Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Programming for the Absolute Beginner ( No Experience Required )

Want to learn to program in Windows but don't know where to start? Look no further! This book is designed to teach you how to develop Windows applications using Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express. To help make learning fun and interesting, you will learn how to program through the development of computer games, and you will develop a new game that reinforces a newly learned concept in each chapter. It's the easiest way to learn! By the time you have finished the book, not only will you have access to a collection of working sample scripts, you also will have laid a foundation upon which you can begin to tackle real-world challenges and new languages. Whether you are an experienced programmer looking for a jumpstart on learning Visual Basic 2008 Express, or a first-timer looking for a friendly programming language and a book that will help you to begin your programming career, you will be happy with what this book has in store for you! TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 8 INTRODUCTION......Page 14 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL BASIC 2008 EXPRESS......Page 18 Project Preview: The Joke Machine......Page 19 A Quick Overview of Visual Basic......Page 20 GUI Development......Page 21 Introducing Visual Basic 2008 Express......Page 22 What Can't Visual Basic 2008 Express Do?......Page 24 What's New in Visual Basic 2008 Express......Page 25 More IntelliSense......Page 26 New Language Features......Page 27 Integrated Power Pack Controls......Page 28 Visual C# 2008 Express......Page 29 The Microsoft .NET Framework......Page 30 .NET Components......Page 31 .NET 2.0......Page 32 Designing the Game......Page 35 Summary......Page 43 2 NAVIGATING THE VISUAL BASIC 2008 EXPRESS DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT......Page 46 Project Preview: The Click Race Game......Page 47 Getting Comfortable Moving Around the Visual Basic 2008 Express IDE......Page 49 Navigating the IDE Menu......Page 51 Form Designer Basics......Page 52 Understanding the Code Editor......Page 54 What's in the Toolbox?......Page 62 Working with Solution Explorer......Page 63 Understanding How to Use the Properties Window......Page 64 The Component Tray......Page 66 Other Windows......Page 67 IDE Components Specific to WPF Applications......Page 68 Designing the Game......Page 71 Summary......Page 79 3 CREATING AN APPLICATION INTERFACE......Page 82 Project Preview: The Speed Typing Game......Page 83 Specifying a Windows Starting Position......Page 85 Specifying Windows Border Style......Page 86 Dynamically Altering Title Bar Messages......Page 87 Setting Up Control Tab Order and Focus......Page 89 Adding a Status Bar to Your Application......Page 90 Posting a Notify Icon in the System Tray......Page 95 Adding a Splash Screen to Your Application......Page 96 Leveraging the Convenience of Built-in Dialogs......Page 98 Windows Forms Versus WPF Applications......Page 106 GUI Design for WPF Applications......Page 107 Creating Console Applications Using Text-Based Interfaces......Page 112 ClickOnce Application Deployment......Page 114 Designing the Game......Page 116 Summary......Page 128 4 WORKING WITH MENUS AND TOOLBARS......Page 130 Project Preview: The Lottery Assistant Game......Page 131 Designing a Menu System......Page 134 Adding Menus, Menu Items, and Submenus......Page 136 Enhancing Windows Menus......Page 140 Enabling and Disabling Menus and Menu Items......Page 145 Hiding and Displaying Menus and Menu Items......Page 147 Context Menus......Page 148 Adding Convenience with Toolbars......Page 151 Adding Graphics to Your Toolbars......Page 153 Associating Program Statements with Toolbar Buttons......Page 154 Back to the Lottery Assistant Game......Page 156 Designing the Game......Page 157 Summary......Page 172 Project Preview: The Story of Mighty Molly......Page 174 Enhancing Your Code with Comments......Page 177 Alternative Ways of Storing Data......Page 178 Data Types......Page 179 Working with Constants......Page 180 Declaring Your Own Constants......Page 181 Using Visual Basic Built-in Constants......Page 182 Defining Variables......Page 184 Assigning Data to Variables......Page 185 Rules for Naming Variables......Page 188 Recognizing Variables as Objects......Page 189 Variable Conversion......Page 190 Functions and Methods for Manipulating Strings......Page 193 Loading Array Elements......Page 195 Retrieving Array Elements......Page 196 Erasing Arrays......Page 197 Working with Structures......Page 198 Reserved Words......Page 199 Designing the Game......Page 200 Summary......Page 213 6 APPLYING CONDITIONAL LOGIC......Page 216 Project Preview: The Guess a Number Game......Page 217 Applying Conditional Logic......Page 218 The If...Then Statement......Page 219 The Single Line If...Then Statement......Page 220 The If...Then...Else Statement......Page 221 The If...Then...ElseIf Statement......Page 224 The Select Case Statement......Page 226 Comparison Operators......Page 228 Designing the Game......Page 229 Summary......Page 244 Project Preview: The Dice Poker Game......Page 246 Do Loops......Page 249 For...Next......Page 254 For...Each...Next......Page 258 While......Page 260 Breaking Out of Loops......Page 261 Exit Do......Page 262 Designing the Game......Page 263 Summary......Page 284 Project Preview: The Hangman Game......Page 286 Creating Procedures......Page 287 Handling Events......Page 288 Sub Procedures......Page 289 Function Procedures......Page 291 Passing Arguments......Page 293 Passing Optional Arguments......Page 295 Date-Related Objects......Page 297 String Manipulation Functions......Page 300 Lambda Expressions......Page 301 Designing the Game......Page 303 Summary......Page 322 9 GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING......Page 324 Project Preview: The Rock, Paper, Scissors Game......Page 325 Object-Oriented Programming......Page 326 OOP Terms......Page 327 Encapsulation......Page 328 Polymorphism......Page 329 Creating a New Class......Page 330 Defining Class Properties......Page 333 Adding Class Methods......Page 335 Inheriting from Another Class......Page 336 Designing the Game......Page 337 Summary......Page 351 Project Preview: The VB Doodle Game......Page 354 Working with Graphic Images......Page 356 Drawing Vector Graphics......Page 357 Drawing Text......Page 364 Drawing Using Power Pack Controls......Page 365 Adding Sounds to Your Applications......Page 366 RAD Development with the My Namespace......Page 368 Back to the VB Doodle Game......Page 370 Designing the Game......Page 371 Summary......Page 383 Project Preview: The Tic-Tac-Toe Game......Page 386 Dealing with Errors......Page 387 Syntax Errors......Page 388 Run-Time Errors......Page 390 Establishing Breakpoints......Page 391 Setting Up Breakpoints......Page 392 Edit and Continue......Page 394 A Run-time Exception Demonstration......Page 395 Structured Exception Handlers......Page 397 Back to the Tic-Tac-Toe Game......Page 399 Designing the Game......Page 400 Summary......Page 420 B......Page 422 C......Page 423 D......Page 424 F......Page 425 I......Page 426 L......Page 427 O......Page 428 R......Page 429 S......Page 430 T......Page 431 V......Page 432 Y......Page 433