Ron Cundiff's WebLog

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 17: Custom Windows Forms Controls, Wrap-up

In this session we learned about building custom Windows Forms controls, including some advanced graphics teqniques.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some more resources for this session:

• Developing Custom Windows Forms Controls with the .NET Framework
• Developing Custom Windows Controls Using Visual Basic .NET
• Developing Windows Forms Controls at Design-Time
• Windows Forms Controls
• Windows Forms Walkthroughs and How-to Topics
• System.Windows.Forms.Control Class
• Using GDI+ and Visual Basic .NET
• Graphics in the .NET Framework with Visual Basic

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 16: Visual Basic and Windows Applications, Wrap-up

In this session, we explored how to build Windows applications using Visual Basic 2005, including learning about the base form class, dynamic layout on our forms, and some simple graphics functionality.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some related resources:

• Getting Started with Windows Forms
• Changing the Appearance of Windows Forms
• Arranging Controls on Windows Forms
• System.Windows.Forms Namespace
• Code for Windows Forms Applications
• Getting Started with Windows Forms
• Order of Events in Windows Forms

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 15: Custom Web Controls, Wrap-up

In this session, we learned about controls we can build using Visual Basic to enhance our web applications and streamline our development efforts, including building custom user controls, custom server controls, and design-time controls.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some related resources:

• ControlDesigner Class
• Recommendations for Web User Controls vs. Web Custom Controls
• Implementing a Simple Web Forms Control Designer
• Design-Time Support for Web Forms
• Enhancing Design-Time Support
• Developing ASP.NET Server Controls
• Walkthrough: Creating a Web Custom Control

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 14: Visual Basic and the Web, Wrap-up

In this session, we introduced Visual Web Developer Express Edition, and showed how to build web applications using this tool and the Visual Basic language.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some related resources:

• Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
• Guide to building web sites with Visual Web Developer
• Web Applications - How Do I? (in Visual Basic)

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 13: Inheritance and Polymorphism, Wrap-up

In this session, we discussed inheritance and polymorphism in Visual Basic, and how to implement a class hierarchy.  Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some related resources:

• Object-Oriented Programming in Visual Basic .NET
• Inheritance in Visual Basic
• Inheritance Basics
• How to use inheritance in Visual Basic 2005

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 12: Delegates and Events, Wrap-up

In this session, we discussed using delegates and events in Visual Basic.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

Here are some more resources on using delegates and events:

• A Primer on Creating Type-Safe References to Methods in Visual Basic .NET
• Delegates in Visual Basic
• Events in Visual Basic

I also had someone ask for an example of creating threads in Visual Basic, like to update a progress bar.  Here's an example:

How to create threads in Visual Basic .NET

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 11: Exception Handling, Wrap-up

In this session, we discussed using structured exception handling within our applications to prevent run-time errors.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

Here are some more resources on exception handling in Visual Basic:

• How to use structured exception handling in Visual Basic .NET
• Error Handling in Visual Basic .NET
• Introduction to Exception Handling in Visual Basic .NET
• Best Practices for Handling Exceptions
• ApplicationException Class
• Handling and Throwing Exceptions
• Throwing Exceptions from Components
• Exception Handling
• Structured Exception Handling

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 10: Arrays and Collections, Wrap-up

In this session, we discussed using arrays and collections to store our data within our applications.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

Here are some more resources related to the topic:

• ArrayList Class
• How to: Create a Collection of Objects
• Collections in Visual Basic
• Collections as an Alternative to Arrays
• How to: Initialize an Array Variable
• Overview of Arrays in Visual Basic
• Arrays in Visual Basic
• Option Strict Statement
• Option Explicit Statement

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 9: Basic Debugging, Wrap-up

In this session, we discussed some basic debugging techniques and features in Visual Basic Express Edition we can leverage in order to troubleshoot our applications.

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some more resources for further understanding debugging applications:

• What Went Wrong? Finding and Fixing Errors through Debugging
• Debugging Your Visual Basic Application

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 8: Branching and Looping, Wrap-up

In the last session, we talked about making decisions in our apps, including how we can iterate over a collection of statements based on a condition (or for every item in a collection).

Here are the resources for this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

Here are more resources related to branching and looping in Visual Basic:

• Decision Structures
• Loop Structures
• If...Then...Else
• Select...Case
• Control Flow Summary
• Exit Statement
• Do...Loop Statement
• While...End While Statement
• With...End With

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 7: Operator Basics, Wrap-up

Unfortunately, I was unable to post the wrap-up for last week's session until now, due to connectivity issues.  (BTW, do you suffer from "Internet withdrawal" when you can't get connected?)  But now that I'm in a different city, different hotel, I have connectivity again! 

And here's the wrap-up for our last session in this series:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code

And here are some more resources related to Operators in Visual Basic:

Using Operators in Visual Basic

Operators in Visual Basic

Operator Overloading in Visual Basic 2005

Arithmetic Operators

Logical Operators

Description of "short-circuit" evaluation in Visual Basic

AndAlso Operator

OrElse Operator

Build Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets (and win some cool prizes while you're at it)

The Code Project is hosting a competition (and offering cool prizes) for the best Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets.  Find out more.  Pretty cool that you get to play with new technology and maybe earn some swag at the same time, huh?

Visual Basic .NET Soup to Nuts Webcast Series, Part 6: Classes and Objects, Wrap-up

Oops.  I guess I forgot to publish this post after my webcast yesterday.  Sorry about that.

Thanks to everyone who attended the session today, err...yesterday, as we talked about classes and objects in Visual Basic.  Here are some more resources related to this session:

• View the on-demand video of this webcast
• Download the slides
• Download the code (I added a line of code to demonstrate raising exceptions from your classes, based on some of your questions)...for more information about raising errors from your classes (and more stuff) check out the Design Guidelines for Class Libraries, where you'll find this article on Error Raising and Handling Guidelines, as well as Handling and Throwing Exceptions.
• View other sessions in this series

And here are some more resources related to Classes and Objects in Visual Basic:

• Introduction to Object-Oriented programming
• Understanding Classes

And here's a walkthrough of defining your own class.

Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista Released

Read about it here.

Download it here.

Beginner Developer Learning Center Launched

Tonight after the "Best of Vista Launch" user group event in Little Rock (btw, what a great crowd; thanks to everyone who attended!), I was telling someone about the brand-new Beginner Developer Learning Center.  This is a great resource for anyone new to programming, or just new to development with the .NET Framework.