Articles Index
Programming a Custom VB.NET Control
This article shows more advanced ways to create custom controls in VB.NET, and demonstrates how to override a method in an inherited control. A more basic article showing how to get started using Inheritance to build custom controls is referenced in the article.
An Introduction to Programming a VB.NET Control With Inheritance
You can build a VB.NET control that has many of the advantages of a toolbox component without much effort. This article is a great "getting started" project that will teach you a lot about how classes and inheritance in the VB.NET works.
Performance Counters
Performance Counters are an excellent way to get detailed data that can tell you exactly what's going on in your program. They're not that hard to create and there is a huge inventory of predefined counters to choose from, as well as an easy to use way to create your own. This article shows how to use them.
Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express - Using XML
Part 8 of the VB Express tutorial introduces the use of XML in .NET. VB.NET 2010 includes a lot of support for XML. To cover the technologies, we will update to the Signature Block example program to use XML and the DOM (Document Object Model) to read and save the data Then well do it the easy way using LINQ, Microsoft technology introduced in Framework 3.5. Serialization to an XML file and XML literals in VB.NET will also be covered.
A Database Centered Tutorial for Beginners
Most Visual Basic articles for beginners that use data will either use hard coded data in the program or a simple file. This article shows complete beginners how to use a real SQL Server database for the first time.
Parameter Queries and Data Sources in VB.NET
Visual Studio lets you create simple parameter queries easily, but if you want more than that, you have to dig deeper. The ninth article in the database series shows how to do that.
Using Data Sources
The eighth article in the beginning database series for VB.NET programmers shows how to refine your use of data sources to create a VB.NET database application that works the way you want it to work. This example uses a Data Source to create the many-to-many result from the database in a Windows Forms application.
Generated Data Source Controls in VB.NET
When you generate controls using the automatic DataSource in Visual Studio, you get something that just barely functions. Turning it into something that will work well requires more work. This article gets you started in the right direction.
Data Sources, VB.NET, and SQL Server
The seventh article in the beginning database series for VB.NET programmers moves to a higher level by covering the use of data sources to create a VB.NET database application.
Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express - Collections of Things
Part 10 of the Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express tutorial is all about the vastly expanded ways that different kinds of collections can be programmed. In addition to a very flexible Array, VB.NET also provides Collections, Stacks, and Queues and lots of methods and properties for all of them. The Signature Block program is upgraded to allow multiple blocks in this segment as well.
Adding To Your First Database Centered Application for Beginners
Coding a SQL Server database application doesn't have to be an impossible job for a beginner. This article is the second part of a series intended to open up database programming even if you don't already understand it. In the first article, a single table database is created and used to code the traditional "recipe file" app. In this article, however, a one-to-many relationship between two tables is created and used with an "inner join" SQL command to list all of the ingredients in a recipe.
Coding the VB.NET Many-to-Many Database App
Many-to-many database relationships are needed in a lot of applications. But in spite of that, it's not that easy to find explanations showing exactly how to program one. The sixth article in this series written for VB.NET programmers who are new to programming databases, shows and explains the code to do this critical type of database application.
Getting Started Using VBA: The Excel Working Partner
Writing VBA Programs in Excel is the next step up when you want to become a real Excel expert. You can do everything from the keyboard, or you can enlist the help of your computer to do things faster and smarter with Visual Basic for Applications programs to automate Excel. This article will get you started "from the ground up" even if you have little or not programming experience.
Using TableLayoutPanel and FlowLayoutPanel in VB.NET Windows Programming
The ability to design your application interface was given a huge boost when Microsoft intoduced the two new controls TableLayoutPanel and FlowLayoutPanel in Framework 2.0. Using these controls, you can create forms where the other controls, like Textbox and Listbox, stay right where you want them to be. And you can even get autosizing effects that were previously only available with third party purchased controls. This article shows you how to get the most from these controls.
Enterprise Library - A FREE Resource From Microsoft
Microsoft Enterprise Library may be a resource that can help you move up to world class code. If you need to understand what it is and how to get started, this article is for you. Included in this article is a review of Microsoft's own Visual Basic based guide to the Enterprise Library.
Formatting Strings, Numbers, and Other Objects
The concept of formatting strings, numbers, and objects like dates has changed a lot in the move up to .NET. This article starts with the Format function in VB6 and moves on to the more complex Format method and Format function in VB.NET.
Visual Basic, Visual Studio, ADO.NET, and SQL Server
The first four articles in this series designed to help beginners understand how to use SQL Server databases with Visual Basic .NET explain the steps to write simple programs. But since these steps are part of a much larger technology picture, this article brings the relationship of what we have do so far into focus in that picture.
Debugging Databases with Visual Studio and SQL Server
Debugging databases requires an understanding of different tools than debugging VB.NET programs. This article is the fourth in a series for beginning Visual Basic .NET database programmers. In this article, the debugging tools in Visual Studio Server Explorer are explained.
Programming Insert For One-to-Many Database Tables
Using VB.NET to program a SQL INSERT is the topic covered in the third in a series showing a beginning database application. Although this series is for beginners, we use Visual Studio .NET and SQL Server rather than the Express versions.
Logging Exceptions in VB.NET
Exception logging using VB.NET is simple, easy, and works really well ... unless you want to do something different than the standard functions allowed by the My.Application.Log object. Then it gets a little tougher. This article discusses both.
Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express - Errors: Preventing and Handling Them
Preventing errors and programming a better response to the errors that can't be prevented is the focus of part 11 of the Visual Basic .NET 2010 Express tutorial. This segment covers the ways that VB.NET provides to make sure that your program doesn't run into an error. And if an error is unavoidable, structured error handling gives you the ability to deal with it within the program. Error handling is illustrated with another version of the Signature Block program that includes error handling.
Casting and Data Type Conversions in VB.NET
Casting is the process of converting one data type to another, for example, from an Integer type to a String type. Some operations in VB.NET require specific data types to work. Casting creates the type you need. The first article introduces casting. This article comparies the performance of DirectCast, CType and TryCast.
Casting and Data Type Conversions in VB.NET
Casting is the process of converting one data type to another, for example, from an Integer type to a String type. Some operations in VB.NET require specific data types to work. Casting creates the type you need. Part One of this two part series introduces casting. This article comparies the performance of DirectCast, CType and TryCast.
Watch ByRef When Upgrading VB6 to VB.NET
An explanation of the two ways to pass arguments to a subroutine or a function in Visual Basic. The article discusses how the default behavior has changed in the move from VB 6 to VB.NET and how to decide which method to use.
Attributes in VB.NET - Part One
Attributes store information about an assembly, a class, a method and many other entities in the Visual Basic assembly metadata. This article explains how it works. It's also part one of a two part article where part two shows you how to embed a private key in the metadata so you can send the entire thing to someone and have a reply securely returned.