Updated Articles and Resources
- Word Application Automation and Date and Time Calculation Using Book…Created: 2009-10-31 @ 19:45:19 EDT Updated: 2009-10-31 @ 20:00:03 EDT
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 … - Have you had problems using Application Settings in VB.NET? Does the…Created: 2009-10-24 @ 20:47:19 EDT Updated: 2009-10-24 @ 20:50:58 EDT
I've seen a lot of questions about using the Application Settings in VB.NET, especially the Synchronize button in Project Properties. Readers respond about the problems they have had… - Do you use the SQL or traditional dot notation to code LINQ?…Created: 2009-10-16 @ 13:27:15 EDT Updated: 2009-10-16 @ 13:33:47 EDT
The SQL query nototation and the dot notation are equivalent ways to express a LINQ query. Which one do you use?… - LINQ Queries - An Example Driven IntroductionCreated: 2009-10-16 @ 11:59:22 EDT Updated: 2009-10-16 @ 13:31:36 EDT
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 intr… - Change the Background Color of a Cell in an Excel Spreadsheet with a…Created: 2009-10-12 @ 09:50:06 EDT
A reader asked how to change the background color of an Excel spreadsheet cell with VBA macro code. The answer involved some techniques that could come in handy for more than just this. This Quick … - Using Partial Methods in Visual Basic .NETCreated: 2009-10-10 @ 20:37:41 EDT Updated: 2009-10-10 @ 20:56:17 EDT
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… - Displaying a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) File in a VB.NET FormCreated: 2009-10-03 @ 17:36:02 EDT Updated: 2009-10-03 @ 17:46:13 EDT
PDF is an Adobe format for presenting documents. But since Adobe is a competitor to Microsoft, there's uneven support for the format in Microsoft products. You can save Office files as PDF files, b… - Introduction to VBA in Word for Office 2007Created: 2009-09-30 @ 23:30:01 EDT
Microsoft decided to change just about everything in Office 2007 and VBA - Visual Basic for Applications - wasn't spared. This article covers how to get started programming VBA macros using the Off… - Extension Methods in VB.NETCreated: 2009-09-19 @ 21:41:46 EDT Updated: 2009-09-19 @ 21:49:18 EDT
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 di… - Pro LINQ - Language Integrated Query in VB 2008Created: 2009-09-17 @ 22:14:07 EDT Updated: 2009-09-17 @ 22:15:50 EDT
The word "Pro" means something in the title of this book. It really is for pro's. As the authors note, most of new functions in VB.NET 2008 are there to support LINQ. So the real subject … - Object Initializers - A New Feature of VB.NET 2008Created: 2009-09-16 @ 16:22:05 EDT
VB.NET has a quicker way to initialize data objects. This Quick Tip shows you how to do it with both parameter based constructors and anonymous types… - Anonymous Types in VB.NET ProgrammingCreated: 2009-09-09 @ 22:33:02 EDT
Anonymous types are a quicker way to use objects, but some of the tricks in using them are not obvious. This Quick Tip explains it all… - Creating and Handling an Event in Your Own VB.NET ClassCreated: 2009-08-28 @ 14:54:50 EDT
Handling events that are made available to you by other objects is easy. Mainly, you just have to select the event in the code window and add some statements to the event subroutine that is automat… - FileSystemWatcher Programs With VB.NETCreated: 2009-08-27 @ 18:45:06 EDT
The FilesystemWatcher component makes it easy to write programs that run when a file has been added, deleted, or just changed… - Using Visual Basic VBA with HTTPS and SSLCreated: 2009-08-15 @ 19:09:44 EDT Updated: 2009-08-15 @ 19:30:36 EDT
A reader asked if VBA could be used to login to a secure web site using HTTPS and SSL. The answer is yes ... and no. This Quick Tip explains what that means… - VB.NET Classes and Structures to Code VB6 ItemData PropertyCreated: 2009-08-14 @ 17:25:46 EDT Updated: 2009-08-14 @ 18:08:36 EDT
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… - Registry Programming - Get the Path to a Program Using VB.NETCreated: 2009-08-08 @ 20:16:22 EDT Updated: 2009-08-08 @ 20:30:24 EDT
A reader asked for help finding a way to determine the path to installed software. This Quick Tip not only shows how to do that, it can serve as an introduction to working with the Windows registry… - How To Program Visual Basic 6 Control Arrays Using VB.NETCreated: 2009-08-06 @ 21:34:09 EDT Updated: 2009-08-06 @ 21:38:42 EDT
The lack of VB6 Control Array in VB.NET is by far the most popular single topic at About Visual Basic. A lot of programmers remember the convenience of simply dragging and dropping multiple control… - Hashtable Benchmarking - Capacity and Loadfactor PerformanceCreated: 2009-08-03 @ 16:33:07 EDT
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… - The future of Visual Basic VB 2010 and BeyondCreated: 2009-07-24 @ 18:00:37 EDT Updated: 2009-07-24 @ 18:14:44 EDT
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 M… - Equals and ReferenceEquals Methods of the Object ObjectCreated: 2009-07-18 @ 23:52:59 EDT Updated: 2009-07-18 @ 23:55:50 EDT
The root of the .NET Framework contains six public methods and two of them are used for testing equality: Equals and ReferenceEquals. This article explains how those two work… - Using the ToString Method in a Visual Basic .NET ProgramCreated: 2009-07-18 @ 17:04:34 EDT Updated: 2009-07-18 @ 17:07:02 EDT
The ToString method is one of the fundamental methods in the root of the entire .NET Framework. That makes it available in every other object. This quick tip shows some of the ways ToString can be … - The Visual Basic Object object in the .NET FrameworkCreated: 2009-07-17 @ 16:55:53 EDT Updated: 2009-07-17 @ 17:11:29 EDT
The Object object is the root of the entire .NET Framework. That means that the methods and properties of Object are available all the time and in every .NET Framework object because everything inh… - Application Settings in VB.NET Using the Designer and Editing the XM…Updated: 2009-10-24 @ 20:49:28 EDT
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… - Formatting Strings, Numbers, and Other ObjectsUpdated: 2009-09-11 @ 18:50:22 EDT
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 Forma… - Part 5: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic Progra…Updated: 2009-08-31 @ 21:09:19 EDT
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 t… - Part 4: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic Progra…Updated: 2009-08-31 @ 20:43:49 EDT
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 capabi… - Part 3: A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic Progra…Updated: 2009-08-30 @ 22:56:42 EDT
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 enti… - Using Dialogs in VB.NET to Return Information to the ParentUpdated: 2009-08-21 @ 18:34:30 EDT
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 r… - A First Introduction to WPF and XAML for Visual Basic ProgrammersUpdated: 2009-08-17 @ 21:59:28 EDT
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…