Intro To VB 7 March 2013

8 March 2013 Introduction to VB.
Net 2012
Page 1 Contact Stuffucanuse.com for more resources and files for this manual
Visual Basic.Net training 2013
Contents
Cheat Sheet for VB.net ....................................................................................................... 6
Microsoft Exam 98-361: Software Development Fundamentals ........................................ 8
Microsoft Exam 98-362: Windows Development Fundamentals ...................................... 11
1. Structure Diagrams - Processes, Decisions and Loops ...............................................14
Introduction to VB.net ....................................................................................................... 15
Variables ....................................................................................................................... 19
Data Types .................................................................................................................... 20
Detecting Keypress events ............................................................................................... 22
Structure Diagram for part of lesson 1 .......................................................................... 22
Operators .......................................................................................................................... 22
Advanced math with System.Math ............................................................................... 23
Code Snippets tool ............................................................................................................ 25
Learning to code defensively - Refactoring your code...................................................... 25
Using My ........................................................................................................................... 25
Learning to code defensively - Some coding ideas .......................................................... 26
2. If Statements ...............................................................................................................27
Grades Project .................................................................................................................. 27
Learning to code defensively -Use Try / Catch for error Checking ................................... 29
3. Select Case Statement ................................................................................................31
Finding out the average of grades entered. ...................................................................... 31
Max and Min using IF ........................................................................................................ 32
Learning to code defensively - Catching if just Numeric or Text entered ......................... 34
Using Keypress to allow only numbers ............................................................................. 34
4. IF with AND and OR Does the car run? ....................................................................36
Calculator Project .............................................................................................................. 38
Temperature Converter program ...................................................................................... 39
5. Sender ........................................................................................................................40
Using Sender exercises .................................................................................................... 40
Using Sender to determine what type of control you clicked ............................................ 42
Calculator part 2 using Sender ......................................................................................... 44
Order a sandwich program ............................................................................................... 46
Rock Scissors Paper ......................................................................................................... 47
Adding a new Form or Dialog Box to show images .......................................................... 49
6. Adding images to a Resource file ................................................................................51
Guess The Correct Answer game..................................................................................... 53
Employee wages ............................................................................................................... 53
Better Brains College If, And, and Or ............................................................................ 53
Lucky Guess Project ......................................................................................................... 54
7. Subroutines and Functions ..........................................................................................56
Subroutines that dont return data (Subs) ...................................................................... 56
Subroutines that accept data ............................................................................................ 57
Subroutines that accept data and return it- Functions ...................................................... 58
Coding goals for Subs and Functions ........................................................................... 59
8. Byref and Byval - Functions - overview ........................................................................60
ByVal (pass a copy of the data) and ByRef (change the original data) ............................ 60
ByRef or ByVal Example............................................................................................... 61
Times Table tester ............................................................................................................ 63
9. Picture Viewer using containers ..................................................................................66
10. Changing Control Panel setting using the SystemParametersInfo ...............................70
Changing the desktop wallpaper in the Picture viewer ..................................................... 70
8 March 2013 Introduction to VB.Net 2012
Telecom Smart Phone Bill Project .................................................................................... 72
11. Multichoice test ...........................................................................................................76
Adding a Splash Screen ................................................................................................... 79
12. Transparent background and automatic shutdown program ........................................81
Creating an Icon ............................................................................................................ 82
Getting an Exe .............................................................................................................. 82
Changing the Startup Form .......................................................................................... 83
Create a fading closing form ......................................................................................... 84
Another way to shut down .................................................................................... 85
13. Loops In VB.Net ..........................................................................................................86
ForNext Loop ................................................................................................................. 86
The Leap Year Program For loop .................................................................................. 88
Using Mod ..................................................................................................................... 88
14. Do WhileLoop ..........................................................................................................89
The Leap Year Program part 2 Do While loop ............................................................... 89
Do While Fibonacci Sequence ....................................................................................... 91
Find the even Fibonacci numbers only ......................................................................... 92
What is the first Fibonacci number to contain 1000 digits? .......................................... 92
DoLoop While ................................................................................................................ 93
DoLoop Until .................................................................................................................. 93
15. For Each Loop .............................................................................................................94
Find the multiples of 3 and 5 ............................................................................................. 95
Times Table calculator ...................................................................................................... 95
Dice Rolls with Loops ........................................................................................................ 97
Identify the appropriate method for handling repetition .................................................... 99
Depreciation Rate calculator ........................................................................................... 100
Compounding Interest Calculator ................................................................................... 102
Calculate the change for a shop ..................................................................................... 104
Times Table tester with Loop .......................................................................................... 107
16. Password CraCker with loops ................................................................................... 109
DoEvents a curse or a solution? .............................................................................. 110
Standard Progress Bar ............................................................................................... 111
Simple Custom Progress Bar ..................................................................................... 111
Nested Loops to create logical selection .................................................................... 113
17. Background Workers ................................................................................................. 115
Overview ..................................................................................................................... 115
18. Text to Speech .......................................................................................................... 118
Speech to text ................................................................................................................. 118
19. Structures .................................................................................................................. 120
Heap and Stack Performance ..................................................................................... 121
Structures- Customer Exercise ....................................................................................... 122
Cheque processing using Structure ................................................................................ 125
20. Using Snippets for VB.net to auto create the Class properties .................................. 129
21. Introduction to Classes .............................................................................................. 131
OOP terms .................................................................................................................. 132
Creating a simple class ................................................................................................... 133
Temperature Converter with a Class .............................................................................. 134
Fields, Properties, Methods, and Events ........................................................................ 136
Naming Classes and Methods .................................................................................... 137
22. Encapsulation ............................................................................................................ 137
Dice program with Classes - revisited............................................................................. 139
23. Inheritance Is a .................................................................................................... 141
Weapons Practice Class, Inheritance, Constructor ..................................................... 142
24. Inheritance based Polymorphism .............................................................................. 147
Depreciation Rate calculator with Class ......................................................................... 148
Class Diagram Practice Assignments using noun analysis ............................................ 148
The Coffee machine Class Inheritance and Constructor .............................................. 150
Create the drink from the ingredients Classes ................................................................ 154
25. Importing Text into your Program .............................................................................. 155
The File class simple read and write data to text files ................................................. 156
StreamReader - importing to a ListBox ........................................................................... 157
Saving with StreamWriter ............................................................................................... 158
26. Using OpenFile Dialog and SaveFile Dialog .............................................................. 159
Creating a shopping List ................................................................................................. 161
27. Add Menus and Tool Strip to your project .................................................................. 162
Worlds greatest bands ................................................................................................... 162
28. Common String Methods ........................................................................................... 165
Instantiating String Objects ............................................................................................. 165
Iterate a String ............................................................................................................ 167
Split a String ................................................................................................................ 167
Split text to an array .................................................................................................... 167
Extract SubStrings from a String ................................................................................ 168
Reverse a String ......................................................................................................... 168
Compare Two Strings ................................................................................................. 168
Test if String is null or Zero Length ............................................................................. 168
Convert the Case of a String ...................................................................................... 168
Count the occurrence of letters (not spaces) in a string ............................................. 169
Count the occurrences of words in a String ................................................................ 169
Insert Characters inside a String ................................................................................ 170
Replace characters in a String .................................................................................... 170
Create Date and Time from String .............................................................................. 170
Trimming a String ........................................................................................................ 170
Convert String To Integer ........................................................................................... 170
String Functions Exercise ............................................................................................... 171
Char and Chars = Characters ........................................................................................ 175
Starts With and Ends With methods ............................................................................... 176
The Like Operator ........................................................................................................... 177
Check a valid email address ........................................................................................... 179
Check a valid email address using classes ............................................................. 181
Check domain via the internet .................................................................................... 183
Get the DNS IP addresses from the domain name .................................................... 184
Create a Document Statistics counter ............................................................................ 185
Filter words by length using class ................................................................................ 186
29. Stringbuilder .............................................................................................................. 190
30. Web interface projects ............................................................................................... 192
Metservice temperature program .................................................................................... 192
Getting through the proxy server ................................................................................ 194
Whitepages Phone book ................................................................................................. 196
DuckDuckGo interface using Json .................................................................................. 197
31. The DateTime and TimeSpan Types ......................................................................... 200
Useful DateTime Members ......................................................................................... 201
Useful TimeSpan Members......................................................................................... 202
32. Arrays and Collections .............................................................................................. 203
Arrays Exercise ............................................................................................................... 204
Arrays .......................................................................................................................... 204
Collections - ArrayList ................................................................................................ 205
Generic List preferred .............................................................................................. 206
Working with ArrayList .................................................................................................... 207
Arraylist and random numbers ........................................................................................ 209
Work out General Depreciation rates on computers....................................................... 210
Calculator using words simple array ............................................................................ 211
Scrabble Dictionary using lists ..................................................................................... 213
Advanced Scrabble Incremental Search ........................................................................ 216
Scrabble Exercise - using a Hash table .......................................................................... 218
Permutations and Scrabble finder - incomplete .............................................................. 221
33. Sorting Socks project ................................................................................................ 222
34. The T shirt algorithm ................................................................................................. 223
35. Search and Sort Algorithms ....................................................................................... 225
Bubble Sort ..................................................................................................................... 225
Sort a list of words using Bubble sort ......................................................................... 227
Selection Sort .................................................................................................................. 228
Sequential Searching ...................................................................................................... 231
36. Advanced Search and Sort Algorithms ...................................................................... 233
Making a sequential search faster: self-organizing data ................................................ 233
QuickSort Algorithm Divide and conquer ..................................................................... 237
37. Stack and the Heap ................................................................................................... 242
38. Stack and Queue not done ..................................................................................... 243
39. Delegates to do ...................................................................................................... 243
40. Func and Lambda ..................................................................................................... 243
41. Unit Testing to do ................................................................................................... 244
42. Recursion - incomplete .............................................................................................. 244
43. Overloaded Methods ................................................................................................. 246
ADO.Net 4 and SQL ........................................................................................................... 251
44. TSQL Cheat Sheet .................................................................................................... 251
String Functions .......................................................................................................... 251
Common Functions ..................................................................................................... 251
Date Functions ............................................................................................................ 251
Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause .................................................................. 251
Logical processing order of select .............................................................................. 251
CTES - Common Table Expressions .......................................................................... 252
Recursive CTEs .......................................................................................................... 252
Over and partition by................................................................................................... 252
Create a Stored Procedure ......................................................................................... 252
Create a Trigger .......................................................................................................... 252
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 253
How it works ................................................................................................................ 255
DataReader ................................................................................................................. 256
Accessing Data using ADO.NET overview ..................................................................... 256
DataSet ....................................................................................................................... 257
DataGridView .............................................................................................................. 257
BindingSource ............................................................................................................. 257
BindingNavigator ......................................................................................................... 257
TableAdapter .............................................................................................................. 258
Data Binding ............................................................................................................... 258
ADO.NET Namespaces .............................................................................................. 258
Creating a Data Connection using the Wizard ................................................................ 259
The code behind the program to date......................................................................... 262
How to use the Dataset Designer ................................................................................... 263
Text Boxes - Formatting and Advanced Binding ............................................................ 264
Using a DataGrid to create a Master/Detail form ............................................................ 265
Creating a Parameterized Query .................................................................................... 267
Creating Queries in the Table Adapter ........................................................................... 270
Return a single value from the Database ....................................................................... 273
Using the Query Builder .................................................................................................. 275
45. Practical Creating queries with the Cars Database ................................................. 278
46. Using manual Connections ........................................................................................ 280
Setting up SQL Server .................................................................................................... 280
When you cannot add a Database.................................................................................. 282
How to restore administrator access to a SQL server .................................................... 282
Loading in your Golf Database ....................................................................................... 284
Run a Query in SQL Express .......................................................................................... 287
Creating an SQL Connection .......................................................................................... 288
Connect using SqlConnection Class .......................................................................... 288
Opening and Closing the Connection ......................................................................... 289
Display data in a ListView ............................................................................................... 291
Returning Scalar (single) value ...................................................................................... 292
Insert Command.............................................................................................................. 293
Optimising your code by using Sub Routines ................................................................. 294
Update Command ........................................................................................................... 297
Delete Command ............................................................................................................ 298
Inserting Data into your database ................................................................................... 299
47. Using Parameters ..................................................................................................... 300
Golf using parameters................................................................................................. 301
48. Golf Exercise using SQL ........................................................................................... 302
49. The SQL Data Adapter .............................................................................................. 303
The SelectCommand Property SQL String .................................................................. 303
The SelectCommand Property Stored Procedure ....................................................... 304
Calling the Stored procedure from your code ................................................................. 305
50. Music Database in SQL Management Studio -Relational Database .......................... 306
Primary Key / Foreign Key relationships ......................................................................... 307
Setting the Primary key / Foreign Key Relationships...................................................... 308
Creating Database Views Queries ............................................................................... 311
51. Music Database in Visual Studio ............................................................................... 315
Using a Datagridview ...................................................................................................... 315
Using Views in the Form ................................................................................................. 316
Fill the Listbox from the Database .................................................................................. 316
52. Linking DataGridViews to each other ........................................................................ 317
DataGridView Click Event ............................................................................................... 318
Resizing Columns to fit contents ................................................................................ 320
Passing data from a DataTable to text boxes for Updating ............................................ 321
INSERT new Data using Parameters ......................................................................... 322
DELETE Data using Parameters ................................................................................ 323

Cheat Sheet for VB.net
Namespace
Imports Namespace
Data Types
Boolean,Byte,Char,DateTime,Decimal,
Double,Int16,Int32,Int64,Integer, Long,
Object,
Short,Single,String,IntPtr,UInteger,Uint
Ptr
Variable Declaration
Dim | Public | Private <variable_name>
As <type>
Type Declaration
Dim | Public <variable><suffix>
Suffixes
% -Integer. $ - String, @ - Decimal, & -
Long, # - Double, ! - Single
Arrays
Dim <arrayname>(<MaxIndexVal>) As
<type>
Dim <arrayname>(<LowerBound> To
<UpperBound>) As <type>
Initialize Array
Dim <arrayname>() As <type> =
{<value1>, <value2>, ... , <valueN>}
Change Size of Array
ReDim <arrayname>(<MaxIndexVal>)
Comments
'Comment text
'No multi-line comments at this time
XML Comments
Press the ' (apostrophe) key thrice.
Line Continuation
strtext = To break a long string across
multiple lines, & _
end the string, add the line
continuation character & _
and continue the string on the next
line.
Arithmetic Operators
+ (Addition), - (Subtraction), *
(Multiplication), / (Division), %
(Modulus)
String Concatenation
+, &
Relational Operators
< (Less Than), <= (Less Than or Equal
To),> (Greater Than),>= (Greater Than
or Equal To),= (Equal To),<> (Not
Equal To)
Logical Operators
OR, NOT, AND, AndAlso, OrElse, Xor
String Manipulation
.Substring(<start>,[<length>])
.Trim() <trims from beginning & end of
string>
.TrimEnd([<char array>])
.TrimStart([char array])
.ToLower() <to lower case>
.ToUpper() <to upper case>
.Replace(<find>,<replace>)
.Equals(<expression>) <6 available
overloads>
.EndsWith
.Concat
.Contains(<string>)
.Clone
.Join(<seperator>,<value>,[<count>])
.Compare(<string1>,<string2>,[<ignore
case>]) <7 overloads available>
.Copy(<string>)
.Split
.IndexOf
.Substring
VB6 to VB.net
Len = .Length
Mid = .SubString
Replace = .Replace
InStr = .IndexOf
UCase = .ToUpper
LCase = .ToLower
Split = .Split
Join = .Join

If Else
If(<expression>) Then
<statement 1>
Else
<statement 2>
End If
Inline If
variable = IIf( condition, value_if_false,
value_if_true )
For Loop
For <initialize> (Relational Operator)
<condition>
<statement>
Next
For Each Loop
For Each <variable> In <object>
[Exit For]
<statements>
[Continue For]
<statements>
Next
While Loop
While <expression>
<statement>
End While
Do-While Loop
Do
<statement>
Loop While <expression>
Select Case Statement
Select Case <expression>
Case <expression1>:
<statement sequence 1>
Case <expression2>
<statement sequence 2>
Case <expressionN>
<statement sequence N-1>
Case Else
<statement sequence N>
End Select
Function Structure
<Private, Public>
<Function_Name>([Parameters])
body of the function
End Function
Class Structure
Public Class <Class_Name>
body of class
End Class
Public
'method_prototypes
'data_attributes
Private
'method_prototypes
'data_attributes
Friend
'method_prototypes
Shared
'method_prototypes
'data_attributes
Error Handling
Try
<statements that may cause an error>
Catch
<statements to use when an error occurs>
Finally
<statements to use no matter what
happens>
End Try

Links to interesting sites and articles
http://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/comments/17mwsb/can_a_professional_programmer_explain_the_tho
ught/
http://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/comments/17t5g9/what_skills_do_you_think_all_beginner_programme
rs/
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/print/2011/06/how-i-failed-failed-and-finally-succeeded-at-learning-how-to-
code/239855/
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-
and-programming-fall-2008/video-lectures/
Computer Science Teaching videos - http://teachingtree.co/

Vision College Friday, 8 March 2013 ADO.Net
Page 8 2012
Microsoft Exam 98-361: Software Development
Fundamentals
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. The
percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. The higher the
percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam.

The information after This objective may include but is not limited to is intended to further
define or scope the objective by describing the types of skills and topics that may be tested for
the objective. However, it is not an exhaustive list of skills and topics that could be included
on the exam for a given skill area. You may be tested on other skills and topics related to the
objective that are not explicitly listed here.
Understanding Core Programming (18 percent)
Understand computer storage and data types.
This objective may include but is not limited to: how a computer stores programs and the
instructions in computer memory; memory stacks and heaps; memory size requirements
for the various data storage types; numeric data and textual data
Understand computer decision structures.
This objective may include but is not limited to: various decision structures used in all
computer programming languages; If decision structures; multiple decision structures
such as IfElse and switch/Select Case; reading flowcharts; decision tables; evaluating
expressions
Identify the appropriate method for handling repetition.
This objective may include but is not limited to: For loops, While loops, Do..While loops,
and recursion
Understand error handling.
This objective may include but is not limited to: structured exception handling
Understanding Object-Oriented Programming (19 percent)
Understand the fundamentals of classes.
This objective may include but is not limited to: properties, methods, events, and
constructors; how to create a class; how to use classes in code
Understand inheritance.
This objective may include but is not limited to: inheriting the functionality of a base class
into a derived class
Understand polymorphism.
This objective may include but is not limited to: extending the functionality in a class after
inheriting from a base class; overriding methods in the derived class.
Page 9 2012
Understand encapsulation.
This objective may include but is not limited to: creating classes that hide their
implementation details while still allowing access to the required functionality through the
interface; access modifiers
Understanding General Software Development (14 percent)
Understand application life cycle management.
This objective may include but is not limited to: phases of application life cycle
management; software testing
Interpret application specifications.
This objective may include but is not limited to: reading application specifications and
translating them into prototypes, code, and components
Understand algorithms and data structures.
This objective may include but is not limited to: arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, and
sorting algorithms; performance implications of various data structures; choosing the right
data structure
Understanding Web Applications (20 percent)
Understand Web page development.
This objective may include but is not limited to: HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS),
JavaScript
Understand Microsoft ASP.NET Web application development.
This objective may include but is not limited to: page life cycle; event model; state
management; client-side vs. server-side programming
Understand Web hosting.
This objective may include but is not limited to: creating virtual directories and Web sites;
deploying Web applications; understanding the role of Internet Information Services
Understand Web services.
This objective may include but is not limited to: Web services that will be consumed by
client applications; accessing Web services from a client application; SOAP and Web
Service Definition Language (WSDL)
Understanding Desktop Applications (12 percent)
Understand Windows Forms applications.
This objective may include but is not limited to: Windows Forms event model; visual
inheritance; UI design; use of Multiple Document Interface (MDI) and Single Document
Interface [and here] (SDI) applications
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Understand console-based applications.
This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of
console-based applications
Understand Windows Services.
This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of
Windows Services
Understanding Databases (17 percent)
Understand relational database management systems.
o This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities
of database products; database design; Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs);
normalization concepts
Understand database query methods.
This objective may include but is not limited to: structured query language (SQL),
creating and accessing stored procedures, updating data and selecting data
Understand database connection methods.
This objective may include but is not limited to: connecting to various types of data stores
such as flat file; XML file; in-memory object; resource optimization
Learning Plan for Software Development Fundamentals (Exam 98-361)
This learning plan is intended to help students gain the foundational knowledge they need to
begin building a software development career. By following the steps in this learning plan,
students will gain an understanding of:

- Core programming concepts, such as computer storage and data types, decision structures,
and error handling
- Object oriented programming, including classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and
encapsulation
- General Software Development, including application life cycle management, application
specifications, algorithms and data structures
- Web Applications, including Web page development (HTML, JavaScript, and CSS),
Microsoft ASP.NET Web application development, Web hosting, and Web services
- Desktop Applications, including Windows Forms applications, console-based applications,
and Windows Services
- Databases, including relational database management systems, database query methods, and
database connection methods
This learning plan also helps students prepare for Microsoft Exam 98-361: Software
Development Fundamentals.
Page 11 2012
Microsoft Exam 98-362: Windows Development
Fundamentals
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.The
percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam.The higher the
percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam.

The information after This objective may include but is not limited to is intended to further
define or scope the objective by describing the types of skills and topics that may be tested for
the objective. However, it is not an exhaustive list of skills and topics that could be included
on the exam for a given skill area. You may be tested on other skills and topics related to the
objective that are not explicitly listed here.
Understanding Windows Programming Basics
Identify Windows application types.
This objective may include but is not limited to: Windows Forms, Windows Presentation
Foundation (WPF), Windows Services, and Win32 applications
Implement user interface design.
This objective may include but is not limited to: core user interface design principles for
creating graphical-based applications
Create Windows-based applications by using Visual Studio.
This objective may include but is not limited to: project types, importance of the various
aspects of a Windows Application project
Creating Windows Forms Applications
Create and handle events.
This objective may include but is not limited to: methods for creating events in an application;
handling events raised in an application
Understand Windows Forms inheritance.
This objective may include but is not limited to: implementing forms inheritance in
applications for visual inheritance
Understand how to create new controls and extend existing controls.
This objective may include but is not limited to: creating a new GUI control or inheriting
functionality from an existing control
Validate and implement user input.
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This objective may include but is not limited to: implementing the correct user input model
based on application design and requirements; accepting keyboard and mouse input;
validating user input through GUI controls such as text boxes and dialog controls
Debug a Windows-based application.
This objective may include but is not limited to: using breakpoints and debugging
techniques to identify issues in code; debugging a Windows Services application.
Creating Windows Services Applications
Create a Windows Services application.
This objective may include but is not limited to: inheriting the ServiceBase class; writing code
in the Main method; overriding the OnStart and OnStop procedures
Install a Windows Services application.
This objective may include but is not limited to: creating installers for Windows Services;
installing services on a target computer
Accessing Data in a Windows Forms Application
Understand data access methods for a Windows Application.
This objective may include but is not limited to: connecting to a database
Understand data bound controls.
This objective may include but is not limited to: how data is bound to controls; how to display
the data in the appropriate manner; forms and WPF binding; validating databound items
Deploying a Windows Application
Understand Windows application deployment methods.
This objective may include but is not limited to: different methods of deploying Windows
applications; choosing the appropriate method for deployment
Create Windows setup and deployment projects.
This objective may include but is not limited to: creating setup projects for applications;
specifying custom actions; creating special folders; security requirements; x64 deployment
and program files location
This learning plan is intended to help students gain the foundational knowledge they need to
begin building a Windows development career by using Microsoft technologies. By following
the steps in this learning plan, students will gain the knowledge and skills required to:

- Create graphical user interface (GUI) applications that run on Windows by using Windows
Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
- Program and host Windows Services on a computer that runs Windows
Page 13 2012
- Access data from various sources for use in a Windows-based application and
- Deploy a Windows application to target computers

This learning plan also helps students prepare for Microsoft Exam 98-362: Windows
Development Fundamentals.

Page 14 2012
1. Structure Diagrams - Processes, Decisions and
Loops
Structure Diagrams are a method of modelling and testing your code before writing it.
It provides a paper version of the processes your code will go through from Inputs to
Processes to Outputs.
Structure diagrams are used as design tools for functionally decomposing structured
programs.
Any programming structure can be reduced to combinations of three fundamental
operations: Processes, Decisions and Loops.
These combinations can be used to reduce a complicated task to smaller less
complicated ones. The smaller tasks can be divided even further into smaller groups
until they reach a level where you can proceed to create the code.

IF or Case Statement
Loop, While, For Statement
Page 15 2012
Introduction to VB.net
Open a new VB project
Save it with a name Lesson1, and to
a new folder on your desktop, or
wherever you want, as lesson1.
Always save a new project in a
new folder as multiple files are
saved for each project and chaos
will ensue unless you are clear
about your saving.
Set up your workspace to look like this, When you open the Toolbox press the pin to
pin it to the side. As we have a good sized screen we have the space available to
leave it open. Resize the Form window to make it easier to see.

The following list introduces the most common windows:
Toolbox: The Toolbox contains reusable controls and components that
can be added to your application. These range from buttons to data
connectors to customized controls that you have either purchased or
developed.
Design window: The Design window is where a lot of the action takes
place. This is where you will draw your user interface on your forms. This
window is sometimes referred to as the Designer.
Solution Explorer: The Solution Explorer window contains a
hierarchical view of your solution. A solution can contain many projects,
whereas a project contains forms, classes, modules, and components that
solve a particular problem.
Properties: The Properties window shows what properties the selected
object makes available. Although you can set these properties in your
code, sometimes it is much easier to set them while you are designing
Page 16 2012
your application (for example, drawing the controls on your form). You will
notice that the File Name property has the value Form1.vb. This is the
physical filename for the forms code and layout information.
From the ToolBox in Common Controls drag on ..
1 Button - named btngo btn = button
Set Text field to GO

1 listbox named lboutput lb = listbox
Set Multicolumn to true

1 label named lbloutput lbl = label
Set Text field to empty clear it
Set Autosize to false
Set Backcolor to your choice

1 text box named txtinput txt = textbox
Set Text field to empty

Double click on the button to open the code
window.
Although this only shows the code for the Button
at present all code (at this level at least) will go in
this window.
Next we will add text, use the autocomplete every time you make an entry, then you
know you wont have any errors. So start to type below and when the word lbloutput
appears press Tab. Then choose a property from the pulldown list and press tab
again.

IF YOU DONT GET THE INTELLISENCE YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG

Type in lbloutput.Text = "hello world"

Click the green run button to see it working, then click on your button.
Things to note: The green bar down the left shows your code is working OK, the
output at the bottom gives information as to how well it runs.
Page 17 2012

Now alter it to look like this...
The first line has been commented out with a Its better to comment out code than
delete it, you never know when you need it again.
Note that lboutput.Items.Add(txtinput.Text) has two separate intellisence
selections.
Private Sub btnGo_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnGo.Click

' lbloutput.Text = "hello world"
lbloutput.Text = txtinput.Text
lboutput.Items.Add(txtinput.Text)

MsgBox("This is a test " & txtinput.Text) ' comment out when it
gets annoying

End Sub
Run it.
Add more entries to the text box and see them list in the listbox. Listboxes are fun,
and really handy tools to use for debugging as well.
Double click on the listbox and then in the code window enter
lboutput.Items.Clear() This will clear the listbox when you click on it when it is
running
Private Sub lboutput_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
lboutput.SelectedIndexChanged
lboutput.Items.Clear()

End Sub

Now for something different. We want to get the click event on the textbox, when you
first click into it with the mouse. We want this so that the existing text can be
highlighted so you dont have to delete it out each time you want to add new text.
So click in the pulldown list at the top of the code and select txtinput
Then click in the second list and select Click. This will be the click event.

Page 18 2012
Then add in the following code with the beside it. The green text are comments.
Comments are your way to teach the future you what you are going to forget.
Private Sub txtinput_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles txtinput.Click
txtinput.SelectionStart = 0 ' puts the cursor at the start
txtinput.SelectionLength = txtinput.Text.Length ' selects the
entire length of the text
End Sub
Run it and see what happens........
If you comment your code then you can easily find it again at a later time when you
want to use it in another program.
To this stage we have really just been setting up the program. We now have a
working form that you can enter data in on, and see results, now we can turn this into
a real program by getting into some coding.

Page 19 2012
Variables
Its not enough to have data moving from textboxes to labels and out of the program.
You need to be able to work with data in the program. To do this you need to create
variables, storage places to hold information that you want to use.
Variables can store numbers, text, dates, and times, and they can even point to full-
fledged objects. When you declare a variable, you give it a name, and you specify
the type of data it will store.
To use a variable you first have to tell the program that it exists. This happens
automatically when you put an object, such as button on a form, but you have to do it
manually when you create a variable.
The DIM name harks back to the original versions of the BASIC language. BASIC
has always needed to know how much space to reserve for an array so it had a
command to indicate the dimensions of the array Dim for short. Visual Basic
extends that command to all other kinds of variables as well to mean make some
space for in general.
To do this it follows the following format
Dimension Variable Name as Variable Type and give it a value
Dim myVariable As String = "StringValue"
This means that myVariable will hold StringValue. But you can change what is in
myVariable to be something completely different as long as its just a string.
You can make variables that dont change, for when you want to add a value into
your program that is constant.
Const cnstMyConstant As String = "The very long string"

Visual Basic is kind enough to let you use simple data types without initializing them.
Numbers are automatically initialized to 0, and strings are initialized to an empty
string ("").

Page 20 2012
Data Types
Data Types define the type of data that a variable can store. Some variables store
numbers, others store names.
Every .NET language uses the same variable data types. Different languages may
provide slightly different names (for example, a VB Integer is the same as a C# int),
but the CLR makes no distinctionin fact, they are just two different names for the
same base data type (in this case, its System.Int32).
This design allows for deep language integration. Because languages share the
same core data types, you can easily use objects written in one .NET language in an
application written in another .NET language. No data type conversions are required.
All .NET languages have the same data types because they all adhere to the
common type system (CTS), a Microsoft-designed ECMA standard that sets the
ground rules that all .NET languages must follow when dealing with data.
The built-in VB.NET type aliases and their equivalent .NET Framework types follow:
.NET Type
Name
VB
Name
C#
Name
Contains

Byte

Byte

byte

An integer from 0 to 255.
Int16 Short short An integer from 32,768 to 32,767.
Int32 Integer int An integer from 2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647.
Int64 Long long An integer from about 9.2e18 to 9.2e18.
Single Single float A single-precision floating-point number from approximately 3.4e38 to
3.4e38 (for big numbers) or 1.5e-45 to 1.5e-45 (for small fractional
numbers).
Double Double double A double-precision floating-point number from approximately 1.8e308 to
1.8e308 (for big numbers) or 5.0e-324 to 5.0e-324 (for small fractional
numbers).
Decimal Decimal decimal A 128-bit fixed-point fractional number that supports up to 28 significant
digits.
Char Char char A single Unicode character.
String String string A variable-length series of Unicode characters.
Boolean Boolean bool A True or False value.
DateTime Date * Represents any date and time from 12:00:00 AM on January 1 of year
1 in the Gregorian calendar, to
11:59:59 PM on December 31 of the year 9999. Time values can resolve
values to 100-nanosecond increments. Internally, this data type is stored as a
64-bit integer.
TimeSpan * * Represents a period of time, as in ten seconds or three days. The
smallest possible interval is 1 tick (100 nanoseconds).
Object Object object The ultimate base class of all .NET types. Can contain any data type or
object. (Youll take a much closer look at objects in Chapter 3.)

Page 21 2012
Try it in your project, just use your name. Variables can be defined anywhere but in
this case defining it at the top means it can be used everywhere. shows the
changed lines.
Under Public Class Form1 add the following. Use your OWN NAME!
Public Class Form1
Dim strmyname As String = "Gary"

' lbloutput.Text = txtinput.Text
lboutput.Items.Add(txtinput.Text)
lbloutput.Text = strmyname
MsgBox("Hello " & strmyname & " boy are you lucky to learn
VB.net") ' comment out when it gets annoying
End Sub
Add and change the following use your age.
Dim myage As Integer = 47
MsgBox("Hello " & myname & " your age is " & myage) ' comment out
when it gets annoying
Variables can be changed easily do this
Dim intmyage As Integer = 47
Dim intyear As Integer = 2012
intmyage = intmyage + 1
intyear = intyear + 1
lboutput.Items.Add(intmyage & " in " & intyear)
Your code to date:
Public Class Form1
Dim intmyage As Integer = 47
Dim intyear As Integer = 2012


' lbloutput.Text = txtinput.Text
intmyage = intmyage + 1
intyear = intyear + 1
lboutput.Items.Add(intmyage & " in " & intyear)
lbloutput.Text = strmyname
MsgBox("Hello " & strmyname & " your age is " & intmyage) '
comment out when it gets annoying
End Sub
Page 22 2012
Detecting Keypress events
Choose a KeyDown event and add the following
Private Sub txtinput_KeyDown(sender As Object, e As KeyEventArgs)
Handles txtinput.KeyDown
If e.KeyCode = Keys.Return Then
lblOutput.Text = txtinput.Text
MsgBox("This is some text")
'Put whatever you want here.
End If
End Sub

Structure Diagram for part of lesson 1
Operators
There are various types of operators in Visual Basic. Here are the Arithmetic
operators (for example, the expression 5 + 4 yields a value of 9):
Operator Description Example Result
+ Addition 1 + 1 2
Subtraction 5 2 3
* Multiplication 2 * 5 10
/ Division 5 / 2 2.5
Mod Gets the remainder left after integer
division
7 Mod 3 1

Here are the Comparison operators (these values yield true or false valuesfor
example, 5 > 4 yields a value of True):
< (Less than) True if operand1 is less than operand2
<= (Less than or equal
to)
True if operand1 is less than or equal to
operand2
> (Greater than) True if operand1 is greater than operand2
Page 23 2012
>= (Greater than or
equal to)
True if operand1 is greater than or equal to
operand2
= (Equal to) True if operand1 equals operand2
<> (Not equal to) True if operand1 is not equal to operand2
Is True if two object references refer to the same
object
Like Performs string pattern matching

When dealing with strings, you can use the concatenation operator (&), which joins
two strings.
MyName = FirstName & " " & LastName
The addition operator (+) can also be used to join strings, but its generally clearer
and safer to use the concatenation operator. The concatenation operator (&)
automatically attempts to convert both variables in the expression to the string data
type, if they are not already strings.
In addition, VB also provides special shorthand assignment operators. Here are a
few examples:
Add 10 to MyValue (the same as MyValue = MyValue + 10). MyValue += 10
Multiply MyValue by 3 (the same as MyValue = MyValue * 3). MyValue *= 3
Divide MyValue by 12 (the same as MyValue = MyValue / 12). MyValue /= 12

Advanced math with System.Math
In the past, every language has had its own set of keywords for common math operations such
as rounding and trigonometry. In .NET languages, many of these keywords remain.
However, you can also use a centralized System.Math class thats part of the .NET
Framework.
This has the pleasant side effect of ensuring that the code you use to perform mathematical
operations can easily be translated into equivalent statements in any .NET language with
minimal fuss.
To use the math operations, you invoke the methods of the Math class. These methods are
shared, which means they are always available and ready to use.
The following table shows some sample calculations that you can perform with the Math
class:
Dim MyValue As Double
MyValue = Math.Sqrt(81) MyValue = 9.0
MyValue = Math.Round(42.889, 2) MyValue = 42.89
MyValue = Math.Abs(10) MyValue = 10.0 Absolute makes a
Page 24 2012
negative a positive
MyValue = Math.Log(24.212) MyValue = 3.18.. (and so on)
MyValue = Math.PI MyValue = 3.14.. (and so on)

The features of the Math class are too numerous to list here in their entirety. The preceding
examples show some common numeric operations. For more information about the
trigonometric and logarithmic functions that are available, refer to the reference information
for the Math class on Microsofts MSDN website
These are the Logical/Bitwise operators, where bitwise means working bit by bit with
numerical values.
These types of operators can work on logical values (for example, if blnValue1 is set
to True and blnValue2 is set to False, then blnValue1 Or blnValue2 returns a value
of True) or numbers for bitwise operations, which work on their operands bit by bit
(for example, if intValue1 is set to 2 and intValue2 is set to 1, then intValue1 Or
intValue2 yields 3):
And Performs an And operation (for logical operations: True if both
operands are True, False otherwise; the same for bit-by-bit
operations where you treat 0 as False and 1 as True).
Not Reverses the logical value of its operand, from True to False and
False to True, for bitwise operations, turns 0 into 1 and 1 into 0.
Or Operator performs an Or operation (for logical operations: True if
either operand is True, False otherwise; the same for bit-by-bit
operations where you treat 0 as False and 1 as True).
Xor Operator performs an exclusive-Or operation (for logical
operations: True if either operand, but not both, is True, and False
otherwise; the same for bit-by-bit operations where you treat 0 as
False and 1 as True).
AndAlso Operator A "short circuited" And operator; if the first operand is
False, the second operand is not tested.
OrElse Operator A "short circuited" Or operator, if the first operand is True,
the second is not tested.
Address
Of
Gets the address of a procedure
GetType Gets information about a type

Following the lead of languages like Java, VB .NET supports these combination
operators.
For example, += is a combination of + and =, which means that you can
write intValue1 = intValue1 + 1 as intValue1 += 1.
In a similar way, you can write intValue1 = intValue1 * 5 asintValue1 *=
5, providing an easy shortcut.
Page 25 2012
Also, in Visual Basic .NET, if the first operand of an And operator evaluates to False,
the remainder of the logical expression is not evaluated. Similarly, if the first operand
of an Or operator evaluates to True, the remainder of the logical expression is not
evaluated. This is called short-circuiting.
We will use these in the future.
Close your project.
Code Snippets tool
To enter code that you will be using repetitively use the Code Snippets tool.
(However at this level its better for you to enter it by hand, but here is how you do it.)
In your code window click where you want the code entered, then right click and
choose Insert Snippet. Then double click on the group you want such as Code
Patterns and search for the code you want to enter.
You can also save code to the Snippets to use later.
Learning to code defensively - Refactoring your code
If you want to rename (refactor) your code, such as your variables, you can do it all at
once. When you change the name click on the small icon that appears on the bottom
right and choose the option shown. This seems to bork at changing the same name
multiple times however. This is a really good tool for your programming.

Using My
My is the speed dial of the dot net framework. Its a quick way to access distinct
classes which organize a variety of functions into one of seven general areas:
My.Application, My.Computer, My.Forms, My.Resources, My.Settings, My.User, and
My.WebServices.
Eg: The name of the current user of the application
lblname.text = My.User.Name

A statement that checks if the directory exists
If My.Computer.FileSystem.DirectoryExists.("C:\files") then

A statement that creates an instance of a form and displays it. (Form1 being the
form, but your form name will show if you have one)
My.Forms.Form1.Show()

Page 26 2012
Reading a text file into the program
contents = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText("c:\mytextfile.txt")
My isnt used much in the exercises as its platform dependant, but many exercises
could be rewritten to incorporate it. Its a good tool that is so far unexploited. Maybe
we need to get a book on it.
Learning to code defensively - Some coding ideas
Write code for clarity, not brevity
Whenever you can choose between concise (but potentially confusing) code and
clear (but potentially tedious) code, use code that reads as intended, even if its less
elegant. For example, split complex arithmetic operations into a series of separate
statements to make the logic clearer.
Think about who might read your code. It might require maintenance work by a junior
coder, and if he cant understand the logic, then hes bound to make mistakes.
Complicated constructs or unusual language tricks might prove your encyclopaedic
knowledge of operator precedence, but it really butchers code maintainability. Keep it
simple.
Dont let anyone tinker with stuff they shouldnt
Things that are internal should stay on the inside. Things that are private should be
kept under lock and key. Dont display your codes dirty laundry in public. In object-
oriented languages, prevent access to internal class data by making it private.
Keep all variables in the tightest scope necessary; dont declare variables globally
when you dont have to. Dont put them at file scope when they can be function-local.
Dont place them at function scope when they can be loop-local.
Check every return value
If a function returns a value, it does so for a reason. Check that return value. If it is an
error code, you must inspect it and handle any failure. Dont let errors silently invade
your program; swallowing an error can lead to unpredictable behaviour.
Initialize all variables at their points of declaration
This is a clarity issue. The intent of each variable is explicit if you initialize it. Its not
safe to rely on rules of thumb like if I dont initialize it, I dont care about the initial
value. The code will evolve. The uninitialized value may turn into a problem further
down the line.
Declare variables as late as possible
By doing this, you place the variable as close as possible to its use; preventing it
from confusing other parts of the code. It also clarifies the code using the variable.
You dont have to hunt around to find the variables type and initialization; a nearby
declaration makes it obvious.
Dont reuse the same temporary variable in a number of places, even if each use is
in a logically separate area. It makes later reworking of the code awfully complicated.
Create a new variable each timethe compiler will sort out any efficiency concerns.
Page 27 2012
2. If Statements
Grades Project
If Statements are one of the fundamental tools of programming, something you will
use in every project. The If block is the powerhouse of conditional logic, able to
evaluate any combination of conditions and deal with multiple and different pieces of
data. Heres an example of an If block that features two conditions:
If MyNumber > 10 Then
' Do something.
ElseIf MyString = "hello" Then
' Do something.
Else
' Do something.
End If

An If block can have any number of conditions. If you test only a single condition, you
dont need to include any other ElseIf or Else blocks.

Create a new project, call it Grades IF, and remember to make a new folder.
Create a ....
Button- name btncalculate, Text Calculate
Textbox name txtgrade
Listbox name lbgrade
Label name lblgrade text = nothing
We want to calculate the grade of a mark when entered into the text box. Double
click on the button to open the code window, and then enter the following code.
REMEMBER NOT TO TYPE BUT USE THE TAB KEY
If txtgrade.Text < 50 Then
lblgrade.Text = "Fail"
lbgrade.Items.Add(txtgrade.Text & " Fail")
Else
lblgrade.Text = "Pass"
lbgrade.Items.Add(txtgrade.Text & "
Pass")
End If
When you get that working add these modifications
If txtgrade.Text < 50 Then
' lbgrade.Items.Add(txtgrade.Text & "
Fail")
ElseIf txtgrade.Text < 60 Then
lblgrade.Text = "C"
Page 28 2012
' lbgrade.Items.Add(txtgrade.Text & " Pass")
ElseIf txtgrade.Text < 70 Then
lblgrade.Text = "B"
End If
I know this isnt a full program we will finish it later.
Lets create a variable to hold the grade and use that instead of txtgrade.text. Its far
tidier. Note that we can add the listbox to the very end instead of after each IF
statement.
Dim grade As Integer
Private Sub btncaclulate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btncaclulate.Click

grade = txtgrade.Text

If grade < 50 Then

ElseIf grade < 60 Then
lblgrade.Text = "C"

lblgrade.Text = "B"
End If
lbgrade.Items.Add(grade & " " & lblgrade.Text)
End Sub
End Class
Now finish the Grade calculator off with E D C B A
rankings to 100.

Exercise: Add a way so that the persons name appears in the list box
beside their grade ie: John Smith 72 B. That would be a practical way to
show results.
Error checking exercises - build these into your program.
How can you stop people from entering a number over 100 with an IF?
How can you stop people clicking the button without any number in the
field with an IF?

Page 29 2012
Learning to code defensively -Use Try / Catch for error
Checking
Defensive programming is careful, guarded programming. To construct reliable
software, we design every component in the system so that it protects itself as much
as possible. In this case Try catch will halt any errors, but its not ideal. Sometimes
you WANT to see the errors that are generated so that you can fix them properly by
using techniques such as limiting input to text or numbers (as seen later)
Use Try / Catch to prevent errors (its a pretty rough but practical tool that I always
use). Its also great for bug checking as well.
Anything between TRY and CATCH is run
and if it returns an error you can show it in
a message box after the CATCH and
before the END TRY. Put whatever error
message you want between the Catch
and End Try You can break up your code
with Try/Catch all through it checking
each part. Try it and see.
Private Sub btncaclulate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btncaclulate.Click
Try
If grade < 50 Then
lblgrade.Text = "C"
lblgrade.Text = "B"
End If
lbgrade.Items.Add(grade & " " & lblgrade.Text)
Catch
MsgBox("Please use a number " & txtgrade.Text & " is wrong")
txtgrade.Text = ""
End Try
End Sub
Catching with error messages just for reference
Dim Friendly As Boolean = True
Dim myVariable As Form
Try
myVariable.Show()
Catch ex As NullReferenceException When Friendly = False
MsgBox("Are you stupid? myVariable can't be empty")

Catch ex As NullReferenceException
MsgBox("myVariable mustn't be empty")

Page 30 2012
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message)
Finally
MsgBox("We're done")
End Try

Page 31 2012
3. Select Case Statement
Hate making heaps of IF statements?
Tied in with an IF statement is this totally practical way of using multiple IFs called
Select Case. With Case you can more finely set the parameters you want. In this
case all numbers between 0 and 50 and then 51 to 100.
Create another button call it btncase and use the Case statement to rebuild your IF
statements in a much tidier format. A simple example of Case is below.
Private Sub btncase_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btncase.Click
Select Case grade
Case 0 To 50
Case 51 To 100
lblgrade.Text = "Pass"
End Select
End Sub

When you get that working use Case to make the full ABCDE grading
system.
Case is one of those really handy tools that you can easily use. We will return to this
button later.
Finding out the average of grades entered.
Using some simple calculations we can generate an average score of the numbers
entered into your program.
Create a new label called lblaverage. Create two variables gradeaverage and count
as Integers. Give count a start number of 0.
Dim intgrade As Integer
Dim snggradeaverage As Single
Dim intcount As Integer = 0
Private Sub btncaclulate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles btncaclulate.Click
Try
intgrade = txtgrade.Text
snggradeaverage += intgrade ' add grade to the total
intcount += 1 ' count up by 1 each time the button pressed
lblaverage.Text = "Average " & snggradeaverage / intcount
This line gradeaverage += grade adds the score in the grade to the grade average
variable each time you click the button.
It can also be written as gradeaverage = gradeaverage + grade
Page 32 2012
This line count += 1 makes the counter increase by 1 each time the button is
clicked. This is a really practical piece of code that you use often to count stuff, such
as in loops.
You can also use count = count + 1 which is the old way of writing it
This next line divides the gradeaverage by how many clicks to work out an average
and is then passed to the label lblaverage.Text = "Average " & gradeaverage /
count

Exercise: In your listbox, add a count so that you can see how many
entries you have made, such as the pic shows on the right.
Max and Min using IF
We can calculate the max and the min of the data being entered easily with if
statements.
Create 2 labels lblmax and lblmin then add the
code below to your other variables

Dim intmax As Integer
Dim intmin As Integer

Private Sub btncaclulate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles btncaclulate.Click
Try

If count = 1 Then
intmax = grade ' only the first time
Page 33 2012
intmin = grade
End If

If grade > intmax Then ' if the grade is bigger than the
number
intmax = grade ' make the number the grade
End If
lblmax.Text = "Max number " & intmax ' show

Exercise: Once you have made that then create the code for the min
number and pass it to the label.

Page 34 2012
Learning to code defensively - Catching if just Numeric or
Text entered
There are a number of ways to catch if text or numbers are entered, but this is by far
the easiest. IsNumeric returns True or False, So put it in an IF statement to check
your input as you type into the text box. Use it in txtgrade.TextChanged which you
open by just double clicking on the Text box.
Private Sub txtgrade_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object,
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtgrade.TextChanged

If Not IsNumeric(txtgrade.Text) Then
MessageBox.Show("Please enter a Number")

End If
End Sub
Close your program
Using Keypress to allow only numbers
(Advanced) This is a great way to isolate numbers so they only enter the text box and
also to use string operations with e.KeyChar. There are two ways to achieve this, the
first shows more ways of coding, the second, is more condensed. Both are good to
use to add to your projects.

Private Sub txtdatain_KeyPress(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) Handles txtdatain.KeyPress
Dim strthis_ch As String ' holds the current character
Dim strtxtcopy As String ' a copy of the textbox text
Dim strbackspace As String = Chr(8) ' backspace character for
comparison in case block
strtxtcopy = txtdatain.Text' get the current text
strthis_ch = e.KeyChar' get the current char
e.KeyChar = ""' eliminate the character from the keychar buffer

Select Case strthis_ch ' make sure it is digit or dot
Page 35 2012
Case "0" To "9", "."
strtxtcopy &= strthis_ch' concatenate the character to text
txtdatain.Text = strtxtcopy' replace old with new
txtdatain.SelectionStart = txtdatain.Text.Length' ensure cursor
positioned correctly
e.Handled = True' stop keychar being processed by system

Case strbackspace Then' backspace detected so remove last character
If strtxtcopy <> ""
strtxtcopy = strtxtcopy.Substring(0, strtxtcopy.Length - 1)
txtdatain.Text = strtxtcopy' replace text
txtdatain.SelectionStart = txtdatain.Text.Length' move cursor
e.Handled = True' stop beep by stopping keychar handler
End If
Case Else
' any other key just process in the normal way because there's nothing
to process, we'll get a beep which is what we want!
e.KeyChar = ""
End Select
End Sub
Here is the same code at a smaller scale which is nicer but harder to follow.
If (e.KeyChar < "0" OrElse e.KeyChar > "9") AndAlso e.KeyChar <>
ControlChars.Back AndAlso e.KeyChar <> "." Then
'cancel keys
e.Handled = True
End If

Page 36 2012
4. IF with AND and OR Does the car run?
We can have multiple criteria in the IF statement by using AND and OR in the
Condition. For example: To make a car run you need a battery and petrol and a key.
This can be seen in one If statement as the following code If strbattery = "battery"
And strkey = "key" And strpetrol = "petrol" Then

Private Sub btnstart_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnstart.Click
'Define 3 variables to hold the conditions
Dim strbattery, strkey, strpetrol As String

'Pass the data in the textboxes to the variables
strbattery = txtbattery.Text
strkey = txtkey.Text
strpetrol = txtpetrol.Text

'If statement with AND to make the car go
If strbattery = "battery" And strkey = "key" And strpetrol =
"petrol" Then
MsgBox("Varoom! Off we go!")
Else
MsgBox("Not going anywhere ...")
End If
End Sub

However if the person types in Petrol
instead of petrol or Yes, then it doesnt
work
So add some OR statements in to meet
the criteria for other options.
The battery field is already completed
for you.
If (strbattery = "battery" Or strbattery = "Battery" Or strbattery = "yes") And
(strkey = "key" And strpetrol = "petrol") Then
Page 37 2012
This is pretty tedious having to type in the words all the time lets just use a Checkbox
for each of the three conditions.
Add three checkboxes and name them chkbattery, chkfuel, chkkey.

If they are ticked then their checked value is true chkfuel.Checked = True
Create a new start button to hold the code below.
Private Sub btnStartCheck_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnStartCheck.Click

If chkfuel.Checked = True And chkbattery.Checked = True And
chkKey.Checked = True Then
MsgBox("Varoom! Off we go!")
Else
MsgBox("Not going anywhere ...")

End If

End Sub

Page 38 2012
Calculator Project
Create a new project. Call it calculator.
Buttons = Btnplus, btnminus, btndivide,
btnsubtract, btnequals Use your intelligence to
work out the text on them
Text Boxes = txtnum1, txtnum2
Listbox lbanswer
Label = lblanswer
Create 3 variables to hold the numbers. We will use Long as it gives longer numbers
and decimals.
Dim lngnum1 as long
Dim lngnum2 as long
Dim lnganswer as long
Add the following code under the Multiple button (Double click on the Multiple button
to add the code)
(Note these should be Double, not Long, Long only holds whole numbers
not fractions. So change your variables to dblnum1 as Double)

Public Class Form1
Dim lngnum1 As Long
Dim lngnum2 As Long
Dim lnganswer As Long

Private Sub btnmultiply_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnmultiply.Click
lngnum1 = txtnum1.Text
lngnum2 = txtnum2.Text
lnganswer = lngnum1 * lngnum2
lblanswer.Text = lnganswer
lbanswer.Items.Add(lngnum1 & " X " & lngnum2 & " = " &
lnganswer)
End Sub
End Class
Try and see if it works.
If so, then use the code to make the next 3 buttons as well.
Create a new label, dont worry about the name and in it Put the title of your
calculator and format it to look nice. Look at the properties of FONT and
FORECOLOR to make it look nice.
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Temperature Converter program
Create a temperature converter. You enter a number as either Celsius or Fahrenheit
and the program converts from one to the other.
Centigrade = (5.0/9.0) * (Fahrenheit 32.0)
Fahrenheit = Centigrade * (9 / 5) + 32

Create images that appear when the water is boiling, or freezing.
Here is the simple code I created with a couple of radio buttons However use your
own style and code.

Private Sub btnsubmit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnsubmit.Click
Dim sngfah As Single
Dim sngcel As Single
sngfah = (txttemp.Text - 32) * 5 / 9
sngcel = txttemp.Text * (9 / 5) + 32

If RadioButton1.Checked Then
lbloutput.Text = txttemp.Text & " Fahrenheit is equal to " &
sngfah & " Celsius"
ElseIf RadioButton2.Checked Then
lbloutput.Text = txttemp.Text & " Celsius is equal to " &
sngcel & " Fahrenheit"

End If
End Sub

Page 40 2012
5. Sender
Using Sender exercises
In VB.NET, there are two major upgrades that make VB.NET more advanced
1. The "Handles" clause controls whether the system calls the subroutine, not the name.
2. The sender and e parameters are passed to the subroutine.
Let's look at a simple example to see the difference that parameters make in VB.NET.
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

End Sub
Event subroutines always receive a "sender" object and a system EventArgs parameter "e".
EventArgs is the base class for classes containing event data.
What can you do with these parameters? Suppose you want to find whether a string, perhaps
something you entered into a Textbox, exists in any one of a collection of other Textboxes
when you click on one.
First you have to make a fake text box to hold the data
Dim myTextbox As TextBox
Then send the data from which ever text box you clicked to it
myTextbox = sender
The sender parameter will reveal which Textbox was clicked. This code works on the data
entry into the text box itself.
Txtinput
Txtinput2
Public Class Form1
Dim strtext As String = "test"

Private Sub FindIt(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles txtinput.Enter, txtinput2.Enter

Dim myTextbox As TextBox
myTextbox = sender
Dim IndexChar As Integer = myTextbox.Text.IndexOf(strtext)
If IndexChar = -1 Then
Me.Text = "Not Found"
Else
Me.Text = "Found it!"
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End If
Here is a way to delete a line that was clicked in any of six specified lists. Using sender, it
was really quite simple:
Listbox1
Listbox2
Private Sub ListBox_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles ListBox1.Click, ListBox2.Click
Dim myListBox As New ListBox
myListBox = sender
myListBox.Items.RemoveAt(myListBox.SelectedIndex)
End Sub
To test whether Button1 or Button2 has been clicked, you have to turn sender into an actual
Button object and then test a property of that object. Text is usually used, but you could test a
value in Tag or even the Location property.
Btnrun
Btnfind
Private Sub Button_check(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnrun.Click, btnfind.Click
Dim button_check As Button
Button_check = sender
If button_check.Text = "Find" Then
Me.Text = "Found it!"
Else
Me.Text = "Not that one"
End If
End Sub

Project: Open the Calculator Project and rewrite it so that all events run
from a single Button Click Sub. Use Sender.Tag, or Sender.Text, Ifs, and
Select Case If you make the Tag the symbol and you can use it in the
output as well.

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Using Sender to determine what type of control you clicked
Often in your code procedures, you may need to determine what type of control your
code has accessed.
For instance, you may want to alter the text on every command button on a form. Or
you may want to change the properties for several different controls. In such
instances, you have several ways to test for a control type.
So what does this do?
You can have multiple buttons running from the same click event and using the
SENDER you can differentiate which button you are accessing.
In this case its looking for the text that is on the button you click - sender.Text. Many
times you could use sender.Tag and put a value in that to be used later.
The Control gives you control over the properties of the control. EG: if you want to
make all the text boxes invisible then you can just set the properties of the textbox to
false using c.Visible = False
Using c you can change many parts of the control, its a really good trick. Add the
below into the main code.
If TypeOf c Is TextBox Then
'and add their text to the listbox
c.Visible = False
The most efficient and fastest method of identifying the control used is with the
TypeOf operator.
This keyword must appear in an If...Then statement, like so:
If TypeOf ctl Is CommandButton Then
'Do something
End If

Create the form and the code below under the first button (Button1).
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The main code to add to your form.
System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click, Button3.Click, Button2.Click
'all three buttons run off the same click event just separated by a
comma
Dim c As Control
ListBox1.Items.Clear() 'clear the list box
For Each c In Me.Controls 'looping through each control
'what is the text of the sender - in this case the button
Select Case sender.Text
Case "Text Contents" 'if the button text is
'then look for controls which are text boxes
If TypeOf c Is TextBox Then
'and add their text to the listbox
ListBox1.Items.Add(c.Text)
End If
Case "Names" 'if the button has names on it
'list all the names of all the controls
ListBox1.Items.Add(c.Name)
Case "Buttons"'if the button has Buttons on it
'list all the names on just the buttons
If TypeOf c Is Button Then
ListBox1.Items.Add(c.Name)
End If
End Select
Next
End Sub

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Calculator part 2 using Sender
(Advanced if you want to try it we will do this later as well) Here is another way,
which uses techniques that we will come across later such as Sender with one event
holding all radiobutton events.
Sender As System.Object holds all of the information of the radiobutton that you
click on. That can be passed to a fake radiobutton which is used in the code. Find
out more about Sender later in the manual.

Public Class Form1

Dim dblNum1 As Double = 0.0
Dim dblNum2 As Double = 0.0
Dim dblAnswer As Double = 0.0
'This passes the data from the first text box to the variable and
catches if there is an error.
Private Sub txtNum1_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtNum1.TextChanged
Try
dblNum1 = txtNum1.Text
dblNum1 = 0.0
End Try
End Sub

'This passes the data from the second text box to the variable and
catches if there is an error.
Private Sub txtNum2_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtNum2.TextChanged
Try
dblNum2 = txtNum2.Text
dblNum2 = 0.0
End Try
End Sub
'This sub holds all of the radio button code, just click on one RB and
use its code to hold all the details for the other rbs.
Private Sub AllRBs(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles rbnAddition.CheckedChanged,
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rbnDivision.CheckedChanged, rbnMultiplication.CheckedChanged,
rbnSubtraction.CheckedChanged

If there is something in both text boxes then run the rest of the code
If txtNum2.Text <> "" And txtNum2.Text <> "" Then
'first make a fake radio button to hold the properties from the
radiobutton you have clicked on
Dim fakeradiobutton As RadioButton
'Then pass all the properties from the rb you clicked on to the new
fakerb by the Sender
fakeradiobutton = sender
'Then look at the fakerb.text to see what is on the text of the rb, it
will be either + - * /
Select Case fakeradiobutton.Text
Case "+"
dblAnswer = dblNum1 + dblNum2
Case "-"
dblAnswer = dblNum1 - dblNum2
Case "/"
'There is the potential for an error here with division so wrap it in a
try catch
Try
dblAnswer = dblNum1 / dblNum2
MessageBox.Show("Cannot divide by zero")
End Try
Case "*"
dblAnswer = dblNum1 * dblNum2
End Select
'Finally show the output on the screen
lblAnswerDisplay.Text = dblAnswer
End If
End Sub

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Order a sandwich program
Create the following program that allows you to select your order for a sandwich.

Page 47 2012
Rock Scissors Paper

Create a program in which you compete against the computer in a game of Rock
Scissors paper.
The heart of this program is a Select case statement that compares your choice
(Rock, Paper, Scissors) to the second persons choice.

If rbnRock.Checked Then
'Checks if the user has the "Rock" choice selected
Select Case intComputerChoice
'Selects the variable "intComputerChoice" to match cases against
Case 1 'Rock
MessageBox.Show("Your choice: Rock, Computer choice: Rock, You tied.")
Case 2 'Paper
MessageBox.Show("Your choice: Rock, Computer choice: Paper, You lost.")
Case 3 'Scissors
MessageBox.Show("Your choice: Rock, Computer choice: Scissors, You win!")
Case Else
MessageBox.Show("Error, something went wrong with the computer generated
choice") 'Not nessesarily needed, just here to catch errors
End Select
You will need a random number generator to create the computers guess. Best
would be to make a manual selection where you choose both sides. Then when you
perfect the code for that replace the computer side with the random number.
'Needed for the use of Generate.Next(1, 4) to generate a random number
for the computer's choice.
Dim ComputerGuess As New Random()
'This code generates a random integer between 1 and 4, but 4 is not
inclusive, meaning the only possibilities are 1, 2 and 3
'1 represents Rock, 2 represents Paper, 3 represents Scissors
intComputerChoice = ComputerGuess.Next(1, 4)

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Using the instructions that follow, add 3 images to your program to show the choices
of the players.

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Adding a new Form or Dialog Box to show images
As you cant show images in a message box, you can instead build a custom form
and use that as a messagebox instead. Here is how
In your project add a new form as below and name it DialogBox.vb (you can name
your form anything its just a name)

Set the Form Border Style property to Fixed
Dialog
Set the ControlBox, MinimizeBox, and MaximizeBox properties to false.
Add a label to your form as a test, name it lblMessage
Add a Button to your form, name it btnClose
In your main form you need to call the form in the following way.
First we have to create an instance of the DialogBox form that we have made so the
program know which form we are talking about, think of it as a link to that form on
your main form
Dim A New form Name as a new Form that you have already made
Dim dialogform As New DialogBox

If we have called the new form Form2 then it would be
Dim dialogform As New Form2
Or
Dim ThisCopyOfTheForm As New Form2

Now we have instantiated a copy of the form it will hold all the objects on that form
and you can easily pass data to it. This passes the words Test to the
lblmessage.text
dialogform.lblmessage.text = "Test"

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To show the dialogform we use the easy .Show()
dialogform.Show()

Add a picturebox to your dialog form name it pbImageComp
Select Case intComputerChoice 'Selects the variable
"intComputerChoice" to match cases against
Case 1 'Rock
pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.rock
dialogform.pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.rock
Case 2 'Paper
pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.paper
dialogform.pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.paper
Case 3 'Scissors
pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.scissors
dialogform.pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.scissors
End Select
dialogform.Show()

MessageBox text moved to the new forms label
Mydialogform.lblMessage.Text = "Your choice: Rock, Computer choice:
Rock, You tied."

You might want to move the dialogform.Show() around so that it only runs once at
the end of your code
Your Close button just has Close() in the click event for it.
All the code in one place
Dim Mydialogform As New DialogBox
Mydialogform.pbImageComp.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.Resource1.rock
Mydialogform.lblMessage.Text = "Your choice: Rock, Computer choice: Rock, You tied."
Mydialogform.Show()
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6. Adding images to a Resource file
We can add images to our program, and use them on our buttons, and elsewhere.
Adding images is an important tool in creating a good looking program.
Right click on your project, go Add then New Item. Then choose Resource File. The
resource file will be where you keep all your images.

Double click on your new Resouce.resx, then select Images, and click Add Resource
Choose Add Existing File, and then find it.
You might have to choose the All Files option from the bottom right, if you have an
icon or other image type however these might not be allowed on the program.
Find and add images for your buttons, either using the internet or existing and add
them to your resource file.
To add it to your Button, click on your button to bring up the Properties on the right,
then click on Image to select a resource, and then choose resource1 (or whatever
yours is called) from the pull down menu.
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The images will appear in the list below and you can choose whichever one you
want.

Then run your calculator
Use the earlier examples to create the following
in your calculator Count, Maximums,
Minimums, Averages of the numbers you are
using.
Here is an interesting use of four images called test 1 4 cycling every 15 seconds.
Try it.
Private Sub frmMain_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

Select Case Now.Minute
Case Is < 15
Me.BackgroundImage = My.Resources.test1
Case Is < 30
Case Is < 45
Case Is < 60
End Select
End Sub

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Guess The Correct Answer game
Make a new project, someone enters 2 numbers, which are multiplied, added or
subtracted (you choose) and you have to guess what the answer is. Its an adaption
of the calculator with user input
If you are correct you get a happy face image, if you are wrong in this PC world you
dont get a frowning image, but instead you get a banana. A list box will show you
which ones you got right and wrong. (This leads to the Times Table tester later on)
Employee wages
Calculate employee wages based on hours. Use tax rates, and overtime rates
Better Brains College If, And, and Or
Better Brains College want a program to determine how many of their students
pass all modules, pass at least one module and pass exactly three modules.
Here is the spreadsheet they use at the moment,

Create a program that determines if they have passed one, three or all the modules
when you enter the marks. The pass mark can be set to whatever the school wants,
so it not always 50. You need to enter this feature as well.
An example below (may be quite sophisticated for this level) for a solution.

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Lucky Guess Project
The Lucky Guess program selects a random number between 1 and 10 and gives
the user three chances to guess the number.
Hints such as Too low and Too high are displayed after each guess if the user is
unsuccessful.
Random number generator the same as earlier (actually there are a number of ways
you can make a random number)
Instantiate a new random
Dim rndNumber As New Random()
Generate a number between 1 and 10
randomNumber = rndNumber.Next(1, 11)

Use this when you get it working to create a program that:
Counts and shows you how many tries you have made.
Stops you from having more than 5 tries
Stops errors of no data added
Works from the Keypress event of the txtguess instead of the
button

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Public Class Form1
Dim rndNumber As New Random()
Dim randomNumber As Integer
Dim intGuess As Integer = 0

Private Sub btnnew_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnnew.Click
'clear the listbox
lbguess.Items.Clear()
'generate a new random number
randomNumber = rndNumber.Next(1, 11)
'uncomment this and use it to check your random number is being
generated OK
lbguess.Items.Add("Random Number " & randomNumber)
End Sub
Private Sub btnguess_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnguess.Click
If IsNumeric(txtGuessNumber.Text) Then'is it a number?
'if so then pass it to the variable
intGuess = txtGuessNumber.Text
'check that its working (can comment out)
Me.Text = "My Guess is " & intGuess
'clear the text box and put the cursor back into the box ready for the
next guess
txtGuessNumber.Text = ""
txtGuessNumber.Focus()
End If

' if the number equals the random number
If intGuess = randomNumber Then
lbguess.Items.Add("Congratulations! You found it!")
lbguess.Items.Add("The number was " & randomNumber)
'if the number is less than the random number
ElseIf intGuess < randomNumber Then
lbguess.Items.Add("Too low!")
Else
'if the number is greater then the random number
lbguess.Items.Add("Too high!")
End If
End Sub
End Class

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7. Subroutines and Functions
Subroutines and functions enable you to break an otherwise unwieldy chunk of code
into manageable pieces. They allow you to extract code that you may need to use
under more than one circumstance and place it in one location where you can call it
as needed. This not only reduces repetition within your code but also enables you to
maintain and update the code in a single location.
A subroutine performs a task for the code that invokes it.
A function performs a task and then returns some value. The value may be the
result of a calculation or a status code indicating whether the function succeeded or
failed.
Together, subroutines and functions are sometimes called routines or
procedures. They are also sometimes called methods, particularly when
they are subroutines or functions belonging to a class. Subroutines are
also occasionally called sub procedures or less formally Subs. (Whew!!!)
So far, the code you have been writing in these tutorials has mostly been lumped
together under one button.
The problem with this approach is that your code can get quite long and complex,
making it difficult to read, and difficult to put right if something goes wrong. Another
approach is to separate some of this code into its own blocks. This is where functions
and subroutines come in
You use methods to break your code into easily read blocks that can be used
repeatedly.
Subroutines that dont return data (Subs)
This is simply taking a block of code and running it from a command. Note our Sub is
named Message and it is private which means can only be used on this form.

This sub takes the number in the intcounter variable and shows it on the label.

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Subroutines that accept data
We can make a tidier type of code by using parameters. Think of the variables in
one sub passing data to the variables in another sub, like data changing hands at the
door of an office.
In this example the intcounter and strtext is defined and used in one sub like below.
intcounter += 1
make some text and pass it to a variable
Dim strtext As String = "this is some text"
Then they are included in the brackets of the message method
message(intcounter, strtext)

Then in the message method that data is passed to counter and sometext and then
shown in the messagebox.
Private Sub message(counter As Integer, sometext As String)
'run this mesagebox
MsgBox(counter & " " & sometext)
End Sub
How does it know which variable to pass
the data to?
By the order of the new parameters in the statements, so the first one goes to the
first one, as long as they are compatible types.

Public Class Form1
'declare variable globally make a variable that is used as a counter
Dim intcounter As Integer = 0

Private Sub Click_the_button_BTNGO(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnGo.Click
'increment the counter each time you click
intcounter += 1
make some text and pass it to a variable
Dim strtext As String = "this is some text"
'call to the message method here intcounter and strtext gets passed to
the method
message(intcounter, strtext)
End Sub

Private Sub message(counter As Integer, sometext As String)
'run this mesagebox
MsgBox(counter & " " & sometext)
End Sub
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As you can see from the example below data can be passed through to the
subroutine by making parameters in the braces. This means that you dont have to
make a global variable to have it appear in both subs.
As the code below shows only the intcounter is global, Strtext is only local and still
passes through to the Message sub

Subroutines that accept data and return it- Functions
This type of method takes two numbers (num1 and num2) then multiplies them
together and returns an answer to the sub it was called from. There is more on
functions here
If you have more than one variable, like we do, you separate each one with a
comma. You can name the variables virtually anything, it doesnt need to be the
same is the variables in your main sub. The important thing is that you keep the
same order.
From now on use Subs and Functions in every exercise
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Subs and Functions are very important they keep your code tidy and allow it to be
easily scanned.
Coding goals for Subs and Functions
Replace global variables by passing them as parameters in Subs or Functions. You
can also replace them with Class Properties (still to cover)
Have nothing under Click Events except calls to Subs and Functions. This creates
plug and play code for easier reuse.
Functions should be small and encompass only one job. Functions should do one
thing. They should do it well. They should do it only. So, another way to know that a
function is doing more than one thing is if you can extract another function from it
with a name that is not merely a restatement of its implementation.
We want the code to read like a top-down narrative. We want every function to be
followed by those at the next level of abstraction so that we can read the program,
descending one level of abstraction at a time as we read down the list of functions.
I.e.: Ideally you can scan your program from top to bottom and see what it does
instead of having to jump around.
The ideal number of arguments (parameters) for a function is zero. Next comes one,
followed closely by two. Three arguments should be avoided where possible. More
than three requires very special justificationand then shouldnt be used anyway.
Arguments are hard. They take a lot of conceptual power.
Arguments (parameters) are even harder from a testing point of view. Imagine the
difficulty of writing all the test cases to ensure that all the various combinations of
arguments work properly. If there are no arguments, this is trivial. If theres one
argument, its not too hard.
With two arguments (parameters) the problem gets a bit more challenging. With more
than two arguments, testing every combination of appropriate values can be
daunting.
Subs and Functions should have verb or verb phrase names like postPayment,
deletePage, or save.

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8. Byref and Byval - Functions - overview
We have already looked at Subs, and Functions are like subs except they return a
value to the code that called it.
The difference between Sub and Function revision
Methods contain the executable statements of a program. There are two types of
methods: subroutines and functions.
In Subs we just called them with Sub and a name like Sub selectplan() and just put
selectplan() in the code where we wanted it to run. We used subs to avoid having to
write the same code more than once.
A Sub is some code or job that you want VB to get on with and execute. An example
is closing a form down and unloading it with Me.Close(). You don't need to return a
value, here; you just want VB to close your form down. Also a Sub is a way code in
blocks that are used just in your program. They are not made to be used in other
programs.
Functions are another way to create drag and drop code. You can import functions
and use them in your folder and store them in another place for later use.
A Function is used because you want some sort of answer back, and an answer that
you can then use elsewhere. You should never use a Function without a return
type, it wont give you a compilation error but it hinders the performance.
A Function can return a value from itself. For example
Public Function Sum(ByVal a As Integer, ByVal b As Integer) As Integer
Return a + b
End Function
Then you can use this Function as follows
Dim result As Integer = Sum(2, 4)
ByVal (pass a copy of the data) and ByRef (change the original
data)
The word ByVal is short for "By Value". What it means is that you are passing a
copy of a variable to your Subroutine, or in other words creating a new instance of
the variable.
You can make changes to the copy and the original will not be altered. Any changes
made to the value of this variable have no effect on the value of the original variable
that was passed in. By Val (by value) means that the called routine uses the value
purely for input, to start a "one way" conversation.
ByRef is the alternative. This is short for By Reference. This means that you are not
handing over a copy of the original variable but pointing to the original variable. Its
not a copy, this is it! Any changes you make to this variable also change its value
outside the routine
Let's see a coding example.
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ByRef or ByVal Example
Create this little example to see the difference between Byref and ByVal. To run
1. Enter two numbers in the text boxes,
2. Load the numbers to the variables,
3. Pass them to functions that just add 10 using the Byref and ByVal buttons.
4. Check your original variable values that are outside the functions with the
Check Variables button.
In this example the variables used are defined initially as
Dim intOne, IntTwo As Integer
The Functions that are used below name their variables differently sngone and
sngtwo BUT STILL CHANGE THE FIRST VARIABLES. intOne and intTwo
Private Sub ByValue(ByVal sngone As Integer)
Private Sub ByReference(ByRef sngtwo As Single)
What is important is that SngOne, which has been operated on with By
Value has not changed, while SngTwo has taken the value from the ByRef
Function.

When would you use byref? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/290189/best-
practice-byref-or-byval-in-net
MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ddck1z30%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
Code over the page ..
Public Class Form1
Dim intOne, IntTwo As Integer
Private Sub btnload_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnload.Click
intOne = txtval.Text
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IntTwo = txtref.Text
btnload.Text = "Variables Loaded IntOne, and IntTwo"
End Sub

Private Sub btnByvalue_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnByvalue.Click
ByValue(intOne) 'runs the ByValue function
btnByvalue.Text = "10 added"
End Sub

Private Sub btnByRef_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnByRef.Click
ByReference(IntTwo) 'runs the ByRef function
btnByRef.Text = "10 added"
End Sub

Private Sub ByValue(ByVal sngone As Single)
'the Byval function
sngone = sngone + 10
lblbyvalue.Text = "Byval sngone = " & sngone
End Sub

Private Sub ByReference(ByRef sngtwo As Single)
'the Byref Function
sngtwo = sngtwo + 10
lblbyref.Text = "ByRef sngtwo = " & sngtwo
End Sub

Private Sub btncheck_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btncheck.Click
'what are the variables actually holding?
'Byval will not change, while ByRef will change
lblOriginalvariables.Text = "By Value intOne not changed " &
intOne & vbCrLf & "By Reference intTwo has changed" & IntTwo
End Sub
End Class

Page 63 2012
Times Table tester
Make a program that will test your times tables. You give it a number and then have it
give the answer.
The output in the listbox shows the correct or wrong answers and shows how many
are correct.
Extra: Show a % correct and give an award image when you get 100%.
Also electrocute the user when you get 100% wrong.

Output shown below

1 X 10 = 10 CORRECT
2 X 10 = 12 WRONG
3 X 10 = 29 WRONG
lboutput.Items.Add(intcounter & " X " & sngTestNumber & " = " &
sngCorrectAnswer & " : " & sngYourAnswer & " is " & strcorrect)

You scored 6 correct.

lboutput.Items.Add("You scored " & intcorrectcount & " correct")

After you have chosen your start number and the number you want to test to, you
click the Test button. This starts the program and you type your answer into the text
box. The code that checks the answer only runs on the KeyUp event of that text box,

Public Class Form1
Dim intcounter As Integer = 0
Dim sngTestNumber, sngYourAnswer, sngCorrectAnswer As Single
Dim strcorrect As String
Dim intEndNumber As Integer
Dim intcorrectcount As Integer = 0
Code that runs when you click on the button
Private Sub btnrun_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Handles btnrun.Click
intcounter = 1
btnrun.Text = "Begin Test"
Page 64 2012
'move data to variables from the textboxes
sngTestNumber = txtTestNumber.Text
intEndNumber = txtEndNumber.Text
txtanswer.Visible = True
big blue number in the label 12 X 2 in screenshot
lblformula.Text = intcounter + 1 & " X " & sngTestNumber
End Sub
Code that run on the KeyUp event of the text box when you are entering data. This
only runs when you type your answer in and press the Enter key.
Private Sub txtanswer_KeyUp(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
KeyEventArgs) Handles txtanswer.KeyUp
'if you hit the Enter key
If e.KeyCode = Keys.Enter Then
intcounter += 1 'add 1 to the counter
sngYourAnswer = txtanswer.Text 'pass the answer to the variable
sngCorrectAnswer = intcounter * sngTestNumber 'calculate the
correct answer
'does your answer equal the correct answer?
CorrectAnswerCheck()
'show the output in the listbox
lboutput.Items.Add(intcounter & " X " & sngTestNumber & " =
" & sngCorrectAnswer & " : " & sngYourAnswer & " is " & strcorrect)

'if the counter reaches the end number
If intcounter = intEndNumber Then
EndandFinish()
End If

'this just resets the focus into the answer box and highlights the
existing answer, so that it can be automatically overwrittenw ehn you
type the next answer
txtanswer.Focus()
txtanswer.SelectAll()
lblformula.Text = intcounter + 1 & " X " & sngTestNumber
End If
End Sub

Sub CorrectAnswerCheck()
If sngCorrectAnswer = sngYourAnswer Then
strcorrect = " correct" 'make the string equal correct
intcorrectcount += 1 'make the correct counter increase by 1
Else
strcorrect = " wrong" 'make the string equal wrong
End If
End Sub

Page 65 2012
Sub EndandFinish()'code that runs when the end has been reached
'show the amount you got correct
'hide the answer text box (stops people from triggering the KeyUp event
again)
txtanswer.Visible = False
'reset the button text and the counter and clear the txtAnswer box
btnrun.Text = "Test"
intcounter = 0
txtanswer.Text = ""
End Sub

'code that runs when the end has been reached
Sub EndandFinish()
'show the amount you got correct
'hide the answer text box (stops people from triggering the KeyUp event
again)
txtanswer.Visible = False
'reset the button text and the counter and clear the txtAnswer box
intcounter = 0
txtanswer.Text = ""
End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Handles Button1.Click
End
End Sub
End Class

Page 66 2012
9. Picture Viewer using containers
This lesson looks more at layout and containers, design that I tend to overlook, yet is
very important. The actual coding is dead simple.

Create a new project and on the form add a TablelayoutPanel, this container allows
other objects to snap into it and resize to the cell sizes.

Set the Dock Property to Fill by choosing the
middle section
This expands the Table to the full size of the
form.
Click on the small tag on the Table and close
Edit Rows and Columns

Page 67 2012
Set the Columns and the Rows as below

That gives you a layout that looks like this
Drag a PictureBox into the first square

Well that looks stupid, we need to span it across both cells. In the
properties set Dock to Fill and ColumnSpan to 2
Drag a Checkbox into the Bottom left square.
Rename the text property to Stretch
Then drag a FlowLayoutPanel to
the bottom right

A FlowLayoutPanel is a container that arranges other controls in neat rows in order.
Page 68 2012
When you resize a FlowLayoutPanel, if it has room to lay out all of its controls in a
single row, it does that. Otherwise, it arranges them in lines, one on top of the other.
We will use a FlowLayoutPanel to hold four buttons So set Dock to Fill.
Drag 4 buttons into the FlowlayoutPanel and change their text as shown

Name them btnShow, btnClear, btnColor and btnClose and set their Autosize to
True
Now we need to create the ability to open files and change colors
Drag an OpenFileDialog and ColorDialog to the bottom of the Form window, it will
dock there happily.

Set the properties of the OpenFileDialog Filter to JPEG Files (*.jpg)|*.jpg|PNG
Files (*.png)|*.png|BMP Files (*.bmp)|*.bmp|All files (*.*)|*.* (just cut and paste it
across)
Set Title to Choose a Picture File

Page 69 2012
At last the code!
btnShow click event shows the Open File dialog. If the user clicks OK, load the
picture that the user choses.
If OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
PictureBox1.Load(OpenFileDialog1.FileName)
End If

btnClear click event just clears the picturebox
PictureBox1.Image = Nothing

Btncolor click event shows the color dialog box. If the user clicks OK, change the
PictureBox control's background to the color the user chose.
If ColorDialog1.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
PictureBox1.BackColor = ColorDialog1.Color
End If

Btnclose just closes the form.
Close()

Finally double click on the Checkbox to get the CheckChanged event, this just
changes the sizemode of the image to fill the PictureBox when you clck on the
Checkbox.
Private Sub CheckBox1_CheckedChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
CheckBox1.CheckedChanged
'If the user selects the Stretch check box, change the PictureBox's SizeMode
property to "Stretch". If the user clears the check box, change it to "Normal".
If CheckBox1.Checked Then
PictureBox1.SizeMode = PictureBoxSizeMode.StretchImage
Else
PictureBox1.SizeMode = PictureBoxSizeMode.Normal
End If
End Sub

Page 70 2012
10. Changing Control Panel setting using the
SystemParametersInfo
Changing the desktop wallpaper in the Picture viewer
support.microsoft.com/kb/97142
The SystemParametersInfo API call can be used to get and set Windows settings
that are normally set from the Desktop by using the Control Panel.
In your picture viewer program add the following code to the top to access the API
(this is not the only version of this there appear to be multiple ways to access the
API)
<DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint:="SystemParametersInfo")>
Shared Function SystemParametersInfo(uiAction As UInteger, uiParam
As UInteger, pvParam As String, fWinIni As UInteger) As Boolean
End Function

Here are the formal arguments to the function:
uAction system parameter to query or set
uParam depends on system parameter
lpvParam depends on system parameter
fuWinIni WIN.INI update flag

The uAction argument we want is CONST SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER=20 so we
want to pass 20 to the uAction. See the link for the 36 other actions.
support.microsoft.com/kb/97142
The uParam should be 0 when used with a Get constant, and the new value when
used with a Set constant. So we want it as 0.
The lpvParam is used in this case as the path to save the wallpaper
The fuWinIni updates the system with the new settings.
Add the following code to your project as well as a button to save the wallpaper
'new save as desktop wallpaper code
Private Sub btnSetWallpaper_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnSetWallpaper.Click
SetWallpaper(Me.PictureBox1.Image)
MessageBox.Show("Wallpaper has been changed", "Set Wallpaper",
MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information)
End Sub
'pass through the image location to the sub
Sub SetWallpaper(ByVal img As Image)
Dim imageLocation As String

Page 71 2012
'combines two paths and returns a properly formatted path the image is
saved as text.bmp
imageLocation =
My.Computer.FileSystem.CombinePath(My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirecto
ries.MyPictures, "c:\test.bmp")
Try
'save it to location made above as a bmp file format
img.Save(imageLocation, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Bmp)

Const SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER As Integer = 20
Const SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE As Integer = 1 'Writes the new system-wide
parameter setting to the user profile.
Const SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE As Integer = 2 'Broadcasts the
WM_SETTINGCHANGE message after updating the user profile.

'run the function thats above
SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETDESKWALLPAPER, 0, imageLocation,
SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE Or SPIF_SENDWININICHANGE)

Catch Ex As Exception
MsgBox("There was an error setting the wallpaper: " &
Ex.Message)
End Try
End Sub

Page 72 2012
Telecom Smart Phone Bill Project
Create a program to work out the best Smart Phone plan
No fixed term, no cancellation fees and the freedom to move plans whenever you want. You
can even choose to get a new phone and pay it off in instalments. Just select a plan to see
which of our phones you can match it with.
http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/plansandpricing/paymonthly/
Plan A B C D E F
strPlan
Monthly
cost
$29 $39 $59 $89 $119 $139
sngMonthlycharge
Anytime
min
150 250 500 700 1000
All you
need min
sngIncminutes
TXTs
Non-stop text
Data
500MB 500MB 1GB 1GB 2GB 2GB
SngIncdata
Additional
Minutes
59c/min 59c/min 59c/min 59c/min 59c/min 0
sngAddminutes
Additional
Data
20c/MB 20c/MB 20c/MB 20c/MB 20c/MB 20c/MB
sngAdddata
Voicemail 20c per
call
20c per
call
20c per
call
0 0 0
sngvoicemail

You need to use
TablelayoutPanels, Flowlayoutpanels to group stuff
3 text boxes to input your data
How many minutes you talked txtMinutesUsed
How many Voice messages you received txtvoice
How much data you used txtDataUsed

A label to show what your cost will be lblplancost
A Combo Box to make your choice CbxPlan

3 labels to show the data, Minutes, and Voicemail used. (at the bottom of the form)
Page 73 2012

A bunch of unnamed labels to hold the text on the form

This is the basic code, you will need to control errors when people dont
enter the correct, or any, data in the text boxes.

So what sort of code do we need and how do we make it? We first start with 8 global
variables to hold our data
' Global variables create variables to hold the plan data

Dim sngMonthlycharge As Single
Dim sngIncminutes As Single
Dim sngIncdata As Single
Dim sngAddminutes As Single
Dim sngAdddata As Single
Dim SngVoice As Single
Dim sngFinalCost As Single
Dim strplan As String

Next we add some new features.

Sub Routines selectplan() and calculate()
Regions. #Region "Select the Plan" to #End Region
Using ME Me.Text puts data in the Form title
Combo Boxes. CBOplan

This is the click event for the Button, it run two subroutines

Private Sub btnCalculate_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnCalculate.Click
selectplan()
calculate()
End Sub

#Region to #End Region allows you to bracket code that you want to minimise
down to get out of the way.
#Region "Select the Plan"

Sub selectplan()
'put the text in the title bar - easier than a messagebox
Me.Text = "You chose the " & strplan & " Plan"
Select Case strplan
Case "A"
sngMonthlycharge = 29
sngIncminutes = 150
SngIncdata = 500
sngAddminutes = 0.59
sngAdddata = 0.2
SngVoice = 0.2
Page 74 2012
REPEAT FOR THE OTHER OPTIONS B C D E F
Case "B"

Case "C"

Case "D"

Case "E"

Case "F"

End Select
End Sub
#End Region

Sub calculate()
'create the variables to show the inputted data
Dim sngminutesused As Single = 0
Dim sngdataused As Single = 0
Dim sngVoiceused As Single = 0

'create the variables to hold the excess usage
Dim sngExtraMinutes As Single = 0
Dim sngExtraData As Single = 0
Dim sngVoiceCost As Single = 0

Move the data from the text boxes to the variables
sngminutesused = txtMinutesused.Text
sngdataused = txtDataUsed.Text
sngVoiceused = txtVoice.Text

'work out extra charges for talking minutes
sngminutesused = sngminutesused - sngIncminutes
'if you havn't used your minutes you don't get charged with
negatives. Otherwise if you use more than your plan allows then work out
the additional minutes penality
If sngminutesused > 0 Then
sngExtraMinutes = (sngminutesused * sngAddminutes)
Else 'there is no extra charge if you used less than your plan
sets
sngExtraMinutes = 0
End If

'work out extra charge for data
sngdataused = sngdataused - sngIncdata
'if you havn't used your all your data you don't get charged
with negatives
If sngdataused > 0 Then
sngExtraData = (sngdataused * sngAdddata)
Page 75 2012
Else 'there is no extra charge
sngExtraData = 0
End If 'monthly charge doesn't change

'work out the charge for the voicemesage
sngVoiceCost = SngVoice * sngVoiceused

'Final cost is the monthly charge but extra minutes used plus
additional data plus Voicemail costs
sngFinalCost = FormatCurrency(sngMonthlycharge + sngExtraMinutes
+ sngExtraData + sngVoiceCost)
lbplans.Items.Add("The $" & sngMonthlycharge & " Plan " &
strplan & " costs you $" & sngFinalCost)
lblPlanCost.Text = sngFinalCost
'Add 3 more labels under your 3 text boxes for the following
data
lblminutesused.Text = FormatCurrency(sngExtraMinutes)
lbldataused.Text = "$" & FormatCurrency(sngExtraData)
lblVoiceUsed.Text = FormatCurrency(sngVoiceCost)
End Sub

Private Sub lbplans_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As
EventArgs) Handles lbplans.SelectedIndexChanged
'clear the list box
lbplans.Items.Clear()
End Sub

Private Sub cbxPlan_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As
EventArgs) Handles cbxPlan.SelectedIndexChanged
strplan = cbxPlan.SelectedItem()
End Sub

Page 76 2012
11. Multichoice test
This exercise will be an on-going one with modification of the questions and their
importing later in the course. The screen is made with a TableLayoutPanel and
FlowLayoutPanels.

Visual Studio 2012 shows in the Solution Explorer all
the elements of the program in a list that you can use
as a reference to make your own program.

Dispose and Initialise are built in methods so just
ignore them.

Form1_Load, Questions, and AnswerButtons are
methods that you make.

AnswerButtons started out as the click event of the
first answer button and was then renamed.

Public Class Form1
'how many correct
Dim intcorrect As Integer
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
Me.Load
Questions()
End Sub

Sub Questions()
'static means its only used once, and not redimmed each time the
method is called
Static QuestionCounter As Integer

'motor that moves the question counter on by 1 each time it runs.
QuestionCounter += 1
Page 77 2012

'just an output so you can see its working
Me.Text = "Question " & QuestionCounter

'questions loaded here, for this exercise will come from a datafile and
DB later.
Select Case QuestionCounter
Case 1
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " Which of these is a Variable?"
btn1.Text = "Button"
btn2.Text = "Label"
btn3.Text = "Double"
btn4.Text = "Form"
btn3.Tag = "yes"

Case 2
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " Which of these is NOT a
Variable?"
btn1.Text = "Single"
btn2.Text = "Label"
btn3.Text = "Double"
btn4.Text = "String"
'the correct answer has a yes added to its tag event, later when we
check the answer it just looks for that tag.
btn2.Tag = "yes"

Case 3
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " String is used to ....?"
btn1.Text = "Calculate formulas"
btn2.Text = "Remind you of something"
btn3.Text = "Hold numbers"
btn4.Text = "Hold non numbers"
btn4.Tag = "yes"

Case 4
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " The Tag property is used to..."
btn1.Text = "Play games with"
btn2.Text = "Hold information"
btn3.Text = "Create a variable"
btn4.Text = "Load a form"
btn2.Tag = "yes"

Case 5
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " Which formula is wrong?"
btn1.Text = "stranswer = intnum1 ""&"" intnum2"
btn2.Text = "dblanswer = intnum1 * intnum2"
btn3.Text = "intanswer = intnum1 + intnum2"
btn4.Text = "stranswer = intnum1 + intnum2"

Page 78 2012
btn4.Tag = "yes"
Case 6
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " Select Case is used to"
btn1.Text = "Calculate formulas"
btn2.Text = "Remind you of something"
btn3.Text = "Replace multiple If's"
btn4.Text = "Hold non numbers"
btn3.Tag = "yes"
Case 7
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " What control are the Answers made
from (we have used it lots)"
btn1.Text = "ComboBoxs"
btn2.Text = "labels"
btn3.Text = "Buttons"
btn4.Text = "RadioButtons"
btn3.Tag = "yes"
Case 8
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " The best TV show for Geeks is"
btn1.Text = "Big Bang Theory"
btn2.Text = "Man Vrs Wild"
btn3.Text = "Downton Abbey"
btn4.Text = "Shortland Street"
btn1.Tag = "yes"
Case 9
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " What does Form Load do?"
btn1.Text = "Formally Loads the program"
btn2.Text = "Allows code to run before load"
btn3.Text = "Checks for errors"
btn4.Text = "Rolling in the Deep"
btn1.Tag = "yes"

Case 10
lblQuestion.Text = QuestionCounter & " What does Sender do?"
btn1.Text = "Nothing, it just sits there"
btn2.Text = "Holds all the properties of the control"
btn3.Text = "Instantiates the Object as a radiobutton"
btn4.Text = "Used on Form Load to load properties"
btn2.Tag = "yes"
'this is a messy ending note the exit sub to close out of the method, we
could also use Return
Case 11
lblQuestion.Text = "Congratulations you got " & intcorrect & " correct"
btn1.Text = ""
btn2.Text = ""
btn3.Text = ""
btn4.Text = ""
Exit Sub
End Select
End Sub
Page 79 2012

Private Sub AnswerButtons(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btn1.Click, btn2.Click, btn3.Click, btn4.Click
'all 4 answer buttons use the same code in their click event. All we
want to look for is which answer button has yes in its tag, the rest
isn't important
Dim fakebutton As Button
fakebutton = sender

'if the tag event of the answer is Yes then
If fakebutton.Tag = "yes" Then
intcorrect += 1
LBOutcome.Items.Add(intcorrect & " " & fakebutton.Text & "
is Correct")
Else
'there is nothing on the tag
LBOutcome.Items.Add(fakebutton.Text & " is Not Correct")
End If
'reset the tag to nothing
fakebutton.Tag = ""
'run the next question
Questions()
End Sub
End Class

Adding a Splash Screen
Right Click on your project go Add New Item, and choose a Splash Screen.

Go Project from the Menu, choose the last entry Multichoice Property, scroll to the
bottom and choose your splash screen

Click on View Application Events and add a time to wait for, otherwise its too fast.

'splash screen events
Protected Overrides Function OnInitialize(commandLineArgs As
ReadOnlyCollection(Of String)) As Boolean
Me.MinimumSplashScreenDisplayTime = 5000
Return MyBase.OnInitialize(commandLineArgs)
End Function

Page 80 2012
Change your Splash
Screen to suit.

All code in ApplicationEvents.vb
Imports System.Collections.ObjectModel
Namespace My
Partial Friend Class MyApplication

'splash screen events

Protected Overrides Function OnInitialize(commandLineArgs As
ReadOnlyCollection(Of String)) As Boolean
Me.MinimumSplashScreenDisplayTime = 5000
Return MyBase.OnInitialize(commandLineArgs)
End Function
End Class
End Namespace

Page 81 2012
12. Transparent background and automatic shutdown
program
This program is an easy bit of code to show how to make a form with a transparent
background and the beginning of a system to shut down your computer without
having to jump through the Windows 8 hoops.
Instead of making an entire form transparent, the TransparencyKey property enables
you to specify a color that will become transparent on the form. This enables you to
make some sections of a form transparent, while other sections are unchanged.
For example, if TransparencyKey is set to a green color and some areas of the form
are that exact shade of green, then they will be transparent. Whatever is behind the
form shows through in those areas; and if you click in one of those areas, you are
actually clicking the object behind the form.
TransparencyKey can be used to create irregularly shaped skin forms. A form can
have its BackgroundImage property set with an image, and by just painting a part of
the image with the TransparencyKey color, you can make parts of the form
disappear.
Here is the entire code for the project the shutdown code has been commented out
for testing and replaced with Close()

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
Me.Click
Dim ComputerName As String = My.Computer.Name
Close()
'Shell("shutdown -s -f -m \\" & ComputerName)

End Sub
End Class
There is only one graphic on a form. The
graphic is a png with a transparent
background.

The image is added as a resource and added as a background image on the form.
(see over the page)
Page 82 2012
Other settings are shown right and
below.

Set the transparency key color to one that is the same as your background which
isnt found in your image, otherwise part of your image may become transparent as
well.

Set the start position to Centre Screen
Creating an Icon
Convert your image to an icon file using http://convertico.com/
Move the icon to your folder and go Project / Properties and choose it from the Icon:
option.

Getting an Exe
After you have run the program look in your debug folder and pull out the exe.

Add in a Message Box and confirmation to be sure you REALLY want to shut your
machine down.
Page 83 2012
Dim shutdown As DialogResult = MessageBox.Show("Do you REALLY want to
shut down?", "Shut Down", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo,
MessageBoxIcon.Question, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button2)

If shutdown = DialogResult.No Then
Close()

ElseIf shutdown = DialogResult.Yes Then
Shell("shutdown -s -f -m \\" & ComputerName)

End If

Create a new form (I named mine ShutDownMessage) in the same project and add
two buttons (Yes and No) and some graphics like mine below and a label with the
message.
Change the Startup form in the properties to show the second form
Changing the Startup Form

Rebuild the code so it runs off the two buttons
Private Sub btnshutdown_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnshutdown.Click, btnNo.Click

Dim fakebutton As Button
fakebutton = sender

If fakebutton.Text = "Yes" Then
Dim ComputerName As String = My.Computer.Name
Shell("shutdown -s -f -m \\" & ComputerName)
ElseIf fakebutton.Text = "No" Then
Page 84 2012
Close()
End If

End Sub

To be honest I actually like the red button with the message box best even though its
one more click to shut down. You can easily return to that form by changing the
Startup form property back to the name of your first form.
If you want to access the second form, shutDownMessage, from the first form just
instantiate a form and use ShowDialog on the first form.
Dim shutdownform As New shutdownMessage
shutdownform.ShowDialog()

Create a fading closing form
This stand alone code allows the form to fade out when closing. It looks really good.
Add a timer to your project and insert the code from here into your project.
Public Class Form1
Dim blncancelClose As Boolean = True

Look for the FormClosing event from Forms at the top of the code
screen pulldown menu
Private Sub Form1_FormClosing(sender As Object, e As
FormClosingEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosing
Timer1.Enabled = True turn on the timer
e.Cancel = blncancelClose stop the form from closing (until its
faded out. Later in the code Me.Close() closes the form
End Sub

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
Me.AllowTransparency = True allow the form to be transparent
when it loads
End Sub

Timer runs through the following code when Timer1.Enabled = True
Private Sub Timer1_Tick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
Timer1.Tick
Me.Opacity -= 0.05 'make it more transparent
If Me.Opacity = 0 Then When its totally transparent
blncancelClose = False
Me.Close() 'this actually closes the form
End If
End Sub
End Class

Page 85 2012
Another way to shut down
This may be a safer method than the brutal shell command.
To make it shutdown: we write after the comma -s
To make it restart we write after the comma -r
To make it logoff we write after the comma -l
So the code will be for example:
System.diagnostics.Process.Start(shutdown, -s)
Will cause the computer to shutdown. When you order it to shutdown like this it will
give you about 20 sec to shutdown but there is a way to manage that.
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(shutdown, -s -t 00)

The -t will control the time after -t we write the number of sec (Note: max sec = 99)
From: http://developerlogic.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/shutdown-restart-or-log-off-
your-computer-using-vb-net/

Process.Start has some very interesting options, you can use it to start programs and
set them up .
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/53ezey2s.aspx?cs-save-lang=1&cs-
lang=vb#code-snippet-1

Page 86 2012
13. Loops In VB.Net
Loops are used for iteration purposes, i.e., performing a task multiple times (usually
until a termination condition is met)
There are two basic types of loops.
A pre-test loop tests the condition before the body of the loop is executed. It is
possible, using a pre-test loop, that the body of the loop might never be executed.
A post-test loop tests the condition after the body of the loop is executed. The
number of iterations in a post-test loop is at least one.
When writing a program, you might have to make a decision regarding which loop
structure to use.
For...Next loops and For Each loops are best when the number of repetitions is
fixed.
Do loops are best when the condition to enter or exit the loop needs to be re-
evaluated continually.
When deciding which loop to use, keep the following considerations in mind:
1. Use a Do loop if the number of repetitions is unknown and is based on a condition
changing; a For...Next loop is best if the exact number of repetitions is fixed.
2. If a loop condition must be tested before the body of the loop is executed, use a
top-controlled Do While or Do Until loop. If the instructions within a loop must be
executed one time regardless of the status of a condition, use a bottom-controlled Do
While or Do Until loop.
3. Use the keyword While if you want to continue execution of the loop while the
condition is true.
4. Use the keyword Until if you want to continue execution until the condition is
true.
ForNext Loop
The most common type of loop in VB.Net is the For...Next loop. The basic structure
of the For...Next loop is like so:
For variable = startingValue To lastValue statement or block of
statements
Next
Lets see a For...Next loop that will write integers from 1 to 10
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 to 10
Output to a listbox(i)
Next
Page 87 2012
At the start, an integer variable i is initialized with the value of 1, then the statements
under the For are executed until the value of i does not equal 10. Each time i is
incremented by 1.
The important points about for loop are:
You can use an Exit For statement in a For...Next loop or any other loop to change
the normal execution flow. An Exit For statement terminates the loop and
transfers the execution point outside the for loop as below:
For i=1 to 10
If i>5 Then
Exit For
End If
Output to a listbox
Next
The loop will terminate once the value of i gets greater than 5.
You can define the increment/decrement (change) in each iteration of a For...Next
Loop using the Step statement. The code below will increment by 2 in the value of i in
each cycle of the loop
For i = 1 To 10 Step 2
Output to a listbox
Next
Giving 1 3 5 7 9
Note that the increment starts after the first iteration. You can also specify the
negative increment (i.e., decrement) in a Step.

Page 88 2012
The Leap Year Program For loop
For this exercise The LeapYear program calculates whether a given year is a leap
year.
Any year evenly divisible by 4 is a leap year except those years that are also evenly
divisible by 100.
One exception: If the year is evenly divisible by 400, it is a leap year.
Create a: Button = btncheck and a Listbox = lbyear
Using Mod
The Mod operator divides number1 by number2 and returns only the remainder
as result.
For example, A (result) equals 2 in A = 8 Mod 3.
Its a really handy tool that you will see a lot in programming. In this case year Mod 4
= 0 divides the year by 4 and if it equals 0 does something.
Note the AND and OR in the IF Statement

Dim year As Integer = txtyearenter.Text

For i = 1 To 10
If year Mod 4 = 0 And (year Mod 100 <> 0 Or year Mod 400 = 0) Then
lbyear.Items.Add(year & " is a Leap Year")
Else
lbyear.Items.Add(year & " is a not Leap Year")
End If
year += 1
Next
End Sub

Page 89 2012
14. Do WhileLoop
The general structure of the Do While...Loop is
Do While Boolean expression
Statement or block of statements
Loop
The statements under Do While will run continuously as long as the Boolean
expression evaluates to true. The similar code for printing integers 1 to 10 using the
Do While...Loop is
Dim i As Integer =1
Do While i<=10
Output to a listbox
i = i + 1
Loop
The Leap Year Program part 2 Do While loop
Change the Code to add the Do While. Note that you have to manually make the
calculator i +=1 for this type of loop. By placing it when there is a leap year it shows
the next 10 leap years.

Dim year As Integer= txtyearenter.Text
Dim i As Integer = 1
Do while i is less than or equal to 10
Do While i <= 10
If year Mod 4 = 0 And (year Mod 100 <> 0 _
Or year Mod 400 = 0) Then
i += 1
Else
' lbyear.Items.Add(year & " is a not Leap Year")
End If
year += 1
Loop
End Sub

Page 90 2012
Do some error checking. Put a Try Catch around your code,
Add an Exit DO in an IF statement to get out of a bad loop.
Try
Dim year As Integer = txtyearenter.Text

Do While i <= 10

If year < 0 Then
lbyear.Items.Add(year & " Invalid year... terminating!")
Exit Do
End If

If year Mod 4 = 0 And (year Mod 100 <> 0 Or year Mod 400 = 0) Then
i += 1
Else
lbyear.Items.Add(year & " is a not Leap Year")
End If
year += 1
Loop
Catch
MsgBox("At least put a number in")
End Try
End Sub

Page 91 2012
Do While Fibonacci Sequence
Mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci posed the following problem in his treatise Liber
Abaci:
Assuming that a newly born pair of rabbits, one male, one female, are put
in a field the rabbits are able to mate at the age of one month. So that at
the end of its second month a female can produce another pair of rabbits.
If the rabbits never die and a mating pair always produces one new pair
(one male, one female) every month from the second month on.
The puzzle that Fibonacci posed was: How many pairs will there be in one
year?
At the end of the first month, they mate, but there is still only 1 pair.
At the end of the second month the female produces a new pair, so now
there are 2 pairs of rabbits in the field.
At the end of the third month, the original female produces a second pair,
making 3 pairs in all in the field.
At the end of the fourth month, the original female has produced yet
another new pair, the female born two months ago produces her first pair
also, making 5 pairs.
At the end of the nth month, the number of pairs of rabbits is equal to the number of new pairs
(which is the number of pairs in month n 2) plus the number of pairs alive last month (n
1). This is the nth Fibonacci number

.
Fibonacci is found naturally in nature and also used by Stock traders
http://www.babypips.com/school/summary-of-fibonacci.html .

All about Fibonacci http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

Page 92 2012

This code
doesnt show the first two given numbers 0 and 1. Fix it.
Private Sub btnrun_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnrun.Click
Dim Num1 As Integer = 0 'First number
Dim Num2 As Integer = 1 'Second Number
Dim NumSum As Integer = 0 'Sum of First and Second Number
Dim FibEnd As Integer = Val(txtFibIn.Text)

Do While NumSum <= FibEnd
'add the first two numbers together (0 and 1)
NumSum = Num1 + Num2
'pass Num2 to Num1 to make a new Num1
Num1 = Num2
'Pass the total (NumSum) to Num2 to make a new Num2
Num2 = NumSum
lbxFibOut.Items.Add(NumSum.ToString)
Loop
End Sub

Find the even Fibonacci numbers only
Each new term in the Fibonacci sequence is generated by adding the previous two
terms. By starting with 1 and 2, the first 10 terms will be:
1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, ...
By considering the terms in the Fibonacci sequence whose values do not exceed
four million, find the sum of the even-valued terms.
From: http://projecteuler.net/problem=2
What is the first Fibonacci number to contain 1000 digits?
What is the first term in the Fibonacci sequence to contain 1000 digits?
http://projecteuler.net/problem=25

Page 93 2012
DoLoop While
A Do...Loop While is similar to a Do While...Loop, except that it does not check the
condition before entering the first iteration (execution of code inside the body of loop).
The general form of the a Do...Loop While is:
Do
statement or block of statements
Loop While Boolean expression
The statements under the Do will be executed first and then the Boolean condition is
checked. The loop will continue until the condition remains true. The code which
prints integers 1 to 10 using Do...Loop While is
Do
Output to a listbox
i = i + 1
Loop While i<=10
The important point is that the statements in a Do...Loop While execute at least once.
DoLoop Until
A Do...Loop Until is similar to the Do...Loop While, except that it continues to execute
the containing statements until the condition against the Until part evaluates to True
or the condition against the Until remains False. The general form of the Do...Loop
Until is as follows:
Do
statement or block of statements
Loop Until Boolean expression
The statements under the Do will execute first and then the condition is checked. The
loop will continue until the condition remains false. The following code will print
integers from 1 to 10 using the Do...Loop Until.
Do
Output to a listbox
i = i + 1
Loop Until i=10
Again the statements in Do...Loop Until execute at least once.

Page 94 2012
15. For Each Loop
The For Each loop is also very handy especially when extracting out individual
characters inside of a string or larger number. In this case the word you enter is
broken up into letters and passed to a character (Char) variable then displayed in a
listbox. This is the beginning of string operations.
Add the pens array to the list as well, its a great way to add a quick array.

Private Sub btngo_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btngo.Click
Dim strword As String
Dim chrletter As Char

strword = txtword.Text

For Each chrletter In strword
lbwordout.Items.Add(chrletter)

Next
'The brackets() tell the program its an array
Dim Pens() As String = {"Red pen", "Blue Pen", "Black Pen"}
' Loop over each element with For Each.
For Each pen As String In Pens
lbwordout.Items.Add(pen)
Next
End Sub

Page 95 2012
Find the multiples of 3 and 5
If we list all the natural numbers below 10 that are multiples of 3 or 5, we get 3, 5, 6
and 9. The sum of these multiples is 23.
Find the sum of all the multiples of 3 or 5 below 1000.
http://projecteuler.net/problem=1

Times Table calculator
Using a Loop, a Listbox, a Textbox and a Button create a program that asks you for a
times table number and then displays it in the list box as
1 X 10 = 10
2 X 10 = 20 etc.

Page 96 2012

Private Sub btnrun_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnrun.Click
Dim sngyournumber, sngmultiplier, runningsum As Single

sngyournumber = txtyournumber.Text
sngmultiplier = txtmultiplier.Text
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To sngmultiplier
Dim snganswer As Single

snganswer = i * sngyournumber
lboutput.Items.Add(i & " X " & sngyournumber & " = " &
snganswer)
runningsum = runningsum + snganswer
Next
lboutput.Items.Add(" Total " & runningsum)
End Sub

Page 97 2012
Dice Rolls with Loops
Create a new project; use a ListBox, and a ComboBox and a Button for this exercise
The program asks for a number and displays the numbers that divide equally into it.
The program throws a pair of dice, stopping when the number of doubles you have
specified has been reached. It also displays each throw and puts the word DOUBLE
beside the doubles and tells you how many times it took you to throw to reach your
total.
Eg:
Double total = 3
2 6
3 3 DOUBLE
6 6 DOUBLE
3 1
1 1 DOUBLE
You took 5 turns to throw 3 doubles.

Expand the program to work with Triples. Same as below with three dice.

This loads the combo box with 1 to 6 at startup of the form (its nice )
Private Sub Form1_Activated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Activated
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To 6
cbStopOn.Items.Add(i)
Next
End Sub

Private Sub btnroll_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnroll.Click
Dim randomnumberD1 As Integer
Dim randomnumberD2 As Integer
' Initialize the random number generator
Randomize()
Page 98 2012
' Calculate a random number between 1 and 6
randomnumberD1 = Int(1 + 6 * Rnd())

Dim storage As String
Dim stopValue As Integer
Dim dblCount As Integer
' empty the listbox
lbDiceRolls.Items.Clear()
' get the stop value
stopValue = cbStopOn.SelectedItem

' now roll the dice until we get the correct double
Do
' make a string to add to the listbox
storage = randomnumberD1.ToString & " " &
randomnumberD2.ToString
' check if it's a double and modify the string
' if it is, also count this for later
If randomnumberD1 = randomnumberD2 Then
storage &= " Double!"
dblCount += 1
End If
' store it in the listbox
lbDiceRolls.Items.Add(storage)
Loop Until (randomnumberD1 = randomnumberD2) And (dblCount =
stopValue)
End Sub

Stop the program from crashing when you forget to choose a selection in the
ComboBox.

Page 99 2012
Identify the appropriate method for handling repetition
SCENARIO: Adriana is creating a point-of-sale (cash register) application for Fourth
Coffee. Her responsibility is to create a password-protected login system to ensure
security of the system.
She has finished the login window and password check, but she is having trouble
implementing it correctly.
Adrianas project manager wants the system to give the user three attempts to login
correctly before locking the system. In Adrianas most recent version, the system
prompts the user for a name and password three times even if the user correctly
logs in on the first try.
After the third attempt, the system always lockseven if the input is correct.
1. Adriana is using a for loop, which works best when:
a. the number of iterations is known and is unlikely to change during execution
b. the number of iterations is known but is likely to change during execution
c. the number of iterations is unknown
2. What control structure would be best for Adrianas login system?
a. for loop
b. while loop
c. a recursive method
3. How many times does a do..while loop execute?
a. at least zero times
b. at least one time
c. at least two times

Create her login system.
From: Microsoft training 361.pdf in Goodies folder.

Page 100 2012
Depreciation Rate calculator
Create a program that works out the depreciation for tax purposes on a range of
items.
Develop a program that:
Accepts as input the purchase price of a car;
Accepts as input how long in years the car is to be depreciated.
Accepts the amount of depreciation per year.
Outputs the value of the car (currency format) after it has depreciated.
Test Case:
Input: Purchase Price $18,500 and 3 Years to Depreciate the Car
After 1 year the value is $14,800 (80% of 18,500)
After 2 years the value is $11,840 (80% of 14,800)
After 3 years the value is $9,472 (80% of 11,840)
Output: $9,472
The example above uses a Date and Time Picker set to show only year.
A list box (named lstTotals) with the year data and depreciation formula looped into it,
and styled with a TableLayoutPanel and a FlowlayoutPanel.
Depreciation formula is simple Car price = Car price (Car price * percent
deduction)
The Date and Time Picker Properties has
ShowUpDown set to True.
Format set to Custom.
CustomFormat set to yyyy
In the code returns the year in the code with dblYear =
dtpPurchaseYear.Value.Year
Page 101 2012
The Dog and lemon guide suggest the following deprecation rates for a new car
The Dog & Lemon Guide rough & ready depreciation formula:
http://www.dogandlemon.com/articles/depreciation-new-zealand
New: $100,000
2nd year: (less 40%) $60,000
3rd year: (less 20%) $48,000
4th year: (less 20%) $38,400
5th year: (less 20%) $30,720
Modify your program to use these new depreciation rates.
This exercise is modified later for use with Classes.

What If we input the depreciation rates from a data file, and store it in
an array, then we can build a full blown program that allows us to work out
depreciation and sell it to IRD!

Page 102 2012
Compounding Interest Calculator
This is more interesting that it first seems. Create a calculator that calculates the
interest on your money compounding. That is when you earn the interest it is added
back on to the principal and interest is calculated on the new amount.
There are 4 main areas
How much the Principal is the money you are investing
How much the interest rate is in % which has to be converted to decimal by
dividing by 100
How many years you are investing for
How often your interest is calculated, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.

In the tag properties of the 4 radio buttons set them to 1, 12, 52, 365 the radiobuttons
are in a Groupbox but thats just for style and ease of movement.
Public Class Form1
'how many times a year its paid
Dim int_interest_period As Integer
Private Sub btncalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles btncalculate.Click


Dim sng_principal As Single = Val(txtprincipal.Text)
'whats your interest rate
Dim sng_interest_rate As Single = Val(txtInterestRate.Text)
'how many years its in for
Dim int_years As Integer = Val(txtYears.Text)
'total number of periods that the paymnets are made
Dim int_payment_period As Integer = int_years * int_interest_period
'interest rate per payment period
Dim sng_interest_per_period As Single
sng_interest_per_period = (sng_interest_rate / 100) /
int_interest_period

Page 103 2012
For i As Integer = 1 To int_payment_period
Dim sng_current_value As Single

sng_current_value = sng_principal * sng_interest_per_period
sng_principal = sng_principal + sng_current_value

lboutput.Items.Add(i & ": " & FormatCurrency(sng_principal))
Next i

lbltotal.Text = "You will earn " & FormatCurrency(sng_principal)
End Sub

Private Sub rbyear_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object,
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles rbyear.CheckedChanged,
rbmonthly.CheckedChanged, rbweekly.CheckedChanged,
rbdaily.CheckedChanged
'all the radio buttons come to this sub then they are passed to
the fake button and the tag is sent to the variable
Dim fakeradiobutton As New RadioButton
fakeradiobutton = sender
int_interest_period = fakeradiobutton.Tag

End Sub
End Class

Page 104 2012
Calculate the change for a shop
Back in the past before EFTPOS people had to actually pay cash for goods (really!).
When someone buys goods the till automatically calculates the change that they get
back. Its basically the amount of money handed over minus the price of the goods.
Then however the magic begins, the scared kid behind the counter had to translate
that amount into coins and notes. Thankfully the machine did that as well and this
program replicates that operation with a loop.

This project uses 2 text boxes, a button and a label for data.

Page 105 2012

Private Sub btncalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btncalculate.Click
Dim sngproductcost As Single
Dim sngmoneypaid As Single
Dim sngchangegiven As Single

Dim tendollar As Integer
Dim fivedollar As Integer
Dim dollar As Integer
Dim fiftycent As Integer
Dim twentycent As Integer
Dim tencent As Integer
Dim fivecent As Integer

sngproductcost = txtproductcost.Text * 100
sngmoneypaid = txtmoneypaid.Text * 100

sngchangegiven = sngmoneypaid - sngproductcost

If sngchangegiven < 0 Then
MsgBox("Pay more cheapskate")
End If

Do Until sngchangegiven < 5

If sngchangegiven > 999 Then
tendollar += 1
sngchangegiven = sngchangegiven - 1000

ElseIf sngchangegiven > 499 Then
fivedollar += 1

dollar += 1

fiftycent += 1

twentycent += 1

tencent += 1
Page 106 2012

fivecent += 1

End If

Loop

lblchange.Text = tendollar & " Ten Dollars " & vbCrLf &
fivedollar & " Five Dollars " & vbCrLf & dollar & " Dollars " & vbCrLf &
fiftycent & " 50c " & vbCrLf & twentycent & " 20c " & vbCrLf & tencent &
" 10c " & vbCrLf & fivecent & " 5c "
End Sub

Page 107 2012
Times Table tester with Loop
This is a simpler code than before, with the Do Loop running until it matches the
number you want to test to.

Modify the existing timetable program to run off a Do until loop and an input box.
Public Class Form1
Dim intcounter As Integer
Dim sngyournumber, sngyouranswer, snganswer As Single
Dim strcorrect As String
Dim intmultiplier As Integer
Dim intcorrectcount As Integer = 0
Dim questiontext As String

Private Sub btnrun_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnrun.Click
intcounter = 1
'move data to variables
sngyournumber = txtyournumber.Text
intmultiplier = txtmultiplier.Text
answercode()
End Sub

Sub answercode() 'renamed keyup sub to answercode and added it to
the button click
Dim intcounter As Integer
Dim stryouranswer As String
'loop until the counter equals your number
Do Until intcounter = sngyournumber
intcounter += 1
questiontext = intcounter & " X " & sngyournumber
use an Input box to break into the loop
stryouranswer = InputBox("Enter your answer " &
questiontext, "")
Page 108 2012
sngyouranswer = stryouranswer
'calculate the correct answer
snganswer = intcounter * sngyournumber
'if your answer = correct answer
If snganswer = sngyouranswer Then
strcorrect = " correct"
intcorrectcount += 1
Else
strcorrect = " wrong"
End If
lboutput.Items.Add(intcounter & " X " & sngyournumber & " =
" & snganswer & " : " & sngyouranswer & " is " & strcorrect)
Loop

intcounter = 0
End Sub

Page 109 2012
16. Password CraCker with loops
This fun program creates two ways to hack passwords. The first is by making random
guesses as to the answer, and the second is to logically move through every option
to find the answer.
The form has only a few important controls.
2 Buttons, - btnGuessAnswer and btnloop
2 textboxes, txtinput and txtMASKinput. txtMASKinput has the PasswordChar set to *
1 Listbox lbxoutput

The random generator is wrapped in a function for ease of use. The function takes in
the length of the password you are trying to find and returns back a random number
of letters of that same length PWcrackerWithRandom(strPW.Length)
Public Function PWcrackerWithRandom(ByVal strLength As Integer)
Dim strletters As String =
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
Dim rndletters As New Random()
'use string builder as its better with longer text and you can
use Append
Dim strresult As New System.Text.StringBuilder()

'for the length of the word you are trying to find
For i = 1 To strLength
'join the letters together using the range of the letters
from 1 to the length of strletters
strresult.Append(strletters(rndletters.Next(1, strletters.Length)))
Next i
'return back the answer to the program
Return strresult.ToString()
End Function

Page 110 2012
The click event of the generator matches the random word with the password. If the
two are the same it ends, otherwise it asks for another random work and keeps on
until a match is made.
Private Sub btnGuessAnswer_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnGuessAnswer.Click
Dim strPW As String = txtinput.Text
Dim strguess As String
Dim intcount As Integer

Do
strguess = PWcrackerWithRandom(strPW.Length)
intcount += 1
Me.Text = intcount & " " & strPW
'slows down the program but shows the update
Application.DoEvents()
'loop until the guess = the password
Loop Until strPW = strguess
lbxOutput.Items.Add("It took " & intcount & " guesses to match " & strPW
& " with " & strguess)
End Sub

DoEvents a curse or a solution?
Usually the program works too fast to see but if you want to see the words that are
created by the random generator you can output them to the form with Me.Text =
intcount & " " & strPW
However to do this you need to add Application.DoEvents() to your code to tell the
program to stop in the loop and run any events that are waiting. This has the side
effect of slowing down the program but it gives you something to look at.
DoEvents however has very bad press just read this thread
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5181777/use-of-application-doevents
The next versions of C# and VB.NET will provide a different gun with the
new await and async keywords. Inspired in small part by the trouble
caused by DoEvents and threads, but in large part by WinRT's api design
that requires you to keep your UI updated while an asynchronous
operation is taking place, like reading from a file.
Why dont people like to use DoEvents? MS give an answer:
Calling this method causes the current thread to be suspended while all
waiting window messages are processed. If a message causes an
event to be triggered, then other areas of your application code may
execute. This can cause your application to exhibit unexpected behaviours
that are difficult to debug.
Page 111 2012
So if you use DoEvents make sure there are no other events waiting to run that are
not meant to be part of your program at that time. (for us its OK, this is advanced
programming)
Standard Progress Bar
You could also add a Progress bar and have it increase to show its working as well.
Just Dim a counter variable, you cant use the existing counter as you want to reset it
to 0 when the bar is full and set your max value at something like 10000 in the
properties.
intprogcount += 1
ProgressBar1.Value = intprogcount
If ProgressBar1.Value = 10000 Then
ProgressBar1.Value = 0
intprogcount = 0
End If

Simple Custom Progress Bar
We can also take the time to make a simple Progress bar from a label that can also
show how many times the loop has been run.
Put a small narrow label on your form and dim a counter for it intlblprogressbar.
In the code we want the width of the label to expand until it finds the right hand side
of the form Me.Width and then return back to 0, so when the width of the label and
the distance from the edge of the form to the label (The label.left) equals the width of
the form then reset it back to 0. lblprogressbar.Width + lblprogressbar.Left =
Me.Width.
Use lblprogressbar.Text = intcount to have the counter show on the label.
intlblprogressbar += 1
lblprogressbar.Width = intlblprogressbar
lblprogressbar.Text = intcount
If lblprogressbar.Width + lblprogressbar.Left = Me.Width
Then
intlblprogressbar = 0
End If

All the code to date.
Page 112 2012
Private Sub btnGuessAnswer_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnGuessAnswer.Click
Dim strPW As String = txtinput.Text
Dim intcount, intprogcount, intlblprogressbar As Integer

Do
strguess = PWcrackerWithRandom(strPW.Length)
intcount += 1
'loop until the guess = the password

intprogcount += 1
ProgressBar1.Value = intprogcount
If ProgressBar1.Value = 10000 Then
intprogcount = 0
End If

intlblprogressbar += 1
lblprogressbar.Width = intlblprogressbar
lblprogressbar.Text = intcount
If lblprogressbar.Width + lblprogressbar.Left = Me.Width Then
intlblprogressbar = 0
End If

Loop Until strPW = strguess
intprogcount = 0

lbxOutput.Items.Add("It took " & intcount & " guesses to match " & strPW
& " with " & strguess)

End Sub

What if . we compared each generated word to a dictionary of words, using a hash
table, and kept the words that were real. If we did it long enough could we make a
real sentence?

Page 113 2012
Nested Loops to create logical selection
The other main way to get a password can come from using a logical process of
looking for every combination of the password and seeing if it is the correct one.
The code for this is remarkably simple yet tedious to create, and limited in its scope.
Surprisingly I havent been able to find a shortcut way of writing this
In this case I used 3 nested loops which meant it can only search for 3 letter
passwords. Four nested loops would search for 4 letter passwords, 5 nested loops
would search for 5 letter passwords etc. Slow and laborious to write.
With three loops it starts with the first letters, and then the inner loop increments by 1.
This acts like an odometer in a car.
AAA
AAB
AAC
AAD
Etc
To
999

Private Sub btnLoop_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnLoop.Click

Dim strPW As String = txtMASKinput.Text
Dim intcount As Integer
'a string of all the letters you want to search for
Dim strletters As String =
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"

'nested loops looking for every combination of the letters from AAA to
999
For Each letter1 As Char In strletters
intcount += 1
'add the letters together to get a guess to test
Page 114 2012
strguess = letter1 & letter2 & letter3
Me.Text = intcount & " " & strguess
'if the password = the guess then stop the loop
If strPW = strguess Then
lbxOutput.Items.Add("It took " & intcount & " loops to match " & strPW &
" with " & strguess)

Return
End If
Next
Next
Next
End Sub

Now that you can break 3 letter passwords, create a program that breaks
passwords from 3 to 7 letters automatically, by detecting how many letters
you put in and stopping errors for too many or too few letters.
Dont forget to use methods (subs and functions) so that you have small
blocks of easily followed code.
Finish your program by using a Background Worker (next page) to stop
your machine freezing when breaking passwords

What if . we checked the entry of a list of the top 100 used passwords first? So
we parse a list of all 3 words passwords and check it with the given password. To do
that we need to use arrays and to read a data file in.

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17. Background Workers
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hybbz6ke.aspx
The BackgroundWorker class allows you to run an operation on a separate,
dedicated thread. Time-consuming operations like downloads and database
transactions can cause your user interface (UI) to seem as though it has stopped
responding while they are running.
When you want a responsive UI and you are faced with long delays associated with
such operations, the BackgroundWorker class provides a convenient solution.
Overview
To execute a time-consuming operation in the background,
1. create a BackgroundWorker and
2. listen for events that report the progress of your operation and
3. signal when your operation is finished.
You can create the BackgroundWorker programmatically or you can drag it onto
your form from the Components tab of the Toolbox.
1. To set up for a background operation, add an event handler for the DoWork
event. Call your time-consuming operation in this event handler. In the
example I called it from the Form Load event. Sub Form1_Load
2. To start the operation, call RunWorkerAsync. BGW1.RunWorkerAsync()
3. To receive notifications of progress updates, handle the ProgressChanged
event. Sub BackgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged
4. To receive a notification when the operation is completed, handle the
RunWorkerCompleted event. Sub BackgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted
You must be careful not to manipulate any user-interface objects in your DoWork
event handler. Instead, communicate to the user interface through the
ProgressChanged and RunWorkerCompleted events.
As your user interface is controlled by the Main thread, you cant access it with a
background worker, otherwise it might find 2 threads are trying to use it and crash or
go unstable.
If your background operation requires a parameter, call RunWorkerAsync with your
parameter. Inside the DoWork event handler, you can extract the parameter from the
DoWorkEventArgs.Argument property.

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This example uses a Progressbar, a label, and a
Button.
Drag a Background Worker on to your program from
the Toolbox and set the properties as follows

Imports System.ComponentModel

Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
'Raise the DoWork event in a worker thread. ' Start the asynchronous
operation.
Me.BGW1.RunWorkerAsync()
End Sub

'This event handler is where the time-consuming work is done.
'This event is raised when you call the RunWorkerAsync method. This is
where you start the operation that performs the potentially time-
consuming work.
'Your code in the DoWork event handler should periodically check the
CancellationPending property value and abort the operation if it is
true.

Private Sub BackgroundWorker1_DoWork(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e
As DoWorkEventArgs) Handles BGW1.DoWork

' Get the BackgroundWorker object that raised this event.
Dim worker As BackgroundWorker = CType(sender, BackgroundWorker)

For i As Integer = 1 To 100
'checking to see if you hit the cancel button (need it for safety)
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If (worker.CancellationPending = True) Then
e.Cancel = True
Exit For
End If

'Raise the ProgressChanged event in the UI thread. Note the first i is
passed to the e.ProgressPercentage later on. The second code i & "
iterations complete" passes to the TryCast(e.UserState, String)
worker.ReportProgress(i, i & " iterations complete")

'Perform some time-consuming operation here.
Threading.Thread.Sleep(50)
Next i
End Sub

'This method is executed in the UI thread and updates the progress bar.
Private Sub BackgroundWorker1_ProgressChanged(ByVal sender As
Object, ByVal e As ProgressChangedEventArgs) Handles
BGW1.ProgressChanged
Me.ProgressBar1.Value = e.ProgressPercentage
Me.Label1.Text = TryCast(e.UserState, String)
End Sub

'This event handler deals with the results of the background operation.
Private Sub BackgroundWorker1_RunWorkerCompleted(ByVal sender As
Object, ByVal e As RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs) Handles
BGW1.RunWorkerCompleted
Me.Label1.Text = "Operation complete"
End Sub

Private Sub btncancel_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btncancel.Click
If BGW1.WorkerSupportsCancellation = True Then
' Cancel the asynchronous operation.
BGW1.CancelAsync()
End If
End Sub
End Class

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18. Text to Speech
This is easy, and another tool to add to your toolkit. Just create a new form with a
multiline text box and a button.
Add the following code and then run. Type something in the text box and listen to the
output. A nice way to add voice commands to your program.
Public Class Form1

Private Sub btnSpeak_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnSpeak.Click
Dim SAPI = CreateObject("SAPI.spvoice")
SAPI.speak(TextBox1.Text)
End Sub
End Class

What if we plug this into a calculator to read out the results?
Speech to text
Firstly add the following reference into your program as seen below. There is nothing
to add to your form, at this stage it only shows on a message box.
However once you get this running make the output go to a label so you can speak in
the words and save the text.

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Imports System.Speech
Imports System.Speech.Recognition
Imports System.Speech.Synthesis

Public Class Form1

Dim replier As New SpeechSynthesizer()
Dim WithEvents questioner As New Recognition.SpeechRecognizer

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
MyBase.Load
Dim gram As New Recognition.SrgsGrammar.SrgsDocument
Dim gramRule As New Recognition.SrgsGrammar.SrgsRule("Rules")
Dim gramSingle As New Recognition.SrgsGrammar.SrgsOneOf("Red",
"Green", "Blue")
gramRule.Add(gramSingle)
gram.Rules.Add(gramRule)
gram.Root = gramRule
questioner.LoadGrammar(New Recognition.Grammar(gram))

End Sub

Private Sub questioner_SpeechRecognized(ByVal sender As Object,
ByVal e As System.Speech.Recognition.RecognitionEventArgs) Handles
questioner.SpeechRecognized

If e.Result.Text = ("Red") Then
MessageBox.Show("Red")
ElseIf e.Result.Text = ("Green") Then
MessageBox.Show("Green")
ElseIf e.Result.Text = ("Blue") Then
MessageBox.Show("Blue")
End If
End Sub

End Class

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19. Structures
Applications frequently need to store several pieces of information of different data
types that all relate to one thing and must be kept together in a group, such as a
customers name and address (strings) and balance (a number).
Usually, an object of a class is used to hold such a group of variables, but you can
also use a structure.
Structures are similar to class objects but are somewhat simpler, A structure
can even have methods and properties as well as member variables, just as a class
can.
Structures are known as value types and classes are known as reference types.
When you assign and modify a value type, only the contents of the modified variable
change.
When you assign and modify a reference type, the original object changes, so the
original variable and assigned variable change because they both point to the same
original object.
That is, a variable representing a structure means the actual chunk of computer
memory that stores the contents of the structure itself, whereas a variable
representing a class instance is actually, as you have seen, a hook on which the
object hangs.
This explains the difference in instantiation you dont
need to use the New keyword to instantiate a structure
before you use it because it is a value type, just like an
integer.
Use New when instantiating Reference types
Classes, Objects etc. (Dim myclass as new class)
Dont use New when you instantiate value types, -
Variables, Structure etc. (Dim mystructure as
structure)
You do have to use the New keyword with a form or
other complex object because it is a class instance a
reference type. Also, you cannot inherit from a structure
another important consideration when choosing
whether to use a class or a structure.
Structures are useful for creating lightweight types that are used to hold data such as
Point, Rectangle and Color types.
Structures are of value type, contrary to classes which are of reference type.
This means that structures are allocated on the stack and are passed to the
methods by value.
Structure may contain constructors (except for a no-argument constructor),
fields, methods and properties just like classes.
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Like all value types, Structures can neither inherit other class nor can they be
inherited.
A Structure can implement interfaces.
Like every other type in VB.Net, Structures are also implicitly inherited by the
System.Object class.
Instances of a Structure can be created with or without using the New
keyword.
Most of the .Net framework types such as System.Int32 (for an Integer),
System.Double (for a Double), System.Boolean (for a Boolean), System.Byte
(for a Byte), are implemented as a Structure.
When kept to a small size, a Structure can be more efficiently used by the
system than a class.

Heap and Stack Performance
Visual Basic programs allocate variables from two pools of memory called the stack
and the heap.
Programs take memory for value types (such as integers and dates) from the stack.
Space for reference types comes from the heap. More than one reference can point
to the same chunk of memory allocated on the heap. That makes garbage collection
and other heap-management issues more complex than using the stack, so using the
heap is generally slower than using the stack.
Because structures are value types and classes are reference types, structures are
allocated on the stack and class objects are allocated on the heap. That makes
structures faster than classes. The exact difference for a particular program depends
on the application.

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Structures- Customer Exercise
Right-click the project name in the Solution Explorer, choose the Add menu item
from the context menu, and then choose the Class submenu item.
Enter Customer in the Name field and then click the Add button to have this item
added to your project.
In this example, you define a structure using a Structure. End Structure statement.
Inside this block, the variables that make up the structure are declared by name and
type: These variables are called members of the structure:
Create the following.
Here are the names of the objects and
controls on the form and the shape of the
Structure .

The Customer Structure
Public Structure Customer

Public FirstName As String
Public LastName As String
Public Property Freemoney() As Single
Public Property Owes() As Single

Private _balance As Single

Public Property Balance() As Single
Get
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_balance += Freemoney - Owes
Return _balance
End Get

Set(value As Single)
_balance = value
End Set
End Property

'Name property
Public ReadOnly Property Name() As String
Get
Return FirstName & " " & LastName
End Get
End Property

ReadOnly Property Email() As String
Get
Return FirstName & "-" & LastName & "@VisionCollege.AC.nz"
End Get
End Property

End Structure

The Form Code
Public Class Form1
Dim myCustomer As Customer

Private Sub btncustomer_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btncustomer.Click

myCustomer.FirstName = txtFirstName.Text
myCustomer.LastName = txtLastName.Text
myCustomer.Balance = txtaccbalance.Text
myCustomer.Freemoney = txtfreemoney.Text
myCustomer.Owes = txtOwes.Text

'Display the customer
DisplayCustomer(myCustomer)
End Sub

Public Sub DisplayCustomer(ByVal customer As Customer)
'Display the customer details on the form
lblFinalBalance.Text = myCustomer.Balance
lblemail.Text = customer.Email
lblName.Text = customer.Name
lbxCustomer.Items.Add(customer.Name & " " & customer.Balance)
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End Sub
End Class

In the btnListCustomer_Click procedure, you define a variable of type Customer
using the Dim statement.
The DisplayCustomer procedure simply accepts a Customer structure as its input
parameter and then accesses the members of the structure to set the Text properties
of the text boxes on the form:

Create a random number generator for Freemoney. Create a full property
(with get and set, and place it in the get code using _freemoney as a
private variable.

Default structure for properties
A Full Property
Private _balance As Single
Public Property Balance() As Single
Get
add code here to change output
Return _balance
End Get

Set(value As Single)
_balance = value
add code here to filter input
End Set
End Property

Data comes in through Set(value As Single)
value gets passed to _balance at _balance = value
_balance gets returned back to the program in the Get at Return _balance

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Cheque processing using Structure
This longer exercise uses a structure to process the details of the customer and
produce an output for a cheque. It has methods in the structure that capitalise and
concatenate the name entered as well as calculate the age of the person.

Right-click the project name in the Solution Explorer, choose
the Add menu item from the context menu, and then choose
the Class submenu item and name it Person. Rename it Public
Structure Person as below.

Public Structure Person
'private member variables for public properties they are
underscored for convention, and no other reason, to show
that they are private, so only work inside the person
structure -----------
Private _firstname As String
Private _middlename As String
Private _lastname As String
Private _dob As Date
'private member vars for calculations in this case
making a timespan---------------
Private _datedif As TimeSpan
'------------- public properties ---------------
Public Property FirstName As String
Get
'------------- This is the function propercase from below -------------
--
Return ProperCase(_firstname)
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
_firstname = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property MiddleName As String
Get
Return ProperCase(_middlename)
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End Get
_middlename = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property LastName As String
Get
Return ProperCase(_lastname)
End Get
_lastname = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property DOB As Date
Get
Return _dob
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Date)
_dob = value
End Set
End Property

'------------- readonly properties ---------------
ReadOnly Property Fullname As String
Get
Return ProperCase(_firstname.Trim & " " & _middlename.Trim &
" " & _lastname.Trim)
End Get
End Property

ReadOnly Property ChequeName As String
Get
'returns the GetChequeName()
Return GetChequeName()
End Get
End Property

ReadOnly Property Age As Integer
Get
' calculate the number of days different
_datedif = Date.Now - DOB
' return this in years
Return _datedif.Days / 365
End Get
End Property

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'------------- methods ---------------
' the ChequeName is with first and middle names as capital initials
and a fullstop
' the last name in Proper form (first letter capital, all others
lowercase)
Private Function GetChequeName() As String
Dim strFirstAndMiddle As String = _firstname.Trim & " " &
_middlename.Trim
Dim theNames() As String = strFirstAndMiddle.ToLower.Split(" ")
Dim j As Short

Dim aName As String = ""

' now change first and middle names to capital initials plus ".
"
For j = 0 To theNames.Length - 1
aName = theNames(j)
theNames(j) = aName.ToUpper.Substring(0, 1) & ". "
Next

aName = "" ' need to use this again so make it empty

' concatenate the names
For Each strFirstAndMiddle In theNames
aName &= strFirstAndMiddle
Next

' capitalize first letter of last name by using the Proper function
strFirstAndMiddle = ProperCase(_lastname)
Return aName.Trim & " " & strFirstAndMiddle.Trim
End Function

' this function is public so can process and return the middle names to
the program
' this has been done like a method deliberately so that it can be used
in the program
Function GetMiddleNames() As String
Return ProperCase(_middlename)
End Function

'This function capitalises the first letter of the string passed through
Private Function ProperCase(ByVal strwords As String) As String
' take a string and capitalize first letter of each word
Dim theWords() As String = strwords.Split(" ")
Dim temp As String = "", left As String = "", right As String =
""
Dim j As Short

' go through all words, split off first letter and capitalize it
' make the rest of the word lower case
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' replace the words in the array
For j = 0 To theWords.Length - 1
temp = theWords(j)
left = temp.ToUpper.Substring(0, 1)
right = temp.ToLower.Substring(1, temp.Length - 1)
theWords(j) = left & right
Next

' get ready to return name by concatenating all names in theWords array
left = ""
For Each temp In theWords
left &= temp & " "
Next

' now return it
Return left.Trim
End Function

End Structure

Public Class Form1

Private Sub btnProcess_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnProcess.Click
Dim myPerson As Person

myPerson.FirstName = txtFirstname.Text
myPerson.MiddleName = txtMiddlename.Text
myPerson.LastName = txtLastname.Text
myPerson.DOB = dtpDOB.Value

lblage.Text = myPerson.Age.ToString
lblFullName.Text = myPerson.Fullname
lblMiddleName.Text = myPerson.GetMiddleNames
lblChequeName.Text = myPerson.ChequeName

End Sub
End Class

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20. Using Snippets for VB.net to auto create the Class
properties
This is really important as it saves you having to type manually and repetitively the
basic code for a class or Structure property
To create the property do this .
Type prop and press tab you get this
(If you are lucky it gives you the full property with Get and Set, but
unfortunately not for me)
Fill it in with your name and type Property Firstname() As String
Type in get underneath it
Press the Enter key
Voodoo happens - all the properties self generate

Add your private variables by hand (sadly)

Type in propdef to see a full property

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Go Tools / Code Snippets Manager to see all the snippets.

http://msmvps.com/blogs/deborahk/archive/2010/04/11/auto-implemented-
properties.aspx

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21. Introduction to Classes
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a method of software design and
construction and is the next logical progression, after structured programming, to
improve your code reusability and maintainability.
Put another way, OOP is a method of designing individual software components
(classes) with associated behaviours (methods) and data limitations (properties), and
that helps you piece these components together to create a complete application.
The modern trend in programming languages is for code to be separated into
chunks. When it's being used, each chunk of code (a chunk of code that opens text
files, for example) is known as an Object. The code for the Object can then be
reused whenever it is needed.
Languages like C++ and Java are Object Oriented languages. Until Microsoft came
out with VB.NET, the Visual Basic programming language was not OOP (object
oriented programming. The NET Framework is a whole lot of Classes (called
Namespaces) and the technology to get those Classes to work.
The best thing about OOP is that it allows you to group data into discrete variables
contained within a class in your program. This data is separate and distinct from any
other class in your application. No class can interfere with the data in any other class
without going through a specific interface on that class.
Object Oriented programming has a steeper learning curve, and things like
Encapsulation, Inheritance and Polymorphism have to be digested. Classes are the
heart and soul of an object-oriented language. You will find yourself using classes
whenever you write even the simplest of programs in Visual Basic .NET.
In VB.NET, a class is that chunk of code mentioned earlier. The Form you've started
out with is a Class. If you look right at the top of the code window for a Form, you'll
see:
Public Class Form1

End Class
The word "Public" means that other code can see it. Form1 is the name of the Class
At the bottom of the coding window, you'll see End Class, signifying the end of the
code for the Class.
When you place a Button or a textbox on the Form, you're really adding it to the Form
Class.
When you start the Form, VB does something called instantiation. This basically
means that your Form is being turned into an Object, and all the things needed for
the creation of the Form are being set up for you (Your controls are being added,
variables are being set up an initialised, etc).
And that's the basic difference between a Class and an Object: A Class is the code
itself; the code becomes an Object when you start using it. The big benefit of an
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Object Oriented Programming language is that you can create your own Objects. (It's
an Object when you're using the code, remember, and a Class when you're not.)
For example the instructions for doing a pressup are:
Both hands on the floor, and at chest height,
Back straight,
Down to upper arms are horizontal and up to elbows are locked.
These instructions are the Class, and every time you do a pressup you create an
object. If you didnt have a class then before every pressup you would have to read
the rules again and define them. Now that you have a class, you can just refer back
to the class (instructions) and away you go, pumping out new objects.
A class is also like an octopus.
Remember when we made the telecom project (which we will work on again) we had
to define all the variables
Public Class Form1
Dim strplan As String
Dim sngMonthlycharge As Single
Dim sngIncminutes As Single
Dim sngAdddata As Single
Each of these variables are unrelated to the other. There is also no easy way to
organize them so that they are in related groups. They are just individual variables
that can get confusing in big projects.
In a class they will all be together and seen as a unit.
A Namespace is a group of Classes which are grouped together. The System.IO
Namespace you met earlier groups together Classes that you use to read and write
to a file. System.Windows.Forms is another Namespace you've met. In fact, you
couldn't create your forms without this Namespace. But again, it is just a group of
Classes huddling under the same umbrella.
Read the official documentation here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/zzh9ha57.aspx
OOP terms
Class A container for data and code. The data within the class can be
accessed with properties. The code is referred to as methods.
Object An instance of a class in memory. An instance is created using a
Dim statement and the New keyword.
Constructor A procedure that is automatically invoked when an object is
first instantiated. In Visual Basic 6.0, the constructor was called
Class_Initialize. In Visual Basic .NET the constructor is called New.
Destructor A procedure that is automatically invoked when an object is
destroyed. In Visual Basic 6.0, the destructor was called
Class_Terminate. In Visual Basic .NET, the destructor is called
Finalize.
Properties A routine exposed by an object to expose data, and to allow
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code outside the object to affect the objects data.
Method An action that can be performed by an object. In Visual Basic
.NET, methods are defined as Subs and Functions.

Creating a simple class
Lets use our Thermometer Example as a way to create a simple class.
The class name will be temperature.
To create a class right click on Project name choose Add choose New
Item, choose Class, and save as temperature.

Note: the below may have changed on your computer now there is a new shortcut
for properties http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd293589.aspx
Auto-implemented properties enable you to quickly specify a property of a class
without having to write code to Get and Set the property.
Get means to Get the value of the property. While Set means to Set the
value of the property. Think of Get and Set from the viewpoint of the
property, not the main code.
When you write code for an auto-implemented property, the Visual Basic compiler
automatically creates a private field to store the property variable in addition to
creating the associated Get and Set procedures.
With auto-implemented properties, a property, including a default value, can be
declared in a single line. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd293589.aspx
Lets do them the old way until you get the hang of it.
The old way .

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Temperature Converter with a Class
We are going to create a class to hold all the variables of the Temperature project we
did earlier.

Public Class temperature
These are private variables, they are only workers for use
within the class, you dont see them outside the class.
Private _sngfah As Single
Private _sngcel As Single
Private _snginput As Single

Public Property snginput() As Single
Get
Return _snginput
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Single)
_snginput = value
End Set
End Property

Private _sngfah as single
Public Property sngfah() As Single
Get
'put your calculations in here
_sngfah = (snginput - 32) * 5 / 9
Return _sngfah
End Get

Set(ByVal value As Single)
_sngfah = value
End Set
End Property
End Class
Do the same for sngcel as well. Add in below to the property of sngcel using the
structure above.
Get
'put your calculation here
_sngcel = snginput * (9 / 5) + 32
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Return _sngcel
End Get

Rewrite your main code as such.
Private Sub btnsubmit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnsubmit.Click
'instantiate a new class from
Dim temp As New temperature
temp.snginput = txttemp.Text
If RadioButton1.Checked Then
lbloutput.Text = temp.snginput & " Farenheit is equal to " &
temp.sngcel & " Celsius"
ElseIf RadioButton2.Checked Then
lbloutput.Text = temp.snginput & " Celsius is equal to " &
temp.sngfah & " Fahrenheit"

End If
End Sub

Turn snginput into a string so that you can catch errors in the class
with IsNumeric. Otherwise it has to be placed on the form.
Make Sngcel and Sngfah write only properties.
Finally make a method that shows the text of ice, if < 1, warm, if <
100 and Steam if > 100 back on the form.

So what use is this? All it does is make it harder to define the variables!
But wait, OOP allows you to create classes, blocks of data, that can stand
independent of each other, and be plugged in to your program containing or
encapsulating all that you need.
Although we now have snginput we dont want this line temp.snginput =
txttemp.Text in our class in case in the future the text box changes name.
Its just like plugging in a new system to an existing one.

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Fields, Properties, Methods, and Events
Fields, Properties, Methods, and Events are called the members of a class. Inside
the class, members are declared as either Public, Private, Protected, Friend, or
Protected Friend:
A class defines properties, methods, and events that let the program work with the
class:
A property is some sort of data value. It may be a simple value (such as a name
or number), or it may be a more complex item (such as an array, collection, or object
containing its own properties, methods, and events).
A method is a subroutine or function. It is a piece of code that makes the object
defined by the class do something.
An event is a notification defined by the class. An event calls some other piece of
code to tell it that some condition in a class object has occurred.
The fields of a class, also called the class's data members, are much like built-in
variables (although they also may be constants).
For example, I can declare a field named value to the DataClass class we just saw
by declaring a variable with that name:
Public Class DataClass
Public value As Integer
End Class
Now I can refer to that field in an object of this class using the familiar object.field
syntax of Visual Basic:
Dim data As New DataClass()
data.value = 5
Using fields like this can give you direct access to the data stored inside an object,
and that's unusual in OOP because you usually want to check the data being stored
in your objects to make sure it's legal first.
An easy way of guarding access to the data in your objects is to use properties.
Properties are retrieved and set like fields, but are handled with the Property Get
and Property Set procedures, which provide more control on how values are set or
returned.
Using properties provides you with an interface to set or get the value of data internal
to an object. You declare properties using Get and Set procedures in a Property
statement
Get Starts a Get property procedure used to return the value of a property. Get
blocks are optional unless the property is ReadOnly.
End Get Ends a Get property procedure.
Set Starts a Set property procedure used to set the value of a property. Set
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blocks are optional unless the property is WriteOnly. Note that the new value
of the property is passed to the Set property procedure in a parameter named
Value when the value of the property changes.
End Set Ends a Set property procedure.

Naming Classes and Methods
Classes and objects should have noun or noun phrase names like Customer,
Account, and AddressParser. Avoid words like Manager, Processor, Data, or Info
in the name of a class. A class name should not be a verb.
Methods should have verb or verb phrase names like postPayment, deletePage, or
save. Accessors, mutators, and predicates should be named for their value and
prefixed with get, set, and is according to the javabean standard
string name = employee.getName
customer.setName("mike")
if paycheck.isPosted...

22. Encapsulation
A classs public interface is the set of properties, methods, and events that are
visible to code outside of the class. The class may also have private properties,
methods, and events that it uses to do its job.
The class encapsulates the programming abstraction that it represents. Its public
interface determines what is visible to the application outside of the class. It hides the
ugly details of the classs implementation from the rest of the world. Because the
class hides its internals in this way, encapsulation is also sometimes called
information hiding.
By hiding its internals from the outside world, a class prevents exterior code from
messing around with those internals. It reduces the dependencies between different
parts of the application, allowing only those dependencies that are explicitly permitted
by its public interface. Removing dependencies between different pieces of code
makes the code easier to modify and maintain. Removing dependencies also helps
break the application into smaller, more manageable pieces.
The simpler and cleaner a classs public interface is, the easier it is to use. You
should try to hide as much information and behavior inside a class as possible while
still allowing the rest of the program to do its job. Keep properties, methods, and
events as simple and focused as possible.
When you write code that the class needs to use to perform its duties, do not expose
that code to the outside program unless it is really necessary. Adding extra features
complicates the classs public interface and makes the programmers job more
difficult.
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This can be a troublesome concept for beginning programmers. Exposing more
features for developers to use gives them more power, so you might think it would
make their jobs easier.
Actually, it makes development more difficult. Rather than thinking in terms of giving
the developer more power, you should think about giving the developer more things
to worry about and more ways to make mistakes. Ideally, you should not expose any
more features than the developer will actually need.
Use the following to show or hide your code from the users.
Public Gives variables public access, which means there are no restrictions on their
accessibility.
Private Gives variables private access, which means they are accessible only from
within their class, including any nested procedures.
Protected Gives variables protected access, which means they are accessible only from
within their own class or from a class derived from that class. Note that you can
use Protected only at class level (which means you can't use it inside a
procedure), because you use it to declare members of a class.
Friend Gives variables friend access, which means they are accessible from within the
program that contains their declaration, as well as anywhere else in the same
assembly.
Protected
Friend
Gives variables both protected and friend access, which means they can be
used by code in the same assembly, as well as by code in derived classes.

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Dice program with Classes - revisited

The class file
Imports System.Random
Public Class Dice
Private _dice As Integer
Public Property newdice() As Integer
Get
Randomize()
_dice = Int(1 + 6 * Rnd())
Return _dice
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Integer)
_dice = value
End Set
End Property
End Class

The Main form
Private Sub btnRoll_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnRoll.Click
Dim Dice1 As Dice = New Dice
Dim Dice2 As Dice = New Dice
Dim newdice1, newdice2 As Integer
Dim storage As String
Dim stopValue As Short
Dim dblCount As Short

' empty the listbox
lbDiceRolls.Items.Clear()

' get the stop value (number to stop when double is found)
stopValue = cbStopOn.Text
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' now roll the dice until we get the correct double
Do
newdice1 = Dice1.newdice()
newdice2 = Dice2.newdice()

' make the string to be added to the lisbox
storage = newdice1 & " " & newdice2

' check if it's a double
If newdice1 = newdice2 Then
storage &= " Double!"
dblCount += 1
End If

' put this into the listbox
lbDiceRolls.Items.Add(storage)
Loop Until (newdice1 = newdice2) And (newdice2 = stopValue)

' display totals
lblTotals.Text = "It took " & lbDiceRolls.Items.Count & " rolls
to get double " & stopValue

lblDubtotals.Text = "I got " & dblCount & " doubles along the
way"
End Sub
End Class

Take all of the variables from the form, and turn them into fields in the
class so that there are no Dims on the form at all.

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23. Inheritance Is a
Inheritance is the process of deriving a child class from a parent class (or base
class). The child class inherits all of the properties, methods, and events of the
parent class. It can then modify, add to, or subtract from the parent class.
Making a child class inherit from a parent class is also called deriving the child class
from the parent, and subclassing the parent class to form the child class.
One of the key benefits of inheritance is code reuse. When you derive a class
from a parent class, the child class inherits the parents properties, methods, and
events, so the child class gets to reuse the parents code. Code reuse not only saves
you the trouble of writing more code but also makes maintenance of the code easier.
Similarly, if you need to modify or delete a property or method, you need to make the
change only in the class where it is defined, not in all of the classes that inherit it.

Parent or Base
class
Child or Derived
classes
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Weapons Practice Class, Inheritance, Constructor
This exercise creates a class of weapons, rifle, revolver, bazooka, and each
weapon has its own properties.
The constructor allows you to preset the properties of the class with data. So when
its instantiated it comes complete with its own values.
There already a default Constructor already set in your Class, but you can override it
and set your own Constructor using Sub New().
This exercise also uses the Class modifier of Protected. Protected
means that elements are accessible only from within their own class
or from a derived class.
In this case we have the main Class weapon, and other derived
classes such as rifle, Bazooka and revolver.

Before you code the form you need to create the classes and their Fields, Properties,
and Methods.

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The base class - weapon
Public Class Weapon
'This is the base class for the three derived classes which are used in
the program make these member variables Protected rather than Public =
can be seen from anywhere. Private = can only see in the base class. I
need to use these variables in the derived classes
---- Fields ------
Protected _bullets As Short
Protected _name As String
Protected _sound As String
Protected _fullLoad As Short
Protected _defaultSound As String

'---- default Constructor
Sub New()
' set the defaults
_fullLoad = 0
_bullets = _fullLoad
_name = ""
_sound = ""
_defaultSound = ""
End Sub

'There is no way to change the value for these properties from the
program - they're changed within the class so we have made them
ReadOnly...
---- Properties ----
Public ReadOnly Property Name() As String
Get
Return _name
End Get
End Property

Public ReadOnly Property Sound() As String
Get
Return _sound
End Get
End Property

Public ReadOnly Property Bullets() As Short
Get
Return _bullets
End Get
End Property

'This fills the magazine for the selected weapon with ammunition -
different for each type of weapon. The _fullLoad and _defaultSound
values are overridden in the derived class constructor.
Public Sub Reload()
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_sound = _defaultSound
End Sub

'Fire the weapon and reduce the amount of ammunition by 1 if we have no
more ammunition, change the sound to "Click"
---- Methods ----
Public Sub Fire()
If _bullets > 0 Then
_bullets -= 1
Else
_sound = "Click"
_bullets = 0
End If
End Sub
End Class
Derived class Revolver
Note that it inherits all the properties of the weapons class and modifies them with
Inherits Weapon
Public Class Revolver
Inherits Weapon
' override the default constructor
Sub New() ' set the defaults
_fullLoad = 6
_defaultSound = "Blam"
_name = "Revolver"
_sound = "Blam"
End Sub
End Class
Derived class Rifle
Public Class Rifle
Inherits Weapon
_fullLoad = 15
_defaultSound = "Bang"
_name = "Rifle"
_sound = "Bang"
End Sub
End Class
Derived class Bazooka
Public Class Bazooka
Inherits Weapon
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_fullLoad = 1
_defaultSound = "Boooom"
_name = "Bazooka"
_sound = "Boooom"
End Sub
End Class

The main form
Note that we call each class in the code to pass through it properties. There is no
difference in runtime between the two ways of declaring the weapon.
Dim myWeapon As New Weapon instantiate a new object myWeapon
myWeapon = New Revolver change myWeapon to the Revolver class
myWeapon = New Bazooka
myWeapon = New Rifle

Public Class frmMain
Dim myWeapon As New Weapon

Private Sub btnFire_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnFire.Click
'Fire the weapon and update the display with the weapon's sound
myWeapon.Fire()
lblNoise.Text = myWeapon.Sound
lblshotsleft.Text = myWeapon.Bullets
End Sub

Private Sub btnExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnExit.Click
Me.Close()
End Sub

Private Sub btnReload_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnReload.Click
'Reload the magazine for this weapon and update the display
myWeapon.Reload()
UpdateDisplay()
lblNoise.Text = ""
End Sub

Private Sub rbRevolver_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles rbRevolver.CheckedChanged,
rbBazooka.CheckedChanged, rbRifle.CheckedChanged
'Set the weapon to a revolver and update the display with no noise (no
shots fired yet!) Above should be
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Dim gun As New RadioButton
gun = sender

Select Case gun.Text
Case "Revolver"
myWeapon = New Revolver
Case "Bazooka"
myWeapon = New Bazooka
Case "Rifle"
myWeapon = New Rifle
End Select
UpdateDisplay()
lblNoise.Text = ""
End Sub
Private Sub UpdateDisplay()
'This updates what is seen on the screen the noise will be either
nothing or the default noise for that weapon, or click if the weapon is
out of ammunition
Me.Text = myWeapon.Name
lblshotsleft.Text = myWeapon.Bullets
'Can't allow these buttons to be pressed until a weapon has been chosen
btnFire.Enabled = True
btnReload.Enabled = True
End Sub
End Class

Add a Bow and Arrow, and a Gattling Gun to the weapon list.

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24. Inheritance based Polymorphism
Polymorphism in software engineering means that you can have two classes with
different code, but with a common set of methods, properties, or events.
For example the purpose of the Weapon class is to provide a common base from
which other classes can be derived (Revolver, Bazooka etc). Each of these child
classes exhibit polymorphism because it can be treated using methods common to
its parent Weapon.
To implement polymorphism using inheritance, you do not need to use an abstract
base class. Any base class that provides overridable methods (using either the
MustOverride or Overridable keywords) will work fine, as all its subclasses are
guaranteed to have that same set of methods as part of their interface, and yet the
subclasses can provide custom implementation for those methods.
If we add Overridable to the fire sub of the Weapons class
' fire the weapon and reduce the amount of ammunition by 1
' if we have no more ammunition, change the sound to "Click"
Public Overridable Sub Fire()
_bullets -= 1
Else
_sound = "Click"
_bullets = 0
End If
End Sub

Add Overrides to the fire method of a child class such as Bazooka.
The code in the Bazooka fire method will then be used instead of the code in the
Weapon fire method.
Public Overrides Sub Fire()
_bullets -= 1
Else
_sound = "Pfwupp!"
_bullets = 0
End If

End Sub
Now you can change the code in any child method by just adding override to the first
line. That method is used instead of the parent method when myweapon.fire is called
in the code.
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Depreciation Rate calculator with Class
Using the Depreciation Rate calculator from the earlier lesson convert it to classes
and use it with 5 computing systems chosen from the list below. Create a base class
and derived classes.

Class Diagram Practice Assignments using noun analysis
Create a class diagram from the following descriptions use the noun analysis
method. If you look in the "problem statement" for nouns, they will often wind up
as classes. If you look for verbs, they will be methods of those classes.
A simple example of a problem statement might be:
We are a training facility. We need to be able to track the classes that
students take. Classes are taught by teachers. Students enrol in classes.
Each class is assigned to one teacher and one classroom.
So, we have classes, students, teachers and classrooms. Class will have methods
like AssignTeacher and AssignClassroom. Students will have Enrol. Of course, there
is more, such as how to handle the time of each class, and so on.

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Note that you should find at least one situation where inheritance is involved.
Create a class diagram, clearly showing each class, their relationships (including
their multiplicity). Attributes and methods need not be shown (unless you want)
The students at Vision College are enrolled in one or more courses. The
available courses are Software Engineering, Web Programming and
Design, Business Computing and English studies.
It is possible for students to be enrolled in more than one course at the
same time, although if more than one course of study is undertaken it is
usual that these should be English studies and any one other course, but
this isnt set in concrete as a student may enrol in day and night classes of
any type simultaneously.
Each course is held in one classroom. Courses have one tutor and one
classroom. Students must complete assessments for each course.

Our company DVDs4ALL has DVD movies, which are hired by our
members.
Membership is one of the following: Ordinary, Junior or Gold. The hire
rates and privileges for each membership type is different. We need to
know details about who has hired what, when and for how long as well as
how much has each member spent. We need to be able to look at overdue
hires at any time.

The Insurance Assessor Company employs contracted Adjusters who are
given claims. Claims come from insurance companies. The Adjusters visit
and inspect the damage, write a report to the insurance company and after
approval, organise repairs.

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The Coffee machine Class Inheritance and Constructor
This Exercise uses a main class and inherited classes to create a coffee machine
that dispenses types of coffee.

This uses a main class of drink, with default properties and derived classes of Flat
White, Long Black, Short Black, Expresso, Latte, Cappuccino, Vienna, Chocolate.
People can choose a machine cup or a customer cup. The water levels alter with
water values doubling for a customer cup (as they are much bigger). See the left
image for the setup.
People can choose sugar to a max of 4 and using sugar also releases a spoon to stir
it with the sugar icon on the left pic in the middle showing.
Public Class drink
Protected _drinkname As String
Protected _portion As Integer 'how strong X spoonfulls of coffee or chocolate -
Default
Protected _sugar As Integer ' do they want sugar? - User choice
Protected _whitener As Integer ' whitener - fake milk - Default
Protected _spoon As Boolean 'do they get a spoon? If they have sugar - Default
Protected _cup As Boolean 'do people need a cup? - override size for personal cup
- User choice
Protected _grinder As Boolean 'does it need grinding? - Default
Protected _water As Integer ' expressos use one water long black 2 - Default
Protected _chocsprinkle As Boolean ' do you get a chocolate sprinkle on it -
Default
Protected _milkfroth As Boolean 'do you froth up the milk - Default
Protected _decaf As Boolean '- User choice

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Public Sub New()
'set up defaults
_drinkname = "Default"
_portion = 1
_sugar = 0
_whitener = 0
_spoon = False
_cup = True 'machine cup
_grinder = False
_water = 1
_chocsprinkle = False
_milkfroth = False
_decaf = False
End Sub

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Derived Classes
Name Portion -
Coffee
Whitener Water Chocsprinkle Milkfroth Grinder
Long Black 2 2 T
Short Black 2 1 T
Latte 2 2 2 T T
Cappuccino 1 1 2 T T
Vienna 2 2 T
Chocolate 0 2 2 T T

Example of derived classes
Public Class longblack
Inherits drink
Private _longblack As Boolean
Public Sub New()
_drinkname = "Long Black"
_portion = 2
_water = 2
_grinder = True
End Sub
End Class
Two main subs on the form.
Sub drinktype()
Select Case drinkselect
Case 1
drink = New flatwhite
Case 2
drink = New longblack
Case 3
drink = New shortblack
Case 4
drink = New expresso
Case 5
drink = New Latte
Case 6
drink = New cappuccino
Case 7
drink = New vienna
Case 8
drink = New chocolate

End Select
drinkOptions()
If drink.drinkname = "Chocolate!" Then
btndecaf.Visible = False
lbldecaf.Visible = False
Label1.Visible = False
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Else
btndecaf.Visible = True
lbldecaf.Visible = True
Label1.Visible = True

End If
pbspoon.Visible = False'reset the spoon image to false
btncup.Text = "Machine cup"'set the button for cup to default
lblcustcup.Visible = False
End Sub

Sub drinkOptions()
lblname.Text = drink.drinkname
lblportion.Text = drink.portion
lblsugar.Text = drink.sugar
lblwhitener.Text = drink.whitener
lblspoon.Text = drink.spoon
lblcup.Text = drink.cup
lblgrinder.Text = drink.grinder
lblwater.Text = drink.water
lblchoc.Text = drink.chocsprinkle
lblmilkfroth.Text = drink.milkfroth
lbldecaf.Text = drink.decaf
pbcup.Visible = False
End Sub

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Create the drink from the ingredients Classes
To make part 2 show use form2.Show() to load the second form.

To make this I used a system of numbers of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 128. Each number is
assigned to an option eg: 1 coffee = 1, 2 coffee = 2, 1 water = 4, 2 water = 16 etc
Combinations of ingredients then result in a unique number that is then given a
name. 2 + 4 = 6. = Short Black.

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25. Importing Text into your Program
One of the basic tools we need to use is the ability to get stuff into your program and
send it out at the end. There are a number of ways to access information, such as
Database, web access, or text files. We will start with a simple text file.
Using a combo box load some file paths in via the Collections (see image below).
This gives you a range of files to use.
Firstly we need to import System.IO. Imports are for adding namespaces that hold
extra information and functionality for your program. You just Import them in at the
beginning of the code and then you can use the objects in your code.
Make sure you have the three files in your C drive or use some of your own files and
just call their names.

In your ComboBox add the paths to your files in the Items
Collection.

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The File class simple read and write data to text files
Needs Imports System.IO
File.ReadAllBytes: Useful for files not stored as plain text. You
can open images or movies with this method.
File.ReadAllLines: Microsoft: "Opens a file, reads all lines of the
file with the specified encoding, and closes the file."
File.ReadAllText: Returns the contents of the text file at the
specified path as a string. Useful for plain text or settings
files. This method opens a file, reads each line of the file, and
then adds each line as an element of a string. It then closes the
file.
For simplicity, this is the best method to use. More advanced methods can be used
to read files in line-by-line, which may be more efficient if you have a very large file.
Dim value As String = File.ReadAllText(path)
txtdata.Text = value

File.WriteAllBytes: Useful for files such as images that were created or mutated in
memory.
File.WriteAllLines: Stores a string array in the specified file, overwriting the
contents.
File.WriteAllText: Writes the contents of a string to a text file. One of the simplest
ways to persist text data.
File.AppendAllText: Use to append the contents string to the file at path. Microsoft:
"Appends the specified string to the file, creating the file if it doesn't already exist."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.file.aspx
Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
Dim strpath As String

'Using File.ReadAllText
Private Sub btntext_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btntext.Click

strpath = cbpath.Text
'clear the data in the textbox
txtdata.Clear()
Try 'copy the file into the textbox
Dim value As String = File.ReadAllText(strpath)
txtdata.Text = value

Catch ex As Exception 'catch errors
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MsgBox("Check that the filename is correct")
End Try
End Sub

StreamReader - importing to a ListBox
StreamReader is designed for character input in a particular encoding. Use
StreamReader for reading lines of information from a standard text file.
Using a Using to End Using means you dont have to open and close the
StreamReader.
See that StreamReader is loading the data in line by line, then each line is looped
into a ListBox. The StreamReader stops when it reaches the end, and you can use a
number of ways to determine that.
Private Sub btnlist_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnlist.Click
lbdata.Items.Clear()
strpath = cbpath.Text
' Open file.txt with the Using statement.
Using SR As StreamReader = New StreamReader(strpath)
' Store contents in this String.
Dim line As String

' Read first line then enter the loop.
line = SR.ReadLine

' Loop over each line in file, While list is Not Nothing.
Do While (Not line Is Nothing)
lbdata.Items.Add(line)
' Read in the next line.
line = SR.ReadLine
Loop
End Using
End Sub

StreamReader has heaps of interesting methods, so try some out
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.streamreader.aspx

Try this: Replace the Do While with the Do Until
' Do While (Not line Is Nothing)
Do Until SR.EndOfStream

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Saving with StreamWriter
Create a new button, Btnsave and add the following code. First load the Lbdata
before saving.
StreamWriter writes data to a text file. It is easy to use. Ideally it should be used
inside a VB.NET Using statement. This ensures the correct disposal of its resources.
This writes from the ListBox, note that we have to iterate through each item in the
ListBox
Private Sub btnsave_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnsave.Click
Dim strpathout As String = txtpathout.Text

Using writer As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(strpathout)
'for the items in the list box
For i = 0 To lbdata.Items.Count - 1
writer.WriteLine(lbdata.Items.Item(i))
Next
End Using
End Sub

This writes from the TextBox
Using writer As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(strpathout)
writer.Write(txtdatain.Text)
End Using

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26. Using OpenFile Dialog and SaveFile Dialog
If you want to open documents from other paths then you can use the Open File
Dialog to find that path. After which you can then pass the path to the StreamReader
and work on it.
Drag an Open File Dialog from the dialogs bar into your form. It will nest at the
bottom.

Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
Private Sub btnopen_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnopen.Click
lbltext.Text = "" 'clear the data in the textbox
OpenFileDialog1.Title = "Please Select a File"
OpenFileDialog1.InitialDirectory = "C:"
OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog()
End Sub
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Private Sub OpenFileDialog1_FileOk(ByVal sender As System.Object,
ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles
OpenFileDialog1.FileOk

Dim strm As System.IO.Stream 'the data stream
Dim strpath As String ' path to the file
Dim strtext As String 'Holds the file opened
strm = OpenFileDialog1.OpenFile()

'show the path of the file in the form
txtpath.Text = OpenFileDialog1.FileName.ToString()
strpath = OpenFileDialog1.FileName.ToString()
If Not (strm Is Nothing) Then
'insert code to read the file data STREAMREADER BELOW
Try 'copy the file into the textbox
strtext = File.ReadAllText(strpath)
lbltext.Text = strtext
Catch ex As Exception 'catch errors
MsgBox("Check that the filename is
correct")
End Try
strm.Close() 'close the streamreader
End If
End Sub
End Class

Save the file using Save File Dialog. Create a Btnsave first
and stick it under that.

There are many handy options on the properties window for the dialog.
SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog()
End Sub

Private Sub SaveFileDialog1_FileOk(ByVal sender As System.Object,
ByVal e As System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs) Handles
SaveFileDialog1.FileOk
Dim FileToSaveAs As String = SaveFileDialog1.FileName

Dim objwriter As New System.IO.StreamWriter(FileToSaveAs)
objwriter.Write(lbltext.Text)
objwriter.Close()
End Sub

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Creating a shopping List
Create a text file with food items. Load it into a list box. Then using buttons move the
items from one list box to another.
Save the new list to another text file by using a button.
Make sure you use error protection.
Code that you might need
lbclientlist.Items.Add(lbmasterlist.SelectedItem)

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27. Add Menus and Tool Strip to your project
Get more from beginning MS visual basic.pdf
In the Toolbox find menus and Toolbars and drag the
MenuStrip to the top of your form
In the MenuStrip type in the files you want as seen right.
Double click on the Menu name to open the code window
that activates on menu item click and add your code.
Private Sub LoadFileToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As
LoadFileToolStripMenuItem.Click
MsgBox("this is the Load menu")
End Sub

Private Sub ShowTextBoxToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As
ShowTextBoxToolStripMenuItem.Click
txtdata.Visible = True
End Sub
Its That easy!!!!
Add Toolstrip by dragging it to the form, then Right click,
choose Insert Standard items, and edit them as you wish
Worlds greatest bands

Public Class Form1

Private Sub mnuTheWho_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuTheWho.Click
lblDisplay.Text = "Roger Daltrey" & vbCrLf & "John Entwistle " &
vbCrLf & "Keith Moon" & vbCrLf & "Pete Townshend" & vbCrLf & "Dave
Mackintosh - Drums" & vbCrLf & "The Who have sold about 100 million
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records, and have charted 27 top forty singles in the United Kingdom and
United States, as well as 17 top ten albums, with 18 Gold, 12 Platinum
and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone."

If MessageBox.Show("Do you like The Who?", "The Who Survey",
MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) = DialogResult.Yes Then
MessageBox.Show("The Who are Awesome!")
Else
MessageBox.Show("Maybe you've never heard of The Who?")
End If
End Sub
Private Sub mnuClose_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles mnuClose.Click
Application.Exit()
End Sub

'Executes when the About menu is selected
Private Sub mnuAbout_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles mnuAbout.Click
AboutForm.Show() 'Opens the About Form
Me.Hide() 'Hides the Main form for later use.
End Sub

Private Sub mnuLedZepplin_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles mnuLedZepplin.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"Jimmy Page - Lead Singer" & vbCrLf & _
"John Bonham" & vbCrLf & _
"Robert Plant" & vbCrLf & _
"John Paul Jones" & vbCrLf & _
"They are widely considered to be one of the most successful,
innovative and influential rock groups in history."
If MessageBox.Show("Do you like Led Zepplin?", "Led Zepplin
Survey", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) = DialogResult.Yes Then
MessageBox.Show("Led Zepplin are Awesome!")
Else
MessageBox.Show("Maybe you've never heard of Led Zepplin?")
End If
End Sub

Private Sub mnuRollingStones_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles mnuRollingStones.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"Mick Jagger" & vbCrLf & _
"Keith Richards" & vbCrLf & _
"Ronnie Wood" & vbCrLf & _
"Charlie Watts" & vbCrLf & _
"Critical acclaim and popular consensus has accorded them
the title of the Worlds Greatest Rock and Roll Band"
If MessageBox.Show("Do you like The Rolling Stones?", "The
Rolling Stones Survey", MessageBoxButtons.YesNo) = DialogResult.Yes Then
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MessageBox.Show("The Rolling Stones are Awesome!")
Else
MessageBox.Show("Maybe you've never heard of The Rolling Stones?")
End If
End Sub

End Class

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28. Common String Methods
Strings are very important and very versatile in programming. Not only are they used
for passing text but also for other types of data.
Instantiating String Objects
String objects can be instantiated in two ways. First, we can create a String object as
if it were a native data type:
Dim name As String = "Howard The Duck"
We can also create a string using more conventional object-oriented syntax:
Dim name As New String("David Quack")
We are not limited to calling the String class constructor with just a string literal. We
can also instantiate String objects using other types of data. For example, we can
instantiate a string from an array of characters:
Dim chars() As Char = {"H"c, "e"c, "l"c, "l"c, "o"c, " "c, ","c, " "c,
"w"c, "o"c, "r"c, "l"c, "d"c, "!"c}
Dim greeting As New String(chars)
Txtoutput.text =greeting
The small c tells the program its a char. This program fragment outputs the following:
Hello, world!
You can also instantiate a string with just part of a character array. The constructor
will take a character array name, a starting position, and a length, and the constructor
will build a string that begins at the starting position of the array and continues until
the number specified by the length is reached.
Here is an example:
Dim partGreet As New String(chars, 0, 5)
Another option is to instantiate a string using the same character repeated n times.
For example, if we want to create a string of 20 spaces, we call the constructor like
this:
Dim spaces As New String(" "c, 20)
Finally, you can use the String class copy constructor to instantiate a string using a
reference to another String object. Heres an example:
Dim st As String = "Goodbye"
Dim parting As New String(st)

Although there are many operations you can perform on strings, a small set of
operations dominate. Three of the top operations are
1. Finding a substring in a string,
2. Determining the length of a string, and
3. Determining the position of a character in a string.
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MEMBER DESCRIPTION
Chars
Gets the character at a specified position in the string.
Compare
Compares two strings.
Copy
Creates a new string by copying a string.
CopyTo
Copies a specified number of characters from a specified position in this
string to a specified position in an array of characters.
Empty
A constant representing the empty string.
EndsWith
Tells you whether the specified string matches the end of this string.
IndexOf
Returns the index of the first occurrence of a substring within the string.
Insert
Returns a new string with a substring inserted at the specified place.
Join
Lets you join together an array of strings with a specified separator.
LastIndexOf
Gives the index of the last occurrence of a specified character or string within
the string.
Length
Gets the number of characters in the string

FUNCTION DESCRIPTION
PadLeft
Right-aligns the characters in this string, padding on the left with spaces or
a specified character to a specified total length.
PadRight
Left-aligns the characters in this string, padding on the right with spaces or
a specified character to a specified total length.
Remove
Deletes the specified number of characters from this string, beginning at
the specified location.
Replace
Replaces all occurrences of a substring with a different substring.
Split
Splits a string into an array of substrings.
StartsWith
Determines whether a specified substring starts the string.
Substring
Returns a substring from the current string from the position indicated.
ToCharArray
Copies the characters in this string to a character array.
ToLower
Returns a lowercase copy of this string.
ToUpper
Returns an uppercase copy of this string.
Trim
Either removes spaces or removes all occurrences of a set of characters
specified in a Unicode character array from the beginning and end of the
string.
TrimEnd
Either removes spaces or all occurrences of a set of characters specified in
a Unicode character array from the end of the string.
TrimStart
Either removes spaces or all occurrences of a set of characters specified in
a Unicode character array from the beginning of the string

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All the samples below are based on two pre-declared string
variables: strOriginal and strModified.

Dim strOriginal As String = "These functions will come handy"
Dim strModified As String = String.Empty
Iterate a String
You can use the for loop or foreach loop to iterate through a string. The for loop
gives you more flexibility over the iteration.
For i As Integer = 0 To strOriginal.Length - 1
MessageBox.Show(strOriginal(i).ToString())
Next i
Or
For Each c As Char In strOriginal
MessageBox.Show(c.ToString())
Next c

Split a String
You can split strings using String.Split(). The method takes an array of chars,
representing characters to be used as delimiters. In this example, we will be splitting
the strOriginal string using space as delimiter.
Dim delim As Char() = {" "}
Dim strArr As String() = strOriginal.Split(delim)
For Each s As String In strArr
MessageBox.Show(s)
Next s
Split text to an array
Lets use Split to break up an address into an array by using the comma ,
data = "Mike, McMillan,3000 W. Scenic,North Little " & "Rock, AR,72118"
Dim sdata() As String
sdata = data.Split(",")
Now we can access these data using standard array techniques:
Dim index As Integer
For index = 0 To sdata.GetUpperBound(0)
Console.WriteLine(sdata(index))
Next
There is one more parameter we can pass to the Split methodthe number of elements we want to
store in the array. For example, if we want to put the first string element in the first position of the
array, and the rest of the string in the second element, we would call the method like this:
sdata = data.Split(",",2)
The elements in the array are as follows:
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0th element = Mike
1st element = McMillan,3000 W. Scenic,North Little Rock,AR,72118

Extract SubStrings from a String
The String.Substring() retrieves a substring from a string starting from a specified
character position. You can also specify the length
' only starting position specified
strModified = strOriginal.Substring(25)
MessageBox.Show(strModified)

' starting position and length of string to be extracted specified
strModified = strOriginal.Substring(20, 3)

Reverse a String
One of the simplest ways to reverse a string is to use the StrReverse() function.
Dim strModified As String = StrReverse(strOriginal)
MsgBox(strModified)
Use this to check for palindromes
Compare Two Strings
You can use the String.Compare() to compare two strings. The third parameter is a
Boolean parameter that determines if the search is case sensitive(false) or not(true)
If (String.Compare(strOriginal, strModified, False)) < 0 Then
MessageBox.Show("strOriginal is less than strOriginal1")
ElseIf (String.Compare(strOriginal, strModified, False)) > 0 Then
MessageBox.Show("strOriginal is more than strOriginal1")
ElseIf (String.Compare(strOriginal, strModified, False)) = 0 Then
MessageBox.Show("Both strings are equal")
End If
Test if String is null or Zero Length
A simple way to test if a string is null or empty is to use the
String.IsNullOrEmpty(string) which returns a Boolean value.
Dim check As Boolean = String.IsNullOrEmpty(strOriginal)
Convert the Case of a String
The String class contains methods to convert a string to lower and upper cases.
However, it lacks a method to convert a string to Proper Case/Title Case
' Lower Case
MessageBox.Show(textInfo.ToLower(strOriginal))
' Upper Case
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MessageBox.Show(textInfo.ToUpper(strOriginal))
Count the occurrence of letters (not spaces) in a string
Here is an easy way to count how many letters there are in a string
Dim strtext As String = "She sells sea shells on the sea shore chelsea"
Dim i As Integer
Dim count As Integer

For i = 0 To strtext.Length - 1
If strtext.Substring(i, 1) > " " Then
count += 1
End If
Next

Me.Text = count
Count the occurrences of words in a String
You can adopt multiple ways to find the occurrence of a word in a string. One of them
is to use the String.IndexOf() which is one of the ways of finding the occurrence of
the word.
System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
'Using IndexOF()
Dim intstartindex As Integer = 0
Dim intcount As Integer = -1
Dim intchangedindex As Integer = -1
Dim strOriginal As String = "She sells sea shells on the sea
shore in chelsea"
Dim srchString As String = "sea"
Do While intstartindex <> -1 ' -1 means it can't find it
intstartindex = strOriginal.IndexOf(srchString,
intchangedindex + 1)
intcount += 1
intchangedindex = intstartindex
Loop
MessageBox.Show(srchString & " occurs " & intcount & " times")

' Using Regular Expression
Dim rex As System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex = New
System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex(srchString)
Dim count As Integer = rex.Matches(strOriginal).Count
MessageBox.Show("Using RegEx " & srchString & " occurs " & count
& " times")
End Sub

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Insert Characters inside a String
The String.Insert() inserts text at a specified index location of a string. You can
insert either a character or a string at a given index location. For eg: We will insert a
string very at index 26 in string strOriginal.
strModified = strOriginal.Insert(26, "very ")
Replace characters in a String
The String.Replace() removes characters from a string and replaces them with a
new character or string.
strModified = strOriginal.Replace("come handy", "be useful")
Create Date and Time from String
Use the DateTime.Parse() to convert a string representing datetime to its DateTime
equivalent. The DateTime.Parse() provides flexibility in terms of adapting strings in
various formats.
strOriginal = "8/20/2008"
Dim dt As DateTime = DateTime.Parse(strOriginal)
Trimming a String
The String.Trim() provides two overloads to remove leading and trailing spaces as
well as to remove any unwanted character. Heres a sample demonstrating the two
overloads. Apart from trimming the string, it also removes the "#" character.
strOriginal = " Some new string we test ##"
strModified = strOriginal.Trim().Trim(Char.Parse("#"))
Convert String To Integer
In order to convert string to integer, use the Int32.Parse(). The Parse method
converts the string representation of a number to its 32-bit signed integer equivalent.
If the string contains non-numeric values, it throws an error.
Similarly, you can also convert string to other types using Boolean.Parse(),
Double.Parse(), char.Parse() and so on.
strOriginal = "12345"
Dim temp As Integer = Int32.Parse(strOriginal)

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String Functions Exercise

Public Class Form1
Dim strInput1 As String
Dim strInput2 As String

Private Sub btnCompare_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnCompare.Click
If checkStrings() Then
Select Case String.Compare(strInput1, strInput2)
Case 0
lblDisplay.Text = strInput1 & " is equal to " & strInput2
Case Is < 0
lblDisplay.Text = strInput1 & " comes before " & strInput2
Case Is > 0
lblDisplay.Text = strInput1 & " comes after " & strInput2
End Select
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnConcat_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnConcat.Click
lblDisplay.Text = String.Concat(strInput1, strInput2)
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnEquals_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnEquals.Click
If strInput1.Equals(strInput2) Then
lblDisplay.Text = "The strings are the same."
Else
lblDisplay.Text = "The strings are different."
End If
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End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnIndexOf_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnIndexOf.Click
Dim intIndex As Integer = strInput1.IndexOf(strInput2)
Select Case intIndex
Case -1
lblDisplay.Text = "The second string appears no where in the first"
Case Else
lblDisplay.Text = "The index of the second string is " & intIndex &
" in the first string"
End Select
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btwInsert_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btwInsert.Click
Dim intInsertIndex As Integer
If Int32.TryParse(InputBox("Enter the index where the second
string should be inserted into the first string", "Insert Index"),
intInsertIndex) Then
lblDisplay.Text = strInput1.Insert(intInsertIndex, strInput2)
Else
MessageBox.Show("Please enter a valid integer")
End If
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnRemove_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnRemove.Click
Dim intRemoveIndex1 As Integer
Dim intRemoveIndex2 As Integer
If Int32.TryParse(InputBox("Enter the index where the
removal should begin for the first string", "First String Removal
Index"), intRemoveIndex1) Then
If Int32.TryParse(InputBox("Enter the index where the
removal should begin for the second string", "Second String Removal
Index"), intRemoveIndex2) Then
lblDisplay.Text = _
"First String: " &
strInput1.Remove(intRemoveIndex1) & vbCrLf & _
"Second String: " &
strInput2.Remove(intRemoveIndex2)
Else
End If
Else
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End If
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnReplace_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnReplace.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
strInput1.Replace(InputBox("Enter the string you want to
replace from string 1", "String Replacement"), strInput2)
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnToLower_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnToLower.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"First string: " & strInput1.ToLower & vbCrLf & _
"Second string: " & strInput2.ToLower
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnToUpper_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnToUpper.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"First string: " & strInput1.ToUpper & vbCrLf & _
"Second string: " & strInput2.ToUpper
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnTrim_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnTrim.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"String 1: " & strInput1.Trim & vbCrLf & _
"String 2: " & strInput2.Trim
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnTrimEnd_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnTrimEnd.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"String 1: " & strInput1.TrimEnd & vbCrLf & _
"String 2: " & strInput2.TrimEnd
End If
End Sub

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Private Sub btnTrimStart_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnTrimStart.Click
lblDisplay.Text = _
"String 1: " & strInput1.TrimStart & vbCrLf & _
"String 2: " & strInput2.TrimStart
End If
End Sub

'Used be sure that the strings are not empty.
Private Function checkStrings() As Boolean
strInput1 = txtString1.Text
strInput2 = txtString2.Text
lblDisplay.Text = "" 'resets the label
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(strInput1) Then 'Checks to
see that the string isnt empty
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(strInput2) Then 'Checks to
see that the string isnt empty
Return True
Else
MessageBox.Show("Please enter a string in the second
textbox") 'User Debug
Return False
End If
Else
MessageBox.Show("Please enter a string in the first
textbox") 'User Debug
Return False
End If
End Function
End Class

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Char and Chars = Characters
Char and Chars get quite confusing. Here is the difference.
Char is a variable type. It can hold one character at a time (the Char is short for
Character).
Chars is a method of the String variable type. You can use it on any length of string,
not just a Char variable. And that's the difference between the two: Char is a variable
type, while Chars is a method you can use on Strings.
Create the following program to see how they both work

Private Sub btnchars _Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnchars.Click
Dim OneCharacter As Char
Dim Name As String = "YourName"
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To Name.Length - 1 ' minus 1 because it starts at 0
OneCharacter = Name.Chars(i) ' i gives the number for each letter
lbchars.Items.Add(OneCharacter)
Next i
End Sub

Add an If statement to check if the character is numeric
and if so print out

Page 176 2012
Starts With and Ends With methods
Two other comparison methods that can be useful when working with strings are
StartsWith and EndsWith. These instance methods take a string as an argument and
return True if the instance either starts with or ends with the string argument.
Next we present two short programs that demonstrate the use of these methods.
First, well demonstrate the EndsWith method:
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim nouns() As String = {"cat", "dogs", "bird", "eggs", "bones"}
Dim pluralNouns As New Collection
Dim noun As String
For Each noun In nouns
If (noun.EndsWith("s")) Then
pluralNouns.Add(noun)
End If
Next
For Each noun In pluralNouns
Console.WriteLine(noun)
Next
Console.Read()
End Sub
End Module
First, we create an array of nouns, some of which are in plural form. Then we loop
through the elements of the array, checking to see whether any of the nouns are
plurals. If a plural is found, it is added to a collection. Then we loop through the
collection, displaying each plural.
We use the same basic idea in the next program to determine which words start with
the prefix tri:
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim words() As String = {"triangle", "diagonal", "trimester", "bifocal",
"triglycerides"}
Dim triWords As New Collection
Dim word As String
For Each word In words
If (word.StartsWith("tri")) Then
triWords.Add(word)
End If
Next
For Each word In triWords
Console.WriteLine(word)
Next
Console.Read()
End Sub
End Module
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The Like Operator
There is one additional comparison technique we need to examine that is not part of
the String class: the Like operator. This operator works in much the same way as the
regular expression engine but without all the flexibility of regular expressions.
However, the Like operator is able to discern many simple patterns that come up
frequently in string processing situations.
With this operator, a string is compared to a pattern. If there is a match, the
expression returns True; otherwise the expression returns False.
The pattern can consist of either a complete string or a string made up of characters
and special symbols that are used as wildcards. These wildcards can be used to
match any single character, number, or ranges of characters and/or numbers.
The wildcards and range operators used in Like comparisons are the following:
?: matches any single character,
*: matches zero or more characters,
#: matches any single digit,
[char-list]: matches any character in the list, and
[!char-list]: matches any character not in the list.
Here are some examples using the Like operator:
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim s1 As String = "foobar"
Dim aMatch As String
aMatch = IIf(s1 Like "foo?ar", "match", "no match")
Console.WriteLine(aMatch)
aMatch = IIf(s1 Like "f*", "match", "no match")
Dim s2 As New String("H2")
aMatch = IIf(s2 Like "[hH][0-9]", "match", "no match")
Console.Read()
End Sub
End Module
The output from this program is as follows:
match
match
match
The first match works because the ? in the pattern foo?ar matches the b in
foobar.
The second match works because the first letter in the string matches the first letter
in the pattern and the * in the pattern matches any of the other characters in the
string. Be careful when using the asterisk in a pattern because it tends to match even
when you dont want it to, leading to it being called a greedy operator.
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The most interesting match in the program is the last one. This example might be
useful when processing a bunch of HTML text in search of heading tags. A heading
tag in HTML starts with the letter H (or h), followed by a digit indicating the level of
the heading. The pattern we used [hH] [0-9] leads the Like operator to look for
either an h or an H in the first character and any digit 0 through 9 in the second
character.

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Check a valid email address
One of the most basic tools on the net is email validation. This tool leads well to an
exercise on strings. Just how do you tell if myname@email.com is valid or not? There
are so many variables.
Here is the beginning of a program you can use. In order to check how your code is
going you need to show an output to see the result. Listboxes are an ideal way to
record output during debugging, as you can see the entries.
This exercise tests the email address and then assigns it to a listbox for valid or
invalid. In the real world it might be a long file to be checked.

Below is the code needed. Replace the ???? with the code needed. (What? Do I
have to give you everything?).
CountCharacter(stremail, "@") calls the function at the bottom.
CountCharacter(ByVal value As String, ByVal ch As Char)
Stremail gets passed to value and the "@" gets passed to ch.
Public Class Form1
Private Sub btnemailtest_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnemailtest.Click
Dim intdot As Integer 'there has to be a dot
Dim intatsymbol As Integer 'there has to be an @ symbol
Dim intAtSymbolDot As Integer 'there can't be an @.
Dim intDotAtSymbol As Integer 'there can't be a .@
Dim intDotDot As Integer 'There can't be a ..
Dim intSpace As Integer 'there can't be a space
Dim intcount As Integer = 0 'a counter used for multiples

'pass the email from the text box to the variable
Dim stremail As String = txtemailinput.Text

'tests if its true - it IS EMPTY
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(stremail) Then
MsgBox("At least stick something in the box")
End If
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'test to see if true or false
' These must be true
intatsymbol = stremail.IndexOf("@")
intdot = ????

'these must be false
intSpace = ????
intDotAtSymbol = ????
intAtSymbolDot = ????
intDotDot = ????

'these must not be more than 1 from the function below
intcount = CountCharacter(stremail, "@")
intcount = CountCharacter(stremail, ".") + intcount
MessageBox.Show(intcount)

'Some things are bigger than 0 = true and some < 0 = false
If intatsymbol > 0 And ????? And intcount < 3 Then
MessageBox.Show(stremail & " is a valid email address")
lbrealemail.Items.Add(stremail)
Else
lbinvalidemail.Items.Add(stremail)
End If

End Sub
Public Function CountCharacter(ByVal value As String, ByVal ch As
Char) As Integer
Dim cnt As Integer = 0
For Each c As Char In value
If c = ch Then cnt += 1
Next
Return cnt
End Function

End Class

However this is not complete. a@a.a will return as a true email as well.
Control the letter length so that the last letters are more than 1 and
the other fields are suitable.
Also people who use Hotmail are too stupid to worry about, so class their
email addresses as fails.
Also we need to extract the user names to use as identification. Create
another listbox showing valid email usernames seen above

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Check a valid email address using classes
Change the program to use classes. There might be even easier coding than this to
check for true or false in the Properties. Here is the class I developed for it for the
first part of the exercise without Hotmail or extracting usernames.
Public Class testemail
' These must be true
Private _intatsymbol As Integer 'there has to be an @ symbol
Private _intdot As Integer 'there has to be a dot
'these must be false
Private _intcount As Integer
Private _intSpace As Integer 'there can't be a space
Private _intDotDot As Integer 'There can't be a ..
Private _intDotAtSymbol As Integer 'there can't be a .@
Private _intAtSymbolDot As Integer 'there can't be an @.
'this holds the string
Private _stremail As String ' string holding email

Sub New()
_intcount = 0
End Sub

Public Property stremail() As String
Get
Return _stremail
End Get

_stremail = value
End Set
End Property
Public Property intcount() As Integer
Get
'counts how amny @ and . there are in the string
_intcount = Form1.CountCharacter(_stremail, "@")
_intcount = Form1.CountCharacter(_stremail, ".") + _intcount
Return _intcount
End Get
_intcount = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property intSpace() As Integer
Get
_intSpace = _stremail.IndexOf(" ")
Return _intSpace
End Get
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_intSpace = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property intDotDot() As Integer
Get
_intDotDot = _stremail.IndexOf("..")
Return _intDotDot
End Get
_intDotDot = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property intDotAtSymbol() As Integer
Get
_intDotAtSymbol = _stremail.IndexOf(".@")
Return _intDotAtSymbol
End Get
_intDotAtSymbol = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property intAtSymbolDot() As Integer
Get
_intAtSymbolDot = _stremail.IndexOf("@.")
Return _intAtSymbolDot
End Get
_intAtSymbolDot = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property intatsymbol() As Integer
Get
_intatsymbol = _stremail.IndexOf("@")
Return _intatsymbol
End Get
_intatsymbol = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property intdot() As Integer
Get
_intdot = _stremail.IndexOf(".")
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Return _intdot
End Get
_intdot = value
End Set
End Property

End Class

Check domain via the internet
Better than doing an internal check on an email address is extracting the domain
name from the email address and querying the whois database to see if its a real
domain.
First we need to extract out the domain name from the email address.
check if the domain is true or not
Dim chop As String = mytestemail.stremail
Dim domain As String = chop.Substring(chop.IndexOf("@") + 1)

CheckFromNet(domain)

Then we pass the domain to a new sub
Private Sub CheckFromNet(domain As String)

In this sub put the code from later in the manual that allows access to the internet.
Change the Uri to Dim webaddress As New Uri("http://www.whois.com/whois/"
& domain) so when we send it appends the domain name to the end of the url
(test.com)

At the end add the following code which checks through the code and looks for the
tick image (the site is available) or the text Invalid domain name.

Page 184 2012

If s.Contains("/images/ok.png") Or s.Contains("Invalid domain name...")
Then
Me.Text = "Not a current address or invalid"
Else

Me.Text = "VALID"
End If

Finally if the site is real, then extract out the country name to see where it comes
from.
Get the DNS IP addresses from the domain name
The DNS class provides simple domain name resolution functionality. This
Dns.GetHostEntry(domain) returns the DNS as a host name or IP address to an
IPAddress() instance.
This code checks the domain name that we extracted above and checks it against
the domain server returning the IP addresses.
I pass them to a ListBox, so put a ListBox on your page first. Just add the following
code to your CheckFromNet sub

ListBox1.Items.Clear()
Try
Dim host As IPHostEntry = Dns.GetHostEntry(domain)
Dim ip As IPAddress() = host.AddressList

Dim index As Integer
For index = 0 To ip.Length - 1
ListBox1.Items.Add(ip(index))
Next index
Catch
End Try

You can also loop through with a foreach
For Each i As Object In ip
ListBox1.Items.Add(i)
Next

Page 185 2012
Create a Document Statistics counter

The image below shows the statistics for this document. We can easily create a
similar program that will read a document and generate the same types of statistics.

Page 186 2012
Filter words by length using class
This exercise imports a text file and filters the words in it by word length. You can use
a variety of ways to read the file in. Once it has been passed to a variable it is filtered
by 3 class files with a main Filter Class and some inherited classes.

The Form and its classes

Code for the main form
Imports System.IO 'needed for file
Public Class Form1
Dim strpath As String 'to hold the text
Dim myfilter As New filter 'main class

Private Sub btntext_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btntext.Click
myfilter.Counter = 0 'set counter to 0 each click otherwise
accumlates
strpath = cbpath.Text 'sets path to the file
txtdata.Clear()'clear the data in the textbox and listbox
lbdata.Items.Clear()
Try
'copy the file into the textbox read in the text from the file to the
variable
Dim strtext As String = File.ReadAllText(strpath)
txtdata.Text = strtext 'pass it to the textbox

Dim spacefinder As Char() = {" "} 'splits the text at the space
Dim strtextArr As String() = strtext.Split(spacefinder)
'loop through to grab each word
For Each word As String In strtextArr 'word is defined as a string"
'pass length of each word to Class to compare it
myfilter.Wordlength = word.Length
'pass word to the class to add it to the listbox if correct length
myfilter.Word = word

'if the word output is bigger than 0 then print it
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If myfilter.Addword.Length > 0 Then
lbdata.Items.Add(myfilter.Addword)
End If
'repeat loop until end of words
Next word
Me.Text = myfilter.Counter 'show counter on form
'catch errors
MsgBox("Check that the filename is correct or that there are
no other messups")
End Try
End Sub

Private Sub rblessthan4_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As
rblessthan4.CheckedChanged, rbUnder6.CheckedChanged,
rball.CheckedChanged

Dim fakeRB As RadioButton
fakeRB = sender

Select Case fakeRB.Text
Case "Under 4"
myfilter = New LessThanFour
Case "Under 6"
myfilter = New undersix
Case Else
myfilter = New filter
End Select
End Sub

Dim strpathout As String = txtpathout.Text
Dim i As Integer
Dim w As IO.StreamWriter
w = New IO.StreamWriter(strpathout)
'for the items in the list box
For i = 0 To lbdata.Items.Count - 1
w.WriteLine(lbdata.Items.Item(i))
Next
w.Close()
End Sub
End Class

Public Class filter
Private _counter As Integer
Private _wordlength As Integer
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Protected _length As Integer
Private _word As String
Private _addword As String

Sub New()
_length = 10000
_counter = 0
End Sub

Public Property Addword() As String
Get
wordfilter()
Return _addword
End Get
_addword = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property Word() As String
Get
Return _word
End Get
_word = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property Wordlength() As Integer
Get
Return _wordlength
End Get
_wordlength = value
End Set
End Property

Public Property length() As Integer
Get
Return _length
End Get
_length = value
End Set
End Property

Sub wordfilter()
If _wordlength < _length Then
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_counter += 1
_addword = _word
Else
_addword = ""
End If
End Sub

Public Property Counter() As Integer
Get

Return _counter
End Get
_counter = value
End Set
End Property
End Class

Public Class LessThanFour
Inherits filter
Sub New()
_length = 4
End Sub
End Class

Public Class over6
Inherits filter
Sub New()
_length = 6
End Sub
End Class

Public Class undersix
Inherits filter
Sub New()
_length = 6
End Sub
End Class

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29. Stringbuilder
Stringbuilder is a class designed to work with large repetitive string operations. For
example the StringBuilder class can boost performance when concatenating many
strings together in a loop
The methods of Stringbuilder are:
Append(string)
Adds the string in the parameter to the existing string.
fullName.Append(" Jr.")
fullName is now Joe Smith Jr. The original string variable was changed.
Insert(index, string)
Inserts a string into an existing string at the index location. In this example, we add a
middle initial.
fullName.Insert(5, "M. ")
fullName is now Joe M. Smith Jr.
Remove(startIndex, count)
Remove a specified number of characters, as specified by the count parameter. The
startIndex determines where to start removing characters.
fullName.Remove(5, 3)
This removes the middle initial.
FullName is now Joe Smith Jr.
Replace(oldString, newString)
Replace an existing string or substring, within a string, with a new string.
Chars(index)
Get the character at the index location.
Length
Returns the number of characters in the string.
Capacity
Get or set the number of characters for the string.
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Imports System.IO
Imports System.Text

Public Class Form1
Dim strpath As String
Dim stbuilder As New System.Text.StringBuilder


strpath = txtpath.Text
'copy the file into the textbox
Dim txtused As String = File.ReadAllText(strpath)

'make an array to hold split words - thats how you need to get
it in.
Dim words As String() = txtused.ToString.Split(" ")
'made a variable to hold each word
Dim word As String

For Each word In words
'add each word to each other word
stbuilder.Append(word & " ")

'replace 'and' with 'chocolate'
stbuilder.Replace("and", "chocolate")
Next
'inserts text at the beginning ) of the string
stbuilder.Insert(0, "This is a practice with StringBuilder ")
'output to text box
txtoutput.Text = stbuilder.ToString
End Sub
End Class

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30. Web interface projects
These projects may need to bypass the proxy server to operate. Just use the code
later in this section. Otherwise the code in the Metservice program will suffice.
Metservice temperature program
Working with Strings
Metservice provides local weather temperatures for people In New Zealand. The
URL is http://m.metservice.com/towns/christchurch to download a local temperature
with the town appended to the end.
If you cannot use the download in Visual Studio owing to the proxy limitations then
just put the url into a browser and save the html as a text file (metservice). It can be
passed as a string into your program using your Resource File for testing purposes.
Otherwise use the code at the end of this exercise to bypass the proxy.
Dim strmetservice As String = My.Resources.Resource1.metservice
Below is the code to get the html as a string into your program. Use a button to run
the program to update the temperature, and a Label to show the code you have
downloaded so you can work on it (you need to see what you are doing to it)

Imports System.Net
Imports System.IO

Public Class Form1

Private Sub btntemperature_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object,
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btntemperature.Click
Dim client As New System.Net.WebClient
Try
Dim strmetservice As String =
client.DownloadString("http://m.metservice.com/towns/christchurch")

lblhtml.Text = strmetservice
MsgBox(ex.Message)

End Try
End Sub

Using strings strip the code back to the component pieces, pass them to labels and
view them in your program.
I would use the structure of strmetservice = all the html code.

First you need to strip out the quotation marks, as it messes with the rest of the code
otherwise. Use 4 Quote marks to mean a Quote (sigh, dont ask me, I would think it
was 3). Strmetservice.replace(, String.Empty)
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Then pass to strtemp as (strtemp = strmetservice) and use the string functions to
strip the temperature code back to the temperature. Look for this part of the HTML
code to work on note that the quotes are removed.
<div class=actual>15.4<span class=temp>°C</span>

Dim inttempleft as integer to hold the number of the left hand side

Use inttempleft = strtemp.IndexOf <div class=actual>), to get the number of the
beginning of the temperature, add + 14 or however many the characters are you
have put in the IndexOf to count forward to the temperature.

Then use strtemp.Substring(inttempleft, 10) to get a new string of only 10
characters

Then find the text to the right <span class=temp> and create a new substring that
deleted the right leaving only the lonely temp 15 left.

Its that easy!

Then pass the strmetservice to strfeelslike and look for
<div class="feel-likes"><strong>Feels like 15<span
class="temp">°C</span>

Then strmetservice to strimageurl and dig out the image url
In the code is the name of the image that is downloaded as well. Extract the url
which is around here and pass it to a variable strimage..
<div class="mob-page" id="forecasts-block"><h2>10 Day Forecast</h2><div
class="item">
<img src="/sites/all/themes/mobile/images/wx-icons/showers_wht.gif"
So
Dim strimage as string
strimage = showers_wht.gif

Append it to the main url and put that url in the string strimageurl into the following
code (example url given).
Dim strimageurl As String
strimageurl = "http://m.metservice.com//sites/all/themes/mobile/images/wx-
icons/" & strimage
The image does not have to be saved to a folder first.
Dim mywebclient As New Net.WebClient

'Byte array holds the data
Dim ImageInBytes() As Byte = mywebclient.DownloadData(strimageurl)
'Create a memory stream using the byte
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Dim ImageStream As New IO.MemoryStream(ImageInBytes)
'Create a bitmap from the memory stream
PictureBox1.Image = New System.Drawing.Bitmap(ImageStream)
'No files need to be written to the drive

Using the formulas from your older temperature program create the Fahrenheit
temperature .
Create a way, probably using a combo box that you can change the cities that
the temperature refers to.
In the main metservice website, http://metservice.com/national/index you can find a
list of the cities supported by the program and use them via cut and paste. You will
need to look in their source code to find it.
Getting through the proxy server
This is the code to get through the proxy server; you need your username and
password. At present to check it I run it off a button which should return the page as
text
Private Sub btnUpdate_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnUpdate.Click

'I saved the details as a string resource and can just call them up as
needed
Dim password As String = My.Resources.Resource1.Password
Dim username As String = My.Resources.Resource1.Username

'need to set the network credentials
Dim myNetCredentials As New NetworkCredential("", "")

'you can also use My.User.Name to extract out the users name
myNetCredentials.UserName = username
myNetCredentials.Password = password

Dim webaddress As New Uri("http://m.metservice.com/towns/christchurch")
Dim request As New WebClient
'get the proxy ID in this case 10.6.0.254:3128
request.Proxy = WebRequest.GetSystemWebProxy()

'pass across the username and password to the proxy
request.Proxy.Credentials = myNetCredentials
Try
'download the website as a string.
Dim s As String = request.DownloadString(webaddress)
'output it to see what you are working with
RichTextBox1.Text = s
Catch webex As WebException
End Try
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End Sub

Other ways of creating a download
' Get the stream containing content returned by the server.
Dim dataStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()
' Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access.
Dim reader As New StreamReader(dataStream)
' Read the content.
Dim responseFromServer As String = reader.ReadToEnd()
' Display the content.
Me.Text = responseFromServer
' Cleanup the streams and the response.
reader.Close()
dataStream.Close()
response.Close()

What if?
You can get the user using My.User.Name or better
Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.UserName and you can get the
domain and proxy using WebRequest.GetSystemWebProxy(). So all that
is missing is the password.
We did make a password cracker earlier. What if we add that in to get the
password and then save it as a text file so you can reuse it later?
What have you got? A way to access the net from any logged on computer
without knowing the password.

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Whitepages Phone book
We can easily use this structure to create an application that checks the whitepages
for names and returns back the number and address.
Go to http://whitepages.co.nz when you add a name and place to the boxes and
press find it sends it via the url string, like this http://whitepages.co.nz/white-
all/smith/christchurch/
All we have to do is then append to http://whitepages.co.nz & / & strname & / &
strplace and send it.
We can even add extra parameters such as ?sort=name to the end as seen in the
Narrow By section.
Maybe we can extract the data from this page to pass it to a Google map?
http://whitepages.co.nz/w/101088869/. Maybe we can pass the address straight to
Google maps, for the location.
The returning page can be stripped back to get out the data we want. This would
make a great Android app as well.

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DuckDuckGo using Json and Nuget
The purpose of this project is to be able to send a request for a definition to
DuckDuckGo, and return an answer which is parsed to extract the text from the JSON.
JSON is a very popular and important way of moving data around the net and to
programs accessing the net. (All code at the end)
To do this we could write our own JSON parser, or use one from Nuget. Lets not
reinvent the wheel and use Newtonsoft.json from Nuget..
First make a new project, and SAVE it. (I didnt and kept getting an error) it needs to be
saved first so it can install the package into your project.
Go to this link http://nuget.org/packages/Newtonsoft.Json and follow the instruction
using the Package Manager Console help as well.
Once its installed it just needs to be called. This link gives an overview of how to use
the package. http://james.newtonking.com/projects/json-net.aspx . When I dimmed
the following Dim JSONobject As JObject the program automatically added the
import Imports Newtonsoft.Json.Linq
The code of the program is the Bypass the proxy code to download a string and then
change the Uri to http://api.duckduckgo.com/?q=definition%20chocolate&format=json .
From there you need to output the returned string to see how the JSON is built. I
outputted it to a richtextbox and then copied and pasted it into my code as a comment.
' {"Definition":"","DefinitionSource":"","Heading":"chocolate
(definition)","AbstractSource":"The Free
Dictionary","Image":"","RelatedTopics":[],"AbstractText":"Fermented,
roasted, shelled, and ground cacao seeds, often combined with a
sweetener or flavoring agent.","Abstract":"Fermented, roasted, shelled,
and ground cacao seeds, often combined with a sweetener or flavoring
agent.","AnswerType":"","Redirect":"","Type":"A","DefinitionURL":"","Ans
wer":"","Results":[],"AbstractURL":"http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/s
earch.aspx?pid=aff18&word=chocolate"}

It might look like gobbledegook at this stage but there is a simple plan to it. JSON is in
Key : Value pairs so looks like this "Heading":"chocolate (definition)"
{
"Definition":"",
"DefinitionSource":"",
"Heading":"chocolate (definition)",
"AbstractSource":"The Free Dictionary",
"Image":"",
"RelatedTopics":[],
"AbstractText":"Fermented, roasted, shelled, and ground cacao seeds,
often combined with a sweetener or flavoring agent.",
"Abstract":"Fermented, roasted, shelled, and ground cacao seeds, often
combined with a sweetener or flavoring agent.",
"AnswerType":"",
"Redirect":"",
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"Type":"A",
"DefinitionURL":"",
"Answer":"",
"Results":[],
"AbstractURL":http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/search.aspx?pid=aff18&w
ord=chocolate
}
Main code to run this.
Dimension the JObject -
Dim JSONobject As JObject = JObject.Parse(strdownload)
Strdownload is the string being returned from the net. Its renamed from S in the Proxy
example.
We are returning just one string in this case, sometimes you want
to return an array of data (presumable Item(Object) as a guess). So
I chose Item(String) from the options.
Use JSONobject.Item("Heading") to extract out the text
chocolate (definition)
I passed it to a ListBox - lbxdefn.Items.Add(JSONobject.Item("Heading"))
Use JSONobject.Item("AbstractText") to extract out the text Fermented, roasted,
shelled, and ground cacao seeds, often combined with a sweetener or flavoring
agent.
I used a Textbox, Button, ListBox, and RichTextBox.

Imports System.Net
Imports Newtonsoft.Json.Linq

Public Class Form1
Dim strdownload As String

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Private Sub btndefinition_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btndefinition.Click
'I saved the details as a string resource and can just call them
up as needed
Dim password As String = My.Resources.Resource1.Password
Dim username As String = My.Resources.Resource1.Username
Dim wordpath As String =
"http://api.duckduckgo.com/?q=definition%20" & txtword.Text &
"&format=json"
Me.Text = wordpath
'need to set the network credentials
Dim myNetCredentials As New NetworkCredential("", "")

'you can also use My.User.Name to extract out the users name
myNetCredentials.UserName = username
myNetCredentials.Password = password
Dim webaddress As New Uri(wordpath)
Dim request As New WebClient
'get the proxy ID in this case 10.6.0.254:3128
request.Proxy = WebRequest.GetSystemWebProxy()

'pass across the username and password to the proxy
request.Proxy.Credentials = myNetCredentials
Try
'download the website as a string.
strdownload = request.DownloadString(webaddress)
'output it to see what you are working with
txtdefn.Text = strdownload
Catch webex As WebException
End Try

Dim JSONobject As JObject = JObject.Parse(strdownload)
lbxdefn.Items.Add(JSONobject.Item("Heading"))
lbxdefn.Items.Add(JSONobject.Item("AbstractText"))
'lbxdefn.Items.Add(JSONobject.Item("Abstract"))
End Sub
End Class
More: http://duckduckhack.com/
http://nuget.org/packages/Newtonsoft.Json
http://james.newtonking.com/projects/json-net.aspx
http://jsonformat.com/

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31. The DateTime and TimeSpan Types
The DateTime and TimeSpan data types also have built-in methods and properties.
These class members allow you to perform three useful tasks:
Extract a part of a DateTime (for example, just the year) or convert a
TimeSpan to a specific representation (such as the total number of days or
total number of minutes)
Easily perform date and time calculations
Determine the current date and time and other information (such as the day of
the week or whether the date occurs in a leap year)
For example, the following block of code creates a DateTime object, sets it to the
current date and time, and adds a number of days. It then creates a string that
indicates the year that the new date falls in (for example, 2013).
Dim MyDate As DateTime = DateTime.Now MyDate = MyDate.AddDays(100)
Dim DateString As String = MyDate.Year.ToString()

The next example shows how you can use a TimeSpan object to find the total
number of minutes between two DateTime objects.
Dim MyDate1 As Date = DateTime.Now
Dim MyDate2 As Date = DateTime.Now.AddHours(3000)
Dim Difference As TimeSpan Difference =
MyDate2.Subtract(MyDate1)
Dim NumberOfMinutes As Double NumberOfMinutes =
Difference.TotalMinutes

The DateTime and TimeSpan classes also support the + and arithmetic operators,
which do the same work as the built-in methods. That means you can rewrite the
example shown previously like this:
Dim MyDate1 As DateTime = DateTime.Now
Dim Interval As TimeSpan = TimeSpan.FromHours(3000)
Dim MyDate2 As DateTime = MyDate1 + Interval

Subtracting one DateTime object from another produces a TimeSpan.
Dim Difference As TimeSpan
Difference = MyDate2 - MyDate1

These examples give you an idea of the flexibility .NET provides for manipulating
date and time data. The tables below list some of the more useful built-in features of the
DateTime and TimeSpan types.

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Useful DateTime Members
Member Description
Now Gets the current date and time. You can also use the
UtcNow property to change the computers local time (which
is relative to the local time zone) to a Universal Coordinated
Time (UTC). Assuming your computer is correctly
configured, this corresponds to the current time in the
Western European (UTC + 0) time zone.
Today Gets the current date and leaves time set to 00:00:00.
Year, Date, Month,
Hour, Minute,
Second, and
Millisecond
Returns one part of the DateTime object as an integer. For
example, Month will return 12 for any day in December.
DayOfWeek Returns an enumerated value that indicates the day of the
week for this DateTime, using the DayOfWeek enumeration.
For example, if the date falls on Sunday, this will return
DayOfWeek. Sunday.
Add() Adds a TimeSpan to a DateTime and returns the result as a
new DateTime. For convenience, these operations are
mapped to the + and operators, so you can use them
instead when performing calculations with dates.
Subtract() Subtracts a TimeSpan or DateTime from another DateTime.
Returns a TimeSpan that represents the difference.
AddYears(),
AddMonths(),
AddDays(),
AddHours(),
AddMinutes(),
AddSeconds(),
AddMilliseconds()
Accepts an integer that represents a number of years,
months, and so on, and returns a new DateTime. You can
use a negative integer to perform a date subtraction.
DaysInMonth() Returns the number of days in the specified month in the
specified year.
IsLeapYear() Returns True or False depending on whether the specified
year is a leap year.
ToString() Returns a string representation of the current DateTime
object.You can also use an overloaded version of this
method that allows you to specify a parameter with a format
string.

Note
Methods such as Add() and Subtract() dont change a DateTime object.
instead, they return a new DateTime or TimeSpan object.

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Useful TimeSpan Members
Member Description
Days, Hours,
Minutes, Seconds,
Milliseconds
Returns one component of the current TimeSpan. For
example, the Hours property can return an integer from 23
to 23.
TotalDays,
TotalHours,
TotalMinutes,
TotalSeconds,
TotalMilliseconds
Returns the total value of the current TimeSpan as a number
of days, hours, minutes, and so on. The value is returned as a
double, which may include a fractional value.
For example, the TotalDays property might return a number
such as 234.342.
Add() and
Subtract()
Combines TimeSpan objects. For convenience, these
operations are mapped to the + and operators, so you can
use them instead when performing calculations with times.
FromDays(),
FromHours(),
FromMinutes(),
FromSeconds(),
FromMilliseconds()
Allows you to quickly create a new TimeSpan. For example,
you can use TimeSpan.FromHours(24) to create a TimeSpan
object exactly 24 hours long.
ToString() Returns a string representation of the current TimeSpan
object. You can also use an overloaded version of this
method that allows you to specify a parameter with a format
string.

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32. Arrays and Collections
In the beginning there were variables, and they were good. The idea that you map a
location in memory to a value was a key to tracking a value. However, most people
want to work on data as a set. Taking the concept of a variable holding a value, we
move to the concept of a variable that could reference an array of values.
Arrays are just lists of data that have a single data type. For example, you might want
to store a list of your friends ages in an integer array or their names in a string array.
When you define an array, youre actually creating a variable that has more than one
dimension. For example, if you define a variable as a string, you can only hold a
single string value in it:
Dim strName As String
However, with an array you create a kind of multiplier effect with a variable, so you
can hold more than one value in a single variable. An array is defined by entering the
size of the array after the variable name. For example, if you wanted to define a
string array with 10 elements, youd do this:
Dim strName(9) As String

The reason why you use(9)instead of (10)to get an array with 10 is simply
that because numbering in an array starts at zero, the first element in
an array is zero, the second element is one, and so on.
When you have an array, you can access individual elements in it by providing an
index value between 0 and a maximum possible value this maximum possible
value happens to be one less than the total size of the array.
For example, to set the element with index 2 in the array, youd do this:
strName(2) = "George"
To get that same element back again, youd do this:
MessageBox.Show(strName(2))

There are 3 main types of array, The ArrayList and the List types are new and are
based on the collections namespace. They are the recommended types of array that
programmers should use as they are capable of being used across the entire dot net
framework, and automatically increase and decrease in size. The other one, its the
traditional Array which comes in a variety of flavours depending on its needs but
works the same in each one.
We will cover these 3 types in more depth later. This next exercise just introduces the
3 types of array and shows their differences.

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Arrays Exercise

There are 3 ways we have created arrays in this exercise, each are different.
Dim ArrayList As New Collections.ArrayList
Dim itemlist As New List(Of String)
Dim array(4) As Integer
Dim wordsArray() As String
Arrays
All arrays in .NET begin at 0, but when an array is declared in Visual Basic, the
index defines the upper limit of the array, not the number of elements. The
challenge is to remember that all subscripts go from 0 to the upper bound, meaning
that each array contains one more element than its upper bound. This Dim array(4)
As Integer holds 5 items.
Here in the code the values are passed to the array
Dim array(4) As Integer
array = New Integer() {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}
I could rewrite it as below as it counts how many values go into it
automatically.
Dim array() = New Integer() {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}

The problem is that after 5 values you have to rebuild the array to hold more using
Redim and Preserve (which I will talk about).
Here is a good example of the code above.
Dim temp As String = "The rain in Spain falls mainly down the Drain"
wordsArray = temp.ToUpper.Split(" ")

The above could be written as
Dim temp As String = "The rain in Spain falls mainly down the Drain"
Dim wordsArray() = temp.ToUpper.Split(" ")
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Which will give it an upperlimit of 8 (nine words starting with 0)

Collections - ArrayList
Collections are an inbuilt
class of Array (As New Collections.ArrayList) and they
can store any type of data in the same array to any
quantity because each item is stored as an Object, not
an int, or string etc.

Data is added to an arraylist collection simply by using ArrayList.Add
ArrayList.Add(23)
ArrayList.Add("Apple")
ArrayList.Add(32.345)
ArrayList.Add("Pear")
ArrayList.Add("Grape")

However holding any type of data is also a drawback as each item has to be
converted to an Object, and then back to its initial type which is called Boxing, and
makes operations slightly slower with large data owing to having to be Boxed and
unboxed.
The second issue is that having collections based only on the type Object goes
against the best practice of having a strongly typed environment. As soon as you
started loading items into a collection, you lose all type checking. Is that meant to be
23 or 2b? No checking for type consistency happens.
Other collections we can use are:
Collection Description
ArrayList Implements an array whose size increases automatically as elements
are added.
BitArray Manages an array of Booleans that are stored as bit values.
Hashtable Implements a collection of values organized by key. Sorting is done
based on a hash of the key.
Queue Implements a first in, first out collection.
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SortedList Implements a collection of values with associated keys. The values are
sorted by key and are accessible by key or index.
Stack Implements a last in, first out collection.

Generic List preferred
There are many examples of generic templates in the .NET Base Class Library
(BCL). Many of them can be found in the System.Collections.Generic namespace,
but others are scattered through the BCL as appropriate.
Many of the examples focus on generic collection types, but this is only because it is
here that the performance gains, due to generics, are seen. In most cases, generics
are used less for performance gains than for the strong typing benefits they provide.
The primary motivation for adding generics to .NET was to enable the creation of
strongly typed collection types. Because generic collection types are strongly typed,
they are significantly faster than the previous inheritance-based collection model.
Anywhere you presently use collection classes in your code, you should
consider revising that code to use generic collection types instead.
Because the technology to support generics was created primarily to build
collection classes, it naturally follows that you might create a generic
collection anytime you would otherwise build a normal collection class.

A generic is often written as something like List(Of T). The type (or class) name in
this case is List. The letter T is a placeholder, much like a parameter. It indicates
where you must provide a specific type value to customize the generic. For instance,
you might declare a variable using the List(Of T) generic:
Dim itemlist As New List(Of String)

Data is added using the .Add()
itemlist.Add("Chocolate")
itemlist.Add(34)
itemlist.Add("Carrot")
itemlist.Add(30)

As you specify a T in this case String then everything that enters the itemlist is
considered a string. As a result you cant add itemlist.Add(34) to
itemlist.Add(30) as they are considered strings and not integers.
Note:
ArrayList is Loosely Typed as items are stored as an Object not as string
or Integer. List can only hold one type (such as string or integer) as a
result its Strongly Typed
This means that it is not late bound like ArrayList, but rather is early
bound. The net result is much higher performance, along with all the type-
safety benefits of being strongly typed.

Page 207 2012
Working with ArrayList
ArrayLists are one of the most flexible data structures and contain a simple list of
values. We can easily can add, insert, delete etc. Its advantage over lists as it can
take multiple types of values.
This project uses a single method Sub updatearraylist() to update the ListBox, its
at the end of the code.

Public Class Form1
Dim ItemList As New Collections.ArrayList

ItemList.Add(23)
ItemList.Add("Apple")
ItemList.Add(32.345)
ItemList.Add("Pear")
ItemList.Add("Grape")

updatearraylist()
End Sub

Private Sub btnadd_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnadd.Click
'make sure that there is text in the text box to add to the list. Put a
check around the code below to make sure txtinput.Text is not empty

ItemList.Insert(1, txtinput.Text)
updatearraylist()
End Sub

Private Sub btnremove_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnremove.Click
'make sure you click on an item before hitting remove. Put a check
around the code below to make sure lbxarray.selecteditem is not empty
ItemList.Remove(lbxarray.SelectedItem)
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updatearraylist()
End Sub

Private Sub btnsort_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnsort.Click
'You can only sort if the items are the same type like strings, however
this data has strings and integers, so you have to delete the integers
first or warn people
ItemList.Sort()
updatearraylist()
End Sub

'Check if the word exists and remove it from the list
'make sure you have a word in the text box. Put a check around the code
below to make sure lbxarray.selecteditem is not empty
Dim strcheck As String
strcheck = txtinput.Text
'I am using a ForEach for this loop, they are just as easy to
use, if not easier. Than If loops.
For Each item As Object In ItemList
If strcheck = item Then
Me.Text = "Found!"
End If
Next

'Remove the item from the list
ItemList.Remove(strcheck)

updatearraylist()
End Sub

'This updates the arraylist and shows the new items in the listbox
each time you click on a button. You can replace the For loop with a For
Each as seen above
Sub updatearraylist()
lbxarray.Items.Clear()
For i = 0 To ItemList.Count - 1
lbxarray.Items.Add(ItemList.Item(i))
Next
End Sub
Read in a list of words using Streamreader
Using r As StreamReader = New StreamReader("C:\words1.txt")
Look back at the StreamReader exercise to see how to do it. The List used there is
just an arraylist. Output the results using Streamwriter.
Page 209 2012
Arraylist and random numbers
Create a program that takes a preloaded ArrayList and randomly chooses an item
from it. That item is moved to a second ListBox and deleted from the first ListBox.
You will need to find a way so that the random number generated is less than the
number of items, otherwise loop until it is.
Here is some code to get started with..
Private Sub btnrandom_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnrandom.Click
Dim random As Integer
generates a random number
random = randomnumber.random
Me.Text = random show it on the top of the form
add the item to the new listbox
lbrandom.Items.Add(ItemList.Item(random))
delete the item from the first listbox
ItemList.Remove(ItemList.Item(random))
update the array
updatearraylist()
End Sub

Page 210 2012
Work out General Depreciation rates on computers
Using the General Depreciation Rates from the NZ IRD PDF (or website) extract out
the depreciation rates for the computer area on Page 47.
I would save the rates comma delimitated into a text file, load the text file into an
array. Then access each part of the array to see the data and choose your Computer
part from a combo box.
It would be a great project to test your skills.
This guide sets out the general depreciation rates for both diminishing value (DV)
and straight line (SL)
Fields
The following details are shown for each asset:
Fields Example
Name, Backup units (tape type)
the estimated useful life (years), 4
DV depn rate (%), 50
DV rate including the 20% loading (DV + 20% loading
(%)),
60.0
SL depn rate (%), 40
SL rate including the 20% loading (SL +20% loading (%)) 48.0

Example of the text file
Backup units (tape type) 4 50 60.0 40 48.0 ,Banknote dispensers 6.66 30 36.0 21 25.2, Bridges 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Cabling 6.66 30 36.0 21 25.2,
CAD/CAM equipment 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Communications controllers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Computer and associated equipment (used for typesetting) 5
40 48.0 30 36.0, Computer equipment (default class) 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Control equipment (process, computer, if separately identified) 8 25 30.0 17.5
21.0, Data concentrators 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Digitisers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Disk drives (for use with mini computers) 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Disk drives (for
use with personal computers) 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, EFTPOS terminals 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Floors (for computer rooms) 20 10 12.0 7 8.4, Gas dowsing
systems 20 10 12.0 7 8.4, Laptop computers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Mainframe computers 6.66 30 36.0 21 25.2, Mini computers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0,
Modems 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Multiplexers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Network servers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Notebook computers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Personal
computers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Plotters 5 40 48.0 30 36.0, Power conditioners 6.66 30 36.0 21 25.2, Power supplies (uninterruptable) 6.66 30 36.0 21
25.2, Printers 5 40 48.0 30 36.0, Routers 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Scanners 4 50 60.0 40 48.0, Terminals (without capability of local storage capacity) 6.66
30 36.0 21 25.2, Voice mail equipment 4 50 60.0 40 48.0

* The 20% depreciation loading doesnt
apply to assets acquired after 20 May
2010.

Page 211 2012
Calculator using words simple array
This calculator takes a string of text and numbers and splits it to answer the formula.
Such a simple project could easily be modified for a number of more advanced
purposes.

Public Class Form1
Private Sub btnAction_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnAction.Click
Dim temp As String
Dim num1 As Single
Dim num2 As Single
Dim answer As Single

' get the text and split it into array
temp = txtInstruction.Text
'make the words uppercase, and split them with the space pass it to
wordarray()
wordsArray = temp.ToUpper.Split(" ")

'check it works
lbcheck.Items.Add(wordsArray(0))

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' get the numbers - 1st will always be in wordsArray(1)
' 2nd will always be in wordsArray(3)
num1 = CSng(wordsArray(1))
num2 = CSng(wordsArray(3))

Select Case wordsArray(0)
Case "MULTIPLY"
answer = num1 * num2
Case "DIVIDE"
answer = num1 / num2
Case "SUBTRACT"
answer = num2 - num1
Case "ADD"
answer = num1 + num2
End Select

' put answer in place in the label
lblResult.Text = "The answer is: " & answer
End Sub
Page 213 2012
Scrabble Dictionary using lists
This example takes a word list and compares the entered word to that list to see if it
matches. Try making this program without using the code.
I used a class mydic to hold some of the properties (I should have used more in it). I
load in words1.txt to try it out but also a word list that takes AGES to load up in the
listbox. As a result I had to have the option to turn off the listbox loading when using
the dictionary

How to start?
1. Create a button, Textbox, to hold the path, and a list to pass it to.
2. Use file open tools to open the words1.txt file and load it into the listbox
3. Create another textbox to hold the word you want to test and a second
button to compare the word with the list items.
4. Make a class dict to hold the string variables that are in the code (you
can work it out from the names)
5. Create a label to hold the Word Found or Word Not Found
6. We have to make both list and word entered lower case to avoid
mistakes.
7. Using FOR EACH we need to match the word in the variable with the
word in the list.
8. After that is done everything else is tidying up.
9. Replace the radiobuttons with Menu options

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Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
Dim mydict As New dict a class created called dict
Dim wordlist As New List(Of String)
Dim blnlistboxOnOff As Boolean = True

lbwords.Items.Clear()
' We need to read into this List.
Try
mydict.strpath = cbpath.SelectedItem
Me.Text = mydict.strpath
Using r As StreamReader = New StreamReader(mydict.strpath)
' We need to read into this List. Store contents in this String.
Dim line As String
line = r.ReadLine ' Read first line.

line = line.ToLower 'all lower case
wordlist.Add(line) ' Add this line to list.

If blnlistboxOnOff = True Then
lbwords.Items.Add(line)
End If
line = r.ReadLine ' Read in the next line.
Loop
End Using

Dim length As Integer = File.ReadAllLines(mydict.strpath).Length
btnload.Text = length
Catch
MsgBox(mydict.strpath & " It screwed up")
End Try
End Sub

Private Sub btncompare_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btncompare.Click
mydict.strselectedword = txtword.Text ' copy word to variable
mydict.strselectedword = mydict.strselectedword.ToLower ' make
it lower case
Dim word As String

For Each word In wordlist
If word = mydict.strselectedword.ToString Then
lbltrueorfalse.Text = "Word found"
Return
Page 215 2012
Else
lbltrueorfalse.Text = "Not a word"
End If
Next
End Sub

lbltrueorfalse.Text = ""
End Sub

Private Sub cbpath_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As
cbpath.SelectedIndexChanged
btnload.Text = "Load"
End Sub

Private Sub rbon_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles rbon.CheckedChanged, rboff.CheckedChanged
Dim fakerb As New RadioButton
fakerb = sender
If fakerb.Text = "Listbox on" Then
blnlistboxOnOff = True
ElseIf fakerb.Text = "Listbox off" Then
blnlistboxOnOff = False
End If

End Sub
End Class

Page 216 2012
Advanced Scrabble Incremental Search
Change the radio buttons to Menu items and show options for Listview ON/Off and
Incremental Search ON/Off

In this version we want search to work as the person begins typing in the word into
the textbox.
To do this we need to treat each letter as a char, a single character. Using the earlier
exercise on Char Here we can pull out each letter as its typed in.
There are two things wrong with this system.
2 When the search starts with the first letter it will look for that letter anywhere in
the word.
3 The listbox search is really slow with the large files. We need to turn incremental
search off, this can be done in a number of ways, auto or manual. I used a
manual procedure
4 A better way to make this would be to search the array we made earlier and just
show the found items in the listbox. So your challenge is to make that.
Private Sub txtword_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles txtword.TextChanged
match the individual letters with the letters in the list, sort of like an
incremental search.
Try
Dim wordasletter As String
need to turn search on and off as it hangs with the dictionary
If blnsearchOff = True Then
Dim word As String = txtword.Text
create a variable to hold a single letter
Dim OneLetter As Char

Page 217 2012
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To word.Length - 1 ' minus 1 because it starts at 0
OneLetter = word.Chars(i) ' i gives the number for each letter
wordasletter &= OneLetter 'adds a single letter
Next i
'code for listbox selection - multiextended means you can have more than one selection
lbwords.SelectionMode = SelectionMode.MultiExtended
' Loop through all items the ListBox.

Dim findcount As Integer
For j As Integer = 0 To lbwords.Items.Count - 1
'turn off and selections that might be on
lbwords.SetSelected(j, False)

'j gives how many its found
If lbwords.Items(j).ToString.IndexOf(wordasletter) <> -1 And i > 2 Then
Me.Text = i
'if there is a word then turn on selections of them.
lbwords.SetSelected(j, True)
findcount += 1
Me.Text = findcount
End If
Next
End If
Catch

End Try
End Sub

Page 218 2012
Scrabble Exercise - using a Hash table
The Hashtable class is a dictionary collection, where every item is indexed with a
unique value. Hashtable collections are ideal for situations where you need to quickly
retrieve individual items, because you can look up items using the corresponding key
values, rather than by iterating through the contents of the entire collection. However,
unlike arrays or the ArrayList class, you can't access items using an index number.
When using a Hashtable, you must decide what information to use for indexing items.
This data must be unique. It might be derived from the object itself, or you might
generate it on demand using a sequence number. If you don't have a suitable value
to use as a key, you can always use the reference of the object you are adding:
' Use the object reference as a key.
Dim Col As New Hashtable()
Col.Add(ItemA, ItemA)
The exercise below uses the word list as the Key as well as the Value. It runs
amazingly fast with 170,000 entries! Each time you type a letter it checks it against
the dictionary and adds words into the listbox.

Imports System.IO
Public Class Form1
Dim mydict As New dict
Dim hasht As New Hashtable
Dim blnlistboxOnOff As Boolean = False
lbwords.Items.Clear()
btnload.Text = "...loading"
Try ' We need to read into this List.
mydict.strpath = cbpath.SelectedItem
Me.Text = mydict.strpath
Using r As StreamReader = New StreamReader(mydict.strpath)

Dim line As String ' Store contents in this String.
line = r.ReadLine ' Read first line.
Page 219 2012
Dim linecount As Integer = 0
line = line.ToLower 'all lower case
'add line to hash table using each line as the key and the Value
hasht.Add(line, line)
How many lines? just for info
linecount += 1
Me.Text = linecount
Output to list box or not?
If blnlistboxOnOff = True Then
lbwords.Items.Add(line)
End If
line = r.ReadLine ' Read in the next line.
Loop
End Using
'show the length of the file on the button
Dim length As Integer =
File.ReadAllLines(mydict.strpath).Length
btnload.Text = length
Catch
MsgBox(mydict.strpath & " its not there.Try again")
End Try

End Sub
'so you don't see label1 when it loads
lbltrueorfalse.Text = ""
End Sub
Private Sub txtword_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal
e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtword.TextChanged

'make an array to match the individual letters with the letters
in the list, sort of like an incremental search.
Try
Dim wordasletter As String = ""
Dim word As String = txtword.Text
Dim OneLetter As Char
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To word.Length - 1 ' minus 1 because it starts at 0
OneLetter = word.Chars(i) ' i gives the number for each
letter
'adds a single letter
' Me.Text &= OneLetter ' working adds a single letter together
wordasletter &= OneLetter
Next i
'compare the word being entered to hashtable entries
If hasht.ContainsKey(wordasletter) Then
Page 220 2012
'if true show Is a Word and add to listbox
lbltrueorfalse.Text = wordasletter & " is a word"
lbwords.Items.Add(wordasletter)
Else
lbltrueorfalse.Text = wordasletter & " keep typing"
End If
Catch
End Try
End Sub

Private Sub ListboxOnToolStripMenuItem1_Click(ByVal sender As
ListboxOnToolStripMenuItem1.Click
blnlistboxOnOff = True turn listbox ON and show on menubar
ListboxViewToolStripMenuItem.Text = "Listbox ON"
End Sub

Private Sub ListboxOffToolStripMenuItem1_Click(ByVal sender As
ListboxOffToolStripMenuItem1.Click
blnlistboxOnOff = False
ListboxViewToolStripMenuItem.Text = "Listbox OFF"
End Sub
End Class
Note that like the ArrayList, the Hashtable stores items as the generic object type,
and you must use casting code when retrieving an item.
Some other useful Hashtable members include:
Remove deletes an item from the collection. You specify the key of the item you
want removed. This allows you to quickly remove an object using the following
syntax:
Col.Remove(ItemA)
Contains and ContainsKey return True or False, depending on whether a specified
key is in the Hashtable. This provides a quick way to perform a simple search.
ContainsValue returns True or False, depending on whether a specified object is in
the Hashtable. For example, in the previous code example where the Hashtable was
used to store Customer objects, you could call ContainsValue with a Customer
object. It would return True only if this object is already in the collection.
The Keys property provides a read-only collection of all the keys used in the
Hashtable.
The Values property provides a read-only collection of all the objects in the
Hashtable.
The Hashtable class works more or less the same way as the standard
Visual Basic 6 Collection type, which is still included in Visual Basic .NET
for backward compatibility. However, for most programming tasks, a
Page 221 2012
Hashtable is preferable to a generic collection, because a Hashtable
ensures that every item has a key that can be used to locate or remove
the item.
Without a key, the only way to find an item is by iterating through the entire
collection and examining each object. Furthermore, only the Hashtable
supports any type of object as a key. The generic collection is limited to
string values.

Permutations and Scrabble finder - incomplete
A permutation, by dictionary standards, is an ordered arrangement of a set of
objects, and permutating is the act or process of changing the lineal order of an
ordered set of objects. In other words, it's re-ordering the elements of a list, like an
array. So how is this valuable?
Imagine an array, consisting of the elements a, b, and c. We'll write this as (a,b,c).
When we permutate this array, we want to re-arrange the elements, so that the a is in
a different position relative to b and c. Of course, when we're done, we want to end
up with the following:
(a,b,c)
(a,c,b)
(b,a,c)
(b,c,a)
(c,a,b)
(c,b,a)

Page 222 2012
33. Sorting Socks project
A poster on StackOverflow.com, presents an interesting project.
Yesterday I was pairing the socks from the clean laundry, and figured out the way I
was doing it is not very efficient. I was doing a naive search picking one sock and
"iterating" the pile in order to find its pair. This requires iterating over n/2 * n/4 = n2/8
socks on average.
As a computer scientist I was thinking what I could do? Sorting (according to
size/color/...) of course came into mind to achieve an O(NlogN) solution.
Hashing or other not-in-place solutions are not an option, because I am not able to
duplicate my socks (though it could be nice if I could).
So, the question is basically:
Given a pile of n pairs of socks, containing 2n elements (assume each sock has
exactly one matching pair), what is the best way to pair them up efficiently with up to
logarithmic extra space? (I believe I can remember that amount of info if needed.)
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14415881/how-to-pair-socks-from-a-pile-
efficiently
http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/16x9a3/how_to_pair_socks_from_a
_pile_efficiently/
So create a program that can sort socks from a basket of laundry that contains all
sorts of laundry. Sure the easiest way is to iterate one sock over the entire laundry
basket as he says, but read the articles and see if we can create another way to sort
socks.
The laundry basket could start from a text file, or even a randomly created list of
laundry at runtime.
Read the Related Articles list on the right for further ideas.
Sounds like fun

Page 223 2012
34. The T shirt algorithm
http://boingboing.net/2013/03/02/how-an-algorithm-came-up-with.html
Recently on Amazon a T shirt logo has created a lot of fuss. Lets see if we can
create a better algorithm, maybe even generated from internet searches as well, but
certainly using the dictionaries we have.
Here is the article .
You may have heard that Amazon is selling a "KEEP CALM AND RAPE A LOT" t-
shirt. How did such a thing come to pass?
Well, as Pete Ashton explains, this is a weird outcome of an automated algorithm
that just tries random variations on "KEEP CALM AND," offering them for sale in
Amazon's third-party marketplace and printing them on demand if any of them
manage to find a buyer.
The t-shirts are created by an algorithm. The word algorithm is a little scary to some
people because they dont know what it means. Its basically a process automated by
a computer programme, sometimes simple, sometimes complex as hell.
Amazons recommendations are powered by an algorithm. They look at what youve
been browsing and buying, find patterns in that behaviour and show you things the
algorithm things you might like to buy.
Amazons algorithms are very complex and powerful, which is why they work. The
algorithm that creates these t-shirts is not complex or powerful. This is how I expect it
works.
1. Start a sentence with the words KEEP CALM AND.
2. Pick a word from this long list of verbs. Any word will do. Dont worry, Im sure
theyre all fine.
3. Finish the sentence with one of the following: A LOT, OFF, THEM, IF, THEM
or US.
4. Lay these words out in the classic Keep Calm style.
5. Create a mockup jpeg of a t-shirt.
6. Submit the design to Amazon using our boilerplate t-shirt description.
7. Go back to 1 and start again.
There are currently 529,493 Solid Gold Bomb clothing items on Amazon. Assuming
they survive this and dont get shit canned by Amazon I wouldnt be at all surprised if
they top a million in a few months.
It costs nothing to create the design, nothing to submit it to Amazon and nothing for
Amazon to host the product. If no-one buys it then the total cost of the experiment is
effectively zero. But if the algorithm stumbles upon something special, something that
is both unique and funny and actually sells, then everyone makes money.

Page 224 2012

http://www.programmableweb.com/api/amazon-ecommerce
http://aws.amazon.com/visualstudio/

Page 225 2012
35. Search and Sort Algorithms
Bubble Sort
The first sorting algorithm to examine is the
bubble sort.
The bubble sort is one of the slowest
sorting algorithms available, but it is also
one of the simplest sorts to understand and
implement, which makes it an excellent
candidate for our first sorting algorithm.
The sort gets its name because values
float like a bubble from one end of the list
to another. Assuming you are sorting a list
of numbers in ascending order, higher
values float to the right whereas lower
values float to the left.
This behavior is caused by moving through
the list many times, comparing adjacent
values, and swapping them if the value to
the left is greater than the value to the
right.
There are some great animated images
here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_sort that
give a good overiew how it works.

Page 226 2012

Public Class Form1
'declare it globally from data Structures and Algorithmns P 88
Dim theArray As New ArrayList
Dim counter As Integer = 1
Dim strArray As String

Private Sub BubbleSort()
Dim outer, inner, temp As Integer
For outer = theArray.Count - 1 To 1 Step -1

For inner = 0 To outer - 1

'if the first number is bigger than the second number
If (theArray(inner) > theArray(inner + 1)) Then
'then pass the first number to a temp
temp = theArray(inner)
'make the second number replace the first number (really just copy them
both across)
theArray(inner) = theArray(inner + 1)
'move the first number to replace the second number
theArray(inner + 1) = temp
End If

'this just prints each row of the array out in the listbox
strArray = ""
For i As Integer = 0 To theArray.Count - 1
strArray += theArray(i) & " "
counter += 1
Next
lbxSorted.Items.Add("Inner " & inner & ", Outer " &
outer & ", " & strArray)
'end display
Next
Next
Page 227 2012
End Sub
Private Sub btnSort_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnSort.Click
LoadArray()
BubbleSort()

lbxSorted.Items.Add("====NEW SORT====")
'clear the array for the next run
theArray.Clear()

End Sub

Private Sub LoadArray()
'create the array add in random numbers
Dim count As Integer = 0

Do While count < 6
theArray.Add(GetRandom(1, 11))
count += 1
Loop
End Sub

Public Function GetRandom(ByVal Min As Integer, ByVal Max As
Integer) As Integer
' by making Generator static, we preserve the same instance (i.e., do
not create new instances with the same seed over and over) between calls
Static Generator As System.Random = New System.Random()
Return Generator.Next(Min, Max)
End Function

End Class

Sort a list of words using Bubble sort
The String.Compare Method can be used to compare two words returning: A is less
than B, A s equal to B, A is greater than B.
We need to pass words into an array, then use Strong.Compare to sort them with
each other. Using this we can build a simple dictionary from a list of words.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zkcaxw5y.aspx

Page 228 2012
Selection Sort
The Selection sort works by starting at the beginning of the array, comparing the first
element with the other elements in the array.
The smallest element is placed in position 0, and the sort then begins again at
position 1 looking for the next smallest element in the array and moves it to position
1. This continues until each position except the last position has been the starting
point for a new loop.
Two loops are used in the SelectionSort algorithm. The outer loop moves from the
first element in the array to the next to last element; the inner loop moves from
the second element of the array to the last element, looking for values that are
smaller than the element currently being pointed at by the outer loop. After
each iteration of the inner loop, the most minimum value in the array is
assigned to its proper place in the array.

Public Class Form1
'declare it globally from data Structures and Algorithmns P 88
Dim outer, inner, temp As Integer
'This sort works by starting at the beginning of the array, comparing
the first element with the other elements in the array. The smallest
element is placed in position 0, and the sort then begins again at
position 1. This continues until each position except the last position
has been the starting point for a new loop

Public Sub SelectionSort()

'The outer loop moves from the first element in the array to the
next to last element;
For outer = 0 To theArray.Count - 2

Page 229 2012
'the inner loop moves from the second element of the array to the last
element, looking for values that are smaller than the element currently
being pointed at by the outer loop. After each iteration of the inner
loop, the most minimum value in the array is assigned to its proper
place in the array.

For inner = outer + 1 To theArray.Count - 1
If (theArray(inner) < theArray(outer)) Then

'Yes it is smaller then swap the numbers around
temp = theArray(outer)
theArray(outer) = theArray(inner)
theArray(inner) = temp

displayswap()

End If
displaynoswap()
Next

Next
End Sub

Private Sub displaynoswap()

'Print stuff out so you can see it
strArray = ""

Next
lbxSorted.Items.Add("Outer (" & outer & ") " & ", Inner (" &
inner & ") " & strArray & " " & theArray(outer) & " is smaller than
" & theArray(inner))
'end display
End Sub

Private Sub displayswap()

'Print stuff out so you can see it
strArray = ""

Next
lbxSorted.Items.Add("Outer (" & outer & ") " & ", Inner (" &
inner & ") " & strArray & " " & theArray(inner) & " is bigger than "
& theArray(outer) & " Swapped! ")
Page 230 2012
'end display
End Sub

Private Sub btnSort_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnSort.Click
lbxSorted.Items.Clear()
LoadArray()
SelectionSort()

'clear the array for the next run
theArray.Clear()
End Sub

Do While count < 5
count += 1
Loop
End Sub

Integer) As Integer
End Function

End Class

Page 231 2012
Sequential Searching
The most obvious type of search is to begin at the beginning of a set of records and
move through each record until you find the record you are looking for or you come to
the end of the records. This is called a sequential search.
A sequential search (also called a linear search) is very easy to implement. Start at
the beginning of the array and compare each accessed array element to the value
youre searching for. If you find a match, the search is over. If you get to the end of
the array without generating a match, then the value is not in the array.

Public Class Form1
Dim randomNumber As Integer

Private Sub btnsearch_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnsearch.Click

lbxdisplay.Items.Clear()

Randomize()
LoadArray()
randomNumber = Int(1 + 10 * Rnd())
' For Each item As Integer In theArray

For i = 0 To theArray.Count - 1
'string holds the numbers for the display

'show if there is a match
If theArray(i) = randomNumber Then
Page 232 2012
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The Random Number " & randomNumber & " is in the
Array")
End If
Next
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("====Results ====")
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The Random Number is " & randomNumber)
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The array is " & strArray)
theArray.Clear()
End Sub


Do While count < 6
count += 1
Loop
End Sub

Public Function GetRandom(ByVal Min As Integer, ByVal Max As Integer) As
Integer
End Function
End Class

Page 233 2012
36. Advanced Search and Sort Algorithms
Making a sequential search faster: self-organizing data
The fastest successful sequential searches occur when the data element being
searched for is at the beginning of the data set. You can ensure that a successfully
located data item is at the beginning of the data set by moving it there after it has
been found.
The concept behind this strategy is that we can minimize search times by putting
items that are frequently searched for at the beginning of the data set. Eventually, all
the most frequently searched for data items will be located at the beginning of the
data set. This is an example of self-organization, in that the data set is organized not
by the programmer before the program runs, but by the program while the program is
running.
It makes sense to allow your data to organize in this way since the data being
searched probably follow the 8020 rule, meaning that 80% of the searches
conducted on your data set are searching for 20% of the data in the data set. Self-
organization will eventually put that 20% at the beginning of the data set, where a
sequential search will find them quickly.
Probability distributions such as this are called Pareto distributions, named for
Vilfredo Pareto, who discovered these distributions by studying the spread of income
and wealth in the late 19th century.
Lets use the Sequential Search program from earlier and just add a swap function.

Here is the solution with multiple
numbers the same.
The random number of 2 is three
times in an array of 112221. The
final array is 222111
Page 234 2012
New code below to change existing and add to your program.
Add a new global variable
Dim movednumberposition As Integer = 0
We need this so that its not always the first position that gets numbers added to.
Otherwise only the first place theArray(0) is used to store the number. With the
movednumberposition the first place is sued for the first number and the second
place is used for a second number etc.
Its primitive but it works.

Private Sub btnsearch_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
btnsearch.Click

Randomize()
LoadArray()
randomNumber = Int(1 + 10 * Rnd())
' For Each item As Integer In theArray


'show if there is a match
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The Random Number " & randomNumber
& " is in the Array")

'swap the numbers in the array
swap(i)

End If
Next
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("====Results ====")
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The Random Number is " & randomNumber)
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The array is/was " & strArray)
theArray.Clear()
End Sub

Private Sub swap(ByRef match As Integer)
Dim temp As Integer
temp = theArray(match)
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theArray(match) = theArray(movednumberposition)
theArray(movednumberposition) = temp

'make the next place the storage otherwise the same position gets
changed
movednumberposition += 1

'display the new swopped array

Next
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The new swapped array is " & strArray)
End Sub

Problems with this code:
If you search for an item, find it, and it moves to the top of the list when you search
for it later on it will be move to the new position further down the list! We can make a
rule that a data item is relocated to the beginning of the data set only if its location
lies outside the first 20% of the items in the data set.
To do this we add another criteria And i > (theArray.Count * 0.2) to the If statement
From
to
If theArray(i) = randomNumber And i > (theArray.Count * 0.2) Then

The other way we can rewrite the SeqSearch method is to swap a found item with
the element that precedes it in the data set similar to how data are sorted using the
Bubble sort.
Using this method the most frequently accessed items will eventually work their way
up to the beginning of the data set. This technique also guarantees that if an item is
already at the beginning of the data set it wont move back down.
Using the Bubble Sort exercise rewrite your code, or create a new version
of it to show this working.

This search still has a problem in that as the last item found goes in the next
available spot, there is nothing that shows what the number 1 searched item is. So if
someone searches for 3 90% of the time and then 5 there is nothing to show that 3
was far more important in searching than 5.
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How to solve this? Create a frequency table of items that shows how many times an
item has been searched for and sort by the frequency table.
Use a Dictionary (Key / Value) to hold the items in the array and change
the value, increment it by 1 each time a search has been made.

Page 237 2012
QuickSort Algorithm Divide and conquer
This is a very fast search algorithm with a small code footprint.
It is universally accepted that the QuickSort algorithm is the fastest sorting algorithm
and should be used for most sorting scenarios. The Sort method that is built into
several of the .NET Framework library classes is implemented using QuickSort,
which explains the dominance of QuickSort over other sorting algorithms.
To understand how the QuickSort algorithm works, imagine you are a teacher and
you have to alphabetize a stack of student papers.
You will pick a letter from the middle of the alphabet, such as M, putting student
papers whose name starts with A through M in one stack and those whose names
start with N through Z in another stack.
Then you split the AM stack into two stacks and the NZ stack into two stacks using
the same technique. Then you do the same thing again until you have a set of small
stacks (AC, DF,..., XZ) of two or three elements that sort easily.
Once the small stacks are sorted, you simply put all the stacks together and you
have a set of sorted papers.
As you should have noticed, this process is recursive, since each stack is divided into
smaller and smaller stacks. Once a stack is broken down into one element, that stack
cannot be further divided and the recursion stops.
How do we decide where to split the array into two halves? There are many choices,
but well start by just picking the first array element because if they are random,
chances are its not going to be the absolute top or bottom, just a number inbetween.

Once that choice is made, we next have to get the array elements into the proper
half of the array (keeping in mind that it is entirely possible that the two halves will
not be equal, depending on the splitting point).
Page 238 2012
(images from here http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/353509/Computer-
Algorithms-Quicksort )

Public Class Form1

Public Sub QSort()
'0 = first elelemt in the array, last element in the array
recQSort(0, theArray.Count - 1)
End Sub

Public Sub recQSort(ByVal first As Integer, ByVal last As Integer)
'recursion loop to divide down the array until if there is
nothing there stop
If ((last - first) <= 0) Then
Return
Else
'make a pivot from the last entry in the array
Dim pivot As Integer = theArray(last)
Dim part As Integer = Me.Partition(first, last)
'run the same sub again, repeatedly
recQSort(first, part - 1)
recQSort(part + 1, last)
End If
End Sub

Public Function Partition(ByVal first As Integer, ByVal last As
Integer) As Integer
Page 239 2012
'get the pivot from the first
Dim pivotVal As Integer = theArray(first)
'lbxdisplay.Items.Add("The pivotvalue is " & pivotVal)
'get the first element (0)
Dim theFirst As Integer = first
Dim okSide As Boolean
'add 1 to first to move along the array
first += 1
Do
'set to true
okSide = True
While (okSide) 'while its true
'if first is bitter than the pivot value
If (theArray(first) > pivotVal) Then
okSide = False
Else
first += 1
okSide = (first <= last) 'true
End If
End While
okSide = (first <= last)
While (okSide) 'is true

If (theArray(last) <= pivotVal) Then
okSide = False
Else
last -= 1
okSide = (first <= last)
End If
End While
'main engine swapping elements
If (first < last) Then
Swap(first, last)
display()
first += 1
last -= 1
End If

Loop While (first <= last)
Swap(theFirst, last)
display()
Return last
End Function
Public Sub Swap(ByVal item1 As Integer, ByVal item2 As Integer)
Dim temp As Integer = theArray(item1)
theArray(item1) = theArray(item2)
theArray(item2) = temp
End Sub
Page 240 2012

Sub display()
'display the new swopped array

Next
lbxdisplay.Items.Add("Swapped array: " & strArray)
End Sub

Private Sub btnsearch_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnsearch.Click


Randomize()
LoadArray()
QSort()
End Sub


Do While count < 20
count += 1
Loop
End Sub

Integer) As Integer
' by making Generator static, we preserve the same instance
(i.e., do not create new instances with the same seed over and over)
between calls
End Function
End Class

Page 241 2012
An Improvement to the QuickSort Algorithm
If the data in the array are random, then picking the first value as the pivot or
partition value is perfectly acceptable. Otherwise, however, making this choice will
inhibit the performance of the algorithm.
A popular method for picking this value is to determine the median value in the array.
You can do this by taking the upper bound of the array and dividing it by 2, for
example using the following code:

Dim pivotVal As Integer = (theArray.Count - 1) / 2

Studies have shown that using this strategy can reduce the running time of the
algorithm by about 5%

Page 242 2012
37. Stack and the Heap
Because all data types are based on the core Object class, every variable you
dimension can be assured of having a set of common characteristics. However, this
logical inheritance does not require a common physical implementation for all
variables.
This is important because while everything in .NET is based on the Object class,
under the covers .NET has two major implementations of types: value and reference.
For example, what most programmers consider to be some of the basic underlying
types, such as Integer, Long, Character, and even Byte, are not implemented as
classes. This is important, as youll see when you look at boxing and the cost of
transitioning between value types and reference types. The difference between value
types and reference types is an underlying implementation difference:
Value types represent simple data storage located on the stack. The stack is
used for items of a known size, so items on the stack can be retrieved faster
than those on the managed heap.
Reference types are based on complex classes with implementation
inheritance from their parent classes, and custom storage on the managed
heap. The managed heap is optimized to support dynamic allocation of
differently sized objects.
Note that the two implementations are stored in different portions of memory. As a
result, value types and reference types are treated differently within assignment
statements, and their memory management is handled differently. It is important to
understand how these differences affect the software you will write in Visual Basic.
Understanding the foundations of how data is manipulated in the .NET Framework
will enable you to build more reliable and better-performing applications.
Consider the difference between the stack and the heap. The stack is a
comparatively small memory area in which processes and threads store data of fixed
size. An integer or decimal value needs the same number of bytes to store data,
regardless of the actual value. This means that the location of such variables on the
stack can be efficiently determined. (When a process needs to retrieve a variable, it
has to search the stack. If the stack contained variables that had dynamic memory
sizes, then such a search could take a long time.)
Reference types do not have a fixed sizea string can vary in size from two bytes to
nearly all the memory available on a system. The dynamic size of reference types
means that the data they contain is stored on the heap, rather than the stack.
However, the address of the reference type (that is, the location of the data on the
heap) does have a fixed size, and thus can be (and, in fact, is) stored on the stack.
By storing a reference only to a custom allocation on the stack, the program as a
whole runs much more quickly, as the process can rapidly locate the data associated
with a variable.

Page 243 2012
38. Stack and Queue not done
Peak and poke

39. Delegates to do

40. Func and Lambda
In the simplest terms, a lambda expression is an anonymous method that is
sometimes referred to as an inline method or function. It is a function or
subroutine without a name that can be used wherever a delegate is valid. The
examples below use a Func to pass data in and out on the left hand side of the = and
a Lamba to calculate on the right hand side.
An anonymous method is an unnamed method that is created inline, or inside of a
method, rather than as a method block itself. Here is the lamba of the code below
Function(x As Integer) x * 2. Note that by itself it means nothing, its anonymous.
They behave just like any other method and can have both parameters and return
values. The lambda expression syntax starts with the keyword Function, which is
then followed by an argument list and a single expression.
The following is an example of a basic lambda expression definition. It defines
doubleIt as a lambda expression that takes an integer and returns an integer. The
lambda expression effectively takes the input, multiplies it by 2, and then returns the
result.
Dim doubleIt As Func(Of Integer, Integer) = Function(x As Integer) x * 2

Add the function in a button click (btnLambda) then put a number in the function
Me.Text = doubleIt(5) and run it to see it work.

You can see that the Func function to the left of the = has an in parameter and an
out parameter, in this case below both string. In the above example they were both
Integer. The Func type essentially a delegate that has the return type (out) specified
as the last generic parameter and allows up to four arguments to be supplied (in)
as the leading generic parameters

Page 244 2012

The second part after the = is the lambda. Here x is setting the string to Upper
Function(x As String) x.ToUpper()

By itself x means nothing, its only in the context of the first half of the code that the
use becomes apparent. A lambda expression can be used as an argument to
another function. In this case it is called a higher-order procedure.
Here are two parameters being passed to the lambda. Two strings in and one string
out. Each string in is then given a name (x and y) then acted upon and the result
returned. This is what is returned x.ToUpper() & " " & y.ToLower

Dim AddText As Func(Of String, String, String) = Function(x As String,
y As String) x.ToUpper() & " " & y.ToLower

Private Sub btnlambda_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
Handles btnlambda.Click
Me.Text = AddText("Some text", "SOME MORE TEXT")
End Sub

Lambdas are used extensively in database (Linq to Entities) coding and in C#.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb531253.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163362.aspx#S1

41. Unit Testing to do
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms182524%28v=vs.90%29.aspx
42. Recursion - incomplete
Recursion is repeatedly calling the same function to provide some meaningful output;
at least that's what a computer scientist will tell you. A more mathematical definition
of recursion is plugging in some start values into a function, getting the function's
results and reapplying them to the orginal function.
Now, we have to trace our way back up! See, the factorial function was called six
times. At any function level call, all function level calls above still exist! So, when we
have N = 2, the function instances where N = 3, 4, and 5 are still waiting for their
return values.
So, the function call where N = 1 gets retraced first, once the final guy returns 0. So,
the function call where N = 1 returns 1*1, or 1. The next higher function call, where N
Page 245 2012
= 2, returns 2 * 1 (1, because that's what the function call where N = 1 returned). You
just keep working up the chain.
Where N = 2, 2*1, or 2 was returned
And since N = 5 was the first function call (hence the last one to be recalled), the
value 120 is returned.
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/060299-2.shtml
Page 246 2012
43. Overloaded Methods
When we use a method or property, we type the dot and a list of methods or
properties pops up. For example in the MessageBox object, we click the dot type
the word Show and a left bracket and we can see this:

1 of 21 Show(Text as String etc
This says that there are 27 different uses of the Show method and as you type
through the parameters, the one it is expecting is made bold so you can see what to
type.
The way that has been achieved is to have several methods with the same name but
with different parameters.
First, we need to make a base class with some useful properties and methods. Lets
go for something that will translate a string from one thing to another. Im just going to
reverse the string in one method and reverse and make upper case in the other.
Right-click on the project name in the Solution Explorer at the right and add a class.
Name it Translate
Now we need to add two private member-variables, two properties and two methods.
As you can see, theres little going on here at all. Ive used two methods called
Process which have different parameters.
Public Class translate

Private _normText As String
Private _revText As String

' to hold the normal text (text to be processed)
Public Property NormText() As String
Get
Return _normText
End Get
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_normText = value
End Set
End Property

' to hold the finished (processed) text
Public ReadOnly Property RevText() As String
Get
Return _revText
End Get
End Property

' first process method
Public Overloads Sub Process(ByVal t As String)
Dim temp As String
Dim j As Integer
temp = ""
For j = t.Length - 1 To 0 Step -1
temp &= t.Substring(j, 1)
Next
_revText = temp
End Sub

' second process method (has an extra Boolean parameter)
Public Overloads Sub Process(ByVal t As String, ByVal caps As
Boolean)
Dim temp As String
Dim j As Integer
temp = ""
For j = t.Length - 1 To 0 Step -1
temp &= t.Substring(j, 1)
Next
'new
If caps Then
_revText = temp.ToUpper
Else
_revText = temp.ToLower
End If
End Sub
End Class

You can see that we have a bit of functionality here and the two properties which will
contain the Normal text and the Processed text.
We need to make a form now that will let us use this class. We need a couple of text
boxes and a couple of buttons. Heres mine:
Page 248 2012

Please name the textboxes - top one txtNorm and bottom one txtRev
Also, the first button is btnRev and the second is txtRevCaps, the top Radiobutton
rb1 and the other rb2. Change the Text and Check Upper Case

Add a suitable caption to the form by changing its Text property, now we can set up
the code.
Public Class Form1
Dim trans As New translate

Private Sub btnreverse_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles btnreverse.Click
If txtNorm.Text <> "" Then
' load the normal text
Trans.NormText = txtNorm.Text

' process it using the first method (no boolean)
Trans.Process(txtNorm.Text)

' display result
txtresult.Text = trans.RevText
End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnRC_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnRC.Click
If txtnorm.Text <> "" Then
' load the normal text
trans.NormText = txtnorm.Text

' process it - force the second method by adding a boolean value
If rbUpperCase.Checked Then
trans.Process(txtnorm.Text, True)
Else
Here I have two text
boxes

and two buttons
and two Radio
Buttons
Page 249 2012
trans.Process(txtnorm.Text, False)
End If

' display result
txtresult.Text = trans.RevText
End If

End Sub

Private Sub txtresult_Enter(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e
As System.EventArgs) Handles txtresult.Enter
' don't want people typing here so send them to txtNorm
txtnorm.Focus()

End Sub
End Class

OK - now to explain the code. We need a global Translator object because I want to
use it from one or other of the button clicks so Ive created a global variable called
Trans of type Translator.
Then, we dont want people to click into the textbox txtresult so Ive put a bit of code
there that says when focus enters this control, send it back to txtNorm
Finally, theres the button click code for each button. Pretty much the same except for
the Boolean parameter which is passed through to the method causing it to use the
second Process method. ByVal caps As Boolean

If caps Then
_revText = temp.ToUpper 'this is the true
Else
_revText = temp.ToLower 'this is the false
End If
Back in the code
If rbUpperCase.Checked Then
trans.Process(txtnorm.Text, True)
Else
trans.Process(txtnorm.Text, False)
End If
We could have left out the code handling the Boolean and it still would have used the
second Process method to be used. Ive used True for upper-case and False for
lower-case. But we could add whatever code we required.
Heres three runs of the program. First just the first button and then the second
button.

Page 250 2012

So here we can see that each of the possible outcomes has been tested to ensure
that everything worked as planned.

Here, the first button was
clicked giving the
expected result
Whereas here, the
second button was
clicked showing that it
used the second method -
radio button set to Upper
Case
Again here, the second
button was clicked
showing that it used the
second method - radio
button set to Lower
Case
Page 251 2012
ADO.Net 4 and SQL

44. TSQL Cheat Sheet

String Functions
Exact Numerics
Bit Tinyint Smallint
Bigint Decimal Money
Numeric
Approximate Numerics
Float Real
Date and Time
Smalldatetime Datetime
Timestamp

Strings
Char Varchar Text

Unicode Strings
Nchar Nvarchar Ntext

Binary Strings
Binary Image Varbinary
Miscellaneous
Cursor Table Xml
Sql_variant

Common Functions
AVG() Returns the average value
COUNT() Returns the number of rows
FIRST() Returns the first value
LAST() Returns the last value
MAX() Returns the largest value
MIN() Returns the smallest value
SUM() Returns the sum

UCASE() - Converts a field to upper case
LCASE() - Converts a field to lower case
MID() - Extract characters from a text field
LEN() - Returns the length of a text field
ROUND() - Rounds a numeric field to the
number of decimals specified
NOW() - Returns the current system date
and time
FORMAT() - Formats how a field is to be
displayed
Date Functions
DATEADD (datepart, number, date)
DATEDIFF (datepart, start, end)
DATENAME (datepart, date)
DATEPART (datepart, date)
DAY (date)
GETDATE()
GETUTCDATE()
MONTH (date)
YEAR (date)
Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause
With the WHERE clause, the following
operators can be used:
Operator Description
= Equal
<> Not equal
> Greater than
< Less than
>= Greater than or equal
<= Less than or equal

BETWEEN Between an inclusive range
LIKE Search for a pattern
IN To specify multiple possible
values for a column
Note: In some versions of SQL the <>
operator may be written as !=
Logical processing order of select
FROM table
ON join condition
JOIN table
WHERE clauses
GROUP BY columns
WITH CUBE / WITH ROLLUP
HAVING condition
SELECT columns
DISTINCT
ORDER BY columns
TOP % or number
Page 252 2012
CTES - Common Table Expressions
WITH cteName ( columnList )
AS ( SELECT statement )
SELECT columns
FROM cteName
INNER JOIN table ON condition
Recursive CTEs
WITH cteName ( columnList )
AS ( -- Anchor statement:
SELECT columns FROM table
UNION ALL
Recursion statement:
SELECT columns FROM table
INNER JOIN cteName ON
)
SELECT columns
FROM cteName
Over and partition by
/* Aggregate functions include COUNT,
MIN, MAX, AVG, ROW_COUNT(), etc. */
SELECT
agg_func(col1) OVER(),
agg_func(col1)
OVER(PARTITION BY col2),
columns
FROM table
Create a Stored Procedure
CREATE PROCEDURE name
@variable AS datatype = value
AS
-- Comments
SELECT * FROM table
GO
Create a Trigger
CREATE TRIGGER name
ON
table
FOR
DELETE, INSERT, UPDATE
AS
-- Comments
SELECT * FROM table
GO

8 March 2013 Vision College Introduction to VB.Net
Page 253 2013
Introduction
Most of today's applications need to interact with database systems to persist, edit or view
data. In .NET, data access services are provided through ADO.NET components. ADO.NET
is an object oriented framework that allows you to interact with database systems. We usually
interact with database systems through SQL queries or stored procedures.
The best thing about ADO.NET is that it is extremely flexible and efficient. ADO.NET also
introduces the concept of disconnected data architecture.
In traditional data access components, you made a connection to the database system and then
interacted with it through SQL queries using the connection. The application stays connected
to the DB system even when it is not using DB services. This commonly wastes valuable and
expensive database resources, as most of the time applications only query and view the
persistent data.
ADO.NET solves this problem by managing a local buffer of persistent data called a data set.
Your application automatically connects to the database server when it needs to run a query
and then disconnects immediately after getting the result back and storing it in the dataset.
This design of ADO.NET is called disconnected data architecture and is very much similar to
the connectionless services of HTTP on the internet. It should be noted that ADO.NET also
provides connection oriented traditional data access services.
Traditional DB creates a continuous connection tying up resources.

ADO just connects in to create a subset of the database, a DataSet

Another important aspect of disconnected architecture is that it maintains a local repository of
data in the dataset object. The dataset object stores the tables, their relationships and their
different constraints. The user can perform operations like update, insert and delete on this
local dataset. The changes made to the dataset are applied to the actual database as a batch
when needed. This greatly reduces network traffic and results in better performance.
ADO.NET provides data access services in the Microsoft .NET platform.
Page 254 2013
You can use ADO.NET to access data by using the .NET Framework data providers which
are:
Data Provider for SQL Server (System.Data.SqlClient).
Data Provider for OLEDB (System.Data.OleDb).
Data Provider for ODBC (System.Data.Odbc).
Data Provider for Oracle (System.Data.OracleClient).
There are two central components of ADO.NET classes: the DataSet, and the .NET
Framework Data Provider.
Data Provider is a set of components including:
the Connection object (SqlConnection, OleDbConnection,
OdbcConnection, OracleConnection)
the Command object (SqlCommand, OleDbCommand, OdbcCommand,
OracleCommand)
the DataReader object (SqlDataReader, OleDbDataReader,
OdbcDataReader, OracleDataReader)
and the DataAdapter object (SqlDataAdapter, OleDbDataAdapter,
OdbcDataAdapter, OracleDataAdapter).
DataSet object represents a disconnected cache of data which is made up of
DataTables and DataRelations that represent the result of the command.
ADO.NET was built for a disconnected architecture , so it enables truly disconnected
data access and data manipulation through its Dataset Object, which is completely
independent from the Data Source.
The ADO.NET Object Model

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How it works
You first get a connection to a data source, which means using a data provider to
access a database. The default data provider that Visual Basic .NET works with is
Microsoft's SQL Server, version 7.0 or later, and I'll use that data provider in this
book.
However, Visual Basic also can work with any data provider that can support Open
Database Connectivity (ODBC), such as Oracle. To work with SQL server, you use
ADO.NET SQLConnection objects, and to work with any other data provider, you
use ADO.NET OleDbConnection objects.
Tip Studies have shown that data access with Visual Basic .NET is up to
70 percent faster with SQL Server connections than with standard OLE-
DB connections.
After you have a connection to a data source, you create a data adapter to work with
that data. You need a data adapter because datasets do not maintain any active
connection to the databasethey are disconnected from the database.
The data adapter is what actually applies your SQL statements to a database and
causes your datasets to fill with data. Data adapters are there to apply your
commands to the database because datasets are disconnected from that
databaseand they're fundamental to the whole process. To work with the SQL
Server data provider, you use SQLDataAdapter objects, and to work with ODBC
data providers, you use OleDbAdapter objects.
Once you have a data adapter, you can generate a dataset using that adapter.
Datasets are what you actually work with in your code when you want to use data
from databases. (Although, note that in addition to datasets, there are also data
readers, which are fast, read-only mini-datasets that you can only move through
records with in ascending order)
For example, to get access to the data in a table, I would
1. first create a connection to the database the table was stored in,
2. then create an adapter with the SQL to retrieve that table (for example, if the
table was named students, that SQL might be "SELECT * FROM students"),
and
3. then fill a DataSet object using that adapter. Note that each data adapter can
handle only one SQL query at a time, but DataSet objects can store multiple
tables, and to place multiple tables in a dataset, you can use multiple data
adapterssee "Adding Multiple Tables to a Dataset" in this chapter.
Tip The names of tables and fields in datasets are case-insensitive, so the
students table is the same as the Students table or the STUDENTS
table.
Those are the three objects that it's essential to know about:
1. Data connections to connect to the database,
2. Data adapters to execute SQL with
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3. and datasets to store the dataas returned from data adaptersthat your
code will actually work on.
That's a simplified view, because there are many other objects, but it fits the majority
of scenarios..
When you decide whether your application should use a DataReader or a DataSet
consider the type of functionality that your application requires.
Use a DataSet to do the following:
Cache data locally in your application so that you can manipulate it. If you only
need to read the results of a query, the DataReader is the better choice.
Remote data between tiers or from an XML Web service.
Interact with data dynamically such as binding to a Windows Forms control or
combining and relating data from multiple sources.
Perform extensive processing on data without requiring an open connection to
the data source, which frees the connection to be used by other clients.
DataReader
If you do not require the functionality provided by the DataSet, you can improve the
performance of your application by using the DataReader to return your data in a
forward-only, read-only manner.
Although the DataAdapter uses the DataReader to fill the contents of a DataSet, by
using the DataReader, you can boost performance because you will save memory
that would be consumed by the DataSet, and avoid the processing that is required to
create and fill the contents of the DataSet.
Accessing Data using ADO.NET overview
Data access using ADO.NET involves the following steps:
Defining the connection string for the database server
Defining the connection (SqlConnection or OleDbConnection) to the
database using a connection string
Defining the command (SqlCommand or OleDbCommand) or command string
that contains the query
Defining the Data Adapter (SqlDataAdapter or OleDbDataAdapter) using the
command string and the connection object
Creating a new DataSet object
If the SQL command is SELECT, filling the DataSet object with the results of
the query through the Data Adapter
Reading the records from the DataTables in the DataSets using the
DataRow and DataColumn objects
If the SQL command is UPDATE, INSERT or DELETE. The dataset will be
updated through the data adapter
Accepting to save the changes in the DataSet to the database
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DataSet
The DataSet is a cache of data that is stored in memory. Its a lot like a mini
database engine, but its data exists in memory. You can use it to store data in tables,
and using the DataView component you can query the data in various ways.
The DataSet is very powerful. In addition to storing data in tables, it stores a rich
amount of metadata, or data about the data. This includes things like table and
column names, data types, and the information needed to manage and undo
changes to the data. All of this data is represented in memory in Extensible Markup
Language (XML). A DataSet can be saved to an XML file and then loaded back into
memory very easily. It can also be passed in XML format over networks, including
the Internet.
Because the DataSet component stores all of the data in memory, you can scroll
through the data both forward and backward, and make updates to the data in
memory.
DataGridView
The DataGridView control is a container that allows you to bind data from your data
source and have it displayed in a spreadsheet-like format, displaying the columns of
data horizontally and the rows of data vertically.
The DataGridView also provides many properties that allow you to customize the
appearance of the component itself, as well as properties that allow you to customize
the column headers and the display of data.
More important, though, are the quick links at the bottom of the Properties window for
the Data- GridView, which allow you to customize the appearance of the
DataGridView itself through several predefined format styles.
BindingSource
The BindingSource acts like a bridge between your data source (DataSet) and your
data-bound controls (that is, controls that are bound to data components). Any
interaction with the data from your controls goes through the BindingSource, which in
turn communicates with your data source.
For example, your DataGridView control will be initially filled with data. When you
request that a column be sorted, the DataGridView control will communicate that
intention to the BindingSource, which in turn communicates that intention to the data
source.
The BindingSource is the component that you will bind to the DataSource property of
your controls.
BindingNavigator
The BindingNavigator control provides a standard UI that enables you to navigate
through the records in your data source. The BindingNavigator control is bound to
your BindingSource component much like the DataGridView control is. When you
click the Next button in the BindingNavigator, it in turn sends a request to the
BindingSource for the next record, and the BindingSource in turn sends the request
to the data source.
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TableAdapter
Theres one last component to talk about: the TableAdapter. This component does
not reside in the Toolbox but can be automatically generated for you depending on
how you add your data access components to your project.
The TableAdapter contains the query that is used to select data from your database,
as well as connection information for connecting to your database. It also contains
methods that will fill the DataSet in your project with data from the database. You can
also choose to have the TableAdapter generate INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE
statements based on the query that is used to select data.
Data Binding
Data binding means taking data referenced by your BindingSource and binding it to a
control. In other words, the control will receive its data from your data access
components, and the data will be automatically displayed in the control for the user to
see and manipulate. In Visual Basic 2010, most controls support some level of data
binding. Some are specifically designed for it, such as the DataGridView and
TextBox.
ADO.NET Namespaces
System.Data namespace contains
System.data.SqlClient for accessing SQL Server databases
System.Data.OleDb for accessing OLE DB-compliant databases
(e.g. ACCESS)

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Creating a Data Connection using the Wizard
Turn on the data Sources tab

Choose a database from the options

Go Browse to find your database (assuming you have put it somewhere easy to find
like C Drive first)

Choose your database (4 ships)

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Choose YES to copy the file into your current project.

Choose all the objects to have in your dataset.

You now have a working database in your Project!

Drag the following fields onto your form and run.

Drag an ID field on to your form first to set the data properties
then when you use a DataGridView it will all work OK.
Otherwise its a pain in the ***

Each time you built your project the database file is copied to the output directory and
used from there. Any changes you make during the build to the DB is lost when you
rebuild it as the original DB is reloaded over the existing one you are using. Set the
Copy to Output setting to copy if newer so that the copy in the output directory wont
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be overwritten unless the database file on the project directory contains the more
current data.

Click Show all Files to see the dataset created from the
database. The Files in the Solution Explorer are called
the Schema.

Drag a DataGridView onto your form from the Data
Toolbox. It displays data from the data source in a grid.
The toolbar is also added at the same time.

The DataGridView adds 5 objects to the design tray at the bottom.
The Dataset contains the table used
The TableAdapter provides commands that can be used with the table in the
database. Also manages the flow of data between the database and the dataset.
The TableAdapterManager to write the data in two or more tables to the database
to ensure integrity.
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The BindingNavigator defines the toolbar that contains the controls for working
with the data source.

The code behind the program to date
The TableAdapter Fill method loads the data into the DataSet Object.
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
'TODO: This line of code below loads data into the
'_4shipsDataSet.Ships' table. You can move, or remove it, as needed.
Me.ShipsTableAdapter.Fill(Me._4shipsDataSet.Ships)
End Sub

When the user changes data in the DataGridView the changes are updated to the
However the changes arent saved to the database until the user clicks save on the
Toolbar with the ShipsBindingNavigatorSaveItem_Click
Private Sub ShipsBindingNavigatorSaveItem_Click(ByVal sender As
ShipsBindingNavigatorSaveItem.Click
Me.Validate()
Me.ShipsBindingSource.EndEdit()
Me.TableAdapterManager.UpdateAll(Me._4shipsDataSet)

End Sub
Me.Validate() does stuff mostly unimportant that validates the data to be saved.
Me.ShipsBindingSource.EndEdit() ends the editing on that row and allows it to be
saved. Data on a row cant be saved until the next row is selected.
Me.TableAdapterManager.UpdateAll(Me._4shipsDataSet). Saves the changes back to the
database

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How to use the Dataset Designer
Choose the dataset designer to work with a graphical interface.
Note how it works with 2 tables. Although it looks like ShipName is connected to
Surname, its not, its connected to Boat.

Note the TableAdapter lists the queries used in each table. Fill is
the main query and generates the Insert, Update and delete statements for the table.
The SQL statement from the Query is found in the Properties window.

Right click on a query and Preview Data to see what your query retrieves.

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Text Boxes - Formatting and Advanced Binding
Drag a textbox onto the form from the Data Sources

Build the program at least once to tie in the fields to the dataset. Then when you look
in the Properties you will see under Text the BindingSource.
If you see that then when you click on DataBindings you will find (Advanced)

Click on (Advanced) to open the Formatting and Advanced Binding window

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Using a DataGrid to create a Master/Detail form
A form that displays data from a main and related table is called a
Master/Detail Form.
You can see the relationship in the DataSources Window, The ship-
Name table shows up twice also nested under the Ships Table. This
indicates that the tables have a relationship with each other.
To create a DataGridView control simply drag the ship-Name table
from this subordinate place into the form and it immediately creates
the correct binding source and table adapter objects.

Change the columns using the smart tag system to edit, and delete fields using the
check boxes.

Header Text is the field at the top of the column.
Edit this to better describe the contents of the
column.

You can edit the cell style to format the
columns by clicking on Default Cell Style.

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Add columns to your grid that hold extra features
such as Buttons, text boxes, and combo boxes.
Add the button detail and then use the Edit columns
to set the following

Here is what it looks like .

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Creating a Parameterized Query
Click on the Smart tab for the ID field then select Add Query and call it
FillByPassengerID

We are going to make a Paramaterised Query where someone types in the ID to see
the people,. So add Where ID = ? to the Query text as above.
Note: We are using ? as it is understood by an MDB based table if it was
an SQL DB it would be ID = @ID.
Now when you type in a number and click on the FillBy button it shows the person

Click on the Smart Tab on the Data Grid and choose New Query
Add Where Boat = ? and save it as By Boat Name.
Now when you run it you can type in the boat name and see the boat.
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Back in the dataset Schema you can see the Query you have created

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Create a new 4 new buttons on the same toolbar line as shown below.

Name them Sir George Seymour, Cressy, Randolph, Charlotte Jane. Set them as

In the Copy the code you made for the first button FillByBoatName and replace them
with the names of the ships like
Private Sub btnRandolph_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnRandolph.Click
'Randolph
Try

Me.ShipsTableAdapter.FillByboatname1(Me._4shipsDataSet.Ships,
"Randolph")
Catch ex As System.Exception
System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
End Try

End Sub

Finally you end up with something like

And then you can delete the first Fillbyboatname.

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Creating Queries in the Table Adapter
You can add queries directly to the table Adapter and then call them from the
program.

Follow the windows

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SELECT ID, Surname, [First names], Age, Sex, Status, Children, Family,
Occupation, Fare, Cabin, Boat, Type, Embarked, DELATE FROM Ships
WHERE type = 'Colonist'
Order By Surname

Fill the existing datatable

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Back in your code make a new button on the toolbar and call it Colonist
In the code for it add the following.
Private Sub TSBcolonist_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles TSBcolonist.Click
Try
Me.ShipsTableAdapter.FillByColonist(Me._4shipsDataSet.Ships)

End Try
End Sub

Clicking the Colonist button should return the following.

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Return a single value from the Database
Create a Query as shown above then choose Single Value. Use the SQL statement
SELECT AVG(Age) FROM Ships and save as AverageAge

Create a button called AverageAge. I have also tidied up
the tool bars deleting out the early stuff.

Add the code below
Me.ShipsTableAdapter.AverageAge() gets the function
(its called a function because it returns a value) and formats it to 2 decimal places
and passes to a label.
There is also a test one passed to the me.Text
Private Sub TSBAverageAge_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles TSBAverageAge.Click
Try
Me.Text = Me.ShipsTableAdapter.AverageAge()
lblage.Text = "Average age " &
FormatNumber(Me.ShipsTableAdapter.AverageAge(), 1)
End Try
End Sub

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Using the same structure as above create a query
and attach it to a button called How Many Males
that counts how many males there are on the ship.
SELECT COUNT(Sex) FROM Ships
WHERE Sex = 'M'
Output it to the lblage.Text field

Create a third query to find how many of the males are married. Add the output to the
lblage.text field to generate an output as seen below.

Using the table below find the oldest and the youngest males. Make 2 new queries to
hold each data using MAX and MIN.

Output as a string in the same label as seen here

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Using the Query Builder
Instead of creating the SQL manually you can use a Query Builder to make it for you.
This can be easier and more accurate than making it yourself however you lose the
ego boost of writing a good SQL Statement.
Create a new Query as we have earlier however when you enter the SQL window
click the button.
As you build your Query it automatically writes the SQL and when you want to see
the output you press
Create the Query Below by unclicking the Delate field at the top, then adding in the
following filters
WHERE (Boat = 'Cressy') AND (Age < 30) AND (Sex = 'M')

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Create a button on the Form to show the Data in the same table.

Create a new Query to find all people whos first name begins with B and are
between 10 and 50 years old
Wildcard characters are shown with a %. B% means every word starting with B.
A range of numbers or dates can be given with the BETWEEN term
WHERE ([First names] LIKE 'B%') AND (Age BETWEEN 10 AND 50)

Create a button to show them off as per the last exercise.

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You can create an expression, a calculated field and name it in the Alias field.
The COUNT will count how many of each type of boat there is, and when combined
with Group By will show how many people came on each boat. People is a name
given to the new field that is created, the name of the Expression.
Group By will list each unique entry of Boats (ie: the 4 of them).
SELECT Boat, COUNT(Boat) AS People
FROM Ships
GROUP BY Boat

Note: this query doesnt output correctly back on the form. I am not sure why.
However the design is still important.

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45. Practical Creating queries with the Cars
Database
Create a new application and import the Cars database to use.
1. Build a DataGrid and load the data into it.
2. Resize the columns to get a better view of the contents.
3. Move AP (Automatic Price Price for Automatic cars) and MP (manual Price
for cars) to 4th and 5th place.
4. Delete the deleted field.

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Using the NZ Cars database, create queries to solve the problems below. Save each
query that you create on a button on the ToolBarStrip
1. List the make and model of cars that have 2 Doors
2. Count the number of automatic cars in the database.
3. List the make and model of automatic cars that have two doors.
4. Count the number automatic cars that have two doors.
5. List in alphabetical order of make, then model the cars that are less than
1000 cc
6. Count the number of cars that are less than 1000 cc
7. Fred's garage will only fit a car that is 3500mm or less. How many different
car models can he choose from? Create a query that returns the number of
cars.
8. Find the Make and Model of the highest priced automatic BMW. Hint you
need to use two queries in a similar way to the above problem.
9. List in order of make then model the cars that have 5 doors, are manual
and have a power rating that is greater than or equal to 70kw and less than
or equal to 80kw.
10. Modify the query in 10 above so that it returns the number of cars. Hint
Use the count function and change 'Group by' to 'Where'
11. Tom wants to buy a new car that in the price range 20000 to 23000 dollars
inclusive. He doesn't want a make that starts with either the letter T or the
letter F. Produce a list in alphabetic order of Make of the cars that fit these
criteria.
12. Produce a list of manual cars in order of make then model for all cars that
have the letters 'gt' in their model name.
13. Mary is a Toyota car dealer and is going to stock one of each model of the
manual Toyota cars that are in the database. How much is this going to
cost her.
14. Produce a listing in alphabetic order of make then model of all cars that are
available in both manual and automatic versions.
15. Create a query to count and list the number of car models available for
each make of car in the database.
16. Construct a query to calculate and list the average capacity (cc) for each
Make of car in the database.
17. Mary is a fastidious buyer and has decided that she will only buy a car if
the Model name starts with "F" or "C" and the model has the letter "i" in it,
is an automatic and has a capacity (cc) that is less than 3 litres. What cars
fit these criteria.
18. All cars in this database have GST added. Create a query to give both
automatic and manual car prices without GST added i.e. exclusive GST.
19. Find the make and model of the shortest car? To answer this question you
need to setup two queries. The first query simply finds the minimum value
for car length. The second query combines this with the fields Make and
Model to give you the make and model of the shortest car.

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46. Using manual Connections
Setting up SQL Server
Before we create a manual connection your computer has to be set up to run the
SQL database.
We are running Microsofts latest SQL Server 2012 which can be easily downloaded
for free from the Microsoft website.

When you have installed it you have the following shortcuts loaded onto your Start
menu

Click on SQL Management Studio to activate the SQL Server.
In your Object Explorer you should be able to see
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The top line is the name of your computer\SQLExpress and in brackets the path to
the Database you will use. (Mine is on the desktop)
If you DONT see this then you need to do the following.
Go to the SQL Server Configuration Manager back on your Start Menu bar

Right Click on the Server Agent and start it.

Hopefully that will get you going.

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If you see nothing in that window, you are really screwed. Try this.
When you cannot add a Database
1. Make sure you have administrative rights on the computer
2. Uninstall the existing SQL Server 2008 and all the components from the control panel.
Remember to backup the user databases before uninstalling SQL Server.
3. Backup the registry.
4. Delete the following keys in regedit:
--HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server
--HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer
5. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
and delete all the sub-keys referencing SQL Server.
6. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and delete all the
keys referencing SQL Server.
7. Rename all the SQL Server folders in the computer.
8. Download and install Windows Cleanup Utility: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=290301
Run the utility and remove any SQL Server components that you find.
9. Reboot the machine
10. Download and install Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-
81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en
Download and install Windows Installer 4.5. (Windows 7 has Windows Installer 4.5)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942288
Check if the computer has Visual Studio 2008. If so, you need to install Visual Studio
2008 SP1. For more information, please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956139
Download SQL Server 2008 Express Edition Service Pack 1 and install it:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=01AF61E6-2F63-4291-
BCAD-FD500F6027FF&displaylang=en
How to restore administrator access to a SQL server
I recently obtained a development machine that had SQL Server 2008 installed.
Unfortunately, I got this error:
CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master'
Despite being an administrator on the box, AND having launched Management Studio in
Administrator mode (on Windows 7). Attempts to grant myself permissions, or to make any
changes to SQL server resulted in:
User does not have permission to perform this action( Microsoft SQL
Server, Error:15247)
This all happened because I was not a SQL Server administrator despite being an
administrator on the box itself. This is a new situation in SQL Server 2008. In SQL Server
2005, the local Administrators group was part of the SQL Server administrators. It turns out
that only the person who installed SQL Server is a SQL Server administrator. Since that
person was not available, I was faced with either uninstalling and reinstalling, or getting into
an argument with SQL Server.
Being stubborn, I chose to argue. I knew as an Administrator I could do anything I wanted, it
was just a matter of finding the right registry keys/files/whatever to add myself to the group.
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The trick is to put SQL server into single-user maintenance mode so that it ignores
authentication.
NOTE: In all of the examples below, you may have to change parameters or command-lines
based on your server name and instance name.
Force SQL server to support mixed-mode authentication
1. Run REGEDIT
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQLServer
NOTE: This key will vary slightly based on the installed version and instance name.
3. Set "LoginMode" to 2.
(Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285097)
4. Restart SQL Server.
Force SQL server to let you in temporarily
1. Go to services.
2. Stop SQL Server.
3. Grab the SQL server command-line (right click the service - properties). Mine is:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" -sSQLEXPRESS
4. Open an administrative command prompt.
5. Run the command-line from step 3, but add -m -c for single-user maintenance mode
command-line.
6. Open another administrative command prompt.
7. Run cd C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn
8. Run sqlcmd -S localhost\SQLEXPRESS from that same directory (replace with your
server and instance name)
9. Now you can do all the stuff everyone told you to do that didn"t work. For example, to
create a hero user with administrative access: CREATE LOGIN hero WITH
PASSWORD="123", DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english],
CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF, CHECK_POLICY=OFF
EXEC sys.sp_addsrvrolemember @loginame = "hero", @rolename = "sysadmin"
GO
10. QUIT and close the command-prompt
11. Go to the SQL Server command-line window and hit ctrl+C. It will prompt "Do you wish
to shutdown SQL Server (Y/N)?" and enter Y.
12. Close the command-prompt
(Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd207004.aspx)
Finally, login using your hero
1. Restart the SQL Server service
2. Login using SQL Server authentication as the user "hero" with password "123"
3. *BAM* now you are in. Now give yourself sysadmin access, etc, etc.

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Loading in your Golf Database
Once SQL Server is running we need to load in the database.
Right click on Database and then you can choose to Add a new DB or Create one.

In this exercise we will create an empty Database and import data for it.
Call your DB GOLF and click OK< we dont need to create tables for it.

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Right Click on Golf, Click on Tasks and Import Data.

Choose the Microsoft Access Jet Database Engine for DataSource then click Browse
and find the Golf Database and click Open and then go Next

In the next window check the destination is going to the Golf DB (Mine is Golf2)

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After another window you will see the table to
choose, just choose the Golf table, the others
are queries.

Then Next, then when asked run it.

Success! Data has been imported into your Database.
This is really handy on a number of levels, firstly you dont have to add
data by hand to your database and secondly you can change from Access
to SQL easily for small databases.

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Check that your data has arrived safely by running a simple SQL query
Run a Query in SQL Express
Click on New Query and in the window below type SELECT * FROM golf. This will
select all the fields from the Golf table.
Then click to see your fields.

You should have Query Executed Successfully and 32 rows at the bottom of the
screen

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Creating an SQL Connection
Specify a connection string containing all the information required to open a
connection to the database. Either use the constructor of the SqlConnection object
or set it using the property SqlConnection.ConnectionString.
The following information is required
Server name of the SQL server to be accessed. - usually localhost if SQL Server is
on the same machine as the one running VS .NET, or the computer name followed
by a backslash followed by the named instance of SQL Server)
Database the name of the database you want to connect to.
UserID * an account with this name will need to exist in SQL Server and have
permission to access the specified database.
Password * for the specified user
SQL Server can be setup to use the Account of the user who is running the program.
In this case you dont need to specify a username and password.
Specify that you are using Integrated Security. Set IntegratedSecurity = True in
the connection string. Note that the user will still require permission to use the SQL
Server database this is granted using the SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
On a new Form under Form Load add the following to set the connection path.
Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Me.Load
'Create the DB connection
Dim connection As New SqlConnection
Dim connectionString As String = "Data
Source=localhost\sqlexpress;Initial Catalog=golf;" & "Integrated
Security=True"
connection.ConnectionString = connectionString

Connect using SqlConnection Class
To execute a query properties must first be set on the SqlCommand object. The
command will usually be a Select, Insert, Update or Delete query. It can be either a
SQL string or a call to a stored procedure. The query may contain parameters if
desired.
The simplest method is to initialise a SqlCommand object with no parameters and
later set the properties required. Generally SqlCommand objects arent used on their
own but rather with Data Adapters or DataReaders.
You must set the Connection property on the SqlCommand object before the query
can be executed.
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You must also set the CommandText property to specify the SQL string or stored
procedure to be executed. Most databases require all string values to be in single
quotes:
'select the data
Dim selectcommand As New SqlCommand
selectcommand.Connection = connection

Dim selectStatement As String =
"SELECT * " & "FROM Golf ORDER by ID"
selectcommand.CommandText = selectStatement

You could specify multiple tables in this section

Opening and Closing the Connection
theConnection.Open()
theConnection.Close()
Next we have to open the connection, and read in the data to a class called Golf.
Then close the Reader and Close the Connection.
Create a new class called Golf and add the Properties. (Example below)
Public Class Golf
Private _id As Integer
Private _Surname As String
Private _Firstname As String
Private _Title As String
Private _Gender As String
Private _DOB As Date
Private _Street As String
Private _Suburb As String
Private _City As String
Private _Available As Integer
Private _Handicap As Integer

Public Property ID() As Integer
Get
Return _id
End Get
_id = value
End Set
End Property

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Public Property Surname() As String
Get
Return _Surname
End Get
_Surname = value
End Set
End Property
Etc ... add the rest of the properties as well.
Once we have the Class created we can pass the data to it using the reader.
'read in the data with a datareader open the data connection
connection.Open()
'instantiate a reader close the connection when the data reader is
closed
Dim reader As SqlDataReader =
selectcommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection)

Dim Golf As New Golf
'read the data into the class
Do While reader.Read()
Golf = New Golf
Golf.ID = reader("ID")
Golf.Title = reader("Title").ToString
Golf.Firstname = reader("Firstname").ToString
Golf.Surname = reader("Surname").ToString
Golf.Gender = reader("Gender").ToString
Golf.DOB = reader("DOB")
Golf.Street = reader("Street").ToString
Golf.Suburb = reader("Suburb").ToString
Golf.City = reader("City").ToString
Golf.Available = reader("Available week days")
Golf.Handicap = reader("Handicap")
Loop
reader.Close()
connection.Close()

Once the data has been added it can then be worked with.

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Display data in a ListView
So we presumably have some data but we cant see it. Lets create a ListView to load
the data in so that we know everything is working OK.
From the Toolbox drag on a ListView and name it LVGolf
In the Property name 10 columns with the appropriate
names as shown below. I changed the TEXT property and the NAME property to the
same.
In the View Property set it to Details

We need to add the code to read the data into a listview. Although we have a whole
bunch of columns you cant just specify them in a listview as it only really holds one
item down the page. The columns are really pseudo columns. Therefore we need to
use the .SubItems. property to align the extra columns.
We also use With and End With to tell the program to add them together.
Add this code underneath your Golf.Handicap = reader("Handicap") code.
With LVgolf.Items.Add(Golf.ID)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Title)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Firstname)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Surname)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Gender)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.DOB)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Street)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Suburb)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.City)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Available)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Handicap)
End With

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Returning Scalar (single) value
Create a new button. Call it BTNCount

You can also create Scalar queries to return a single value. In this example we will
use a simple COUNT to show on the button how many Golfers there are. Copy the
code from the Form Load section and change the SQL Query to see it run.
Private Sub btncount_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btncount.Click
Source=localhost\sqlexpress;Initial Catalog=golf;" &"Integrated
Security=True"

selectcommand.Connection = connection

"SELECT COUNT(ID)" &
"FROM Golf"
connection.Open()
btncount.Text = selectcommand.ExecuteScalar
connection.Close()
End Sub

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Insert Command

The insert command inserts the data "VALUES ('40','title', 'fn', 'sn', 'F', 23/12/56,
'street', 'suburb','city',-1,'56')" into the table at the last row. The problem, as we will
find with the next set of data is that this is fixed.
Using the code in the Insert, Update, and Delete commands, create a way to add
code that is dynamic, using text boxes.
Private Sub btninsert_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btninsert.Click
Source=localhost\sqlexpress;Initial Catalog=golf;" &
"Integrated Security=True"

Dim insertcommand As New SqlCommand
insertcommand.Connection = connection

Dim insertStatement As String = "INSERT INTO Golf (ID, Title,
Firstname, Surname, Gender, DOB, Street, Suburb, City, [Available week
days], Handicap)" &
"VALUES ('40','title', 'fn', 'sn', 'F', 23/12/56, 'street',
'suburb','city',-1,'56')"

Using insertconnection As New SqlConnection(connectionString)

Dim adapter As New SqlDataAdapter()
Try
insertconnection.Open()
adapter.InsertCommand = insertconnection.CreateCommand
adapter.InsertCommand.CommandText = insertStatement
adapter.InsertCommand.ExecuteNonQuery()

MsgBox("Data Inserted !! ")
MsgBox(ex.ToString)
End Try
End Using
End Sub

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Optimising your code by using Sub Routines
You will find is that although the query might be working the listview is not updating.
Thats because so far it only updates on the Form Load event.
To change this rebuild the front of your Code, in the Form Load section so that you
can access it to refresh the listview. Here is the code below.
There is so much that can be optimised, but to date I have left it untouched. For
example you will see that the following exercises repeat the same code that is being
used at the beginning to load the database. This is so that you have a block of code
that can be used without much modifying, but in the real world would be cut right
down and integrated back into the program.
These have become Global to the program
Dim Golfconnection As New SqlConnection
Dim connectionString As String

Form Load only holds the links to the new subs
Private Sub Form1_Load1(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Me.Load
'load updatlistview
updatelistview()
'load createdataset (not yet made so use later)
createdataset()
End Sub

LoadDB provides the connection string and is called in the next sub Sub
updatelistview().
Sub loadDB()
connectionString = "Data Source=LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS;Initial
Catalog=Golf;" & "Integrated Security=True"
Golfconnection.ConnectionString = connectionString
selectcommand.Connection = Golfconnection
End Sub

Now you can add updatelistview() to the next sections of code to see the listview
update with the changed data.
All code

Public Class Form1
'declare them as global so you can see them anywhere in the code
Dim Golfconnection As New SqlConnection
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Dim connectionString As String
'Form Load gets chopped up so you can get the listview to refresh
Private Sub Form1_Load1(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs)
Handles Me.Load
'load updatlistview
updatelistview()
'load createdataset (not yet made so use later)
createdataset()
End Sub
'name loadDB as a subroutine
Sub loadDB()
connectionString = "Data Source=LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS;Initial
Catalog=Golf;" & "Integrated Security=True"
Golfconnection.ConnectionString = connectionString
selectcommand.Connection = Golfconnection
End Sub

'update the listview with this new subroutine
Sub updatelistview()
loadDB()

'clear the listview of existing items first, otherwise it just
adds it to esiting items.
LVgolf.Items.Clear()

"SELECT * " &
"FROM Golf ORDER by ID"
'read in the data with a datareader
'open the data connection from above
Golfconnection.Open()
'instantiate a reader close the connection when the data reader
is closed
Dim reader As SqlDataReader =
selectcommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection)

Dim Golf As New Golf
'read the data into the class
Do While reader.Read()
Golf = New Golf
Golf.ID = reader("ID")
Golf.Title = reader("Title").ToString
Golf.Firstname = reader("Firstname").ToString
Golf.Surname = reader("Surname").ToString
Golf.Gender = reader("Gender").ToString
Golf.DOB = reader("DOB")
Golf.Street = reader("Street").ToString
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Golf.Suburb = reader("Suburb").ToString
Golf.City = reader("City").ToString
Golf.Available = reader("Available week days")
Golf.Handicap = reader("Handicap")

With LVgolf.Items.Add(Golf.ID)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Title)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Firstname)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Surname)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Gender)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.DOB)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Street)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Suburb)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.City)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Available)
.SubItems.Add(Golf.Handicap)
End With
Loop
reader.Close()
Golfconnection.Close()
End Sub

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Update Command
Made this SQL statement dynamic - able to be changed
We want to be able to update any field on any row. So number 20 John Smith
changes his firstname to Jane, the handicap goes from 23 to 52 and he has a sex
change to become Female.
How would you update all those fields at once using your text boxes?
"Update Golf set Firstname = 'Howard' where ID = 1"
Private Sub btnupdate_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnupdate.Click

Dim con As New SqlConnection
Dim cmd As New SqlCommand
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", txtid.Text)
Try
con.ConnectionString = "Data
Source=LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=golf;" & "Integrated
Security=True"
con.Open()
cmd.Connection = con
cmd.CommandText = "Update Golf set Firstname = 'Howard'
where ID = 10"
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()

MessageBox.Show("Error while deleting record on table..." &
ex.Message, "Delete Records")
Finally
con.Close()
End Try
updatelistview()

End Sub

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Delete Command
Here is the Parameter Delete Golf where ID = @ID" being inserted into the code
Private Sub btndelete_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btndelete.Click
Dim con As New SqlConnection
Dim cmd As New SqlCommand
'Here is the parameter being defined
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", txtid.Text)
Try
con.ConnectionString = "Data
Security=True"
con.Open()
cmd.Connection = con
cmd.CommandText = "Delete Golf where ID = @ID"
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()

MessageBox.Show("Error while deleting record on table..." &
ex.Message, "Delete Records")
Finally
con.Close()
End Try
updatelistview()
End Sub

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Inserting Data into your database
Inserting data can be done in at least 4 ways. Direct via the text box (txtinput.text),
via a Class (golf.ID), via a variable. (intID) or via a parameter (@ID).
The first 3 ways are shown below, parameters are over the page.
Create a variable to hold the data, or use the golf.ID property from the Golf class to
hold data. And then insert it into the SQL by using ' " & ID & " '.
So try it with '" & Golf.ID & "'
'can also use
Dim ID As String = txtid.Text
"Values('" & ID & "', 'Mr', 'Howard', 'The Duck', 'm',
'12/12/23', 'asd', 'sdf', 'City', '0', '56') "

Or in this case
Connect to your class
Dim golf As New Golf

Pass the data to the property
golf.ID = txtid.Text

Add the Property to the SQL - '" & golf.ID & "'
& "Values( '" & golf.ID & "', 'txtentry', 'Howard', 'The Duck', 'm',
'12/12/23', 'asd', 'sdf', 'City', '0', '56') "

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47. Using Parameters
Placeholders are variables prefixed with an at @ sign in the SQL statement; they get
filled in by parameters. For example, if you wanted to update the Golf table but didnt
know the values at design time, you would do put in parameters @ID instead of
values (23):
Here, instead of providing values, you provide placeholders. Placeholders, as
mentioned, always start with an @ symbol. They do not need to be named after the
database column that they represent, but it is often easier if they are, and it helps to
self-document your code. We are only discussing INPUT parameters, which hold
data going into a program; OUTPUT parameters are also easy, but not covered here.
You need to create parameters that will be used to insert the values into the
placeholders when the SQL statement is executed. You create and add parameters
to the Parameters collection of the SqlCommand object. After you access the
Parameters collection, you can use its properties and methods to create one or more
parameters in the collection.
The term parameters here refers to the parameters required to provide data to your
SQL statement or stored procedure, not to the parameters that are required to be
passed to a Visual Basic 2010 method.
Using Parameters to hold the data we can create text boxes that will allow us to input
our data to our database. In this example data from the txtID textbox is passed to the
@ID parameter
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", txtid.Text)

The AddWithValue method here accepts the name of the parameter and the object
that you want to add.
The ExecuteNonQuery Method
Finally, you can execute the command. To do this, the connection needs to be
opened. You can invoke the ExecuteNonQuery method of the SqlCommand object.
This method executes the SQL statement and causes the data to be inserted into the
database. It then returns the number of rows that were affected by the query, which
can be a useful way to check that the command worked as expected. To complete
your code fragment, you need to open the connection, execute the query, and close
the connection again:
connection.Open()
insertcommand.ExecuteNonQuery()
connection.close()

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Golf using parameters
Add text boxes to your form to hold the values of the database.
Sub insert()
'INSERT
'Connect to the data source
Dim connectionString As String =
"Data Source=LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=golf;" &
'using that connection then
Using connection As New SqlConnection(connectionString)
'insert the SQL
Dim insertStatement As String = _
"INSERT INTO Golf (ID, Title, Firstname, Surname, Gender, DOB, Street, Suburb,
City, [Available week days], Handicap)" _
& "Values( @ID, @Title, @FN, @SN, @Gender, @DOB, @Street, @Suburb, @City,
@Available, @Handicap) "

Using insertcommand As New SqlCommand(insertStatement, connection)
connection.Open()
'create the parameters and pass the data from the textboxes
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", txtid.Text)

'Give a default input if you can't be bothered entering data through the textbox
by using .value =
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@title", txttitle.Text).Value = "Mr"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@FN", txtfn.Text).Value = "Harry"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@SN", txtsn.Text).Value = "Houdini"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Gender", txtgender.Text).Value = "M"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@DOB", txtdob.Text).Value = "03/03/56"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Street", txtstreet.Text).Value = "aa"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Suburb", txtsuburb.Text).Value = "bb"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@City", txtcity.Text).Value = "cc"
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Available", txtavailable.Text).Value = 0
insertcommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Handicap", txthandicap.Text).Value = 45
insertcommand.ExecuteNonQuery()
MsgBox("Data Inserted !! ")
connection.close()

End Using
End Using

'Update the listview to see the new data

updatelistview()
End Sub

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48. Golf Exercise using SQL
Create a listbox to hold your items. The input code might look like
listbox.items.add(Firstname & & Surname)

Find the following
1. Which people have a handicap under 11
2. Which Golfers are from Spreydon?
3. Which Golfers are NOT from Christchurch?
4. How many people are male?
5. Order the handicap in ascending order
6. How many people are available to play on the weekday?
7. How many people live in a street?
8. How many people are born AFTER 1/1/50?
9. Without using the gender field, how many people are female?
10. How many people have a surname starting with B?
11. How many people are not from Christchurch or Rangiora?

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49. The SQL Data Adapter
The SqlDataAdapter acts as a bridge between the data source and the in-memory
DataSet object. To access the data source they use the command objects
associated with a connection.
The SqlDataAdapter has a number of command properties, including the
SelectCommand property. The SelectCommandProperty is used to hold a
SqlCommand that retrieves data for the data source. The result is then placed in the
DataSet or DataTable.
There are also properties for UpdateCommand, InsertCommand, and
DeleteCommand. These SqlCommand objects are used to write changes made to a
DataSet or DataTable back to the data source.
The SelectCommand Property SQL String
Used to fill a DataSet with data from a SQL Server database.
To read from a data store you must set the SelectCommand property of the
SqlAdapter object first.
Sub createdataset()
' Declare a SqlDataAdpater object.
Dim GolfDataAdapter As New SqlDataAdapter()

' Assign a new SelectCommand to the SelectCommand property.
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand = New SqlCommand()

Dim objConnection As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection("Data
Security=True")

' Set the SelectCommand properties.
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.Connection = objConnection
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.CommandText = "SELECT * " & "FROM Golf
ORDER by ID"
End Sub

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The SelectCommand Property Stored Procedure
Instead of writing SQL commands (Select Insert, Update, Delete) you could instead
execute a stored procedure - a group of SQL statements stored in the database
under a unique name and executed as a unit.
The benefits of Stored Procedures are reduced server/client network traffic, stronger
security, reusable code, easier maintenance and improved performance.

Sub storedprocedure()
' Declare a SqlDataAdapter object.
Dim GolfDataAdapter As New SqlDataAdapter()

' Assign a new SelectCommand to the SelectCommand property.
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand = New SqlCommand()

Dim objConnection As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection("Data
Security=True")

' Set the SelectCommand properties.
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.Connection = objConnection
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.CommandText = " "Count_ID"
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.CommandType =
CommandType.StoredProcedure

End Sub

The CommandText property now specifies the name of the stored procedure that you
want to execute instead of the SQL string that was specified in the previous example.
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.CommandText = "Count_ID"

Also notice the CommandType property. It is set to a value of
CommandType.StoredProcedure, which indicates that the CommandText property
contains the name of a stored procedure to be executed.
GolfDataAdapter.SelectCommand.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure

Go to your SQL Management program
and follow the path below. Right click on
Stored Procedures and Choose New
Stored Procedure

Page 305 2013

In a new template add the Select
statement.
select count(ID) from golf

Just put it at the end and comment
out all that you see in the image.
Use - - to comment out text.

Calling the Stored procedure from your code
Accessing a stored procedure is more verbose (but not more difficult) than accessing
a normal SQL. The approach is as follows:
1. Create a SqlCommand object.
2. Configure it to access a stored procedure by setting the CommandType
property.
3. Add parameters that exactly match those in the stored procedure itself.
4. Execute the stored procedure using one of the SqlCommand objects
ExecuteX methods.

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50. Music Database in SQL Management Studio -
Relational Database
This may only work in SQL Management Studio 2012.
Follow our first lessons to import the database tables from the file music.accdb.
Accdb is the new form of Microsoft Access Database file replacing MDB.
However as it is apparently too new for Microsofts own 2012 product you need to
choose All Files from the option to see it (Bottom right)

Import all three tables

Note: This will NOT work if you have SQL management Server 2008
because Accdb is a newer version and cannot be imported. (sigh). Nor
can you save your Accdb file as an MDB.
Therefore you need to OPEN Music in Access, and then EXPORT out
each table as an EXCEL file. This will give you 3 files. You then IMPORT
those three files into your new Music database.
Even then you are not home safe, it might be impossible to create new
columns in your new tables owing to limitations of the free SQL Express.
The solution is to install the free 2012 version which allows the actions
shown in this manual.
Either that or you can type in the new data into a new table.

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Primary Key / Foreign Key relationships
The Music database is a RELATIONAL database. A database with more than one
table and each table is connected to each other. This relationship scheme from
Access shows how the three tables are related.
Each table has a Primary Key, which indicates that the field is one that will never
repeat, it will always increment automatically 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. If you delete 3 then it will
never replace it, the next record will be 5, then 6 then 7.

Note that from the Primary keys of Owner and CD are two lines that go to CD and
CD Tracks. Those two lines are attached to other fields that are called Foreign keys.
Foreign keys are the alien invaders from the other primary key tables.
The Primary Key Foreign Key connection establishes the relationship between the
tables in a One to Many relationship. For example ONE Owner (OwnerID in the
Owner Table) can have MANY CDs. (Owner ID in the CD Table). ONE CD (CDID in
the CD Table) has MANY tracks (CDID in the CDTracks Table).
Thus by following the relationships you can easily see how many music tracks each
Owner has, and their name and duration.
To make the next section easier (it will hopefully avoid the problems you will read
later) go Tools / Options / Designers and UNTICK the Prevent saving changes that
require table re-creation. This is not recommended for a real database as it could
mess up your data but for this practice its an easy workaround.

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Setting the Primary key / Foreign Key Relationships
Unfortunately when you import tables into SQL the tables move happily and the data
moves happily but the Primary keys and their relationship to the Foreign keys is lost
and we have to rebuild it by making a new Primary key. Sure its
messy but beats typing in 100 rows of data into a new table.
In SQL Server Management Studio Right click on the table and go
Design
Create a new Column Name CDID2. Scroll down the Column properties until you find
Identity Specification and change Is Identity to YES. See that it starts at 1 (Seed)
and increases by 1 for each entry.
The click on the Primary key on the tool bar to
add it.

Now make sure you SAVE it (Important)
Go to the first column, CDID and delete it

The drag the CDID2 column up to the top and rename it CDID.
When you try to save the changes it will throw a fit and say you cant. Dont worry just
cancel out and leave without saving, when you open up again it has worked!
Now repeat for the Primary key fields on the other two tables.
Now we need to build the connections back between the Primary Key and the
matching Foreign key.

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Database Diagrams Entity relationships
One of the most interesting resources is the creation of entity-relationship diagrams
(the database diagrams).
With all of the tables created, we need to add a database diagram to our database
and create all the necessary relationships between the tables. To do so, right click
over Database Diagrams and choose New Database Diagram.

It will open a blank diagram and ask which tables you wish to insert in the new
diagram. Select all the tables available, clicking the Add button to add them and then
the Close button. In your screen you will have all the tables and their respective
fields,

In case it is the first time you are using the database diagram resource in
Management Studio Express, you will be asked to install some files necessary to the
proper functioning of the diagrams module. Just click Yes so that these files are
installed.
To add a relation between two tables, select the table that contains the Foreign key
(in our case, the CD table) and click the Relations button located in the Database
Diagram toolbar. You have to choose the Foreign Key table first because the window
that opens wont let you change it. You can only select the Primary key in the other
table.
Then Move to the right column and click the Table and Column Specific button

Then Choose the Owner for the Primary Key table

And choose OwnerID2 (or whatever you called it) and go OK, then Close
Page 310 2013

Click the CDTracks table and the Relationships button and add the other two
relationships.

Finally save it as Diagram1 (Or whatever you like)
Note that the relationship lines dont point to the fields they are joined to.

Now you have a new Database Diagram.
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Creating Database Views Queries
CDs and Owners
Views are Queries, or questions that you make from your tables using SQL. Luckily
Views generate the SQL for you. The Views window is divided in four parts: Diagram
Panel, Criteria Panel, SQL Panel and Results Panel. Through these panels you can
assemble its views through SQL language or through mouse selection.
Create a new view

Add the Owner and CD tables
Click in the tables as shown to add the fields to the windows below. See how the
SQL is written for you. Hit the Execute/Run button to see the results generate at
the bottom of the screen.

Save as CDOwners

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Tracks by CD
Lets make a more interesting View.
We want to count how many Tracks there are on each CD.
Add CD and CDTracks Table
Click on Name and TrackID
Click the GroupBy button then when the Group By column appears choose
Count for TrackID

You will now have the view below laid out Click the Run button and see what you
get.

Note that the column that shows how many tracks on each CD is called Expr1.
Change the name in the Alias column to read CountofTracks. Now run again and see
the new column name.

Save the View as CountOfTracks
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Make a new view grouping all the records by Genre. Save as GroupByGenre.
Ignore the error message and Save.

Make a new View Save it as UniqueGenre to show just unique names from the
Genre list instead of each entry

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Who has the CD with the most Tracks?
To answer this question we need to first find the CD with the most Tracks and save it
as MaxTracks Save and close it.

Make a new View and add the following two views and two tables below.
Drag the MaxTracks field (the one with the tick) from its Table box over to
CountofTracks and drop it over the CountOftracks. This will show the program that
MaxTracks is related to CountofTracks and build the little connection.
Do the same for CountOftracks Name and CD Name. That will make a path all the
way to Owner showing John Smith owns the record Abba with the most tracks.

Save as OwnerMaxTracks
Page 315 2013
51. Music Database in Visual Studio
Create a new Project in Visual Studio and add the connections to connect to the
Music database.
Public Class Form1
Dim Musicconnection As New SqlConnection
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs)
Handles Me.Load
loadDB()
End Sub

Sub loadDB()
Dim connectionString As String =
"Data Source=LOCALHOST\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=Music;" &
Musicconnection.ConnectionString = connectionString
selectcommand.Connection = Musicconnection
End Sub
Using a Datagridview
Add a Datagridview to your form and the following code. The DataGridView control
reads the schema information and creates the correct number of columns for your
data. It also uses the column names in the schema as the column names for the grid
and each column has the default width.
The SQLDataAdapter reads the data from the database and populates the Datatable
using the Fill method. Note that you don't have to actually open and close the
connection explicitly as the DataAdapter's Fill() method leaves the connection in the
same state as when the method was invoked.
Private Sub DisplayDataGridView()
DGVmusic.DataSource = Nothing
Dim da As SqlDataAdapter = Nothing ' create a dataadapter to
pass the data
Dim dt As New DataTable 'create a datatable
Dim SQL As String = ""
Try
SQL = "select * from CD"
da = New SqlDataAdapter(SQL, Musicconnection) ''connect in to the DB and
get the SQL
DGVmusic.DataSource = dt 'pass the datatable data to the DataGridView
Musicconnection.Open() 'open a connection to the DB
da.Fill(dt) 'fill the datatable from the SQL
Musicconnection.Close() 'close the connection
End Try
End Sub
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Finally pop the Sub into the Form Load
DisplayDataGridView()
Using Views in the Form
The Views are just like tables. So replace the SQL table with the View name like this
SQL = "select * from GroupByGenre"

After much pondering and experimentation I found that although you can name your
views Owner-CD in the Management Studio, Visual Studio or SQL doesnt like the
Hyphen so rename the view to OwnerCD
SQL = "select * from OwnerCD"

Fill the Listbox from the Database
Private Sub DisplayListBox()
' DGVmusic.DataSource = Nothing
lbgenre.DataSource = Nothing
Dim da As SqlDataAdapter = Nothing ' create a dataadapter to
pass the data
Try
SQL = "select * from UniqueGenre"
da = New SqlDataAdapter(SQL, Musicconnection) ''connect in
to the DB and get the SQL
' DGVmusic.DataSource = dt 'pass the datatable data to the
DataGridView
lbgenre.DataSource = dt
Dim ds As New DataSet ' make a dataset to hold the data

da.Fill(ds, "UniqueGenre") 'fill the datatable from the SQL
and the dataset

lbgenre.DataSource = ds.Tables("UniqueGenre").DefaultView
lbgenre.DisplayMember = "Genre"

End Try
End Sub

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52. Linking DataGridViews to each other
In the image below you can see 3 datagrid views, each drawing from a different
table. Owners, CDs and CD Tracks.
When you click on an owner in the Owners DGV the second DGV CDs shows the
CDs that the owner has. When you click on a CD in the second DGV you see the
tracks of the CD in the third DGV. A nice click based navigation system.

There are two parts to making this magic happen.
1. Fill a DGV with data from a table.
2. Create a click event so clicking on a record sets the next DGV. Both of these
are easy to create.
Lets create the Owner DGV. The other two DGVs Music and Tracks are virtually
identical so you will copy this and use it later changing the names of the datagrid in
the code. You will recognise the first DGV from the previous exercises.
'LOAD THE OWNER DATAGRID
Private Sub DisplayDataGridViewOwner()
DGVOwner.DataSource = Nothing

Dim da As SqlDataAdapter = Nothing ' create a dataadapter to pass the
data
Try
SQL = "select * from Owner "
da = New SqlDataAdapter(SQL, Musicconnection) 'connect in to the DB and
get the SQL
DGVOwner.DataSource = dt 'pass the datatable data to the DataGridView
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End Try
End Sub
The heart of the Sub is the call to the database the other two DGVs will have a
variation on this.
SQL = "select * from Owner "

Add the call to the Sub DisplayDataGridViewOwner() to the end of our
LoadDB() Subroutine. So that it loads at start up.
DataGridView Click Event
Double click on the DGVOwner to load the code for the click event.
The code is nested in a Try Catch in case you click in a place that doesnt return a
value, otherwise it will make an error.
The heart of this code is this line which is modified in the code
'Dim value As String =
DGVmusic.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(e.ColumnIndex).Value

This passes to Value the contents of whatever cell you click on.
If you put this line, in your code, a testing line, you can see in the form title the
contents of the cell you click on.
Me.Text = "Row : " & e.RowIndex.ToString & " Col : " &
e.ColumnIndex.ToString & " Value = " & value

However the problem is that you dont want EVERY cell value, you only want the
value of the OwnerID cell to pass it to the next CD Datagrid.
The OwnerID is in the 3
rd
column, Columns start at 0, so its 0, 1, 2. We replace
e.ColumnIndex with the cell columns number, of 2.
Ownervalue = DGVOwner.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(2).Value

To get the number of the OwnerID to the next datagrid we pass the value into with a
ByVal.
FillWithOwnerCD(Ownervalue)

So adding this to the code passes the OwnerID from the click event to the next
datagrid as seen below.
Private Sub FillWithOwnerCD(ByVal Ownervalue)

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Here is the code for the full DataGridView click event.
'CLICK EVENT FOR THE OWNER CELL
Private Sub DGVOwner_CellClick(sender As System.Object, e As
System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewCellEventArgs) Handles
DGVOwner.CellClick
Dim Ownervalue As String
Try

If e.RowIndex >= 0 Then
show it on the Form bar to check if its working
Me.Text = "Row : " & e.RowIndex.ToString & " Col : " &
e.ColumnIndex.ToString & " Value = " & Ownervalue
'Fill the next CD DGV with the OwnerID
End If
Catch
End Try
End Sub

Note the different line here where it is passing the OwnerID Primary Key to the
OwnerID foreign key in the CD table.
Dim SQL As String = "select * from CD where OwnerID = '" & Ownervalue & "' "

'DISPLAY THE CD Fill event
Private Sub FillWithOwnerCD(ByVal Ownervalue)
DGVmusic.DataSource = Nothing

Dim da As SqlDataAdapter = Nothing ' create a dataadapter to pass the
data
Dim SQL As String = "select * from CD where OwnerID = '" & Ownervalue &
"' "
da = New SqlDataAdapter(SQL, Musicconnection) 'connect in to the DB and
get the SQL
DGVmusic.DataSource = dt 'pass the datatable data to the DataGridView


End Sub

Next create the CD click event. Use the click event for the Owner cell and just
change the following code as well as change the name of your DataGridView to the
one for your CD grid.
Page 320 2013
Change the column index to 4, as the field is in the 5
th
column
value = DGVmusic.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(4).Value
Change the call to the Tracks Datagrid to the one below passing the value to that sub
DisplayDataGridViewTracks(value)

Finally create a DataGridview for the Tracks Table. Name it as below and remember
to name it with the name of your Tracks DGV in the code.
Private Sub DisplayDataGridViewTracks(ByVal value)

And use the following as the SQL statement.
SQL = "select Trackname from CDTracks where CDID = '" & value & "' "

In this way you have daisy chained together the three datagridviews to create a full
application. Finally it would be nice to be able to click on the track and have it play
but that is beyond the scope of this program.
Resizing Columns to fit contents
This seems to be a hit or miss issue but I found
DGVmusic.AutoResizeColumns(DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.DisplayedCell
s)

Or the following to have some success.
DGVmusic.AutoSizeColumnsMode =
DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.DisplayedCells

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Passing data from a DataTable to text boxes for Updating
Get the OwnerID and also get the Firstname and Lastname with the same method
earlier by selecting cells in the row and then just pass it to the text box.
(Ignore the buttons on the image at this stage only the text boxes are being used.
The SQL has been changed to show the values in the image. But you can easily do
that)

First use the click event of the Datagridview (in this case the Owners click event) to
select the row you need.
OwnerFN = DGVOwner.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(0).Value
OwnerLN = DGVOwner.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(1).Value

Then pass the values from that row into the text boxes
txtFN.Text = OwnerFN
txtLN.Text = OwnerLN
TxtOwnerID.Text = Ownervalue

Full code.
'CLICK EVENT FOR THE OWNER CELL
Private Sub DGVOwner_CellClick (sender As System.Object, e As
System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewCellEventArgs) Handles
DGVOwner.CellClick
Dim Ownervalue, OwnerFN, OwnerLN As String
Try
OwnerFN = DGVOwner.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(0).Value
OwnerLN = DGVOwner.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(1).Value

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If e.RowIndex >= 0 Then
'Fill the next CD DGV with the OwnerID
End If
txtFN.Text = OwnerFN
txtLN.Text = OwnerLN
TxtOwnerID.Text = Ownervalue
Catch
End Try
End Sub

Do the same for the CD and the Tracks DataGridViews
INSERT new Data using Parameters
Under the Button Click event for the Add Owner this code adds new owners to the
list. Note that you cannot add to the Primary key field OwnerID it does that
automatically.
'ADD NEW OWNER
Private Sub btnAddOwner_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnAddOwner.Click
'only run if there is something in the textboxes
If txtFN.Text <> "" And txtLN.Text <> "" Then
Try
Musicconnection.Open() ' open connection add in the SQL
Dim myCommand = New SqlCommand("INSERT INTO Owner (FirstName, LastName)
" & "VALUES(@Firstname, @Lastname)")

myCommand.Connection = Musicconnection
With myCommand.Parameters 'use parameters to prevent SQL injections
.AddWithValue("Firstname", txtFN.Text)
.AddWithValue("Lastname", txtLN.Text)
End With
myCommand.ExecuteNonQuery()
MsgBox(txtFN.Text & " " & txtLN.Text & " has been
inserted successfully")
MsgBox(ex.Message())
End Try
Musicconnection.Close()
'update the datagrid view to see new entries
DisplayDataGridViewOwner()
txtFN.Text = ""
txtLN.Text = ""
Else
MsgBox("Fill all the fields")
End If
End Sub
Page 323 2013

Use this as a template for the other Insert commands for the CD and the Tracks
tables. In them you will need to know and add the foreign keys for the OwnerID and
the CDID for each entry.
DELETE Data using Parameters
A variation on the INSERT template the delete code only needs the OwnerID2 to
delete an entire row.
'DELETE FROM OWNER
Private Sub btndeleteOwner_Click(sender As System.Object, e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btndeleteOwner.Click
'only run if there is something in the textboxes
If TxtOwnerID.Text <> "" Then
Try
Musicconnection.Open() ' open connection add in the SQL
Dim myCommand = New SqlCommand("DELETE FROM Owner WHERE OwnerID2 = @ID")
myCommand.Connection = Musicconnection
With myCommand.Parameters 'use parameters to prevent SQL injections
.AddWithValue("ID", TxtOwnerID.Text)
End With
myCommand.ExecuteNonQuery()
MsgBox(txtFN.Text & " " & txtLN.Text & " has been deleted successfully")
MsgBox(ex.Message())
End Try
Musicconnection.Close()
'update the datagrid view to see new entries
DisplayDataGridViewOwner()
txtFN.Text = ""
txtLN.Text = ""
TxtOwnerID.Text = ""
Else
MsgBox("Fill all the fields")
End If
End Sub

Your program may look
something like this by
now.

Page 324 2013

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