learn to implement programs that use the Line method.
Scope
of Variables. A very important topic that you have to
master when writing Visual Basic programs is the topic of scope of
variables. In this tutorial you'll implement a program that demonstrates
the scope of variables in Visual Basic. You'll learn about local
variables, static variables and global variables.
Procedures.
Learn about procedures. You'll learn the importance of procedures
for well organized programs, how to execute procedures, and how to pass
parameters to procedures (ByVal and ByRef).
Functions.
Learn about functions. You'll learn the importance of functions in
Visual Basic. You'll learn how to execute functions, and how to pass
parameters to functions (ByVal and ByRef).
Draw
with Mouse. Learn how to design programs that let
your user use the mouse for drawing. In particular, you'll learn how
design a program that lets your user draw circles. This program
illustrates how you use the mouse for implementing user interface
mechanism.
Free
Hand Drawing. Learn how to design programs that let
your user use the mouse for free-hand drawing. In particular, you'll learn
how design a program that lets your user use the mouse as a pencil. This
program illustrates how you use the mouse for implementing user interface
mechanism. In this tutorial you'll also learn how to set the mouse cursor
to different mouse cursor pictures.
Arrays.
Learn about Arrays. You'll learn to create arrays in your programs, you'll
learn about dynamic arrays (re-dimensioning arrays), and other related
array topics.
List Boxes.
Learn how to design programs that use List Boxes. You will also
learn how to use the Clipboard of Windows together with List Boxes. List
Boxes are important user interface mechanism in Windows and they let your
user select an item from a list of items. In this tutorial you will also
learn to implement the standard Copy/Cut/Paste clipboard operations.
Combo
Boxes. Learn how to design programs that use
ComboBoxes. ComboBoxes are important user interface mechanism in Windows
and they let your user select an item from a list of items, or let the
user type his/her own text.
Clipboard.
Learn to write programs that use the Windows Clipboard. The Clipboard is
an important tool that your user expects to see incorporated into your
programs. You will learn to write program that use the Clipboard to
Copy/Paste/Cut text and pictures from/to the Clipboard.
Runtime
Picture Loading. Learn to write programs that display
pictures. However, these programs load the picture files during runtime.
This means that the EXE file of such a program is small, and the picture
files are not an integral part of the EXE program file.
Refresh.
Learn to take advantage of the
Refresh method. When you use this method, your program can refresh the
screen and display progress and other information during the course of
performing complex and long operations.
Repainting
Windows. Learn to incorporate
code that repaints the window of your program. When your user places
another window on the window of your program and then exposes the window
of your program again, the contents of the window of your program has to
be repainted. Depending on the contents of your program's window, some of
the contents may be repainted automatically by the operating system. It is
your job (as a programmer) to repaint these objects which the operating
system does not repaint.
Interrupt
Processes. Learn to write code that lets the user
interrupt long processes. That is, sometimes your program may be involved
in a very long computation process, and you may want your user to be able
to interrupt the process in an honorable manner (e.g., not by pressing
Alt+Ctrl+Delete).
Idle
Loops. In this tutorial you'll learn about the Idle
loop. As you'll see during the course of this tutorial, the idle loop lets
you create programs that perform background tasks in a very efficient
manner.
FRM
Structures. Learn about the structure of the FRM
files. To better illustrate the structure of the FRM files, you'll first
implement a simple program, and then you'll inspect the structure of the
FRM file of the program that you created.
Execute
Programs. Learn to execute other programs from within
your Visual Basic programs.
Multiple
Windows. Learn to design programs that utilize
multiple windows (forms). Multiple forms program is a commonly used
technique in Windows programming. During
the course of implementing the program of the tutorial, you will learn to
implement modeless and modal windows, and other related multi forms
techniques.
Standard
Message Box. Learn to design programs that utilize
the standard message box of Windows. In this tutorial you'll also learn to
write code that terminates programs properly.
Multiple
Document Interface (MDI). Learn to design programs
that utilize the standard Multiple Document Interface (MDI) technique.
This is a standard and popular way of designing Windows programs that have
parent and child windows.
Common
Dialog ActiveX (OCX). Learn
to design programs that utilize the CommonDialog ActiveX (OCX) control.
The CommonDialog control is a popular and standard way to let the user
select files. You will also learn how to use this control for letting the
user select colors.
User
Defines Data Types. Learn to declare your own data
type (User-Defined Data types), and then you'll write a program that
utilizes the data type that you declared.
Create/Save/Read/Append
Files, Randomly. Learn to create, save, read
and update files. The program that you will write will access the files
randomly.
Create/Save/Read/Append
Files, Sequentially. Learn to create,
save, read and update files. The program that you will write will access
the files sequentially.
Create/Save/Read/Append
Files, Binary Files. Learn to create, save, read and
update binary files.
Add
Controls During Runtime. You'll
learn to write programs that add controls at run time (from within your
programs). Thus, while your program is running you can add controls on a
need to use basis (See Figure 1).
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1. Learn the Basics