Articles Index - page 4
Retrieve, Change, or Create Program Information
There are several ways to access program information at runtime in VB.NET. The techniques include Reflection, use of the Environment, and My.Computer but there are several other techniques as well. This article covers all of them.
Using Interfaces In Separate Files
This article answers a reader question about it now to use Interfaces in VB.NET. Although it's easy to find references that show how an Interface works, this article also shows how it works with when the code is in separate files.
Command Your Code!
A lot of programs, called Console Applications, are designed to be used at a Command Prompt. This article is a anthology of techniques that involve the use of the Command Prompt in both VB.NET and in VB 6.
VB.NET, SetEnvironmentVariable, and the Windows API
In VB 6, it was common to be required to use Windows API calls to get things done. In VB.NET, it doesn't happen very often, and, quite frankly, it's a lot harder to do. Before .NET 2.0, using SetEnvironmentVariable was one one of the times when a Win API call was necessary. This article shows you how to call this API in Windows.
Interpreting the UML Modeling Language for Programmers
There is a lot of information available about how to do UML (Unified Modeling Language) analysis but most of it is written for systems analysts. Here's an article about UML that is written for programmers.
Regular Expressions in VB.NET
Regular expressions - also known as "RegEx" - are strings of text used to match patterns in other strings. Support for RegEx is great in VB.NET and this article is is a "from the ground up" explanation of to use it.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This is Part 10 of a complete introduction for programmers. Image animation, and in particular, GIF animation is explained in this segment of the tutorial.
Refactoring Tools for Visual Basic
Refactoring is a technique of upgrading software by improving the internal structure without changing what it does. This article explains five refactoring software systems for Visual Basic 6 and VB.NET.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This is Part 9 of a complete introduction for programmers. This part explains Metafiles. These are files that describe a sequence of graphics operations that can be recorded (constructed) and played back (displayed).
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This is Part 8 of a complete introduction for programmers. Graphics using images are explained in this segment, including bitmap images, thumbnails, and icons.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This is part 7 of a complete introduction for programmers. The final discussion of the vector graphics is here. The use of color and transparency is also discussed.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This article is part 6 of a complete introduction for programmers. This article goes beyond simple shapes and shows how to create shapes from sets of points and combinations of other shapes using the GraphicsPath object. We also show how to use that object as a clipping region to control what parts are drawn.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This article answers a reader's question about how to use GDI+ to draw a colored lights in a traffic signal as a way to explain binary numbers.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This article is part 5 of a complete introduction for programmers. In this article, the concept of a coordinate space is explained and graphic transformations using the Matrix object is demonstrated.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This article is part 4 of a complete introduction for programmers. In this article, blending colors and merging an image with a vector graphic are explored with an example of a shape using color blending and overlaid images that can be varied according to a value in a variable. The result is a temperature guage that varies from blue to red and is overlaid with different transparent GIF images.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This article is part 3 of a complete introduction for programmers. In this article, we continue the study of vector graphics and we introduce bit mapped graphics with a different way to display a an image by filling a very thick line with the image using one of the brush objects.
GDI+ Graphics in Visual Basic 2005 .NET
GDI+ is the way to draw shapes, fonts, images or generally anything graphic in Visual Basic 2005 .NET. This article is part 2 of a complete introduction for programmers. In this article, "vector graphics" - drawing lines and shapes - is discussed. The standard sine, cosine, and tangent trigonometric functions are graphed as an example.
Using Try Blocks To Clean Up Code
You can use a Try block to make your code more foolproof in addition to using it for error processing. This quick "best practice" article shows an example using a subroutine that Overrides the MouseMove method in .NET and how a Try block can improve the code.
When Form.Load isn't enough
Most Windows applications use Form.Load for initialization code, such as setting the starting value of variables or perhaps downloading starting values from a database. But what if your program needs more control? You might want to put all of your intialization code in a different module for security reasons, for example. This article shows you how to code your own Main routine which can then turn control over to a startup form ... or code something else.
The VB.NET LinkLabel
LinkLabel, new in Visual Basic .NET, is a standard control that lets you embed web-style links in a form. Like many VB.NET controls, this one doesn't do anything that you couldn't do before ... but with more code and more trouble. LinkLabel makes it easy. This article tells you everything you might need to know about using it.
Visual Basic Compiler Directives
Visual Basic Directives are the other Visual Basic. It's just a two-statement language, but you can use to "direct" the Visual Basic compiler. The resulting compiled program never contains code from these statements, but different types of programs can be created by using them. This article explains how to do it.
Is Visual Basic in Trouble?
A survey from Evans Data has highlighted an apparent drop in the popularity of Visual Basic. In this article, the Visual Basic Site Guide for About.Com explains what he thinks it all means.
How To Use (And Create) Code Snippets - Part II
Using Intellisense Code Snippets - Intellisense Code Snippets are ready-made chunks of code that you can quickly plug into your Visual Basic projects. But they're much more than just code. Visual Basic 2005 includes over 500 code snippets but you can create your own. This article shows you how to do all of this and more!
Inheriting Controls in VB.NET
Inheriting the all of the code - methods and properties - in an existing control and then customizing that control is a useful technique that is explained in this article. A real example using the new Framework 2.0 control, WebBrowser, is also provided.
The Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook Redux
A companion article to the full review of The Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook, this article is a review of Chapter 7, "Dates and Times" by a real expert on dates and times, Peter Zilahy Ingerman, PhD.