Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.

Click Dim num1, num2, sum As Single num1 = 100 num2 = 200 sum = num1 + num2 MsgBox(" The Sum of " & num1 & " and " & num2 & " is " & sum) End Sub 2.1 Using Text Box-A multiplication program The Code Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim num1, num2, product As Single num1 = TextBox1.Text num2 = TextBox2.Text product = num1 * num2 Label3.Text = product End Sub 2.2 Using the ListBox-A program to add items to a list box This program will add one item at a time as the user enter an item into the TextBox and click the Add button. Class Frm1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim item As String item = TextBox1.Text

'To add items to a listbox ListBox1.Items.Add(item) End Sub End Class

2.3 Using the PictureBox In this program, we insert a PictureBox and a Button into the form. Make sure to set the SizeMode property of the PictureBox to StretchImage so that the whole picture can be viewed in the picture box. Key in the code as

shown below and you can load an image from a certain image file into the PictureBox. Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click 'To load an image into the PictureBox from an image file PictureBox1.Image = Image.FromFile("c:\Users\Public\Pictures\Sample Pictures\Frangipani Flowers.jpg") End Sub

5.2 Writing the code Now you are ready to write the code for the event procedure so that it will do something more than loading a blank form. The code must be entered between Private Sub.......End Sub. Let's enter the following code : Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load Me.Text="My First VB2008 Program" Me.ForeColor = Color.Yellow Me.BackColor = Color.Blue End Sub Here is another example. Private Sub Button1_Click_1(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim name1, name2, name3 As String name1 = "John" name2 = "Chan" name3 = "Ali" MsgBox(" The names are " & name1 & " , " & name2 & " and " & name3) End Sub In this example, you insert one command button into the form and rename its caption as Show Hidden Names. The keyword Dim is to declare variables name1, name2 and name3 as string, which means they

can only handle text. The function MsgBox is to display the names in a message box that are joined together by the "&" signs. There are many types of data that we come across in our daily life. For example, we need to handle data such as names, addresses, money, date, stock quotes, statistics and etc everyday. Similarly in Visual Basic 2008, we have to deal with all sorts of of data, some can be mathematically calculated while some are in the form of text or other forms. VB2008 divides data into different types so that it is easier to manage when we need to write the code involving those data. 6.1 Visual Basic 2008 Data Types Visual Basic 2008 classifies the information mentioned above into two major data types, they are the numeric data types and the non-numeric data types. 6.1.1 Numeric Data Types Numeric data types are types of data that consist of numbers, which can be computed mathematically with various standard operators such as add, minus, multiply, divide and so on. Examples of numeric data types are your examination marks, your height, your weight, the number of students in a class, share values, price of goods, monthly bills, fees and etc. In Visual Basic 2008, numeric data are divided into 7 types, depending on the range of values they can store. Calculations that only involve round figures or data that don't need precision can use Integer or Long integer in the computation. Programs that require high precision calculation need to use Single and Double decision data types, they are also called floating point numbers. For currency calculation , you can use the currency data types. Lastly, if even more precision is requires to perform calculations that involve a many decimal points, we can use the decimal data types. These data types summarized in Table 6.1

Table 6.1: Numeric Data Types Type Byte Integer Long Single Double Storage Range of Values 1 byte 2 bytes 4 bytes 4 bytes 8 bytes 0 to 255 -32,768 to 32,767 -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,648 -3.402823E+38 to -1.401298E-45 for negative values 1.401298E-45 to 3.402823E+38 for positive values. -1.79769313486232e+308 to -4.94065645841247E-324 for negative values 4.94065645841247E-324 to 1.79769313486232e+308 for positive values. -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807 +/- 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 if no decimal is use +/- 7.9228162514264337593543950335 (28 decimal places).

Currency 8 bytes Decimal 12 bytes

6.1.2 Non-numeric Data Types Nonnumeric data types are data that cannot be manipulated mathematically using standard arithmetic operators. The non-numeric data comprises text or string data types, the Date data types, the Boolean data types that store only two values (true or false), Object data type and Variant data type .They are summarized in Table 6.2

Table 6.2: Nonnumeric Data Types Data Type String(fixed length) String(variable length) Date Boolean Object Variant(numeric) Variant(text) Storage Length of string Length + 10 bytes 8 bytes 2 bytes 4 bytes 16 bytes Length+22 bytes Range 1 to 65,400 characters 0 to 2 billion characters January 1, 100 to December 31, 9999 True or False Any embedded object Any value as large as Double Same as variable-length string

6.1.3 Suffixes for Literals Literals are values that you assign to a data. In some cases, we need to add a suffix behind a literal so that VB2008 can handle the calculation more accurately. For example, we can use num=1.3089# for a Double type data. Some of the suffixes are displayed in Table 6.3. Table 6.3 Suffix & ! # @ Data Type Long Single Double Currency

In addition, we need to enclose string literals within two quotations and date and time literals within two # sign. Strings can contain any characters, including numbers. The following are few examples: memberName="Turban, John." TelNumber="1800-900-888-777" LastDay=#31-Dec-00# ExpTime=#12:00 am# 6.2 Managing Variables Variables are like mail boxes in the post office. The contents of the variables changes every now and then, just like the mail boxes. In term of VB2008, variables are areas allocated by the computer memory to hold data. Like the mail boxes, each variable must be given a name. To name a variable in Visual Basic 2008, you have to follow a set of rules. 6.2.1 Variable Names The following are the rules when naming the variables in Visual Basic 2008 It must be less than 255 characters No spacing is allowed It must not begin with a number Period is not permitted

Examples of valid and invalid variable names are displayed in Table 6.4

Table 6.4 Valid Name My_Car ThisYear Long_Name_Can_beUSE Invalid Name My.Car 1NewBoy He&HisFather *& is not acceptable

6.2.2 Declaring Variables In Visual Basic 2008, one needs to declare the variables before using them by assigning names and data types. If you fail to do so, the program will show an error. They are normally declared in the general section of the codes' windows using the Dim statement. The format is as follows: Dim Variable Name As Data Type Example 6.1 Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

Dim password As String Dim yourName As String Dim firstnum As Integer Dim secondnum As Integer Dim total As Integer Dim doDate As Date End Sub You may also combine them in one line , separating each variable with a comma, as follows: Dim password As String, yourName As String, firstnum As Integer,............. For string declaration, there are two possible formats, one for the variable-length string and another for the fixed-length string. For the variable-length string, just use the same format as example 6.1 above. However, for the fixed-length string, you have to use the format as shown below: Dim VariableName as String * n, where n defines the number of characters the string can hold. Example 6.2: Dim yourName as String * 10 yourName can holds no more than 10 Characters. 6.2.3 Assigning Values to Variables

After declaring various variables using the Dim statements, we can assign values to those variables. The general format of an assignment is

Variable=Expression The variable can be a declared variable or a control property value. The expression could be a mathematical expression, a number, a string, a Boolean value (true or false) and etc. The following are some examples: firstNumber=100 secondNumber=firstNumber-99 userName="John Lyan" userpass.Text = password Label1.Visible = True Command1.Visible = false Label4.Caption = textbox1.Text ThirdNumber = Val(usernum1.Text) total = firstNumber + secondNumber+ThirdNumber
6.3 Constants Constants are different from variables in the sense that their values do not change during the running of the program. 6.3.1 Declaring a Constant The format to declare a constant is Const Constant Name As Data Type = Value Example 6.3 Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load Const Pi As Single=3.142 Const Temp As Single=37 Const Score As Single=100 End Sub

Lesson 7: Mathematical Operations

Table 7.1: Arithmetic Operators

Operator Mathematical function + -^ * / Mod \ Example 7.1 Addition Subtraction Exponential Multiplication Division Modulus (return the remainder from

Example 1+2=3 4-1=3 2^4=16 4*3=12, (5*6))2=60 12/4=3 15 Mod 4=3 255 mod

an integer division) 10=5 Integer Division (discards the decimal 19\4=4 places)

In this program, you need to insert two Textboxes, four labels and one button. Click the button and key in the code as shown below. Note how the various arithmetic operators are being used. When you run the program, it will perform the four basic arithmetic operations and display the results on the four labels. Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim num1, num2, difference, product, quotient As Single num1 = TextBox1.Text num2 = TextBox2.Text sum=num1+num2 difference=num1-num2 product = num1 * num2 quotient=num1/num2 Label1.Text=sum Label2.Text=difference Label3.Text = product Label4.Text = quotient End Sub Example 7.2 The program can use Pythagoras Theorem to calculate the length of hypotenuse c given the length of the adjacent side a and the opposite side b. In case you have forgotten the formula for the Pythagoras Theorem, it is written as c^2=a^2+b^2 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Dim a, b, c As Single a = TextBox1.Text b = TextBox2.Text c=(a^2+b^2)^(1/2) Label3.Text=c

End Sub Example 7.3: BMI Calculator A lot of people are obese now and it could affect their health seriously . Obesity has proven by the medical experts to be a one of the main factors that brings many adverse medical problems, including the the heart disease. If your BMI is more than 30, you are considered obese. You can refer to the following range of BMI values for your weight status. Underweight = <18.5 Normal weight = 18.5-24.9 Overweight = 25-29.9 Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

In order to calculate your BMI, you do not have to consult your doctor, you could just use a calculator or a home made computer program, this is exactly what I am showing you here. The BMI calculator is a Visual Basic program that can calculate the body mass index, or BMI of a person based on the body weight in kilogram and the body height in meter. BMI can be calculated using the formula weight/( height )2, where weight is measured in kg and height in meter. If you only know your weight and height in lb and feet, then you need to convert them to the metric system (you could indeed write a VB program for the conversion). Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim height, weight, bmi As Single height = TextBox1.Text weight = TextBox2.Text bmi = (weight) / (height ^ 2) Label4.Text = bmi End Sub The output is shown in the diagram below. In this example, your height is 1.80m( about 5 foot 11),your weight is 78 kg( about 170 Ib), and your BMI is about 23.5. The reading suggests that you are healthy. (Note; 1 foot=0.3048, 1 lb=.45359237 kilogram)

From the above examples, you can see that perform arithmetic operations is relatively easy. Here are more arithmetic projects you can try to programs: Area of a triangle Area of a rectangle Area of a circle Volume of a cylinder Volume of a cone Volume of a sphere Compound interest Future value Mean Variance Sum of angles in polygons Conversion of lb to kg Conversion of Fahrenheit to Celsius

String manipulation is an important part of programming because it help to process data that come in the form of non-numeric types such as name, address, gender, city, book title and more. Example 8.1 Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim text1, text2, text3 As String text1 = "Visual" text2 = "Basic" text3 = text1 + text2 Label1.Text = text3 End Sub End Class The line text3=text1+ text2 can be replaced by text3=text1 & text2 and produced the same output. However, if one of the variables is declared as numeric data type, you cannot use the + sign, you can only use the & sign. Example 8.2 Dim text1, text3 as string Dim Text2 As Integer text1 = "Visual" text2=22 text3=text1+text2 Label1.Text = text3 This code will produce an error because of data mismatch.However, using & instead of + will be all right. Dim text1, text3 as string

Dim Text2 As Integer text1 = "Visual" text2=22 text3=text1 & text2 Label1.Text = text3 You can combine more than two strings to form a larger strings, like the following example: Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim text1, text2, text3, text4, text5, text6 As String text1 = "Welcome" text2 = "to" text3 = "Visual" text4 = "Basic" text5 = "2008" text6 = text1 + text2 + text3 Label1.Text = text4 End Sub End Class 8.2 String Manipulation Using VB2008 Built-in Functions A function is similar to a normal procedure but the main purpose of the function is to accept a certain input and return a value which is passed on to the main program to finish the execution.There are numerous string manipulation functions built into VB2008 but I will only discuss a few here and will explain the rest of them in later lessons. 8.2 (a) The Len Function The length function returns an integer value which is the length of a phrase or a sentence, including the empty spaces. The format is Len (Phrase) For example, Len (Visual Basic) = 12 and Len (welcome to VB tutorial) = 22

Example 8.3 Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Label1.Text = Len(TextBox1.Text) End Sub End Class
The output: 8.2(b) The Right Function The Right function extracts the right portion of a phrase. The format for Visual Basic 6 is Right (Phrase, n) Where n is the starting position from the right of the phase where the portion of the phrase is going to be extracted. For example, Right(Visual Basic, 4) = asic However, this format is not applicable in VB2008. In VB2008, we need use the following format Microsoft.VisualBasic.Right("Phrase",n) Example 8.3 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim text1 As String text1 = TextBox1.Text Label1.Text = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Right(text1, 4) End Sub The above program will return four right most characters of the phrase entered into the textbox.

The Output 8.2(c)The Left Function

The Left function extract the left portion of a phrase. The format is Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left("Phrase",n) Where n is the starting position from the left of the phase where the portion of the phrase is going to be extracted. For example,

Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left (Visual Basic, 4) = Visu .

9.1 Conditional Operators The conditional operators are powerful tools that resemble mathematical operators . These operators allow a VB2008 program to compare data values and then decide what actions to take, whether to execute a program or terminate the program and more. They are also known as numerical comparison operators. Normally they are used to compare two values to see whether they are equal or one value is greater or less than the other value. The comparison will return a true or false result. These operators are shown in Table 9.1. Table 9.1: Conditional Operators Operator = > < >= <= <> 9.2 Logical Operators Sometimes we might need to make more than one comparisons before a decision can be made and an action taken. In this case, using numerical comparison operators alone is not sufficient, we need to use additional operators, and they are the logical operators. These logical operators are shown in Table 9.2. Table 7.2 Operator And or Xor Meaning Both sides must be true One side or other must be true One side or other must be true but not both Meaning Equal to More than Less Than More than and equal Less than and equal Not Equal to

Not

Negates truth

Normally the above operators are use to compare numerical data. However, you can also compare
strings with the above operators. In making strings comparison, there are certain rules to follows: Upper case letters are less than lowercase letters, "A"<"B"<"C"<"D".......<"Z" and number are less than letters. 9.3 Using the If control structure with the Comparison Operators To effectively control the VB2008 program flow, we shall use the If control structure together with the conditional operators and logical operators. There are basically three types of If control structures, namely If....Then statement, If....Then... Else statement and If....Then....ElseIf statement. 9.3(a) If....Then Statement This is the simplest control structure which ask the computer to perform a certain action specified by the VB expression if the condition is true. However, when the condition is false, no action will be performed. The general format for the if...then.. statement is If condition Then VB expression End If Example 9.1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myNumber As Integer myNumber = TextBox1.Text If myNumber > 100 Then Label2.Text = " You win a lucky prize" End If End Sub * When you run the program and enter a number that is greater than 100, you will see the "You win a lucky prize" statement. On the other hand, if the number entered is less than or equal to 100, you don't see any display. 9.3(b) If....Then...Else Statement Using jus If....Then statement is not very useful in programming and it does not provide choices for the users. In order to provide a choice, we can use the If....Then...Else Statement. This control structure will ask the computer to perform a certain action specified by the VB expression if the condition is true. And when the condition is false ,an alternative action will be executed. The general format for the if...then.. Else statement is If condition Then VB expression Else VB expression End If Example 9.2 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myNumber As Integer myNumber = TextBox1.Text If myNumber > 100 Then Label2.Text = " Congratulation! You win a lucky prize" Else

Label2.Text = " Sorry, You dif not win any prize" End If End Sub * When you run the program and enter a number that is greater than 100, the statement "Congratulation! You win a lucky prize" will be shown. On the other hand, if the number entered is less than or equal to 100, you will see the "Sorry, You dif not win any prize" statement Example 9.3 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myNumber, MyAge As Integer myNumber = TextBox1.Text MyAge = TextBox2.Text If myNumber > 100 And myAge > 60 Then Label2.Text = " Congratulation! You win a lucky prize" Else Label2.Text = " Sorry, You did not win any prize" End If End Sub * This program use the logical And operator beside the conditional operators. This means that both the conditions must be fulfilled in order for the conditions to be true, otherwise the second block of code will be executed. In this example, the number entered must be more than 100 and the age must be more than 60 in order to win a lucky prize, any one of the above conditions not fulfilled will disqualify the user from winning a prize. 9.3(c) If....Then...ElseIf Statement If there are more than two alternative choices, using jus If....Then....Else statement will not be enough. In order to provide more choices, we can use the If....Then...ElseIf Statement. executed. The general format for the if...then.. Else statement is If condition Then VB expression ElseIf condition Then VB expression ElseIf condition Then VB expression . . Else VB expression End If Example 9.4 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim Mark As Integer Dim Grade as String

Mark = TextBox1.Text If myNumber >=80 Then Grade="A" ElseIf Mark>=60 and Mark<80 then Grade="B" ElseIf Mark>=40 and Mark<60 then Grade="C" Else Grade="D" End If End Sub

Lesson 10: Select Case Control Structure

In the previous lesson, we have learned how to control the program flow using the If...ElseIf control structure. In this chapter, you will learn another way to control the program flow, that is, the Select Case control structure. However, the Select Case control structure is slightly different from the If....ElseIf control structure . The difference is that the Select Case control structure basically only make decision on one expression or dimension (for example the examination grade) while the If ...ElseIf statement control structure may evaluate only one expression, each If....ElseIf statement may also compute entirely different dimensions. Select Case is preferred when there exist many different conditions because using If...Then..ElseIf statements might become too messy.

10.1 The Select Case...End Select Structure The format of the Select Case control structure is show below: Select Case test expression Case expression list 1 Block of one or more VB statements Case expression list 2 Block of one or more VB Statements Case expression list 3 Block of one or more VB statements Case expression list 4 . . . Example 10.1 ' Examination Grades Dim grade As String Private Sub Compute_Click( ) grade=txtgrade.Text Select Case grade Case "A" Label1.Text="High Distinction" Case "A-" Label2.Text="Distinction" Case "B" Label3.Text="Credit"

Case Else Block of one or more VB Statements End Select

Case "C" Label4.Text="Pass" Case Else Label5.Text="Fail" End Select

Example 10.2

Example 10.3

In this example, you can use the keyword Is together with the comparison operators. Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click 'Examination Marks

Example 10.2 could be rewritten as follows: Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click 'Examination Marks Dim mark As Single mark = mrk.Text Select Case mark Case 0 to 49 Label1.Text = "Need to work harder" Case 50 to 59 Label2.Text = "Average" Case 60 to 69 Label3.Text= "Above Average"

Dim mark As Single mark = mrk.Text Select Case mark Case Is >= 85 Label1.Text= "Excellence" Case Is >= 70

Label2.Text= "Good"

Case Is >= 60 Label3.Text = "Above Average" Case Is >= 50 Label4.Text= "Average" Case Else Label5.Text = "Need to work harder" End Select

Case 70 to 84 Label4.Text = "Good" Case Else Label5.Text= "Excellence" End Select

End Sub

End Sub

Visual Basic 2008 allows a procedure to be repeated as many times as long as the processor and memory could support. This is generally called looping . Looping is required when we need to process something repetitively until a certain condition is met. For example, we can design a program that adds a series of numbers until the sum exceeds a certain value, or a program that asks the user to enter data repeatedly

until he/she keys in the word 'Finish'. In Visual Basic 2008, we have three types of Loops, they are the For.....Next loop, the Do loop. and the While.....End while loop

11.1 For....Next Loop The format is: For counter=startNumber to endNumber (Step increment) One or more VB statements Next Sometimes the user might want to get out from the loop before the whole repetitive process is executed, the command to use is Exit For. To exit a For.Next Loop, you can place the Exit For statement within the loop; and it is normally used together with the If..Then statement. For its application, you can refer to example 11.1 d. Example 11.1 a

Dim counter as Integer For counter=1 to 10 ListBox1.Items.Add (counter) Next * The program will enter number 1 to 10 into the list box. Example 11.1b

Dim counter , sum As Integer For counter=1 to 100 step 10 sum+=counter ListBox1.Items.Add (sum) Next

* The program will calculate the sum of the numbers as follows:

sum=0+10+20+30+40+...... 11.2 Do Loop

The formats are a) Do While condition Block of one or more VB statements Loop

b) Do Block of one or more VB statements Loop While condition


c) Do Until condition Block of one or more VB statements Loop Do Block of one or more VB statements Loop Until condition

d)

* Exiting the Loop Sometime we need exit to exit a loop prematurely because of a certain condition is fulfilled. The syntax to use is known as Exit Do. Lets examine the following example

Example 11.2(a) Do while counter <=1000 TextBox1.Text=counter counter +=1 Loop

* The above example will keep on adding until counter >1000. The above example can be rewritten as Do TextBox1.Text=counter counter+=1 Loop until counter>1000

Example 11.2(b) Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim sum, n As Integer Do n += 1 sum += n ListBox1.Items.Add(n & vbTab & sum) If n = 100 Then Exit Do End If Loop Sub

In the above example, we find the summation of 1+2+3+4++100. In the design stage, you need to insert a ListBox into the form for displaying the output, named List1. The program uses the AddItem method to populate the ListBox. The statement ListBox1.Items.Add(n & vbTab & sum) will display the headings in the ListBox, where it uses the vbTab function to create a space between the headings n and sum. 11.3 While ...End While Loop

The structure of a While.End While is very similar to the Do Loop. it takes the following format: While condition Statements End While The above loop means that while the condition is not met, the loop will go on. The loop will end when the condition is met.


Example 11.3

Dim sum, n As Integer Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim sum, n As Integer While n <> 100 n += 1 sum = sum + n ListBox1.Items.Add(n & vbTab & sum) End While End Sub

Lesson 12: Functions-Part I

A function is similar to a normal procedure but the main purpose of the function is to accept a certain input and return a value which is passed on to the main program to finish the execution. There are two types of functions, the built-in functions (or internal functions) and the functions created by the programmers. 12.1 MsgBox ( ) Function The objective of MsgBox is to produce a pop-up message box and prompt the user to click on a command button before he /she can continues. This format is as follows: yourMsg=MsgBox(Prompt, Style Value, Title) The first argument, Prompt, will display the message in the message box. The Style Value will determine what type of command buttons appear on the message box, please refer ton Table 12.1 for types of command button displayed. The Title argument will display the title of the message board. Table 12.1: Style Values Style Value Named Constant 0 1 2 3 4 5 vbOkOnly vbOkCancel Buttons Displayed Ok button Ok and Cancel buttons

vbAbortRetryIgnore Abort, Retry and Ignore buttons. vbYesNoCancel vbYesNo vbRetryCancel Yes, No and Cancel buttons Yes and No buttons Retry and Cancel buttons

We can use named constants in place of integers for the second argument to make the programs more readable. In fact, VB6 will automatically shows up a list of named constants where you can select one of them.

example: yourMsg=MsgBox( "Click OK to Proceed", 1, "Startup Menu") and yourMsg=Msg("Click OK to Proceed". vbOkCancel,"Startup Menu") are the same. yourMsg is a variable that holds values that are returned by the MsgBox ( ) function. The values are determined by the type of buttons being clicked by the users. It has to be declared as Integer data type in the procedure or in the general declaration section. Table 12.2 shows the values, the corresponding named constant and buttons. Table 12.2 : Return Values and Command Buttons Button Value Named Constant Clicked 1 vbOk Ok button Cancel 2 vbCancel button Abort 3 vbAbort button Retry 4 vbRetry button Ignore 5 vbIgnore button Yes 6 vbYes button 7 vbNo No button Example 12.1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim testmsg As Integer testmsg = MsgBox("Click to test", 1, "Test message") If testmsg = 1 Then MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the OK button") Else MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the Cancel button") End If End Sub To make the message box looks more sophisticated, you can add an icon besides the message. There are four types of icons available in VB2008 as shown in Table 12.3 Value 16 32 48 64 Named Constant vbCritical vbQuestion vbExclamation vbInformation Icon

Example 12.2 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim testMsg As Integer testMsg = MsgBox("Click to Test", vbYesNoCancel + vbExclamation, "Test Message") If testMsg = 6 Then MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the yes button") ElseIf testMsg = 7 Then MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the NO button") Else MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the Cancel button") End If

End Sub The first argument, Prompt, will display the messag 12.2 The InputBox( ) Function An InputBox( ) function will display a message box where the user can enter a value or a message in the form of text. In VB2005, you can use the following format: myMessage=InputBox(Prompt, Title, default_text, x-position, y-position) myMessage is a variant data type but typically it is declared as string, which accept the message input by the users. The arguments are explained as follows: Prompt - The message displayed normally as a question asked. Title - The title of the Input Box. default-text - The default text that appears in the input field where users can use it as his intended input or he may change to the message he wish to enter. x-position and y-position - the position or tthe coordinates of the input box.

However, the format won't work in VB2008 because InputBox is considered a namespace. So, you need to key in the full reference to the Inputbox namespace, which is Microsoft.VisualBasic.InputBox(Prompt, Title, default_text, x-position, y-position) The parameters remain the same. Example 12.3 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim userMsg As String

userMsg = Microsoft.VisualBasic.InputBox("What is your message?", "Message Entry Form", "Enter your messge here", 500, 700) If userMsg <> "" Then MessageBox.Show(userMsg) Else MessageBox.Show("No Message") End If End Sub The inputbox will appear as shown in the figure below when you press the command button

sage box. The Style Value will determine what type of command buttons appear on the message box, please refer Table 10.1 for types of command button displayed. The Title argument will display the title of the message board

Lesson 13: Functions Part II- String Functions

We have learned about the basic concept of function as well as the MsgBox and InputBox functions in Lesson 12. I. In fact, I have already shown you a few string manipulation functions in Lesson 8, they are the Len function, the Left function and the Right Function. In this lesson, we will learn other string manipulation functions. 13.1 The Mid Function The Mid function is used to retrieve a part of text form a given phrase. The format of the Mid Function is Mid(phrase, position,n) where phrase is the string from which a part of text is to be retrieved. position is the starting position of the phrase from which the retrieving process begins. n is the number of characters to retrieve. Example 13.1: Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myPhrase As String

myPhrase = Microsoft.VisualBasic.InputBox("Enter your phrase") Label1.Text = Mid(myPhrase, 2, 6) End Sub * In this example, when the user clicks the command button, an inputbox will pop up asking the user to input a phrase. After a phrase is entered and the OK button is pressed, the label will show the extracted text starting from position 2 of the phrase and the number of characters extracted is 6. The diagrams are shown below: 13.2 The Right Function The Right function extracts the right portion of a phrase. The format is Microsoft.Visualbasic.Right (Phrase, n) Where n is the starting position from the right of the phase where the portion of the phrase is going to be extracted. For example: Microsoft.Visualbasic.Right (Visual Basic, 4) = asic Example 13.2: The following code extracts the right portion any phrase entered by the user. Private Sub Button1_Click (ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myword As String myword = TextBox1.Text Label1.Text = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Right (myword, 4) End Sub

13.3 The Left Function The Left function extracts the left portion of a phrase. The format is Microsoft.Visualbasic.Right (Phrase, n) Where n is the starting position from the left of the phase where the portion of the phrase is going to be extracted. For example: Microsoft.Visualbasic.Left(Visual Basic, 4) = asic Example 13.3: The following code extracts the left portion any phrase entered by the user. Private Sub Button1_Click (ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myword As String myword = TextBox1.Text Label1.Text = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left (myword, 4) End Sub

13.4 The Trim Function The Trim function trims the empty spaces on both side of the phrase. The format is

Trim(Phrase) .For example, Example 13.4 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim myPhrase As String myPhrase = Microsoft.VisualBasic.InputBox("Enter your phrase") Label1.Text = Trim(myPhrase) End Sub Trim ( Visual Basic ) = Visual basic

13.5 The Ltrim Function The Ltrim function trims the empty spaces of the left portion of the phrase. The format is Ltrim(Phrase) .For example, Ltrim ( Visual Basic)= Visual basic

13.6 The Rtrim Function The Rtrim function trims the empty spaces of the right portion of the phrase. The format is Rtrim(Phrase) .For example, Rtrim (Visual Basic ) = Visual Basic

13.7 The InStr function The InStr function looks for a phrase that is embedded within the original phrase and returns the starting position of the embedded phrase. The format is Instr (n, original phase, embedded phrase) Where n is the position where the Instr function will begin to look for the embedded phrase. For example Instr(1, Visual Basic, Basic)=8 *The function returns a numeric value. You can write a program code as shown below: Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Label1.Text = InStr(1, "Visual Basic", "Basic") End Sub

13.8 The Ucase and the Lcase Functions The Ucase function converts all the characters of a string to capital letters. On the other hand, the Lcase function converts all the characters of a string to small letters. The format is Microsoft.VisualBasic.UCase(Phrase) Microsoft.VisualBasic.LCase(Phrase)

For example, Microsoft.VisualBasic.Ucase(Visual Basic) =VISUAL BASIC Microsoft.VisualBasic.Lcase(Visual Basic) =visual basic 13.9 The Chr and the Asc functions The Chr function returns the string that corresponds to an ASCII code while the Asc function converts an ASCII character or symbol to the corresponding ASCII code. ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Altogether there are 255 ASCII codes and as many ASCII characters. Some of the characters may not be displayed as they may represent some actions such as the pressing of a key or produce a beep sound. The format of the Chr function is

Chr(charcode) and the format of the Asc function is Asc(Character) The following are some examples: Chr(65)=A, Chr(122)=z, Chr(37)=% , Asc(B)=66, Asc(&)=38

Lesson 14: Functions Part III- Math Functions

We have learned how to VB2008 can perform arithmetic functions using standard mathematical operators. However, for more complex mathematical calculations, we need to use the built-in math functions in VB2008. There are numerous built-in mathematical functions in Visual Basic which we will introduce them one by one.

14.1 The Abs function The Abs return the absolute value of a given number. The syntax is Math. Abs (number) * The Math keyword here indicates that the Abs function belong to the Math class. However, not all mathematical functions belong to the Math class. 14.2 The Exp function The Exp of a number x is the exponential value of x, i.e. ex . For example, Exp(1)=e=2.71828182 The syntax is Math.Exp (number) Example: Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim num1, num2 As Single num1 = TextBox1.Text

num2 = Math.Exp(num1) Label1.Text = num2 End Sub 14.3 The Fix Function The Fix function truncate the decimal part of a positive number and returns the largest integer smaller than the number. However, when the number is negative, it will return smallest integer larger than the number. For example, Fix(9.2)=9 but Fix(-9.4)=-9 Example: Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim num1, num2 As Single num1 = TextBox1.Text num2 = Fix(num1) Label1.Text = num2 End Sub 14.4 The Int Function The Int is a function that converts a number into an integer by truncating its decimal part and the resulting integer is the largest integer that is smaller than he number. For example Int(2.4)=2, Int(6.9)=6 , Int(-5.7)=-6, Int(-99.8)=-100 14.5 The Log Function The Log function is the function that returns the natural logarithm of a number. For example, Log(10)=2.302585 Example: Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim num1, num2 As Single num1 = TextBox1.Text num2 = Math.Log(num1) Label1.Text = num2 End Sub * The logarithm of num1 will be displayed on label1 14.6 The Rnd( ) Function The Rnd is very useful when we deal with the concept of chance and probability. The Rnd function returns a random value between 0 and 1. Random numbers in their original form are not very useful in programming until we convert them to integers. For example, if we need to obtain a random output of 6 integers ranging from 1 to 6, which makes the program behave like a virtual dice, we need to convert the random numbers to integers using the formula Int(Rnd*6)+1. Example:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim num as integer

Randomize( ) Num=Int(Rnd()*6)+1 Label1.Text=Num End Sub

In this example, Int(Rnd*6) will generate a random integer between 0 and 5 because the function Int truncates the decimal part of the random number and returns an integer. After adding 1, you will get a random number between 1 and 6 every time you click the command button. For example, let say the random number generated is 0.98, after multiplying it by 6, it becomes 5.88, and using the integer function Int(5.88) will convert the number to 5; and after adding 1 you will get 6.

14.7 The Round Function

The Round function is the function that rounds up a number to a certain number of decimal places. The Format is Round (n, m) which means to round a number n to m decimal places. For example, Math.Round (7.2567, 2) =7.26

Example Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Dim num1, num2 As Single num1 = TextBox1.Text num2 = Math.Round(num1, 2) Label1.Text = num2 End Sub

* The Math keyword here indicates that the Round function belong to the Math class.

Lesson 15: Functions Part IV- Formatting Functions

The Format function is a very powerful formatting function which can display the numeric values in various forms. There are two types of Format functions, one of them is the built-in or predefined format while another one can be defined by the users. (i) The format of the predefined Format function is Format (n, style argument) where n is a number and the list of style arguments is given in Table 15.1.
Table 15.1 List of style arguments Style argument General Number Fixed Explanation To display the number without having separators between thousands. To display the number without having separators between thousands and rounds it up to two Format(8972.2, Fixed)=8972.23 Standard decimal places. To display the number with separators or separators between thousands and rounds it up to two Format(6648972.265, Standard)= 6,648,972.27 Currency decimal places. To display the number with the dollar sign in front, has separators between thousands as well as rounding it up to two decimal Percent places. Converts the number to the percentage form and displays a % sign and rounds it up to two decimal places. Format(0.56324, Percent)=56.32 % Format(6648972.265, Currency)= $6,648,972.27 Format(8972.234, General Number)=8972.234 Example

Example 15.1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click, Button5.Click, Button4.Click, Button3.Click

Label1.Text = Format(8972.234, "General Number") Label2.Text = Format(8972.2, "Fixed") Label3.Text = Format(6648972.265, "Standard") Label4.Text = Format(6648972.265, "Currency") Label5.Text = Format(0.56324, "Percent") End Sub The Output window is shown below:

(ii) The format of the user-defined Format function is Format (n, users format) Although it is known as user-defined format, we still need to follows certain formatting styles. Examples of user-defined formatting style are listed in Table 15.2

Table15.2: User-Defined format Example Format(781234.57,0) Format(781234.57,0.0) Format(781234.576,0.00) Format(781234.576,#,##0.00) Explanation Rounds to whole number without separators between thousands. Rounds to 1 decimal place without Output 781235 781234.6

separators between thousands. Rounds to 2 decimal places without 781234.58 separators between thousands. Rounds to 2 decimal places with 781,234.58 $781,234.58

separators between thousands. Format(781234.576,$#,##0.00) Shows dollar sign and rounds to 2 decimal places with separators Format(0.576,0%) Format(0.5768,0.00%)

between thousands. Converts to percentage form without 58% decimal places. Converts to percentage form with 2 57.68% decimal places.

Example 15.2 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click, Button5.Click, Button4.Click, Button3.Click

Label1.Text = Format(8972.234, "0.0") Label2.Text = Format(8972.2345, "0.00") Label3.Text = Format(6648972.265, "#,##0.00") Label4.Text = Format(6648972.265, "$#,##0.00") Label5.Text = Format(0.56324, "0%") End Sub The Output window is shown below:

16.1 Formatting Date and time using predefined formats Date and time can be formatted using predefined formats and also user-defined formats. The predefined formats of date and time are shown in Table 16.1. Table 16.1 Predefined formats of date and time Format Format (Now, General date) Format (Now, Long Date) Format (Now, Short date) Format (Now, Long Time) Format (Now, Short Time) Explanation Formats the current date and time. Displays the current date in long format. Displays current date in short format Display the current time in long format. Display the current time in short format.

* Instead of "General date", you can also use the abbreviated format "G" , i.e. Format (Now, "G"). And for "Long Time", you can use the abbreviated format "T". As for "Short Time", you may use the abbreviated format "t" Example 16.1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Label1.Text = Format(Now, "General Date") Label2.Text = Format(Now, "Long Date")

Label3.Text = Format(Now, "short Date") Label4.Text = Format(Now, "Long Time") Label5.Text = Format(Now, "Short Time") End Sub

16.2 Formatting Date and time using user-defined formats Beside using the predefined formats, you can also use the user-defined formatting functions. The general format of a user-defined for date/time is Format (expression,style) Table 16.2 Some of the user-defined format functions for date and time Format Format (Now, M) Format (Now, MM) Format (Now, MMM) Format (Now, MMMM) Format (Now, dd/MM/yyyy) Format (Now, "MMM,d,yyyy")
Format (Now, "h:mm:ss tt") Format (Now, "MM/dd/yyyy h:mm:ss)

Explanation Displays current month and date Displays current month in double digits. Displays abbreviated name of the current month Displays full name of the current month. Displays current date in the day/month/year format.
Displays current date in the Month, Day, Year Format Dispalys current time in hour:minute:second format and show am/pm Dispalys current date and time in hour:minute:second format

Example 16.2 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click, Button2.Click, Button3.Click Label1.Text = Format(Now, "M") Label2.Text = Format(Now, "MM")

Label3.Text = Format(Now, "MMM") Label4.Text = Format(Now, "MMMM") Label5.Text = Format(Now, "dd/MM/yyyy") Label6.Text = Format(Now, "MMM,d,yyyy") Label7.Text = Format(Now, "h:mm:ss tt") Label8.Text = Format(Now, "MM/dd/yyyy h:mm:ss tt") End Sub The output is shown in the diagram below:

Lesson 17: Using Check Box

The Check box is a very useful control in Visual Basic 2008. It allows the user to select one or more items by checking the checkbox/checkboxes concerned. For example, in the Font dialog box of any Microsoft Text editor like FrontPage, there are many checkboxes under the Effects section such as that shown in the diagram below. The user can choose underline, subscript, small caps, superscript, blink and etc. In Visual Basic, you may create a shopping cart where the user can click on checkboxes that correspond to the items they intend to buy, and the total payment can be computed at the same time as shown in Example 17.1

Private Sub BtnCalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtnCalculate.Click Const LX As Integer = 100 Const BN As Integer = 500 Const SD As Integer = 200 Const HD As Integer = 80 Const HM As Integer = 300 Const AM As Integer = 150 Dim sum As Integer If CheckBox1.Checked = True Then sum += LX End If If CheckBox2.Checked = True Then sum += BN End If If CheckBox3.Checked = True Then sum += SD End If If CheckBox4.Checked = True Then sum += HD End If If CheckBox5.Checked = True Then sum += HM End If If CheckBox6.Checked = True Then sum += AM End If Label5.Text = sum.ToString("c")

Here is another example Example 17.2 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Const large As Integer = 10.0 Const medium As Integer = 8 Const small As Integer = 5 Dim sum As Integer If CheckBox1.Checked = True Then sum += large End If If CheckBox2.Checked = True Then sum += medium End If If CheckBox3.Checked = True Then sum += small End If Label5.Text = sum.ToString("c") Example 17.3 In this example, the user can enter text into a textbox and format the font using the three checkboxes that represent bold, italic and underline.

The code is as follow:

Private Sub CheckBox1_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CheckBox1.CheckedChanged If CheckBox1.Checked Then TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Bold) Else TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Bold) End If End Sub Private Sub CheckBox2_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CheckBox2.CheckedChanged If CheckBox2.Checked Then TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Italic) Else TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Italic) End If End Sub Private Sub CheckBox3_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CheckBox3.CheckedChanged If CheckBox2.Checked Then TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Underline)

Else TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Underline) End If End Sub * The above program uses the CheckedChanged event to respond to the user selection by checking a particular checkbox, it is similar to the click event. The statement TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Italic) will retain the original font type but change it to italic font style. TextBox1.Font = New Font(TextBox1.Font, TextBox1.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Italic) will also retain the original font type but change it to regular font style. (The other statements emply the same logic) Example 18.1

The Code: Dim strColor As String Private Sub RadioButton8_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As

System.EventArgs) Handles RadioButton8.CheckedChanged strColor = "Red" End Sub Private Sub RadioButton7_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioButton7.CheckedChanged strColor = "Green" End Sub Private Sub RadioYellow_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioYellow.CheckedChanged strColor = "Yellow" End Sub Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Label2.Text = strColor End Sub Although the user may only select one item at a time, he may make more than one selection if those items belong to different categories. For example, the user wish to choose T-shirt size and color, he needs to select one color and one size, which means one selection in each category. This is easily achieved in VB2008 by using the Groupbox control under the containers categories. After inserting the Groupbox into the form, you can proceed to insert the radio buttons into the Groupbox. Only the radio buttons inside the Groupbox are mutually exclusive, they are not mutually exclusive with the radio buttons outside the Groupbox. In Example 18.2, the users can select one color and one size of the T-shirt Example 18.2

Dim strColor As String Dim strSize As String Private Sub RadioButton8_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioButton8.CheckedChanged

strColor = "Red" End Sub Private Sub RadioButton7_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioButton7.CheckedChanged strColor = "Green" End Sub Private Sub RadioYellow_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioYellow.CheckedChanged strColor = "Yellow" End Sub Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click Label2.Text = strColor Label4.Text = strSize End Sub

Private Sub RadioXL_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioXL.CheckedChanged strSize = "XL" End Sub Private Sub RadioL_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioL.CheckedChanged strSize = "L" End Sub Private Sub RadioM_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioM.CheckedChanged strSize = "M" End Sub

Private Sub RadioS_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles RadioS.CheckedChanged strSize = "S" End Sub
Figure 19.1: The Design Interface

The code for the web browser is surprisingly simple, it is only a single line code! Double click on the Go button and key in the following code:
Public Class Form1 Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click myWebBrowser.Navigate(TextBox1.Text) End Sub End Class

 Now run the the program , type in any URL and click the Go button. You will be able to browse any web page you want.
Example 20.1: Division by Zero In this example, we will deal with the error of entering non-numeric data into the textboxes that suppose to hold numeric values. The program_label here is error_hanldler. when the user enter a non-numeric values into the textboxes, the error message will display the the text"One of the entries is not a number! Try again!". If no error occur, it will display the correct answer. Try it out yourself. The Code Public Class Form1 Private Sub CmdCalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CmdCalculate.Click Lbl_ErrorMsg.Visible = False Dim firstNum, secondNum As Double On Error GoTo error_handler firstNum = Txt_FirstNumber.Text secondNum = Txt_SecondNumber.Text Lbl_Answer.Text = firstNum / secondNum Exit Sub 'To prevent error handling even the inputs are valid error_handler: Lbl_Answer.Text = "Error"

Lbl_ErrorMsg.Visible = True Lbl_ErrorMsg.Text = " One of the entries is not a number! Try again!"

End Sub End Class The Output

20.3 Errors Handling using Try.....Catch....End Try Structure VB2008 has adopted a new approach in handling errors, or rather exceptions handling. It is supposed to be more efficient than the old On Error Goto method, where it can handles various types of errors within the Try...Catch...End Try structure. The structure looks like this Try statements Catch exception_variable as Exception statements to deal with exceptions End Try

Example 20.2 This is a modification of Example 20.1. Instead of using On Error GoTo method, we use the Try...Catch...End Try method. In this example, the Catch statement will catch the exception when the user enters a non-numeric data and return the error message. If there is no exception, there will not any action from the Catch statement and the program returns the correct answer. The code Public Class Form1 Private Sub CmdCalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CmdCalculate.Click Lbl_ErrorMsg.Visible = False Dim firstNum, secondNum, answer As Double Try firstNum = Txt_FirstNumber.Text secondNum = Txt_SecondNumber.Text answer = firstNum / secondNum Lbl_Answer.Text = answer Catch ex As Exception Lbl_Answer.Text = "Error" Lbl_ErrorMsg.Visible = True Lbl_ErrorMsg.Text = " One of the entries is not a number! Try again!" End Try End Sub End Class

The output

21.2 Reading a Text File

In order to read a file from the hard disk or any storage device, we need to use the StreamReader class. To achieve that, first of all we need to include the following statement in the program code: Imports System.IO This line has to precede the whole program code as it is higher in hierarchy than the StreamReader Class. In Fact, this is the concept of object oriented programming where StreamReader is part of the namespace System.IO . It has to be put on top of the whole program(i.e. above the Public Class Form 1 statement). The word import means we import the namesapce System.IO into the program. Once we have done that , we can declare a variable of the streamReader data type with the following statement: Dim FileReader As StreamReader If we don't include the Imports System.IO, we have to use the statement Dim FileReader As IO.StreamReader each time we want to use the StreamReader class. Now, start a new project and name it in whatever name you wish. Now, insert the OpenFileDialog control into the form because we will use it to read the file from the storage device. The default name of the OpenFileDialog control is OpenFileDialog1, you can use this name or you can rename it with a more meaningful name. The OpenFileDialog control will return a DialogResult value which can determine whether the user clicks the OK button or Cancel button . We will also insert a command button and change its displayed text to 'Open'. It will be used by the user to open and read a certain text file. The following statement will accomplish the task above. Dim results As DialogResult

results = OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog If results = DialogResult.OK Then 'Code to be executed if OK button was clicked Else 'Code to be executed if Cancel button was clicked End If End Sub Next, we insert a textbox and set its Multiline property to true. It is used for displaying the text from a text file. In order to read the text file, we need to create a new instant of the streamReader and connect it to a text file with the following statement: FileReader = New StreamReader(OpenFileDialog1.FileName) In addition, we need to use the ReadToEnd method to read the entire text of a text file. The syntax is: TextBox1.Text = FileReader.ReadToEnd() Lastly, we need to close the file by using the Close() method. The entire code is shown in the box below: The Code Imports System.IO Public Class Form1 Private Sub BtnOpen_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles BtnOpen.Click Dim FileReader As StreamReader Dim results As DialogResult results = OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog If results = DialogResult.OK Then FileReader = New StreamReader(OpenFileDialog1.FileName) TextBox1.Text = FileReader.ReadToEnd() FileReader.Close() End If

End Sub The Design Interface

The Open Dialog box


The Output Interface

 21.3 Writing to a Text File Writing a text file means storing the text entered by the user via a textbox into a storage device such as a hard drive. It also means saving the file. To accomplish this task, we need to deploy the StreamWriter Class. You also need to insert the SaveFileDialog control into the form as it is used to save the data into the storage unit like a hard drive. The default bame for the SaveFileDialog control is SaveFileDialog1. The Code is basically the same as the code for reading the file,
you just change the StreamReader to StreamWriter, and the method from ReadToEnd to Write. The code is shown in the following table: The code Imports System.IO Public Class Form1 Private Sub BtnSave_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

Dim FileWriter As StreamWriter Dim results As DialogResult results = SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog If results = DialogResult.OK Then FileWriter = New StreamWriter(SaveFileDialog1.FileName, False) FileWriter.Write(TextBox1.Text) FileWriter.Close() End If End Sub The Output Interface

When you click the save button, the program will prompt you to key in a file name and the text will be save as a text file. Finally, you can combine the two programs together and create a text editor that can read and write text file, as shown in the diagram below.

access serial and parallel ports by using Visual Basic .NET

Use the MSComm control in Visual Basic .NET to access serial ports
Because no Microsoft .NET Framework classes exist to access the communications resources that connected to your computer, you can use the MSComm control in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0. The MSComm control provides serial communications for your application by enabling the transmission and reception of data through a serial port. To implement basic serial communications by using a modem, follow these steps:

1.

Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project. Under Project Types, click Visual Basic Projects. Under Templates, click Console Application. In the Name box, type MyConsoleApplication, and then click OK.

2. 3. 4. 5.

By default, Module1.vb is created.

6. 7.

Right-click the MyConsoleApplication project, and then click Add Reference. Click the COM tab, click Microsoft Comm Control 6.0 under Component Name, click

Select, and then click OK.

Note To use the MSComm control, you must install the related COM components of Microsoft

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823179 8. http://www.codeproject.com/KB/vb/Inpout32_read.aspx