What is this book about? .NET is designed to provide a new environment within which you can develop almost any application to run on Windows (and possibly in the future on other platforms). Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is likely to be a very popular development tool for use with this framework. VB.NET is a .NET compliant language and, as such, has (except for legacy reasons) almost identical technical functionality as the new C# language and Managed Extensions for C++. Using VB.NET, you can develop a dynamic Web page, a component of a distributed application, a database access component, or a classic Windows desktop application. In order to incorporate Visual Basic into the .NET Framework, a number of new features have been added to it. In fact, the changes are so extensive that VB.NET should be viewed as a new language rather than simply as Visual Basic 7. However, these changes were necessary to give developers the features that they have been asking for: true object orientated programming, easier deployment, better interoperability, and a cohesive environment in which to develop applications. What does this book cover? In this book, we cover VB.NET virtually from start to finish: We begin by looking at the .NET Framework, and end by looking at best practices for deploying .NET applications. In between, we look at everything from database access to integration with other technologies such as XML, along with investigating the new features in detail. You will see that VB.NET has emerged as a powerful yet easy to use language that will allow you to target the Internet just as easily as the desktop. This book explains the underlying philosophy and design of the .NET Framework and Common Language Runtime (CLR) and explains the differences between Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET. You will learn how to Develop applications and components using Visual Studio .NET Effectively apply inheritance and interfaces when designing objects and components Organize your code using namespaces Handle errors using the Try...Catch...Finally structure Access data using ADO.NET and bind controls to the underlying data sources Create Windows applications and custom Windows controls Interoperate with COM and ActiveX components Create transactional and queuing components Use .NET Remoting to send serialized objects between clients and servers Create Windows Services Use VB.NET to access information on the Web Create and consume Web Services Secure your applications and code using the tools provided in the .NET Framework SDK Arrange your applications and libraries in assemblies and deploy them using Visual Studio .NET Who is this book for? This book is aimed at experienced Visual Basic developers who want to make the transition to VB.NET. What do you need to use this book? Although it is possible to create VB.NET applications using the command lines tools contained in the .NET Framework SDK, you will need Visual Studio .NET (Professional or higher), which includes the .NET Framework SDK, to use this book to the full. Here are some additional notes on what you may need: Some chapters make use of SQL Server 2000. However, you can also run the example code using MSDE (Microsoft Data Engine), which ships with Visual Studio .NET. Several chapters make use of Internet Information Services (IIS). IIS ships with Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP, although it is not installed by default. Chapter 18 makes use of MSMQ to work with queued transactions. MSMQ ships with Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP, although it is not installed by default.

Microsoft .NET marks a huge advance in software development. However, organizations have invested heavily in their existing software infrastructure. Consequently, a lengthy transition period will be necessary in which the new .NET platform must interoperate with old systems. There are major areas of incompatibility between the COM and .NET technologies. These prevent a simple automated strategy from migrating VB6 code into Visual Basic .NET. This book investigates these incompatibilities and shows you how to work around them. We start by covering COM interoperability in detail, and then broaden the focus to examine a range of issues that must be handled in order for VB6 and COM code to run on .NET.

In this one-of-a-kind book, Microsoft MVP Danijel Arsenovski shows you how to utilize the power of refactoring to improve the design of your existing code and become more efficient and productive. You?ll discover how to perform unit testing, refactoring to patterns, and refactoring to upgrade legacy Visual Basic code. As you progress through the chapters, you?ll build a prototype application from scratch as Arsenovski walks you step-by-step through each process while offering expert coding tips.

The 2008 version of Visual Basic is tremendously enhanced and introduces dramatic new concepts, techniques, and features to this popular object-oriented language. Written by an elite author team, this comprehensive resource provides a clear and concise approach to using VB 2008 in the ever-expanding .NET world. This book focuses on using the latest and most powerful tools from the Microsoft arsenal within your Visual Basic solutions. You?ll examine everything from the .NET Framework to the best practices for deploying .NET applications to database access and integrating with other technologies.

Intermediate and advanced coverage of Visual Basic 2010 and .NET 4 for professional developers If you've already covered the basics and want to dive deep into VB and .NET topics that professional programmers use most, this is your book. You'll find a quick review of introductory topics-always helpful-before the author team of experts moves you quickly into such topics as data access with ADO.NET, Language Integrated Query (LINQ), security, ASP.NET web programming with Visual Basic, Windows workflow, threading, and more. You'll explore all the new features of Visual Basic 2010 as well as all the essential functions that you need, including .NET features such as LINQ to SQL, LINQ to XML, WCF, and more. Plus, you'll examine exception handling and debugging, Visual Studio features, and ASP.NET web programming. Expert author team helps you master the tools and techniques you need most for professional programming Reviews why Visual Basic 2010 will be synonymous with writing code in Visual Studio 2010 Focuses on .NET features such as LINQ, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to XML, WPF, workflow, and more Discusses exception handling and debugging, data access with ADO.NET, Visual Studio features for Visual Basic developers, Windows programming with Windows Forms, ASP.NET web programming with VB, communication interfaces, Windows workflow, and threading This Wrox guide presents you with updated coverage on topics you need to know now.

* This book offers a clear path of discovery into VS .NET to get you comfortable with it and then demonstrates how to effectively tweak it to the development need. * Very well received original edition : >9000 sales before liquidation forced de-stock. * Offers a look forward to Visual Studio.NET (Whidbey). * Joins with our family of Visual Studio.NET books from Apress: This book + 1590590260 Writing Add-Ins for Visual Studio.NET (Les Smith)+ 1-59059-042-2 Enterprise Development with Visual Studio .NET, UML, and MSF (Hansen, Thomsen).

* Explains through case studies how design patterns can improve the design of the individual tiers in an application. * Shows how design patterns can be used in conjunction with .NET Remoting across the tiers in an application. * The emphasis throughout is on how design patterns can be used in real applications to write more robust and flexible code.