Articles Index
WPF Tutorial Part 1: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic
WPF and XAML - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - are an entirely new way to create application interfaces that were introduced with Windows Vista and Framework 3.0. Most references approach the subject from the XAML and WPF point of view. Here's one written for the Visual Basic programmer that starts at the beginning.
WPF Tutorial Part 6: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic
An introduction for VB programmers to WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - can be found in part 1 of this series. WPF requires a fundamental understanding of multithreading. Part 6 of the series introduces the important concept of multithreading by showing how to solve the problem of the error message, "The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it."
Part 8: TripPlanner - A Complete WPF and XAML Application in Visual Basic
An introduction for VB programmers to WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - can be found in part 1 of this series. All the elements for a complete application have been demonstrated. In the conclusion to the series, a complete application that save trip planning information in an XML file is demonstrated.
WPF Tutorial Part 5: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic
An introduction for VB programmers to WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - can be found in part 1 of this series. The XAML code is hooked up to a VB.NET a code file using the new WPF routed events model in this tutorial.
WPF Tutorial Part 4: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic
An introduction for VB programmers to WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - can be found in part 1 of this series. Data binding is a new capability in WPF and XAML. This article shows how to do it.
WPF Tutorial Part 3: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic
An introduction for VB programmers to WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - can be found in part I of this series. A WPF application coded entirely in XAML is developed in this part of the series.
WPF Tutorial Part 2: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic
An introduction for VB programmers to WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - and XAML - Extensible Application Markup Language - can be found in part I of this two part article. In this part, the key concept of XAML namespaces is explained.
LINQ Queries - An Example Driven Introduction
LINQ - Language Integrated Query - is the reason a whole host of new technolgies were introduced in VB.NET 2008. For example, Lamda expressions and partial methods. Another technology that was introduced with LINQ is the LINQ query ... a faster and more direct way to write LINQ query expressions. Most LINQ queries are "deferred". This article explains what "deferred" actually means.
The Useful Generic List in VB.NET
The most useful "generics" objects in VB.NET are in the System.Collections.Generic namespace. And the most useful class in that namespace is the List class. This article extends a previous article about Generics and has examples and explanations of the ForEach, FindAll, and Sort methods in Visual Basic .NET.
Word Application Automation / Date and Time Calculation Using Bookmarks in VB
This program uses VB.NET and Word to complete a Word document with date calculations. In my "other" life, I'm a writer. I was recently thinking about books such as 1984 and 2001: A Space Odyssey that have been bypassed by the march of time. The idea of using Visual Basic to write an "eternal" story that would always be current came to me, so I wrtote the story and a program to update dates and times in it using bookmarks. The program uses WPF - Windows Presentation Foundation - as the GUI.
Application Settings in VB.NET
VB.NET gives you a great new way to save application settings like connection strings or size and color by application or by user. The methods used in VB.NET are different than the ones in VB.NET 1.1 and other .NET languages such as C#. But technical articles I have read and even on Microsoft's own pages make mistakes. The goal of this article is to clear up as much confusion as possible, but some remaining problems are documented in it as well.
LINQ Queries - An Example Driven Introduction
LINQ - Language Integrated Query - is the reason a whole host of new technolgies were introduced in VB.NET 2008. For example, Lamda expressions and partial methods. Another technology that was introduced with LINQ is the LINQ query ... a faster and more direct way to write LINQ query expressions. This article explains it.
Partial Methods
Partial Methods are one of the techniques introduced with .NET Framework 3.0. They're used in LINQ to SQL, but you can use them anywhere they work for you. This article shows you how.
Using Extension Methods in VB.NET
A normal class has to be instantiated as an object before the methods in it can be used. But if a method is shared, then the class it's in doesn't have to be instantiated. The method can be used directly. What if you need both? Then you need a feature introduced in VB.NET 2008 called extension methods. This Quick Tip tells you how that works.
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 a more complex Format method in VB.NET. Along the way, we also discuss what a Shared method is all about. The net result shows how it used to be and how it's done now.
Using Dialogs in VB.NET
Dialogs in VB.NET use object oriented properties and methods to tell the calling program what happened in the dialog. In VB6, the dialog only returned a value. Like everything else in .NET, this requires an adjustment in your thinking to use them correctly but it gives you a lot more power. This article tells you how VB.NET dialogs work.
Using VB.NET To Code The VB6 ItemData Property
ItemData is one of the many features of VB6 that was dropped in the move to VB.NET. It wasn't as popular as the VB6 Control Array feature, but a lot of people liked it. Peter wrote in to ask how to do the same thing in VB.NET. The answer has a lot more to do with Classes, Structures, and Object Oriented Programming than ItemData. This article explains what that means.
Hashtable and Performance
Are you curious about what the Capacity and Loadfactor parameters will actually do for Hashtable performance in a Visual Basic .NET program? This article explains all of the parameters you can pass to Hashtable and benchmarks the result. It's a good example showing how to use Stopwatch and VB.NET XML as well.
VB 2010 and Beyond
If you're interested in what the next version of VB.NET will look like, this article that summarizes a presentation given by two people at Microsoft who know best, Anders Hejlsberg and VB Program Manager Jonathan Aneja, will give you a good idea.
Small Basic - A New Language for New Programmers from Microsoft
If you've tried Visual Basic .NET Express and you're still confused, Microsoft now has a new version of Visual Basic that's even easier than that to get started with. It's called Small Basic and it only has 15 keywords in the current version. About Visual Basic reviews the 0.5 version and tells you how to get started using it.
AutoTest - A LINQ to XML Example Program
Microsoft's LINQ technology combined with XML can revolutionize the way you program, but it's difficult to make the transition from more traditional ways of programming to LINQ. Moving to XML can be a challenge too. A reader asked for help programming a system to generate random test questions. Since it seemed like an ideal way to showcase LINQ, I wrote most of the code as a programming example.
Partial Classes in VB.NET
Partial Classes were introduced with VB.NET 2005 (Framework 2.0) and are used in a lot of different ways in VB.NET, including ASP.NET and Windows Forms. This article explains what they are and why they're useful, including how to hide them in Visual Studio Solution Explorer. Tested in both VB 2005 and VB 2008.
MustInherit and NotInheritable in VB.NET
You can create an object in Visual Basic .NET that can't be directly instantiated and you can create an object that can only be instantiated. These two restrictions are called MustInherit and NotInheritable. This article explains how they work and why you should use them.
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.
Disposing Objects
Disposing an object is something that you won't have to worry about in VB.NET very often. .NET includes a technology called Garbage Collection that usually takes care of everything silently and efficiently. But occasionally, usually when using file streams, sql objects or graphics (GDI+) objects, you may need to take control of disposing objects in your own code. Or, you might write your own class that implements the IDisposable interface. This article gives you some useful advice.