Loffelmann K., Purohit S.C. - Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Developer’s Handbook [2011, PDF, ENG]

Beginning with Language and Tools

Chapter 1 : Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code

Starting Visual Studio for the First Time
Console Applications
Anatomy of a (Visual Basic) Program
Starting Up with the Main Method
Methods with and Without Return Values
Declaring Variables
Expressions and Definitions of Variables
Comparing Objects and Data Types
Properties
Type Literal for Determining Constant Types
Type Safety
Arrays and Collections
Executing Program Code Conditionally
Loops
Simplified Access to Object Properties and Methods Using With ... End With
The Scope of Variables
The += and –= Operators and Their Relatives
Error Handling in Code

Chapter 2 : Introduction to the .NET Framework

What Is .NET, and What Is It Composed Of?
What Is an Assembly?

Chapter 3 : Sightseeing

Introduction
Starting Visual Studio for the First Time: Selecting the Profile
The Start Page: Where Your Developing Endeavors Begin
Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 Applications to Visual Studio 2010
The History of Multitargeting
Interesting Read for Multitargeting
Zooming In the New and Improved WPF-Based IDE
Searching, Understanding, and Navigating Code
Regions and Outlining
Architecture Explorer
The Generate From Usage Feature
Extending Visual Studio

Chapter 4 : Introduction to Windows Forms—Designers and Code Editor by Example

Case Example: the DVD Cover Generator
Designing Forms with the Windows Forms Designer
The Code Editor

Chapter 5 : Introduction to Windows Presentation Foundation

What Is the Windows Presentation Foundation?
What’s So New About WPF?
How WPF Brings Designers and Developers Together
Extensible Application Markup Language
XAML Syntax Overview
ImageResizer—a Practical WPF Example

Chapter 6 : The Essential .NET Data Types

Numeric Data Types
The Char Data Type
The String Data Type
The Boolean Data Type
The Date Data Type
.NET Equivalents of Base Data Types
Constants and Read-Only Fields (Read-Only Members)
Object-Oriented Programming

Chapter 7 : A Brief Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming

Using Classes and Objects: When and Why?

Chapter 8 : Class Begins

What Is a Class?
Instantiating Classes with New
New or Not New: About Objects and Reference Types
Nothing
Using Classes
Value Types

Chapter 9 : First Class Programming

Using Properties
Class Constructors: Defining What Happens in New
Class Methods with Sub and Function
Overloading Methods, Constructors, and Properties
Specifying Variable Scope with Access Modifiers
Static Elements
Distributing Class Code over Multiple Code Files by Using Partial
Chapter 10 : Class Inheritance and Polymorphism
Reusing Classes Through Inheritance
Overriding Methods and Properties
Polymorphism
Abstract Classes and Virtual Procedures
Interfaces
The Built-In Members of the Object Type
Shadowing of Class Procedures
Special Form “Module” in Visual Basic
Singleton Classes and Self-Instantiating Classes
Chapter 11 : Developing Value Types
A Practical Example of Structures
Passing Value and Reference Parameters
Constructors and Default Instantiations of Value Types
When to Use Value Types—When to Use Reference Types
Targeted Memory Assignment for Structure Members with the Attributes StructLayout and FieldOffset
Chapter 12 : Typecasting and Boxing Value Types
Converting Primitive Types
Converting to and from Strings
Casting Reference Types by Using DirectCast
Boxing Value Types
Changing the Values of Interface-Boxed Value Types
Chapter 13 : Dispose, Finalize, and the Garbage Collector
The Garbage Collector in .NET
The Speed in Allocating Memory for New Objects
Finalize
Dispose
Targeted Object Release with Using
Chapter 14 : Operators for Custom Types
Introduction to Operator Procedures
Preparing a Structure or Class for Operator Procedures
Implementing Operators
Implementing Comparison Operators
Implementing Type Conversion Operators for Use with CType
Implementing True and False Evaluation Operators
Problem Handling for Operator Procedures
Implementable Operators: an Overview
Chapter 15 : Events, Delegates, and Lambda Expressions
Consuming Events with WithEvents and Handles
Raising Events
Providing Event Parameters
Delegates
Lambda Expressions
Embedding Events Dynamically with AddHandler
Implementing Your Own Event Handlers
Chapter 16 : Enumerations
Introduction to Enumerations
Determining the Values of Enumeration Elements
Determining the Types of Enumeration Elements
Converting Enumerations to Other Types
Flags Enumerations
Chapter 17 : Developing with Generics
Introduction
Solution Approaches
Standardizing the Code Base of a Type by Using Generics
Constraints
Chapter 18 : Advanced Types
Nullable Value Types
Generic Delegates
Tuple(Of T)
Type Variance
Extension Methods
Programming with .NET Framework Data Structures
Chapter 19 : Arrays and Collections
Array Basics
Initializing Arrays
Enumerators
Collection Basics
Initializing Collections
Important Collections of .NET Framework
Generic Collections
Chapter 20 : Serialization
Introduction to Serialization Techniques
Shallow and Deep Object Cloning
Serializing Objects with Circular References
XML Serialization
Chapter 21 : Attributes and Reflection
Introduction to Attributes
Introduction to Reflection
Creating Custom Attributes and Recognizing Them at Runtime
Development Simplifications in Visual Basic 2010
Chapter 22 : Using My as a Shortcut to Common Framework Functions
Visual Basic 2010 Simplifications Using the Example of the DotNetCopy Backup Tool
The Principle Functionality of DotNetCopy
The My Namespace
Calling Forms Without Instantiation
Reading Command-Line Arguments with My.Application.CommandLineArgs
Targeted Access to Resources with My.Resources
Writing Localizable Applications with Resource Files and the My Namespace
Simplified File Operations with My.Computer.FileSystem
Using Application Settings with My.Settings
Chapter 23 : The Application Framework
Application Framework Options
Adding a Code File to Handle Application Events (Start, End, Network Status, Global Exceptions)
Language-Integrated Query—LINQ
Chapter 24 : Introduction to LINQ (Language-Integrated Query)
Getting Started with LINQ
The Where Method
The Select Method
Combining LINQ Extension Methods
Simplified Use of LINQ Extension Methods with the LINQ Query Syntax
Chapter 25 : LINQ to Objects
Getting Started with LINQ to Objects
Anatomy of a LINQ Query
LINQ Query Performance
Concatenating LINQ Queries and Delayed Execution
Combining Multiple Collections
Grouping Collections
Aggregate Functions
Chapter 26 : LINQ to XML
Getting Started with LINQ to XML
Processing XML Documents—Yesterday and Today
XML Literals: Using XML Directly in Code
Creating XML Documents with LINQ
Querying XML Documents with LINQ to XML
IntelliSense Support for LINQ To XML Queries
Chapter 27 : LINQ to Entities: Programming with Entity Framework
Prerequisites for Testing the Examples
LINQ to Entities: the First Practical Example
Querying an Entity Model
Modifying, Saving, and Deleting Data
Updating a Data Model from a Database
Model-First Design
Inheritance in the Conceptual Data Model
Executing T-SQL Commands Directly in the Object Context
Working with Stored Procedures
Looking Ahead
Parallelizing Applications
Chapter 28 : Programming with the Task Parallel Library (TPL)
Introduction to Threading
Various Options for Starting a Thread
How to Access Windows Controls from Non-UI Threads
Parallelization with Parallel.For and Parallel.ForEach
Working with Tasks
Synchronizing Threads
What’s Next?