DFP4013

VISUAL PROGRAMMING

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO VB.NET PROGRAMMING

Course Learning Outcome

CLO 1. Explain the different elements

of a visual programming language,
architecture, IDE, object oriented
programming techniques and the
concepts as building blocks to
develop correct, coherent programs.
 Learning Outcome
Overview of Visual Basic Understand Visual Basic .NET
 Discuss the history of Visual Basic environment.
and .NET.  Describe the event driven
 Identify the .NET framework elements: programming concept in Visual
a. Windows Applications Basic .NET.
b. Web Applications  Navigate the Integrated
c. NET Framework Class Library Development Environment (IDE)
d. Common Language Runtime (CLR) and Help features.
 Identify the Visual Basic .NET  Identify the Visual Basic .Net
application types: Integrated Development
a. Windows Environment (IDE) Windows
b. Web components:
c. Console a. Solution Explorer
d. Windows Services b. Toolbox
e. Web Services c. Properties
f. Components d. Output
 Introduction

What is .NET??
 Software platform
 In other words:
.NET is not a language (Runtime and a library for writing
and executing written programs in any compliant
language)
Introduction
 Visual Basic .NET support in Visual Studio .NET, with
project templates, designers, and other features of the
development environment.
 Visual Basic .NET has many improved language
features, such as inheritance, interfaces, and
overloading that make it a powerful object-oriented
programming language.
 VB.NET support multithreading and exception
handling.
 What is .Net Framework
• Runs primarily on Microsoft Windows.
• Includes a large library and supports several programming
languages.
• Programs written for the .NET Framework execute in a software
environment, known as the Common Language Runtime (CLR)
• Provides user interface, data access, database connectivity, web
application development and network communications.
.Net History

.NET Framework (pronounced dot net)

 Microsoft started development on the .NET Framework
in the late 1990s originally under the name of Next
Generation Windows Services (NGWS). By late 2000
the first beta versions of .NET 1.0 were released.
 Version 3.0 of the .NET Framework is included with
Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.
 Version 3.5 is included with Windows 7, and can also be
installed on Windows XP.
 On 12 April 2010, .NET Framework 4 was released
alongside Visual Studio 2010.
Architecture of .NET Framework

1) Common Language Specification/Infrastructure

2) Assemblies
3) Metadata
4) Security
5) Class Library
6) Memory management
7) Common Language Runtime
 Architecture of .NET Framework

Key Points
1) The CLR environment is a managed environment.
2) The .Net framework provides a choice of development
languages.
3) The .Net framework class library implements the .Net
framework.
Common Language Insfrastructure
 Common Language Infrastructure (CLI)
 Enables an application program written in any of several
commonly-used programming languages .
 Common Language Infrastructure has been accepted as an open
standard by ECMA, an international organization for the
promotion of technology standards.
 Common Language Infrastructure specifies:
• A common set of data types that any language must support (the
Common Type System - CTS)
• An introduction to the component structure
• How the machine state is managed
• How exceptions are handled
Assemblies
 An assembly in the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is a
compiled code library used for deployment, versioning, and
security.

 It is provides:
-> a fundamental unit of physical code grouping.
-> a fundamental unit of logical code grouping.

 There are two types:

1. process assemblies (EXE)
2. library assemblies (DLL).

 An assembly is the .NET name for an executable file. In other

words, a .NET assembly is just the .EXE or .DLL file that is the end
result of your program.
Metadata
 Metadata is binary information describing your
program that is stored either in a common language
runtime portable executable (PE) file or in memory.
 Metadata stores the following information:
1. Description of the assembly.
 Identity (name, version, culture, public key).
 The types that are exported.
 Other assemblies that this assembly depends on.
 Security permissions needed to run.
2. Description of types.
 Name, visibility, base class, and interfaces implemented.
 Members (methods, fields, properties, events, nested types).
3. Attributes.
 Additional descriptive elements that modify types and
members.
Security

The .NET Framework provides several mechanisms for

protecting resources and code from unauthorized code and
users:
 Code access security uses permissions to help limit the
access that code has to protected resources and operations.
It helps protect computer systems from malicious mobile
code and helps provide a way to allow mobile code to run
safely.
 Role-based security provides information needed to make
decisions about what a user is allowed to do. These
decisions can be based on either the user's identity or role
membership, or both.
Class Library

Unified Classes
Web Classes (ASP.NET)
Controls, Caching, Security, Session, Configuration etc

Data (ADO.NET) Windows Forms

ADO, SQL,Types etc Design, Cmpnt Model etc

XML Classes Drawing Classes

XSLT, Path, Serialization etc Drawing, Imaging, Text, etc

System Classes
Collections, Diagnostics, Globalization, IO, Security,
Threading Serialization, Reflection, Messaging etc
Class Library
 The .NET Framework includes classes, interfaces and value
types that optimize the development process and provide access
to system functionality.
 The .NET Framework types are the foundation on which .NET
applications, components, and controls are built. The .NET
Framework includes types that perform the following
functions:
 Represent base data types and exceptions.
 Encapsulate data structures.
 Perform I/O.
 Access information about loaded types.
 Invoke .NET Framework security checks.
 Provide data access, rich client-side GUI, and server-
controlled, client-side GUI.
Memory Management

 Microsoft .NET framework memory management

is taken care of by the Common Language
Runtime (CLR) system.
 To allocate and free up the memory. 
 Microsoft .NET framework memory management
system consists of a garbage collector that runs
on periodical basis on a different thread from the
application's thread, which specifies all the
unusable objects and get back the memory
allocated to them.
Common Language Runtime

 CLR works like a virtual machine in executing all

languages.
 All .NET languages must obey the rules and
standards imposed by CLR.
 Examples:
 Object declaration, creation and use
 Data types, language libraries
 Error and exception handling
 Interactive Development Environment (IDE)
Advantages of Visual Studio.NET

 IntelliSense
 Help about the code usage, keep track of the parameters, and add
calls to properties and methods with only a few keystrokes, Eg; List
Members, Parameter Info, Quick Info, and Complete Word.
 Data Binding
 .Net provides a simple way to display and interact with data.
 Support multiple language
 Since CLR works like a virtual machine in executing all common
languages (refer previous slide). A code can call or use a function
written in another language. Eg; VB.NET, C#, COBOL, Perl and etc.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

 Also known as integrated design

environment and integrated debugging
environment.
 Is a type of computer software that
assists computer programmers to
develop software.
 In the case of Visual Basic .NET, that
IDE is Visual Studio.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

 The Visual Studio IDE consists of

several sections, or tools, that the
developer uses while programming
which are:
1. The Toolbox on the left
2. The Solution Explorer and
Properties Windows on the right
3. The Code / Design view in the
middle
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
Design view
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Code view
 Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Toolbox
 is a palette of developer objects, or
controls, that are placed on forms or
web pages and then code is added to
allow the user to interact with them.
 An example would be TextBox, Button
and ListBox controls. With these three
controls added to a Windows Form
object the developer could write code
that would take text, input by the
application user, and added to the
ListBox after the button was clicked.
 Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Solution Explorer
 This is a section that is used to view
and modify the contents of the project.
 A Visual Studio Windows Application
Project will generally have a Form
object with a code page, references to
System components and possibly other
modules with special code that is used
by the application.
 Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Properties Windows
 The properties windows shows all the
control (like textbox) properties to be
change at design time.
 Most of this properties can be change
at run time with some code, but
basically most of this properties
change the way the control is display
on your application.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Design view

Forms are designed graphically. In other words, the developer has

a form on the screen that can be sized and modified to look the
way it will be displayed to the application users called design
view.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Code view

This center window of the IDE is also where developers

write the code that makes everything in the application work
called code view.
Getting Stated with .Net
thank you