Visual Basic 2010 Unleashed

Alessandro Del Sole, Microsoft MVP for Visual Basic, is well-known throughout the global VB community. He is community leader on the Italian VB Tips and Tricks website that serves more than 41,000 developers and a frequent contributor and blogger at MSDN’s Visual Basic Developer Center. He is the author of three books about .NET development with Visual Basic.

Part I Learning the Basics of VB

1 Introducing the .NET Framework 4.0 1

What Is the .NET Framework?........................................................................1

    Where Is the .NET Framework ..............................................................2

    The .NET Framework Architecture ........................................................2

The Common Language Runtime ..................................................................4

    Writing Managed Code .........................................................................4

    .NET Assemblies.....................................................................................5

The Base Class Library ....................................................................................5

.NET Languages...............................................................................................6

.NET Framework Tools ....................................................................................7

    Windows Software Development Kit ....................................................7

What’s New in .NET Framework 4.0 ..............................................................8

2 Getting Started with the Visual Studio 2010 IDE 11

What’s New in Visual Studio 2010 ...............................................................11

Start Page.......................................................................................................12

    Get Started Tab ....................................................................................13

    The Guidance and Resources Tab........................................................13

    The Latest News Tab ............................................................................14

Working with Projects and Solutions...........................................................15

    Creating Visual Basic Projects .............................................................16

    Multitargeting......................................................................................17

    Accessing Recent and Online Templates.............................................18

    Searching for Installed Templates .......................................................20

    Creating Reusable Projects and Items Templates................................21

    Creating Your First Visual Basic 2010 Project .....................................21

    Finding Visual Basic Projects...............................................................23

    Working with the Code Editor............................................................24

Working with Tool Windows........................................................................26

    The Solution Explorer Window...........................................................27

    Error List Window ...............................................................................28

    The Properties Window .......................................................................30

    Output Window...................................................................................31

My Project .....................................................................................................31

    Application Tab....................................................................................33

Compiling Projects .......................................................................................37

    Debug and Release Configurations .....................................................38

    Other Compile Options.......................................................................41

    Advanced Compile Options ................................................................44

Debugging Overview.....................................................................................47

    Debugging an Application...................................................................47

    Breakpoints and Data Tips ..................................................................49

    About Runtime Errors..........................................................................52

    Edit and Continue ...............................................................................53

Browsing the Visual Basic and .NET Documentation..................................54

    Online Help and the MSDN Library ...................................................55

    Object Browser Window......................................................................55

3 The Anatomy of a Visual Basic Project 59

Brief Overview of Types and Members.........................................................59

    Classes ..................................................................................................60

    Properties .............................................................................................60

    Methods ...............................................................................................60

    Modules ...............................................................................................61

    Structures .............................................................................................61

    Inheritance...........................................................................................61

    Namespaces..........................................................................................62

    Accessing Members..............................................................................63

    Imports Directives................................................................................64

    #Region..#End Region Directives........................................................64

    Attributes .............................................................................................65

    A New Feature: Implicit Line Continuation .......................................65

Visual Basic 2010 Reserved Keywords ..........................................................67

Understanding Project Files..........................................................................70

    Dissecting My Project ..........................................................................70

    Application.MyApp .............................................................................70

    AssemblyInfo.vb ..................................................................................72

    Resources and the Resources.resx File .................................................73

    Application Settings.............................................................................77

Understanding References ............................................................................79

    Adding References to COM Libraries ..................................................82

    Deploy Without PIAs...........................................................................83

    Final Considerations............................................................................84

4 Data Types and Expressions 85

Common Type System..................................................................................85

    Everything Is an Object.......................................................................86

    Introducing Value Types and Reference Types ...................................86

    System.Object and System.ValueType...............................................87

Understanding Value Types..........................................................................89

    .NET Framework Primitive Value Types ..............................................90

    Using Value Types................................................................................92

    Working with BigInteger ...................................................................100

    Building Custom Value Types ...........................................................101

Understanding Reference Types .................................................................101

    .NET Framework Primitive Reference Types .....................................103

Differences Between Value Types and Reference Types .............................104

    Memory Allocation............................................................................104

    Object-Oriented Differences..............................................................107

    Performance Differences....................................................................109

    What Custom Type Should I Choose?..............................................109

Converting Between Value Types and Reference Types.............................110

    Understanding Implicit Conversions................................................110

    Boxing and Unboxing .......................................................................112

    Deep Copy and Shallow Copy ..........................................................114

    The GetType Keyword........................................................................118

Conversion Operators.................................................................................119

    Widening and Narrowing Conversions ............................................119

Working with .NET Fundamental Types ....................................................124

    Working with Strings.........................................................................125

    Working with Dates...........................................................................137

    Working with Time............................................................................143

    Working with TimeZone and TimeZoneInfo ......................................144

    Working with GUIDs.........................................................................147

    Working with Arrays..........................................................................148

Common Operators ....................................................................................155

    Arithmetic Operators.........................................................................155

    Assignment Operators .......................................................................157

    Logical, Bitwise and Shift Operators .................................................158

    Concatenation Operators ..................................................................163

    Comparison Operators ......................................................................164

Iterations, Loops, and Conditional Code Blocks .......................................166

    Iterations............................................................................................166

    Loops..................................................................................................169

    Conditional Code Blocks...................................................................171

    Constants...........................................................................................174

    With..End With statement................................................................175

5 Debugging Visual Basic 2010 Applications 177

Preparing an Example.................................................................................177

Debugging Instrumentation .......................................................................178

    Debugging in Steps............................................................................178

    Mixed Mode Debugging ....................................................................180

    “Just My Code” Debugging ...............................................................180

    Working with Breakpoints and Trace Points.....................................182

    Locals Window ..................................................................................185

    Command Window...........................................................................185

    Call Stack Window ............................................................................186

    Watch Windows.................................................................................187

    Threads Window................................................................................189

    Autos Window ...................................................................................190

Debugger Visualizers ...................................................................................191

Debugging in Code .....................................................................................192

    The Debug Class .................................................................................192

    The Trace Class .................................................................................194

    Understanding Trace Listeners ..........................................................195

    Using Debug Attributes in Your Code...............................................201

6 Handling Errors and Exceptions 207

Introducing Exceptions...............................................................................207

Handling Exceptions...................................................................................208

    Are You Upgrading from Visual Basic 6? ..........................................209

    System.Exception, Naming Conventions and Specialization .........209

    Try..Catch..Finally........................................................................209

    The Throw Keyword ...........................................................................218

    The When Keyword .............................................................................222

    Catching Exceptions Without a Variable..........................................224

Part II Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic 2010

7 Class Fundamentals 225

Declaring Classes.........................................................................................225

    Nested Classes....................................................................................226

Fields ...........................................................................................................227

    Avoiding Ambiguities with Local Variables ......................................228

Properties.....................................................................................................229

    Read-Only Properties .........................................................................231

    Write-Only Properties ........................................................................231

    Exposing Custom Types ....................................................................232

    Accessing Properties...........................................................................232

    Default Properties ..............................................................................233

Scope ...........................................................................................................234

Methods ......................................................................................................236

    Invoking Methods .............................................................................236

    Methods Arguments: ByVal and ByRef .............................................237

    Overloading Methods........................................................................242

    Exit from Methods.............................................................................245

Partial Classes..............................................................................................246

Partial Methods ...........................................................................................249

Constructors................................................................................................251

    Overloading Constructors .................................................................254

    Object Initializers...............................................................................256

Shared Members..........................................................................................257

    Shared Classes....................................................................................258

    Shared Fields ......................................................................................258

    Shared Properties ...............................................................................259

    Shared Methods .................................................................................259

    Shared Constructors ..........................................................................261

Common Language Specification...............................................................262

    Where Do I Need to Apply? ..............................................................262

    Marking Assemblies and Types as CLS-Compliant ...........................263

    Naming Conventions ........................................................................263

    Rules About Classes ...........................................................................265

    Rules About Properties.......................................................................265

    Rules About Methods ........................................................................265

    Rules About Arrays.............................................................................266

8 Managing an Object’s Lifetime 267

Understanding Memory Allocation............................................................267

Understanding Garbage Collection............................................................268

Understanding the Finalize Method........................................................269

Understanding Dispose and the IDisposable Interface............................271

    Using..End Using Statement.............................................................273

    Putting Dispose and Finalize Together...........................................273

Object Resurrection.....................................................................................276

Advanced Garbage Collection ....................................................................277

    Interacting with the Garbage Collector ............................................277

    Understanding Generations and Operation Modes................................278

9 Organizing Types Within Namespaces 281

Understanding What Namespaces Are.......................................................281

Organizing Types Within Namespaces.......................................................282

    Why Are Namespaces So Useful? ......................................................285

    Nested Namespaces............................................................................286

    Scope ..................................................................................................289

    Root Namespace ................................................................................289

    Global Keyword.................................................................................290

    Imports Directives .............................................................................291

    Namespaces and Common Language Specification .........................294

10 Modules 295

Modules Overview ......................................................................................295

    Scope ..................................................................................................296

Differences Between Modules and Classes .................................................297

    No Constructor..................................................................................297

    No Inheritance Support.....................................................................297

    No Interface Implementation............................................................297

11 Structures and Enumerations 299

Assignments ................................................................................................302

Passing Structures to Methods....................................................................302

Members’ Visibility .....................................................................................303

Inheritance Limitations and Interfaces Implementation ..........................303

Memory Allocation .....................................................................................303

Organizing Structures .................................................................................304

Overloading Operators................................................................................305

    Overloading CType.............................................................................307

Structures and Common Language Specification ......................................308

Enumerations..............................................................................................309

    Using Enumerations ..........................................................................310

    Useful Methods from System.Enum ...................................................311

    Using Enums As Return Values From Methods ................................314

    Enum Values As Bit Flags...................................................................315

    Enumerations and Common Language Specification ......................315

12 Inheritance 317

Applying Inheritance ..................................................................................318

Illustrating System.Object in Detail ..........................................................321

Introducing Polymorphism ........................................................................323

Overriding Members ...................................................................................325

    NotOverridable Keyword..................................................................328

    Overloading Derived Members .........................................................328

Conditioning Inheritance...........................................................................328

    NotInheritable Keyword..................................................................329

    MustInherit and MustOverride Keywords .......................................330

Accessing Base Classes Members ................................................................331

    MyBase Keyword.................................................................................332

    MyClass Keyword...............................................................................334

Constructors’ Inheritance ...........................................................................335

Shadowing...................................................................................................336

Overriding Shared Members.......................................................................337

Practical Inheritance: Building Custom Exceptions...................................338

13 Interfaces 341

Defining Interfaces......................................................................................341

Implementing and Accessing Interfaces.....................................................343

    Passing Interfaces As Method Arguments .........................................345

Interfaces and Polymorphism.....................................................................345

Interfaces Inheritance .................................................................................346

Defining CLS-Compliant Interfaces ...........................................................347

Most Common .NET Interfaces ..................................................................348

    The IEnumerable Interface ................................................................348

    The IComparable Interface ................................................................351

    The IConvertible Interface ..............................................................353

    The IFormattable Interface ..............................................................356

14 Generics and Nullable Types 359

Introducing Generics ..................................................................................359

Creating and Consuming Generics ............................................................360

    Consuming Generic Types ................................................................362

    Implementing Generic Methods .......................................................363

    Understanding Constraints ...............................................................363

    Overloading Type Parameters............................................................366

Introducing Nullable Types ........................................................................367

15 Delegates and Events 371

Understanding Delegates............................................................................371

    Declaring Delegates ...........................................................................372

    Combining Delegates: Multicast Delegates.......................................374

Handling Events..........................................................................................375

    Registering for events: AddHandler and RemoveHandler...................375

    Declaring Objects with the WithEvents Keyword.............................377

Offering Events to the External World.......................................................378

    Raising Events....................................................................................378

    Creating Custom Events....................................................................381

16 Working with Collections 385

Understanding Collections Architecture....................................................385

Working with Nongeneric Collections.......................................................386

    The ArrayList Collection .................................................................386

    The Queue Collection.........................................................................389

    The Stack Collection.........................................................................390

    The HashTable Collection .................................................................390

    The ListDictionary Collection ........................................................391

    The OrderedDictionary Collection ..................................................391

    The SortedList Collection ...............................................................392

    The HybridDictionary Collection ....................................................392

    The StringCollection Collection ....................................................392

    The StringDictionary Collection ....................................................393

    The NameValueCollection Collection...............................................393

    The BitArray Collection ...................................................................393

    The Bitvector32 Collection..............................................................394

Working with Generic Collections .............................................................395

    The List(Of T) Collection...................................................................395

    Working with Collection Initializers.................................................397

    The ReadOnlyCollection(Of T) Collection .......................................398

    The Dictionary(Of TKey, TValue) Collection ....................................399

    The SortedDictionary(Of TKey, TValue) Collection..........................400

    The ObservableCollection(Of T) Collection .....................................400

    The ReadonlyObservableCollection(Of T) Collection ......................402

    The LinkedList(Of T) Collection .......................................................403

    The Queue(Of T) and Stack(Of T) Collections..................................405

Building Custom Collections......................................................................405

Concurrent Collections ..............................................................................406

17 Visually Designing Objects 407

Visual Studio Class Designer.......................................................................407

    Enabling the Class Designer..............................................................408

    Adding and Designing Objects..........................................................409

    Implementing Derived Classes..........................................................413

    Creating Multiple Diagrams ..............................................................416

    Exporting the Diagram......................................................................416

Class View Window ....................................................................................417

Class Details Window .................................................................................418

18 “Generate From Usage” Coding Techniques 421

Coding New Types ......................................................................................421

    Generating Shared Members .............................................................425

    On-the-Fly Code and Object Initializers ...........................................425

Generating Complex Objects .....................................................................426

    Interfaces Additions...........................................................................428

Part III Advanced VB Language features

19 Manipulating Files and Streams 429

Manipulating Directories and Pathnames..................................................429

    The System.IO.Path Class.................................................................430

    The System.IO.Directory Class .......................................................431

    The System.IO.DirectoryInfo Class................................................434

    The System.IO.DriveInfo Class .......................................................434

Handling Exceptions for Directories and Pathnames ................................435

Manipulating Files ......................................................................................436

    The System.IO.File Class.................................................................436

    The System.IO.FileInfo Class .........................................................438

    Handling File Exceptions...................................................................439

    Understanding Permissions...............................................................439

Introducing Streams....................................................................................440

    Reading and Writing Text Files .........................................................441

    Reading and Writing Binary Files......................................................442

    Using Memory Streams .....................................................................442

    Using Streams with Strings................................................................443

    Compressing Data with Streams .......................................................444

    Networking with Streams ..................................................................448

20 The My Namespace 451

Introducing My ............................................................................................451

My.Application...........................................................................................452

    Retrieving Assembly Information .....................................................452

    Working with Cultures ......................................................................453

    Deployment and Environment Information ....................................454

My.Computer ................................................................................................456

    Working with the File System ...........................................................457

    Working with the Clipboard .............................................................458

    Playing Audio Files ............................................................................459

    Managing the Keyboard ....................................................................460

    Working with the Registry ................................................................460

    Accessing the Network ......................................................................461

    Getting Computer Information ........................................................462

My.Settings ................................................................................................464

    My.Settings Events ...........................................................................469

My.Resources ..............................................................................................470

    Getting Resources by Name in Code ................................................474

My.User........................................................................................................474

My.WebServices...........................................................................................476

Extending My..............................................................................................476

    Extending My.Application and My.Computer...................................478

    Extending My.Resources and My.Settings ......................................480

My in Different Applications .......................................................................480

    Understanding Application Events ...................................................483

21 Advanced Language Features 485

Local Type Inference...................................................................................485

    Option Infer Directive .....................................................................487

    Local Type Inference Scope ...............................................................488

Array Literals ...............................................................................................489

    Multidimensional and Jagged Arrays ................................................489

Extension Methods .....................................................................................490

    Coding Custom Extension Methods.................................................495

    Exporting Extension Methods...........................................................497

Anonymous Types ......................................................................................498

Relaxed Delegates........................................................................................500

Lambda Expressions....................................................................................500

    Type Inference and Lambda Expressions..........................................503

    Multiline Lambdas.............................................................................504

    Sub Lambdas......................................................................................505

    Lexical Closures .................................................................................506

Ternary If Operator....................................................................................507

Generic Variance .........................................................................................509

    Covariance .........................................................................................509

    Contra Variance .................................................................................510

Part IV Data Access with ADO.NET and LINQ

22 Introducing ADO.NET and DataSets 513

Introducing ADO.NET ................................................................................513

    Data Providers....................................................................................514

    Connection Modes ............................................................................515

    Understanding Connections and Data Readers................................515

Introducing DataSets ..................................................................................517

    Creating DataSets...............................................................................517

23 Introducing LINQ 523

What Is LINQ? ............................................................................................523

LINQ Examples ...........................................................................................525

Language Support .......................................................................................526

Understanding Providers ............................................................................527

Overview of LINQ Architecture ..................................................................528

24 LINQ to Objects 531

Introducing LINQ to Objects......................................................................531

Querying in Memory Objects.....................................................................532

    Understanding Deferred Execution...................................................539

Introducing Standard Query Operators......................................................541

    Projection Operators..........................................................................542

    Restriction Operators.........................................................................543

    Aggregation Operators.......................................................................544

    Understanding the Let Keyword.......................................................546

    Conversion Operators........................................................................546

    Generation Operators ........................................................................548

    Ordering Operators............................................................................549

    Set Operators......................................................................................550

    Grouping Operators...........................................................................551

    Union Operators................................................................................553

    Equality Operators .............................................................................556

    Quantifiers .........................................................................................556

    Concatenation Operators ..................................................................557

    Elements Operators............................................................................557

    Partitioning Operators.......................................................................558

25 LINQ to SQL 561

Introducing LINQ to SQL ...........................................................................561

    Prerequisites .......................................................................................562

    Understanding LINQ to SQL Classes ................................................562

    Behind the Scenes of LINQ to SQL Classes.......................................573

Querying Data with LINQ to SQL ..............................................................574

Insert/Update/Delete Operations with LINQ .............................................579

    Inserting Entities................................................................................579

    Updating Entities...............................................................................583

    Deleting Entities ................................................................................584

    Mapping Stored Procedures...............................................................584

    Using the Log.....................................................................................587

Advanced LINQ to SQL...............................................................................588

Custom Validations ...........................................................................588

    Handling Optimistic Concurrency....................................................590

    Using SQL Syntax Against Entities....................................................591

LINQ to SQL with SQL Server Compact Edition........................................592

    Writing the Connection String .........................................................593

26 LINQ to DataSets 595

Querying Datasets with LINQ ....................................................................595

    Building Complex Queries with Anonymous Types ........................598

LINQ to DataSets’ Extension Methods .......................................................598

    Understanding CopyToDataTable ......................................................598

    Understanding Field(Of T) and SetField(Of T)...........................600

27 Introducing ADO.NET Entity Framework 603

Introducing Entity Framework ...................................................................603

Understanding Entity Data Models............................................................604

    Understanding the ObjectContext class: The Visual Basic Mapping .........612

    Entity Designer Tool Windows..........................................................617

Insert/Update/Delete Operations for Entities.............................................620

    Instantiating the ObjectContext .......................................................620

    Adding Entities ..................................................................................623

    Deleting Entities ................................................................................624

    Updating Entities...............................................................................625

    Handling Optimistic Concurrency....................................................626

    Validating Data ..................................................................................627

Querying EDMs with LINQ to Entities.......................................................628

Querying EDMs with Entity SQL................................................................629

Mapping Stored Procedures ........................................................................631

28 Manipulating Xml Documents with LINQ and Xml Literals 635

Introducing LINQ to Xml...........................................................................635

    The System.Xml.Linq Namespace.....................................................636

Xml Literals.................................................................................................641

    LINQ Queries with Xml Literals........................................................644

    Understanding Embedded Expressions.............................................646

Xml Schema Inference................................................................................649

29 Overview of Parallel LINQ 655

Introducing PLINQ .....................................................................................655

    Simulating an Intensive Work...........................................................656

    Measuring Performances of a Classic LINQ Query...........................656

    Measuring Performances of a PLINQ Query .....................................657

    Ordering Sequences ...........................................................................659

    AsParallel and Binary Operators.....................................................660

    Using ParallelEnumerable ...............................................................660

    Controlling PLINQ Queries ...............................................................661

    Handling Exceptions...................................................................................663

Part V Building Windows Applications

30 Creating Windows Forms 4.0 Applications 665

What Windows Forms Is Today..................................................................665

Creating Windows Forms Applications......................................................666

    What’s New in Windows Forms 4.0..................................................667

    Available Windows Forms Controls..................................................667

Building Windows Forms Applications with ADO.NET Entity Framework and Chart Control.....668

    Providing Custom Validation............................................................674

    Understanding Chart Control...........................................................675

    Populating the Chart Control ...........................................................677

    Running the Sample Application......................................................680

31 Creating WPF Applications 681

What Is WPF?..............................................................................................682

    Improvements in WPF 4 ...................................................................682

WPF Architecture ........................................................................................683

Building WPF Applications with Visual Studio 2010.................................685

Understanding the eXtensible Application Markup Language (XAML)....687

    Declaring and Using Controls with the Designer and XAML..........689

Understanding Visual Tree and Logical Tree..............................................692

Handling Events in WPF.............................................................................694

    A More Thorough Discussion: Introducing the Routed Events .......695

Arranging Controls with Panels .................................................................697

    The Grid Panel...................................................................................697

    The StackPanel Panel .......................................................................700

    The WrapPanel Panel .........................................................................701

    The Canvas Panel ...............................................................................703

    The DockPanel Panel .........................................................................703

    The ViewBox Panel .............................................................................704

Managing Windows....................................................................................704

    Instantiating Windows at Runtime...................................................706

Introducing the Application Object .........................................................707

Brief Overview of WPF Browser Applications ............................................710

32 WPF Common Controls 715

Introducing WPF Controls Features ...........................................................715

Understanding the ContentControl...........................................................716

Understanding Common Controls ............................................................717

    Border ................................................................................................717

    Button ................................................................................................718

    Calendar ............................................................................................718

    CheckBox ............................................................................................719

    ComboBox ............................................................................................720

    DataGrid ............................................................................................721

    DatePicker.........................................................................................721

    DocumentViewer .................................................................................723

    Ellipse ..............................................................................................723

    Expander ............................................................................................723

    Frame ..................................................................................................724

    GroupBox ............................................................................................725

    Image ..................................................................................................726

    Label ..................................................................................................726

    ListBox ..............................................................................................727

    ListView ............................................................................................728

    MediaElement .....................................................................................729

    Menu....................................................................................................729

    PasswordBox.......................................................................................732

    ProgressBar.......................................................................................732

    RadioButton.......................................................................................734

    Rectangle...........................................................................................734

    RichTextBox.......................................................................................734

    ScrollBar...........................................................................................735

    ScrollViewer .....................................................................................735

    Separator...........................................................................................736

    Slider ................................................................................................736

    StatusBar...........................................................................................737

    TabControl..........................................................................................737

    TextBlock...........................................................................................738

    TextBox ..............................................................................................739

    ToolBar ..............................................................................................740

    TreeView ............................................................................................741

    WebBrowser.........................................................................................742

    WindowsFormsHost..............................................................................742

Using Common Dialogs .............................................................................743

xx Visual Basic 2010 Unleashed

33 Brushes, Styles, Templates, and Animations in WPF 745

Introducing Brushes....................................................................................745

    Applying a SolidColorBrush.............................................................747

    Applying a LinearGradientBrush .....................................................748

    Applying a RadialGradientBrush .....................................................749

    Applying an ImageBrush....................................................................751

    Applying SelectionBrush and CaretBrush ......................................753

    Applying a VisualBrush ....................................................................754

    Applying a DrawingBrush ..................................................................755

    Applying a BitmapCacheBrush...........................................................757

Introducing Styles .......................................................................................759

    Styles Inheritance ..............................................................................761

    Understanding Triggers .....................................................................761

Introducing Control Templates ..................................................................763

Introducing Transformations......................................................................766

    Applying RotateTransform ...............................................................767

    Applying ScaleTransform .................................................................767

    Applying SkewTransform ...................................................................768

    Applying TranslateTransform..........................................................768

    Applying Multiple Transforms ..........................................................769

Introducing Animations .............................................................................770

    Applying DoubleAnimation ...............................................................771

    Applying ColorAnimation .................................................................773

    Working with Animation Events ......................................................775

    Creating Animations with Visual Basic.............................................776

34 Manipulating Documents and Media 781

Viewing Images ...........................................................................................781

Playing Media .............................................................................................783

Manipulating Documents...........................................................................786

    Understanding the RichTextBox Control .........................................795

Viewing XPS Documents ............................................................................796

35 Introducing Data-Binding 799

Introducing the Data-Binding ....................................................................799

    Binding UI Elements with the Binding Markup Extension..............800

    Understanding the DataGrid and the ObservableCollection.........802

Discussing the New Drag’n’Drop Data-Binding.........................................806

    Creating Tabular Data Forms.............................................................807

    Creating Master-Details Forms ..........................................................813

    Understanding Views and Binding Lists ...........................................818

    Implementing String Formatters and Value Converters...................822

36 Localizing Applications 829

Introducing .NET Localization ...................................................................829

Windows Forms Localization .....................................................................830

WPF Localization ........................................................................................832

    Preparing the LocBaml tool...............................................................832

    Localizing a WPF Application ...........................................................833

Part VI Building Web Applications

37 Building ASP.NET Web Applications 839

Introducing the ASP.NET Model.................................................................839

    Understanding Page Requests ...........................................................840

    Scalability and Performances.............................................................840

    Available Project Templates...............................................................841

Web Forms and Master Pages .....................................................................842

    Web Forms .........................................................................................842

ASP.NET Controls........................................................................................845

    Server Controls ..................................................................................845

    HTML Controls..................................................................................847

Handling Events..........................................................................................848

Understanding State Management.............................................................848

    The Application State.......................................................................849

    The Cache State..................................................................................849

    The Context State ..............................................................................850

    Using Cookies for Saving Information..............................................850

    The Session State ..............................................................................851

    The ViewState State ..........................................................................851

    Creating a Web Application with VB 2010 with Navigation and Data-Binding .....851

    Master Pages.......................................................................................852

    Adding the Data Model .....................................................................855

    Adding a New Web Form ..................................................................855

    Adding Data Controls........................................................................857

    Adding Filtering Capabilities.............................................................860

    Adding Navigation Controls .............................................................861

    Running the Application...................................................................861

Configuring a Web Application for Security..............................................863

38 Publishing ASP.NET Web Applications 865

Deployment Overview................................................................................865

    The 1-Click Deployment ...................................................................866

Classic Publishing .......................................................................................866

MSDeploy Publish.......................................................................................868

    Understanding Packages....................................................................868

    Deploy with MSDeploy .....................................................................868

39 Building Rich Internet Applications with Silverlight 871

Introducing Silverlight................................................................................871

Creating Silverlight Projects with Visual Basic 2010 .................................872

Adding Controls and Handling Events ......................................................875

    How Silverlight Applications Are Packaged ......................................876

Playing Media .............................................................................................876

Animating UI Elements ..............................................................................880

Introducing Navigation Applications.........................................................882

Introducing WCF RIA Services ...................................................................886

    Adding the Data Source.....................................................................887

    Adding the Domain Service Class .....................................................887

    Data-Binding to Controls ..................................................................891

    Running the Application...................................................................893

“Out of Browser” Applications ...................................................................894

40 Building and Deploying Applications for Windows Azure 899

About Windows Azure Platform.................................................................899

Registering for the Windows Azure Developer Portal................................901

Downloading and Installing Tools for Visual Studio .................................901

    Additional Tools.................................................................................902

Creating a Demo Project.............................................................................902

    Understanding Web Roles and Web Configuration .........................902

    Adding a Silverlight 3 Project............................................................905

    Testing the Application Locally.........................................................911

Deploying Applications to Windows Azure ...............................................913

Activating the Storage Account ..................................................................921

    Using the Windows Azure Management Console Snap-In ..............922

Part VII Networking and Exposing Data Through Networks

41 Creating and Consuming WCF Services 927

Introducing Windows Communication Foundation.................................928

    Understanding Endpoints .................................................................928

    Address, Binding, Contract: The ABC of WCF .................................928

Implementing WCF Services ......................................................................929

    Implementing Custom Logic for the WCF Service...........................933

Consuming WCF Services...........................................................................937

    Creating the Client and Adding a Service Reference........................938

    Understanding the Proxy Class.........................................................938

    Invoking Members from the Service.................................................939

Handling Exceptions in WCF .....................................................................943

Hosting WCF Services in Internet Information Services ...........................944

Configuring Services with the Configuration Editor .................................945

42 Implementing and Consuming WCF Data Services 949

What Are Data Services? .............................................................................949

    Querying Data via Http Requests......................................................950

Implementing WCF Data Services..............................................................951

    Deploying WCF Data Services to Internet Information Services .....957

Consuming WCF Data Services ..................................................................957

    Creating a Client Application ...........................................................957

    Querying Data ...................................................................................962

Implementing Service Operations ..............................................................963

Implementing Query Interceptors..............................................................965

    Understanding Query Interceptors ...................................................965

    Understanding Change Interceptors.................................................967

Understanding Server-Driven Paging .........................................................968

Part VIII Advanced .NET Framework with VB 2010

43 Serialization 971

Objects Serialization ...................................................................................972

    Binary Serialization............................................................................972

    Soap Serialization...............................................................................975

    Providing Serialization for Custom Objects......................................976

    NonSerialized events .........................................................................978

XML Serialization........................................................................................979

    Customizing Xml Serialization .........................................................980

Custom Serialization...................................................................................982

    Serialization Events............................................................................983

Serialization with XAML.............................................................................984

Serialization in Windows Communication Foundation............................987

    JSON Serialization..............................................................................989

Serialization in the ADO.NET Entity Framework.......................................990

44 Processes and Multithreading 993

Managing Processes ....................................................................................994

    Querying Existing Processes ..............................................................995

Introducing Multithreading .......................................................................996

    Creating Threads................................................................................996

    Passing Parameters.............................................................................997

Understanding the .NET Thread Pool ........................................................997

    Getting and Setting Information in the Thread Pool.......................998

Threads Synchronization............................................................................999

    The SyncLock..End SyncLock Statement .......................................1000

    Synchronization with the Monitor Class........................................1001

    Read/Write Locks .............................................................................1001

45 Parallel Programming 1005

Introducing Parallel Computing...............................................................1006

    Introducing Parallel Classes.............................................................1006

Understanding and Using Tasks ...............................................................1007

    What Is a Task? ................................................................................1007

    Running Tasks with Parallel.Invoke ............................................1008

    Creating, Running, and Managing Tasks: The Task Class..............1009

    Creating Tasks That Return Values..................................................1009

    Exception Handling.........................................................................1011

    Cancelling Tasks ..............................................................................1012

    The Barrier Class............................................................................1014

Parallel Loops ............................................................................................1015

    Parallel.For Loop..........................................................................1017

    Parallel.ForEach Loop ..................................................................1018

Debugging Tools For Parallel Tasks...........................................................1021

Concurrent Collections ............................................................................1022

    ConcurrentBag(Of T)......................................................................1023

    ConcurrentQueue(Of T) ..................................................................1024

    ConcurrentStack(Of T) ..................................................................1024

    ConcurrentDictionary(Of TKey, TValue) ....................................1025

    BlockingCollection(Of T) ............................................................1026

46 Working with Assemblies 1029

Assembly Overview...................................................................................1029

    Information Stored Within Assemblies...........................................1030

    Assembly Location...........................................................................1030

    Signing Assemblies ..........................................................................1031

    Assembly Information and Attributes.............................................1031

Understanding Application Domains.......................................................1031

    Creating Application Domains and Executing Assemblies ............1031

Overview of Security Changes in .NET 4.0 ..............................................1034

    Permissions ......................................................................................1035

    The Transparency Level 2................................................................1036

    Sandboxing ......................................................................................1038

    Conditional APTCA .........................................................................1041

    Migrating from Old CAS-Based Code..............................................1041

47 Reflection 1043

Introducing Reflection..............................................................................1043

Understanding Assemblies’ Metadata.......................................................1044

    Preparing a Sample Assembly..........................................................1045

Getting Assembly Information.................................................................1046

Reflecting Types ........................................................................................1048

    Reflecting a Single Type...................................................................1053

Invoking Code Dynamically.....................................................................1055

Generating Code at Runtime with Reflection.Emit ..............................1057

    Late Binding Concepts ....................................................................1062

48 Coding Attributes 1065

Applying Attributes...................................................................................1065

Coding Custom Attributes........................................................................1068

    Applying Custom Attributes............................................................1070

    Applying Attributes Multiple Times................................................1071

    Defining Inheritance .......................................................................1071

Reflecting Attributes .................................................................................1073

49 Platform Invokes and Interoperability with the COM Architecture 1075

Importing and Using COM Objects .........................................................1075

    Importing COM Components into Visual Studio ..........................1076

    Using COM Objects in Code...........................................................1077

    Catching Exceptions........................................................................1078

    Releasing COM Objects ...................................................................1078

Exposing .NET Objects to the COM World..............................................1078

P/Invokes and Unmanaged Code.............................................................1081

    Understanding P/Invokes ................................................................1081

    Encapsulating P/Invokes..................................................................1082

    Converting Types to Unmanaged ...................................................1084

    The StructLayout Attribute ............................................................1085

    The VBFixedString attribute...........................................................1087

    Handling Exceptions .......................................................................1087

References to the Win32 API calls............................................................1089

50 Documenting the Source Code 1091

Understanding XML Documents..............................................................1091

    Enabling XML Comments...............................................................1092

Implementing XML Comments ...............................................................1093

    Defining Complex Code Documentation.......................................1095

Generating Compiled Help Files ..............................................................1102

51 Advanced Compilations with MSBuild 1105

Introducing MSBuild.................................................................................1105

    Introducing Projects ........................................................................1107

    Understanding Tasks and Creating Targets.....................................1111

Advanced MSBuild Features......................................................................1114

    Batching...........................................................................................1114

    Logging ............................................................................................1116

    Transformations...............................................................................1116

52 Building Customizations for Microsoft Office 1119

Introducing the Visual Studio Tools for Office ........................................1120

    Understanding Application-Level Solutions and Document-Level Solutions..1120

    What Are Office Business Applications? .........................................1121

Creating an Application-Level Add-In for Microsoft Word .....................1121

Creating a Document-Level Add-In for Microsoft Excel..........................1126

    Designing the Add-In ......................................................................1129

    Interacting with Documents via Visual Basic 2010 Code ..............1130

    Running the Customized Document ..............................................1132

Deploying VSTO Add-Ins..........................................................................1132

Part IX Applications Deployment

53 Understanding the Global Assembly Cache 1137

The Dll Hell Problem ................................................................................1137

    XCopy Deployment.........................................................................1138

The Global Assembly Cache .....................................................................1139

    Installing and Uninstalling Assemblies...........................................1140

    Signing Assemblies with Strong Names ..........................................1141

    Top Reasons for Installing (or Not) Assemblies to the GAC...........1143

    Adding References from Visual Studio to Your Own Assemblies ...1143

54 Setup & Deployment Projects for Windows Installer 1145

Windows Installer Overview.....................................................................1145

Creating a Setup Project ...........................................................................1146

Configuring the Setup Project ..................................................................1149

    Editing the File System ....................................................................1150

    Editing Registry Values ....................................................................1152

    Customizing Dialogs........................................................................1152

    Creating File Types ..........................................................................1153

    Providing Custom Actions ..............................................................1154

    Specifying Launch Conditions ........................................................1155

    Package Configuration and Prerequisites........................................1156

Building and Deploying the Windows Installer Package.........................1158

55 Deploying Applications with ClickOnce 1159

Introducing ClickOnce .............................................................................1159

    How ClickOnce Handles Applications ............................................1160

    When Should I Use ClickOnce? ......................................................1160

Deploying Applications with ClickOnce..................................................1161

    Structure of a ClickOnce Deployment ............................................1164

Configuring ClickOnce.............................................................................1165

    Application Files ..............................................................................1166

    Prerequisites .....................................................................................1166

    Updates ............................................................................................1167

    Options ............................................................................................1168

Security Considerations ............................................................................1169

    Providing Certificates ......................................................................1170

Programmatically Accessing ClickOnce ...................................................1171

Registration-Free COM..............................................................................1172

Part X Mastering the Visual Studio 2010 IDE

Online Chapters (available at www.informit.com/title/9780672331008)

56 Advanced IDE Features Web: 1175

Exporting Templates........................................................................Web: 1175

    Exporting Project Templates ..................................................Web: 1175

    Exporting Item Templates ......................................................Web: 1178

Customizing Visual Studio 2010 .....................................................Web: 1181

    Customizing the Tools Menu.................................................Web: 1181

    Customizing Commands and Toolbars .................................Web: 1182

Managing User Settings ...................................................................Web: 1185

    Exporting Settings ..................................................................Web: 1185

    Importing Settings..................................................................Web: 1186

Customizing the Toolbox................................................................Web: 1189

Using, Creating, and Managing Reusable Code Snippets...............Web: 1190

    Consuming Code Snippets.....................................................Web: 1190

    The Code Snippet Manager....................................................Web: 1192

    Creating and Consuming Custom Code Snippets ................Web: 1193

57 Introducing the Visual Studio Extensibility Web: 1199

Introducing Visual Studio Extensibility ..........................................Web: 1199

    What’s New in the Extensibility with Visual Studio 2010 ....Web: 1200

    The Visual Studio 2010 SDK ..................................................Web: 1201

Building a Visual Studio Package ....................................................Web: 1201

Deploying Visual Studio Extensions ...............................................Web: 1212

Managing Extensions with the Extension Manager.......................Web: 1214

Managing Add-Ins with the Add-In Manager.................................Web: 1216

Extending the Code Editor..............................................................Web: 1217

58 Advanced Analysis Tools Web: 1223

Introducing Analysis Tools ..............................................................Web: 1224

Performing Code Analysis ...............................................................Web: 1224

Calculating Code Metrics ................................................................Web: 1230

Profiling Applications......................................................................Web: 1231

    Profiling External Executables ...............................................Web: 1241

IntelliTrace, the Historical Debugger...............................................Web: 1242

    IntelliTrace Options................................................................Web: 1242

    Creating a Sample Application ..............................................Web: 1243

    Tracking Application Events and Exceptions with IntelliTrace....Web: 1245

    Analyzing IntelliTrace Logs ....................................................Web: 1247

    Using IntelliTrace for Unit Tests ............................................Web: 1248

Generating Dependency Graphs.....................................................Web: 1248

59 Testing Code with Unit Tests, Test-Driven Development, and Code Contracts Web: 1251

Testing Code with Unit Tests ..........................................................Web: 1251

    Creating Unit Tests.................................................................Web: 1252

    Running Unit Tests.................................................................Web: 1256

    Enabling Code Coverage........................................................Web: 1257

    Unit Tests and IntelliTrace .....................................................Web: 1259

Introducing Test-Driven Development ...........................................Web: 1261

    Creating a Test Project............................................................Web: 1261

    Creating Unit Tests.................................................................Web: 1263

    Refactoring Code ....................................................................Web: 1266

Understanding Code Contracts.......................................................Web: 1267

    Setting Up the Environment..................................................Web: 1267

    Setting Contracts Properties...................................................Web: 1268

    Tools for Code Contracts .......................................................Web: 1269

    Preconditions..........................................................................Web: 1269

    Post-Conditions......................................................................Web: 1271

    Invariants................................................................................Web: 1272

    Assertions and Assumptions ..................................................Web: 1273

    Contract Events ......................................................................Web: 1273

Appendixes

A Installing Visual Studio 2010 1175

B Useful Resources and Tools for Visual Basic 1181

TOC, 9780672311008, 4/20/10