The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Seeing the Basics: Visual Basic 6.0 book reviews Tony Stevenson

Coming to terms with Visual Basic 6.0

This month's column reviews two books that can help you derive the most out of Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, one of the most popular rapid application development (RAD) environments ever devised.

Step by step

The first book, Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Step by Step describes itself as a developer's self-study kit, and that's exactly what it is.

You can use it to learn at your own pace, and to concentrate solely on those features of the language that concern you most. For example, your most pressing need might be to understand the connection between the Internet and VB programming.

Alternatively, first-time VB programmers can work their way through it progressively from beginning to end.

The book represents a comprehensive introduction to the Professional edition of the language, and covers everything from writing your first VB program through to understanding advanced database programming concepts. (VB 6.0 comes in three editions: Learning, Professional, and Enterprise.)

It's been divided into seven parts and consists of 24 lessons, and has more than 100 exercises and sample programs to work through. To effectively put into practice what it teaches, its companion CD-ROM contains a set of practice files covering real-life situations (note: the installation of these requires approximately 12 MB).

The text has been written with a variety of readers in mind: those new to programming, those switching from MS C or another Windows-based programming language, or those upgrading from MS Visual Basic 5.0 (or earlier). A guide in the front of the book can be used to quickly find the best starting point, regardless of your previous experience.

Brief overviews of the seven parts of the book are as follows:

• Getting started with VB looks at the programming environment; getting help; the use of properties; working with controls; setting up menus and dialog boxes; and running VB programs
• Programming fundamentals discusses variables and operators; decision structures like the "If Then" and "Select Case" statements; loops; and timers
• Creating the User Interface focuses on forms; printers; error handlers; graphical effects; and how to incorporate drag-and-drop support into programs
• Managing Data tackles modules; procedures; collections; arrays; text files and string processing; Access databases; and how to connect VB to different components of Microsoft Office, for example, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Tools and techniques covers the rich text box control; the multimedia MCI (media control interface) control; and how to extend VB by taking advantage of the Windows API (application programming interface)
• Internet programming examines using the Internet Transfer control to download files; using Microsoft Internet Explorer to display HTML documents; and creating dynamic HTML (DHTML) pages for Web-based VB applications. FlexGrid control, plus a discussion of the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) database technology.

A programmer's guide

Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide is also aimed at beginning-to-intermediate users of VB, although more experienced programmers will also gain benefit.

One of its best features is that it's been written by the people actually responsible for putting together the latest release of the language, the Microsoft Visual Basic development team. Who better to turn to for help than the experts themselves?

The book is divided into two parts.

The first section concentrates on the basics, and is an excellent introduction to VB programming. The topics covered include the steps involved in developing a VB application, such as the use of forms, controls, and menus, the best way to manage your projects; and a discussion of programming fundamentals with an emphasis on the mechanics of writing code.

The second part of the book focuses on what can be done with the language, and looks at some of the more advanced topics. These include programming with objects and components; adequately and effectively responding to mouse and keyboard events; how to distribute your completed applications using the new Package and Deployment Wizard; and the ins and out of understanding VB-related performance issues--optimising for speed or size (or both), optimising objects, and the guidelines covering compiled vs interpreted applications.

The book concludes with four appendices, each of which contains useful additional material covering:

• VB specifications; minimum system requirements for VB applications; file formats; and project limitations, e.g a maximum of 254 control names per form
• VB coding conventions covering naming conventions for objects, variables, and procedures; standardised formats for labelling and commenting code; and guidelines for spacing, formatting, and indenting
• Native code compiler switches, which can be used for optimising and debugging applications. For example, to optimise for fast code or alternatively small code, minimise the size of the compiled executable file by favouring size over speed
• Adding help to VB applications, so users can gain maximum usability and functionality from your new systems.

Conclusion

Even though Visual Basic 6.0's online help is extensive and I use it a lot, I still find it helpful to have some good VB books handy. That's especially the case if I'm trying to come to terms with a new concept or a different way of tackling a VB programming problem. I can open a hard-copy text flat next to my computer and not have to worry continually about swapping between different Windows to find the information I need.

Both Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Step by Step and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide are ideal for anyone wanting to learn how to program professionally with VB 6.0. Serious hobbyists, too, will find plenty of material to keep them busy.

Alternatively, they're good for seasoned programmers, with experience in previous versions of the language, who want to come up to speed quickly with the latest features, and build upon their existing VB knowledge.

Both are recommended additions to your Visual Basic bookshelf.

Reprinted from the December 1998 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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