to accompany

PowerPoint
Presentation

prepared by
James T. Perry
University of San Diego

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Copyright 2000 by the McGraw-Hill Compa

Ch. 1: Introduction to VB
Writing

windows applications with VB

Prog. languages: procedural, object
oriented, & event driven
Writing VB projects
The VB environment
Writing your first VB project
Finding & fixing errors
Visual Basic help
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Copyright 2000 by the McGraw-Hill Compa

Writing Windows Apps. with

VB
The

Windows GUI

Labels

Text boxes

Frame

Check boxes

Option buttons
Command buttons
Image

Picture box
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Graphic User Interface

Graphic

User Interface (GUI) comprises

Forms
Controls
Event-driven programming

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Prog. Languages: procedural,

object oriented, & event driven
The

Object Model

Objects (nouns)
Properties (adjectives)
Methods (verbs)

Versions

controls
form1.Caption
debug.print

of Visual Basic

Working Model
Learning Edition
Professional Edition
Enterprise Edition
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Planning Visual Basic Projects

The

three-step process for planning projects

Design the user interface

Sketch the screens with forms and controls needed
Establish the objects' properties
Write down the properties for each object

Plan the Basic code

Write out pseudocode for actions your program will
perform

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Copyright 2000 by the McGraw-Hill Compa

Writing Visual Basic Projects

The

three-step process for writing projects

Design the user interface

Create the forms and controls you previously sketched
Set the objects' properties
Give each object a name and set their properties

Write the Basic code

Write out Visual Basic code to carry out your
application's actions

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Copyright 2000 by the McGraw-Hill Compa

Visual Basic Projects

Visual

Basic projects create several files

Project file: .VBP

Holds the names of other files in the project
Form files: .FRM
Each form is saved as a separate file
Form file contains a description of a form's objects
and the Basic code attached to a form
Standard code module: .BAS (optional)
Custom controls: .OCX (optional)
Form information: .VBW
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The Visual Basic Environment

Form,

Project Explorer, Properties, and

Form Layout Windows
Toolbox
Main Visual Basic window
Toolbar, Form location & size information
Help
Design- , Run- , and Break Time
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The Toolbox
Tool

box contents vary based on which

version of Visual Basic you are running.
Toolbox contains a common set of tools
across all VB versions

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The Visual Basic Toolbar

The

buttons on the toolbar are shortcuts

Toolbar buttons are a quick way to activate
frequently used commands
Each button stands for a command that you
can also select a the Visual Basic menu

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Writing Your First VB Project

Set

up your Visual Basic workspace

Define user interface
Set properties
Write code
Visual Basic code statements
Run, save, open, modify, & print the Hello World
project
Documentation
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Set Up Your VB Workspace

Set

up Options to reflect these settings:

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Define the User Interface

Resize

the form

Drag the lower-right handle to enlarge the form

Drag any handle in the middle of a side to

enlarge the form in that direction only

Place

controls on the form

Click the label tool

Click and drag the mouse (a crosshair) to place

the control on the form

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Set Properties
Set the Name and Caption properties
Always set the Name property before writing

code
Next, set the Caption property

The

Name property identifies the object

internally--so you can refer to it in code
The Caption property externally idenfities
an object
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Write Code
You

write code enclosed in event

procedures, which respond to typical VB
events.
Private Sub cmdPush_Click()
. . . (your code goes here)
End Sub

VB

automatically supplies the event

procedure Sub/End Sub statements

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Visual Basic Code Statements

Remark

statement is any code line

beginning with an apostrophe
Assignment statement
End statement

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Code the Event Procedures

for Hello World
Write

the Push event code for the Push Me

button (cmdPush)
Write the Push event code for the Exit
button (cmdExit)

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Run/Save/Open/Modify the
Project

Test the project:

Click Run, Start

(or click the Start button on the toolbar)

Click the Push Me button
Click the Exit button
Save

the project and the form

Make modifications to the form
Print the project documentation:
Form Image, Code, and Form as Text
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Finding & fixing errors

Compile

(syntax) errors
Run-Time (semantic) errors
Logic errors
Project Debugging

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Naming Conventions
Objects

have special prefixes that help

identify the object's general type
Programmers follow the conventions
because it simplifies coding and debugging
Never use default names for objects

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Visual Basic Help

Help

includes all of the Microsoft

Developer Network (MSDN) library.
The Working Model does not contain the
extensive MSDN facilities
Access MSDN online at
http://msdn.Microsoft.com

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