Overview
Foreword viii
Introduction 1
1 Why Should You Move to Visual Basic.NET? 3
2 Your First VB.NET Application 21
3 Major VB.NET Changes 49
4 Building Classes and Assemblies with VB.NET 73
5 Inheritance with VB.NET 91
6 Database Access with VB.NET and ADO.NET 105
7 Building Web Applications with VB.NET and ASP.NET 133
8 Building Web Services with VB.NET 153
9 Building Windows Services with VB.NET 165
10 Upgrading VB6 Projects to VB.NET 175
A The Common Language Specification 187
Index 191
Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
1 WHY SHOULD YOU MOVE TO VISUAL BASIC.NET? 3
Visual Basic.NET: A New Framework....................................................3
The Common Language Runtime............................................................6
Managed Execution ................................................................................8
Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) ........................................8
The Just-In-Time Compiler ................................................................9
Executing Code ..................................................................................9
Assemblies........................................................................................10
The Common Type System ..................................................................12
Classes ..............................................................................................13
Interfaces ..........................................................................................13
Value Types ......................................................................................14
Delegates ..........................................................................................14
The .NET Framework Class Library ....................................................14
Self-Describing Components ................................................................15
Cross-Language Interoperability ..........................................................16
The Catch..........................................................................................17
Security ..................................................................................................17
Code Access Security (CAS)............................................................18
Role-Based Security ........................................................................18
Summary................................................................................................18
2 YOUR FIRST VB.NET APPLICATION 21
The Start Page........................................................................................21
Creating a New Project..........................................................................23
Examining the IDE ..........................................................................25
Creating Your First VB.NET Application..............................................31
Windows Application Enhancements ....................................................36
Resizing Controls Automatically......................................................36
Anchoring Controls to the Form Edges ..........................................38
Easier Menus ....................................................................................41
Setting Tab Order ............................................................................42
Line and Shape Controls: You’re Outta Here ..................................44
Form Opacity....................................................................................45
Summary................................................................................................48
3 MAJOR VB.NET CHANGES 49
General Changes ....................................................................................4