Visual Basic 6 in 24 hours

The niche of this book is that it not only focuses on the topic at hand but it also provides a battery of tools/skills that will take the user at a higher level and help him/her realized the skills without waiting to read another book on some other topic they need to know if they wanted to implement it in real life. It is a self-contained, stand alone book. Follows the step-by-step approach of the Sams Teach Yourself series and gives the reader a quick, concise introduction to this programming language. It will explain the basics of Visual Basic through task-oriented examples and a hands on approach. Topics covered include: - Basics of Visual Basic development - Creating and using ActiveX controls - Database programming - Internet programming - Basics of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) with Visual Basic.

table of contents
INTRODUCTION
Who Should Read This Book
What This Book Will Do for You
Can This Book Really Teach Visual Basic in 24 Hours?
What You Need
Files on the Visual Basic Distribution CD-ROM
Conventions Used in This Book
Enough! Time Is Ticking!
PART I - INTRODUCING VISUAL BASIC
HOUR 1 - VISUAL BASIC AT WORK
What's Visual Basic About?
Languages
Visual Basic's Various Editions
The VB Programming Process
Starting Visual Basic
Stopping Visual Basic
Mastering the Development Environment
Help Is at Your Fingertips
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 2 - ANALYZING VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMS
Event-Driven Programs
Control Events
Analyzing Sample Applications
Naming Objects
Running Applications
Where's the Code?
Event Procedures
Properties and Event Procedures
Generating an Application from Scratch
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 3 - CONTROLS AND PROPERTIES
Creating New Applications
Controls Provide the Interface
Giving Your Users Help
Named Literals
Take a Break!
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 4 - EXAMINING LABELS, BUTTONS, AND TEXT BOXES
Understanding Control Focus at Runtime
The Mouse and Hotkeys Need No Focus
Related Properties
Tab Order
Command Buttons
Labels
Text Boxes
Form Properties
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
PART II - CODING THE DETAILS
HOUR 5 - PUTTING CODE INTO VISUAL BASIC
Coding Basics
Data Basics
Expressions and Math Operators
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 6 - MESSAGE AND INPUT BOXES
A Function Preview
A MsgBox() and InputBox() Overview
Visual Basic's Code Window Help
A Short Detour: Remarks
Examining InputBox()
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 7 - MAKING DECISIONS
Comparison Operators
The If Statement
The If Statement's Else Branch
Compound Comparisons with the Logical Operators
Multiple Choice with Select Case
Two Additional Select Case Formats
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 8 - VISUAL BASIC LOOPING
The Do While Loops
The Do Until Loop
The Other Do Loops
The For Loop
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
PART III - PUTTING CODE TO WORK
HOUR 9 - COMBINING CODE AND CONTROLS
The Interest Calculation Application
Using Control Arrays
Finishing the Form
Adding Code
The Unload Statement
Finishing Touches
Error Checking
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 10 - LIST BOXES AND DATA LISTS
The List Box Control
Combo Boxes
Data Arrays
Control Arrays
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 11 - ADDITIONAL CONTROLS
Option Buttons
Frames and Option Buttons
Check Boxes
Scrollbars
VB's Clock: The Timer Control
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 12 - DIALOG BOX BASICS
What the Common Dialog Box Does
Adding the Common Dialog Box Control
Generating Common Dialog Boxes
The Common Dialog Box Methods
Adding the File Dialog Boxes
The Color Dialog Box
The Font Dialog Box
The Printer Dialog Box
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
PART IV - PROGRAMMING WITH DATA
HOUR 13 - MODULAR PROGRAMMING
Structured Programming
Calling Procedures and Returning from Them
Coding Subroutines
Coding Functions
Coding Arguments
Receiving by Reference and by Value
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 14 - BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS SAVE TIME
Many Functions
Numeric Functions
String Functions
Date and Time Functions
Data-Testing Functions
Data Conversion Functions
Format Function
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 15 - VISUAL BASIC DATABASE BASICS
File Concepts
Introduction to Database Processing
The Data Form Wizard
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 16 - PRINTING WITH VISUAL BASIC
Introducing Printing
Preparing the User for Printing
Introducing the Printer Object
The Print Method
Starting to Print
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
PART V - SPRUCING UP PROGRAMS
HOUR 17 - MENUS AND VISUAL BASIC
The Menu Editor
Adding an Application's Menu Bar
Naming Menu Options
Adding Pull-Down Menu Options
Menu Extras
Connecting Menus to Event Procedures
Copying Menus Between Projects
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 18 - THE GRAPHIC IMAGE CONTROLS
The Image Control
The Picture Box Control
Animating Pictures
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 19 - TOOLBARS AND MORE GRAPHICS
Preparing for the Toolbar
The Image List Control
Finalizing the Toolbar
The Line and Shape Controls
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 20 - WRITING CORRECT APPLICATIONS
Kinds of Errors
The Debugger
Setting Breakpoints
Stepping Through Code
The Call Stack Shows Where You've Been
The Immediate Window
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
PART VI - ADVANCING VISUAL BASIC APPLICATIONS
HOUR 21 - VISUAL BASIC AND ACTIVEX
ActiveX: The Tools You Use
Building ActiveX Controls With VB
OLE Processing
ActiveX Documents
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 22 - OBJECT BASICS
The System Objects
Program Objects
Using Collections and Object Arrays
Introduction to OLE Automation
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 23 - DISTRIBUTING YOUR APPLICATIONS
Compiling Your Application
Setting Project Properties
Setting Up Your Application
Starting the Package And Deployment Wizard
Running Setup
Uninstalling the Application
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
HOUR 24 - ONLINE VISUAL BASIC
Follow the Wizard to the Web!
Your Users Need an ISP
Using the Browser
Looking Through the Other Tools
Summary
Q&A
Workshop
PART VII - APPENDIXES
APPENDIX A - OPERATOR PRECEDENCE
APPENDIX B - ANSWERS
Hour 1 Quiz
Hour 1 Exercise
Hour 2 Quiz
Hour 2 Exercise
Hour 3 Quiz
Hour 3 Exercises
Hour 4 Quiz
Hour 4 Exercises
Hour 5 Quiz
Hour 5 Exercises
Hour 6 Quiz
Hour 6 Exercises
Hour 7 Quiz
Hour 7 Exercises
Hour 8 Quiz
Hour 8 Exercises
Hour 9 Quiz
Hour 9 Exercises
Hour 10 Quiz
Hour 10 Exercises
Hour 11 Quiz
Hour 11 Exercises
Hour 12 Quiz
Hour 12 Exercises
Hour 13 Quiz
Hour 13 Exercises
Hour 14 Quiz
Hour 14 Exercises
Hour 15 Quiz
Hour 15 Exercises
Hour 16 Quiz
Hour 16 Exercises
Hour 17 Quiz
Hour 17 Exercises
Hour 18 Quiz
Hour 18 Exercises
Hour 19 Quiz
Hour 19 Exercises
Hour 20 Quiz
Hour 20 Exercises
Hour 21 Quiz
Hour 21 Exercises
Hour 22 Quiz
Hour 22 Exercises
Hour 23 Quiz
Hour 23 Exercise
Hour 24 Quiz
Hour 24 Exercise
APPENDIX C - USING THE CD-ROM
Windows 95/NT 4 Installation Instructions
System Requirements
INDEX