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1.1 The Concept of Computer Programming

Visual Basic is a third-generation programming language first released by Microsoft in 1991. It enables developers to easily create graphical user interface (GUI) applications. The Visual Basic Integrated Development Environment (IDE) provides tools like the toolbox, form, project explorer, and properties window to build Visual Basic applications. Programmers can use Visual Basic 6 to create various types of programs for business, education, games, and more. Common elements in a Visual Basic program include forms, objects, and procedures that are coded in the IDE source code window.

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56 views

1.1 The Concept of Computer Programming

Visual Basic is a third-generation programming language first released by Microsoft in 1991. It enables developers to easily create graphical user interface (GUI) applications. The Visual Basic Integrated Development Environment (IDE) provides tools like the toolbox, form, project explorer, and properties window to build Visual Basic applications. Programmers can use Visual Basic 6 to create various types of programs for business, education, games, and more. Common elements in a Visual Basic program include forms, objects, and procedures that are coded in the IDE source code window.

Uploaded by

Biga Ray
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

1 The concept of computer programming


Programming means designing a set of instructions to instruct the computer to carry out certain
jobs that are very much faster than human beings can do. The earliest programming language is
called machine language which uses the binary code(comprises 0 and 1) to communicate with the
computer. However, the machine language is extremely difficult to learn . Fortunately , scientists
have invented some high-level programming languages that are much easier to master. Among
the high-level programming languages are Java, Javascript, C, C++, c# and Visual Basic.

If you are looking for help with your computer science essays and research papers, don't hesitate
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1.2 What is Visual Basic?


Visual Basic is a third-generation event-driven programming language first released by Microsoft
in 1991. It evolved from the earlier DOS version called BASIC. BASIC means Beginners' All-
purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Since then Microsoft has released many versions of Visual
Basic, from Visual Basic 1.0 to the final version Visual Basic 6.0. Visual Basic is a user-friendly
programming language designed for beginners, and it enables anyone to develop GUI window
applications easily.

In 2002, Microsoft released Visual Basic.NET(VB.NET) to replace Visual Basic 6. Thereafter,


Microsoft declared VB6 a legacy programming language in 2008. Fortunately, Microsoft still
provides some form of support for VB6. VB.NET is a fully object-oriented programming language
implemented in the .NET Framework. It was created to cater for the development of the web as
well as mobile applications. However, many developers still favor Visual Basic 6.0 over its
successor Visual Basic.NET.

1.3 What programs can you create with Visual Basic 6?


In VB 6, you can create any program depending on your objective. For math teachers, you can
create mathematical programs such as Geometric Progression, Quadratic Equation
Solver, Simultaneous Equation Solver ,Prime Number Tester, Factors Finder, Quadratic Function
Graph Plotter and so on. For science teachers, you can create simulation programs such
as Projectile, Simple Harmonic Motion, Star War  etc. If you are in business, you can also create
business applications such as inventory management system , Amortization
Calculator , investments calculator, point-of-sale system, payroll system, accounting program and
more to help manage your business and increase productivity. For those of you who like games ,
you can create programs such as slot machine, reversi, tic tac toe and more. Besides, you can
create multimedia programs such as Smart Audio Player, Multimedia Player  and more. Indeed,
there is no limit to what program you can create ! We offer many sample codes in our tutorial.

1.4 The Visual Basic 6 Integrated Development Environment


Before you can write programs in VB 6, you need to install Visual Basic 6 compiler on your
computer. You can purchase a copy of Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Learning Edition  or Microsoft
Visual Basic Professional Edition  from Amazon.com, both are vb6 compilers. Besides, you can
also buy it from eBay at Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 6 Professional PRO MSDN Library Manual
Service Pack. If you have already installed Microsoft Office in your PC or laptop, you can also use
the built-in Visual Basic Application in Excel to start creating Visual Basic programs without having
to spend extra cash to buy the VB6 compiler.
You can also install VB6 on Windows 10 but you need to follow certain steps otherwise the
installation will fail. First, you need to run setup as administrator. Next, you need to use custom
installation. Clear the checkbox for Data Access. If you don't, set up will hang at the end of the
installation. Finally, click next and wait for the installation to complete. For complete instructions,
please follow this link Install VB6 on Windows 10

After installing the vb6 compiler, the icon will appear on your desktop or in your programs menu.
Click on the icon to launch the VB6 compiler. On start up, Visual Basic 6.0  will display the
following dialog box as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: New Project Dialog

You can choose to either start a new project, open an existing project or select a list of recently
opened programs. A project is a collection of files that make up your application. There are various
types of applications that we could create, however, we shall concentrate on creating Standard
EXE programs (EXE means executable). Before you begin, you must think of an application that
preferably have commercial, educational or recreational value. Next, click on the Standard EXE
icon to go into the actual Visual Basic 6 programming environment.

When you start a new Visual Basic 6 Standard EXE project, you will be presented  with the Visual
Basic 6 Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The Visual Basic 6 Integrated Programming
Environment is shown in Figure 1.2. It consists of the toolbox, the form, the project explorer and
the properties window.
Figure 1.2: VB6 Programming Environment

The Form is the primary building block of a Visual Basic 6 application. A Visual Basic 6 application
can actually comprise many forms, but we shall focus on developing an application with one form
first. We will learn how to develop applications with multiple forms later. Before you proceed to
build the application, it is a good practice to save the project first. You can save the project by
selecting Save Project from the File menu, assign a name to your project and save it in a certain
folder. You shall now proceed to learn Visual Basic programming from the next lesson onwards.
Lesson 2: Building VB Applications
2.1 Creating Your First Application

First of all, launch Microsoft Visual Basic 6 compiler that you have installed earlier. In the New

Project Dialog , choose Standard EXE to enter Visual Basic 6 integrated development

environment. In the VB6 IDE, a default form with the name Form1 will appear. Next, double click

on Form1 to bring up the source code window for Form1, as shown in Figure 2.1.

The top of the source code window consists of a list of objects and their associated events or
procedures. In the source code window, the object displayed is Form1 and the associated
procedure is Load.

Figure 2.1 The VB6 Source Code Window

When you click on the object box, the drop-down list will display a list of objects you have inserted into your
form, as shown in figure 2.2. Here, you can see a form with the name Form1, a command button with the
name Command1, a Label with the name Label1 and a Picture Box with the name Picture1.

Figure 2.2: List of Objects


Similarly, when you click on the procedure box, a list of procedures associated with the object will be
displayed , as shown in Figure 2.3. Some of the procedures associated with the object Form1 are Activate,
Click, DblClick (which means Double-Click) , DragDrop, keyPress and more. Each object has its own set of
procedures. You can always select an object and write codes for any of its procedure in order to perform
certain tasks.
Figure 2.3 List of Procedures

You do not have to worry about the beginning and the end statements (i.e. Private Sub
Form_Load.......End Sub.); Just key in the lines in between the above two statements exactly as
are shown here. When you press F5 to run the program, you will be surprised that nothing showed
up .In order to display the output of the program, you have to add the Form1.show statement like
in Example 2.1.1  or you can just use Form_Activate ( )  event procedure as shown in example
2.1.2. The command Print does not mean printing using a printer but it means displaying the
output on the computer screen. Now, press F5 or click on the run button to run the program and
you will get the output as shown in Figure 2.4.

You can also perform arithmetic calculations as shown in Example 2.1.2. VB uses * to denote the
multiplication operator and / to denote the division operator. The output is shown in Figure 2.5, where the
results are arranged vertically.

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