VB.

NET - QUICK GUIDE

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VB.NET - OVERVIEW
Visual Basic .NET VB. NET is an object-oriented computer programming language implemented on
the .NET Framework. Although it is an evolution of classic Visual Basic language, it is not
backwards-compatible with VB6, and any code written in the old version does not compile under
VB.NET.

Like all other .NET languages, VB.NET has complete support for object-oriented concepts.
Everything in VB.NET is an object, including all of the primitive types
Short, Integer, Long, String, Boolean, etc. and user-defined types, events, and even assemblies. All objects
inherits from the base class Object.

VB.NET is implemented by Microsoft's .NET framework. Therefore, it has full access to all the
libraries in the .Net Framework. It's also possible to run VB.NET programs on Mono, the open-
source alternative to .NET, not only under Windows, but even Linux or Mac OSX.

The following reasons make VB.Net a widely used professional language:

Modern, general purpose.

Object oriented.

Component oriented.

Easy to learn.

Structured language.

It produces efficient programs.

It can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms.

Part of .Net Framework.

Strong Programming Features VB.Net

VB.Net has numerous strong programming features that make it endearing to multitude of
programmers worldwide. Let us mention some of these features:

Boolean Conditions

Automatic Garbage Collection

Standard Library

Assembly Versioning

Properties and Events

Delegates and Events Management

Easy-to-use Generics

Indexers

Conditional Compilation

Simple Multithreading

VB.NET - ENVIRONMENT
In this chapter, we will discuss the tools available for creating VB.Net applications.
We have already mentioned that VB.Net is part of .Net framework and used for writing .Net
applications. Therefore before discussing the available tools for running a VB.Net program, let us
understand how VB.Net relates to the .Net framework.

The .Net Framework

The .Net framework is a revolutionary platform that helps you to write the following types of
applications:

Windows applications

Web applications

Web services

The .Net framework applications are multi-platform applications. The framework has been
designed in such a way that it can be used from any of the following languages: Visual Basic, C#,
C++, Jscript, and COBOL, etc.

All these languages can access the framework as well as communicate with each other.

The .Net framework consists of an enormous library of codes used by the client languages like
VB.Net. These languages use object-oriented methodology.

Following are some of the components of the .Net framework:

Common Language Runtime CLR

The .Net Framework Class Library

Common Language Specification

Common Type System

Metadata and Assemblies

Windows Forms

ASP.Net and ASP.Net AJAX

ADO.Net

Windows Workflow Foundation WF

Windows Presentation Foundation

Windows Communication Foundation WCF

LINQ

For the jobs each of these components perform, please see ASP.Net - Introduction, and for details
of each component, please consult Microsoft's documentation.

Integrated Development Environment IDE For VB.Net

Microsoft provides the following development tools for VB.Net programming:

Visual Studio 2010 VS

Visual Basic 2010 Express VBE

Visual Web Developer

The last two are free. Using these tools, you can write all kinds of VB.Net programs from simple
command-line applications to more complex applications. Visual Basic Express and Visual Web
Developer Express edition are trimmed down versions of Visual Studio and has the same look and
feel. They retain most features of Visual Studio. In this tutorial, we have used Visual Basic 2010
Express and Visual Web Developer forthewebprogrammingchapter.

You can download it from here. It gets automatically installed in your machine. Please note that
you need an active internet connection for installing the express edition.

Writing VB.Net Programs on Linux or Mac OS

Although the.NET Framework runs on the Windows operating system, there are some alternative
versions that work on other operating systems. Mono is an open-source version of the .NET
Framework which includes a Visual Basic compiler and runs on several operating systems,
including various flavors of Linux and Mac OS. The most recent version is VB 2012.

The stated purpose of Mono is not only to be able to run Microsoft .NET applications cross-platform,
but also to bring better development tools to Linux developers. Mono can be run on many
operating systems including Android, BSD, iOS, Linux, OS X, Windows, Solaris and UNIX.

VB.NET - PROGRAM STRUCTURE

Before we study basic building blocks of the VB.Net programming language, let us look a bare
minimum VB.Net program structure so that we can take it as a reference in upcoming chapters.

VB.Net Hello World Example

A VB.Net program basically consists of the following parts:

Namespace declaration

A class or module

One or more procedures

Variables

The Main procedure

Statements & Expressions

Comments

Let us look at a simple code that would print the words "Hello World":

Imports System
Module Module1
'This program will display Hello World
Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine("Hello World")
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Hello, World!

Let us look various parts of the above program:

The first line of the program Imports System is used to include the System namespace in
the program.

The next line has a Module declaration, the module Module1. VB.Net is completely object
oriented, so every program must contain a module of a class that contains the data and
procedures that your program uses.

Classes or Modules generally would contain more than one procedure. Procedures contain
the executable code, or in other words, they define the behavior of the class. A procedure
 could be any of the following:

Function

Sub

Operator

Get

Set

AddHandler

RemoveHandler

RaiseEvent

The next line ′ Thisprogram will be ignored by the compiler and it has been put to add additional
comments in the program.

The next line defines the Main procedure, which is the entry point for all VB.Net programs.
The Main procedure states what the module or class will do when executed.

The Main procedure specifies its behavior with the statement

Console.WriteLine"Hello World"

WriteLine is a method of the Console class defined in the System namespace. This statement
causes the message "Hello, World!" to be displayed on the screen.

The last line Console.ReadKey is for the VS.NET Users. This will prevent the screen from
running and closing quickly when the program is launched from Visual Studio .NET.

Compile & Execute VB.Net Program:

If you are using Visual Studio.Net IDE, take the following steps:

Start Visual Studio.

On the menu bar, choose File, New, Project.

Choose Visual Basic from templates

Choose Console Application.

Specify a name and location for your project using the Browse button, and then choose the
OK button.

The new project appears in Solution Explorer.

Write code in the Code Editor.

Click the Run button or the F5 key to run the project. A Command Prompt window appears
that contains the line Hello World.

You can compile a VB.Net program by using the command line instead of the Visual Studio IDE:

Open a text editor and add the above mentioned code.

Save the file as helloworld.vb

Open the command prompt tool and go to the directory where you saved the file.

Type vbc helloworld.vb and press enter to compile your code.

If there are no errors in your code the command prompt will take you to the next line and
would generate helloworld.exe executable file.
 Next, type helloworld to execute your program.

You will be able to see "Hello World" printed on the screen.

VB.NET - BASIC SYNTAX

VB.Net is an object-oriented programming language. In Object-Oriented Programming
methodology, a program consists of various objects that interact with each other by means of
actions. The actions that an object may take are called methods. Objects of the same kind are said
to have the same type or, more often, are said to be in the same class.

When we consider a VB.Net program, it can be defined as a collection of objects that communicate
via invoking each other's methods. Let us now briefly look into what do class, object, methods and
instant variables mean.

Object - Objects have states and behaviors. Example: A dog has states - color, name, breed
as well as behaviors - wagging, barking, eating, etc. An object is an instance of a class.

Class - A class can be defined as a template/blueprint that describes the behaviors/states

that object of its type support.

Methods - A method is basically a behavior. A class can contain many methods. It is in

methods where the logics are written, data is manipulated and all the actions are executed.

Instant Variables - Each object has its unique set of instant variables. An object's state is
created by the values assigned to these instant variables.

A Rectangle Class in VB.Net

For example, let us consider a Rectangle object. It has attributes like length and width. Depending
upon the design, it may need ways for accepting the values of these attributes, calculating area
and displaying details.

Let us look at an implementation of a Rectangle class and discuss VB.Net basic syntax on the basis
of our observations in it:

Imports System
Public Class Rectangle
Private length As Double
Private width As Double

'Public methods
Public Sub AcceptDetails()
length = 4.5
width = 3.5
End Sub

Public Function GetArea() As Double

GetArea = length * width
End Function
Public Sub Display()
Console.WriteLine("Length: {0}", length)
Console.WriteLine("Width: {0}", width)
Console.WriteLine("Area: {0}", GetArea())

End Sub

Shared Sub Main()

Dim r As New Rectangle()
r.Acceptdetails()
r.Display()
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:
Length: 4.5
Width: 3.5
Area: 15.75

In previous chapter, we created a Visual Basic module that held the code. Sub Main indicates the
entry point of VB.Net program. Here, we are using Class that contains both code and data. You use
classes to create objects. For example, in the code, r is a Rectangle object.

An object is an instance of a class:

Dim r As New Rectangle()

A class may have members that can be accessible from outside class, if so specified. Data
members are called fields and procedure members are called methods.

Shared methods or static methods can be invoked without creating an object of the class.
Instance methods are invoked through an object of the class:

Shared Sub Main()

Dim r As New Rectangle()
r.Acceptdetails()
r.Display()
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub

Identifiers
An identifier is a name used to identify a class, variable, function, or any other user-defined item.
The basic rules for naming classes in VB.Net are as follows:

A name must begin with a letter that could be followed by a sequence of letters, digits 0 - 9 or
underscore. The first character in an identifier cannot be a digit.

It must not contain any embedded space or symbol like ? - +! @ # % ^ & * [ ] { } . ; : " ' / and
\. However, an underscore _ can be used.

It should not be a reserved keyword.

VB.Net Keywords
The following table lists the VB.Net reserved keywords:

AddHandler AddressOf Alias And AndAlso As Boolean

ByRef Byte ByVal Call Case Catch CBool

CByte CChar CDate CDec CDbl Char CInt

Class CLng CObj Const Continue CSByte CShort

CSng CStr CType CUInt CULng CUShort Date

Decimal Declare Default Delegate Dim DirectCast Do

Double Each Else ElseIf End End If Enum

Erase Error Event Exit False Finally For

Friend Function Get GetType Global GoTo

GetXML

Namespace

Handles If Implements Imports In Inherits Integer

 Interface Is IsNot Let Lib Like Long

Loop Me Mod Module MustInherit MustOverride MyBase

MyClass Namespace Narrowing New Next Not Nothing

Object Of On Operator Option

Not Not

Inheritable Overridable

Optional Or OrElse Overloads Overridable Overrides ParamArray

Partial Private Property Protected Public RaiseEvent ReadOnly

ReDim REM Resume Return SByte Select

Remove

Handler

Set Shadows Shared Short Single Static Step

Stop String Structure Sub SyncLock Then Throw

To True Try TryCast TypeOf UInteger While

Widening With WithEvents WriteOnly Xor

VB.NET - DATA TYPES

Data types refer to an extensive system used for declaring variables or functions of different types.
The type of a variable determines how much space it occupies in storage and how the bit pattern
stored is interpreted.

Data Types Available in VB.Net

VB.Net provides a wide range of data types. The following table shows all the data types available:

Data Type Storage Value Range

Allocation

Boolean Depends on True or False

implementing
platform

Byte 1 byte 0 through 255 unsigned

Char 2 bytes 0 through 65535 unsigned

Date 8 bytes 0:00:00 midnight on January 1, 0001 through 11:59:59 PM on

December 31, 9999

Decimal 16 bytes 0 through +/-79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335 +/-

7.9...E+28 with no decimal point; 0 through +/-
7.9228162514264337593543950335 with 28 places to the
right of the decimal

Double 8 bytes
-1.79769313486231570E+308 through -
4.94065645841246544E-324, for negative values

4.94065645841246544E-324 through
 1.79769313486231570E+308, for positive values

Integer 4 bytes -2,147,483,648 through 2,147,483,647 signed

Long 8 bytes -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 through

9,223,372,036,854,775,807signed

Object Any type can be stored in a variable of type Object

4 bytes on 32-bit
platform

8 bytes on 64-bit
platform

SByte 1 byte -128 through 127 signed

Short 2 bytes -32,768 through 32,767 signed

Single 4 bytes
-3.4028235E+38 through -1.401298E-45 for negative values;

1.401298E-45 through 3.4028235E+38 for positive values

String Depends on 0 to approximately 2 billion Unicode characters

implementing
platform

UInteger 4 bytes 0 through 4,294,967,295 unsigned

ULong 8 bytes 0 through 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 unsigned

User- Depends on Each member of the structure has a range determined by its
Defined implementing data type and independent of the ranges of the other
platform members

UShort 2 bytes 0 through 65,535 unsigned

Example
The following example demonstrates use of some of the types:

Module DataTypes
Sub Main()
Dim b As Byte
Dim n As Integer
Dim si As Single
Dim d As Double
Dim da As Date
Dim c As Char
Dim s As String
Dim bl As Boolean
b = 1
n = 1234567
si = 0.12345678901234566
d = 0.12345678901234566
da = Today
c = "U"c
s = "Me"
If ScriptEngine = "VB" Then
bl = True
Else
bl = False
End If
If bl Then
 'the oath taking
Console.Write(c & " and," & s & vbCrLf)
Console.WriteLine("declaring on the day of: {0}", da)
Console.WriteLine("We will learn VB.Net seriously")
Console.WriteLine("Lets see what happens to the floating point variables:")
Console.WriteLine("The Single: {0}, The Double: {1}", si, d)
End If
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub

End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

U and, Me
declaring on the day of: 12/4/2012 12:00:00 PM
We will learn VB.Net seriously
Lets see what happens to the floating point variables:
The Single:0.1234568, The Double: 0.123456789012346

The Type Conversion Functions in VB.Net

VB.Net provides the following in-line type conversion functions:

S.N Functions & Description

1
CBoolexpression

Converts the expression to Boolean data type.

2
CByteexpression

Converts the expression to Byte data type.

3
CCharexpression

Converts the expression to Char data type.

4
CDateexpression

Converts the expression to Date data type

5
CDblexpression

Converts the expression to Double data type.

6
CDecexpression

Converts the expression to Decimal data type.

7
CIntexpression

Converts the expression to Integer data type.

8
CLngexpression

Converts the expression to Long data type.

9
CObjexpression

Converts the expression to Object type.

10
CSByteexpression

Converts the expression to SByte data type.

11
CShortexpression

Converts the expression to Short data type.

12
CSngexpression

Converts the expression to Single data type.

13
CStrexpression

Converts the expression to String data type.

14
CUIntexpression

Converts the expression to UInt data type.

15
CULngexpression

Converts the expression to ULng data type.

16
CUShortexpression

Converts the expression to UShort data type.

Example:
The following example demonstrates some of these functions:

Module DataTypes
Sub Main()
Dim n As Integer
Dim da As Date
Dim bl As Boolean = True
n = 1234567
da = Today
Console.WriteLine(bl)
Console.WriteLine(CSByte(bl))
Console.WriteLine(CStr(bl))
Console.WriteLine(CStr(da))
 Console.WriteLine(CChar(CChar(CStr(n))))
Console.WriteLine(CChar(CStr(da)))
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

True
-1
True
12/4/2012
1
1

VB.NET - VARIABLES
A variable is nothing but a name given to a storage area that our programs can manipulate. Each
variable in VB.Net has a specific type, which determines the size and layout of the variable's
memory; the range of values that can be stored within that memory; and the set of operations that
can be applied to the variable.

We have already discussed various data types. The basic value types provided in VB.Net can be
categorized as:

Type Example

Integral types SByte, Byte, Short, UShort, Integer, UInteger, Long, ULong and Char

Floating point types Single and Double

Decimal types Decimal

Boolean types True or False values, as assigned

Date types Date

VB.Net also allows defining other value types of variable like Enum and reference types of
variables like Class. We will discuss date types and Classes in subsequent chapters.

Variable Declaration in VB.Net

The Dim statement is used for variable declaration and storage allocation for one or more
variables. The Dim statement is used at module, class, structure, procedure or block level.

Syntax for variable declaration in VB.Net is:

[ < attributelist> ] [ accessmodifier ] [[ Shared ] [ Shadows ] | [ Static ]]

[ ReadOnly ] Dim [ WithEvents ] variablelist

Where,

attributelist is a list of attributes that apply to the variable. Optional.

accessmodifier defines the access levels of the variables, it has values as - Public,
Protected, Friend, Protected Friend and Private. Optional.

Shared declares a shared variable, which is not associated with any specific instance of a
class or structure, rather available to all the instances of the class or structure. Optional.

Shadows indicate that the variable re-declares and hides an identically named element, or
set of overloaded elements, in a base class. Optional.
 Static indicates that the variable will retain its value, even when the after termination of the
procedure in which it is declared. Optional.

ReadOnly means the variable can be read, but not written. Optional.

WithEvents specifies that the variable is used to respond to events raised by the instance
assigned to the variable. Optional.

Variablelist provides the list of variables declared.

Each variable in the variable list has the following syntax and parts:

variablename[ ( [ boundslist ] ) ] [ As [ New ] datatype ] [ = initializer ]

Where,

variablename: is the name of the variable

boundslist: optional. It provides list of bounds of each dimension of an array variable.

New: optional. It creates a new instance of the class when the Dim statement runs.

datatype: Required if Option Strict is On. It specifies the data type of the variable.

initializer: Optional if New is not specified. Expression that is evaluated and assigned to the
variable when it is created.

Some valid variable declarations along with their definition are shown here:

Dim StudentID As Integer

Dim StudentName As String
Dim Salary As Double
Dim count1, count2 As Integer
Dim status As Boolean
Dim exitButton As New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Dim lastTime, nextTime As Date

Variable Initialization in VB.Net

Variables are initialized assigned a value with an equal sign followed by a constant expression. The
general form of initialization is:

variable_name = value;

for example,

Dim pi As Double
pi = 3.14159

You can initialize a variable at the time of declaration as follows:

Dim StudentID As Integer = 100

Dim StudentName As String = "Bill Smith"

Example
Try the following example which makes use of various types of variables:

Module variablesNdataypes
Sub Main()
Dim a As Short
Dim b As Integer
Dim c As Double
a = 10
b = 20
 c = a + b
Console.WriteLine("a = {0}, b = {1}, c = {2}", a, b, c)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

a = 10, b = 20, c = 30

Accepting Values from User

The Console class in the System namespace provides a function ReadLine for accepting input
from the user and store it into a variable. For example,

Dim message As String

message = Console.ReadLine

The following example demonstrates it:

Module variablesNdataypes
Sub Main()
Dim message As String
Console.Write("Enter message: ")
message = Console.ReadLine
Console.WriteLine()
Console.WriteLine("Your Message: {0}", message)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result assume the user
inputs Hello World:

Enter message: Hello World

Your Message: Hello World

Lvalues and Rvalues

There are two kinds of expressions:

lvalue : An expression that is an lvalue may appear as either the left-hand or right-hand side
of an assignment.

rvalue : An expression that is an rvalue may appear on the right- but not left-hand side of an
assignment.

Variables are lvalues and so may appear on the left-hand side of an assignment. Numeric literals
are rvalues and so may not be assigned and can not appear on the left-hand side. Following is a
valid statement:

Dim g As Integer = 20

But following is not a valid statement and would generate compile-time error:

20 = g

VB.NET - CONSTANTS AND ENUMERATIONS

The constants refer to fixed values that the program may not alter during its execution. These
fixed values are also called literals.

Constants can be of any of the basic data types like an integer constant, a floating constant, a
character constant, or a string literal. There are also enumeration constants as well.

The constants are treated just like regular variables except that their values cannot be modified
after their definition.

An enumeration is a set of named integer constants.

Declaring Constants
In VB.Net, constants are declared using the Const statement. The Const statement is used at
module, class, structure, procedure, or block level for use in place of literal values.

The syntax for the Const statement is:

[ < attributelist > ] [ accessmodifier ] [ Shadows ]

Const constantlist

Where,

attributelist: specifies the list of attributes applied to the constants; you can provide
multiple attributes separated by commas. Optional.

accessmodifier: specifies which code can access these constants. Optional. Values can be
either of the: Public, Protected, Friend, Protected Friend, or Private.

Shadows: this makes the constant hide a programming element of identical name in a base
class. Optional.

Constantlist: gives the list of names of constants declared. Required.

Where, each constant name has the following syntax and parts:

constantname [ As datatype ] = initializer

constantname: specifies the name of the constant

datatype: specifies the data type of the constant

initializer: specifies the value assigned to the constant

For example,

' The following statements declare constants.

Const maxval As Long = 4999
Public Const message As String = "HELLO"
Private Const piValue As Double = 3.1415

Example
The following example demonstrates declaration and use of a constant value:

Module constantsNenum
Sub Main()
Const PI = 3.14149
Dim radius, area As Single
radius = 7
area = PI * radius * radius
Console.WriteLine("Area = " & Str(area))
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Area = 153.933
Print and Display Constants in VB.Net
VB.Net provides the following print and display constants:

Constant Description

vbCrLf Carriage return/linefeed character combination.

vbCr Carriage return character.

vbLf Linefeed character.

vbNewLine Newline character.

vbNullChar Null character.

vbNullString Not the same as a zero-length string ""; used for calling external
procedures.

vbObjectError Error number. User-defined error numbers should be greater than this
value. For example:
Err.RaiseNumber = vbObjectError + 1000

vbTab Tab character.

vbBack Backspace character.

Declaring Enumerations
An enumerated type is declared using the Enum statement. The Enum statement declares an
enumeration and defines the values of its members. The Enum statement can be used at the
module, class, structure, procedure, or block level.

The syntax for the Enum statement is as follows:

[ < attributelist> ] [ accessmodifier ] [ Shadows ]

Enum enumerationname [ As datatype ]
memberlist
End Enum

Where,

attributelist: refers to the list of attributes applied to the variable. Optional.

asscessmodifier: specifies which code can access these enumerations. Optional. Values
can be either of the: Public, Protected, Friend or Private.

Shadows: this makes the enumeration hide a programming element of identical name in a
base class. Optional.

enumerationname: name of the enumeration. Required

datatype: specifies the data type of the enumeration and all its members.

memberlist: specifies the list of member constants being declared in this statement.
Required.

Each member in the memberlist has the following syntax and parts:

[< attribute list>] member name [ = initializer ]

Where,
 name: specifies the name of the member. Required.

initializer: value assigned to the enumeration member. Optional.

For example,

Enum Colors
red = 1
orange = 2
yellow = 3
green = 4
azure = 5
blue = 6
violet = 7
End Enum

Example
The following example demonstrates declaration and use of the Enum variable Colors:

Module constantsNenum
Enum Colors
red = 1
orange = 2
yellow = 3
green = 4
azure = 5
blue = 6
violet = 7
End Enum
Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine("The Color Red is : " & Colors.red)
Console.WriteLine("The Color Yellow is : " & Colors.yellow)
Console.WriteLine("The Color Blue is : " & Colors.blue)
Console.WriteLine("The Color Green is : " & Colors.green)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

The Color Red is: 1

The Color Yellow is: 3
The Color Blue is: 6
The Color Green is: 4

VB.NET - MODIFIERS
The modifiers are keywords added with any programming element to give some especial
emphasis on how the programming element will behave or will be accessed in the program

For example, the access modifiers: Public, Private, Protected, Friend, Protected Friend, etc.,
indicate the access level of a programming element like a variable, constant, enumeration or a
class.

List of Available Modifiers in VB.Net

The following table provides the complete list of VB.Net modifiers:

S.N Modifier Description

1 Ansi Specifies that Visual Basic should marshal all strings to American
National Standards Institute ANSI values regardless of the name
of the external procedure being declared.
2 Assembly Specifies that an attribute at the beginning of a source file
applies to the entire assembly.

3 Async Indicates that the method or lambda expression that it modifies is

asynchronous. Such methods are referred to as async methods.
The caller of an async method can resume its work without
waiting for the async method to finish.

4 Auto The charsetmodifier part in the Declare statement supplies the

character set information for marshaling strings during a call to
the external procedure. It also affects how Visual Basic searches
the external file for the external procedure name. The Auto
modifier specifies that Visual Basic should marshal strings
according to .NET Framework rules.

5 ByRef Specifies that an argument is passed by reference, i.e., the called

procedure can change the value of a variable underlying the
argument in the calling code. It is used under the contexts of:

Declare Statement
Function Statement
Sub Statement

6 ByVal Specifies that an argument is passed in such a way that the

called procedure or property cannot change the value of a
variable underlying the argument in the calling code. It is used
under the contexts of:

Declare Statement
Function Statement
Operator Statement
Property Statement
Sub Statement

7 Default Identifies a property as the default property of its class, structure,

or interface.

8 Friend
Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are
accessible from within the assembly that contains their
declaration, not only by the component that declares them.

Friend access is often the preferred level for an application's

programming elements, and Friend is the default access level of
an interface, a module, a class, or a structure.

9 In It is used in generic interfaces and delegates.

10 Iterator Specifies that a function or Get accessor is an iterator. An

iterator performs a custom iteration over a collection.

11 Key The Key keyword enables you to specify behavior for properties
of anonymous types.

12 Module Specifies that an attribute at the beginning of a source file

applies to the current assembly module. It is not same as the
Module statement.

13 MustInherit Specifies that a class can be used only as a base class and that
you cannot create an object directly from it.
14 MustOverride Specifies that a property or procedure is not implemented in this
class and must be overridden in a derived class before it can be
used.

15 Narrowing Indicates that a conversion operator CType converts a class or

structure to a type that might not be able to hold some of the
possible values of the original class or structure.

16 NotInheritable Specifies that a class cannot be used as a base class.

17 NotOverridable Specifies that a property or procedure cannot be overridden in a

derived class.

18 Optional Specifies that a procedure argument can be omitted when the

procedure is called.

19 Out For generic type parameters, the Out keyword specifies that the
type is covariant.

20 Overloads Specifies that a property or procedure redeclares one or more

existing properties or procedures with the same name.

21 Overridable Specifies that a property or procedure can be overridden by an

identically named property or procedure in a derived class.

22 Overrides Specifies that a property or procedure overrides an identically

named property or procedure inherited from a base class.

23 ParamArray ParamArray allows you to pass an arbitrary number of arguments

to the procedure. A ParamArray parameter is always declared
using ByVal.

24 Partial Indicates that a class or structure declaration is a partial

definition of the class or structure.

25 Private Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are

accessible only from within their declaration context, including
from within any contained types.

26 Protected Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are

accessible only from within their own class or from a derived
class.

27 Public Specifies that one or more declared programming elements

have no access restrictions.

28 ReadOnly Specifies that a variable or property can be read but not written.

29 Shadows Specifies that a declared programming element redeclares and

hides an identically named element, or set of overloaded
elements, in a base class.

30 Shared Specifies that one or more declared programming elements are

associated with a class or structure at large, and not with a
specific instance of the class or structure.

31 Static Specifies that one or more declared local variables are to

continue to exist and retain their latest values after termination
of the procedure in which they are declared.

32 Unicode Specifies that Visual Basic should marshal all strings to Unicode
values regardless of the name of the external procedure being
declared.

33 Widening Indicates that a conversion operator CType converts a class or

structure to a type that can hold all possible values of the original
class or structure.
34 WithEvents Specifies that one or more declared member variables refer to
an instance of a class that can raise events.

35 WriteOnly Specifies that a property can be written but not read.

VB.NET - STATEMENTS
A statement is a complete instruction in Visual Basic programs. It may contain keywords,
operators, variables, literal values, constants and expressions.

Statements could be categorized as:

Declaration statements - these are the statements where you name a variable, constant,
or procedure, and can also specify a data type.

Executable statements - these are the statements, which initiate actions. These statements
can call a method or function, loop or branch through blocks of code or assign values or
expression to a variable or constant. In the last case, it is called an Assignment statement.

Declaration Statements
The declaration statements are used to name and define procedures, variables, properties, arrays,
and constants. When you declare a programming element, you can also define its data type,
access level, and scope.

The programming elements you may declare include variables, constants, enumerations, classes,
structures, modules, interfaces, procedures, procedure parameters, function returns, external
procedure references, operators, properties, events, and delegates.

Following are the declaration statements in VB.Net:

S.N Statements and Description Example

1
Dim Statement Dim number As Integer
Dim quantity As Integer = 100
Declares and allocates storage space for one Dim message As String = "Hello!"
or more variables.

2 Const Statement
Declares and defines one or more constants. Const maximum As Long = 1000
Const naturalLogBase As Object
= CDec(2.7182818284)

3 Enum Statement
Declares an enumeration and defines the Enum CoffeeMugSize
values of its members. Jumbo
ExtraLarge
Large
Medium
Small
End Enum

4 Class Box
Class Statement Public length As Double
Public breadth As Double
Declares the name of a class and introduces Public height As Double
the definition of the variables, properties, End Class
events, and procedures that the class
comprises.
5 Structure Box
Structure Statement Public length As Double
Public breadth As Double
Declares the name of a structure and Public height As Double
introduces the definition of the variables, End Structure
properties, events, and procedures that the
structure comprises.

6 Public Module myModule

Module Statement Sub Main()
Dim user As String =
Declares the name of a module and InputBox("What is your name?")
introduces the definition of the variables, MsgBox("User name is" & user)
properties, events, and procedures that the End Sub
module comprises. End Module

7 Public Interface MyInterface

Interface Statement Sub doSomething()
End Interface
Declares the name of an interface and
introduces the definitions of the members that
the interface comprises.

8 Function myFunction
Function Statement (ByVal n As Integer) As Double
Return 5.87 * n
Declares the name, parameters, and code that End Function
define a Function procedure.

9 Sub mySub(ByVal s As String)

Sub Statement Return
End Sub
Declares the name, parameters, and code that
define a Sub procedure.

10 Declare Function getUserName

Declare Statement Lib "advapi32.dll"
Alias "GetUserNameA"
Declares a reference to a procedure (
implemented in an external file. ByVal lpBuffer As String,
ByRef nSize As Integer) As Integer

11 Public Shared Operator +

Operator Statement (ByVal x As obj, ByVal y As obj) As
obj
Declares the operator symbol, operands, and Dim r As New obj
code that define an operator procedure on a ' implemention code for r = x + y
class or structure. Return r
End Operator

12 ReadOnly Property quote() As String

Property Statement Get
Return quoteString
Declares the name of a property, and the End Get
property procedures used to store and retrieve End Property
the value of the property.

13 Public Event Finished()

Event Statement
 Declares a user-defined event.

14 Delegate Function MathOperator(

Delegate Statement ByVal x As Double,
ByVal y As Double
Used to declare a delegate. ) As Double

Executable Statements
An executable statement performs an action. Statements calling a procedure, branching to
another place in the code, looping through several statements, or evaluating an expression are
executable statements. An assignment statement is a special case of an executable statement.

Example

The following example demonstrates a decision making statement:

Module decisions
Sub Main()
'local variable definition '
Dim a As Integer = 10

' check the boolean condition using if statement '

If (a < 20) Then
' if condition is true then print the following '
Console.WriteLine("a is less than 20")
End If
Console.WriteLine("value of a is : {0}", a)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

a is less than 20;

value of a is : 10

VB.NET - DIRECTIVES
The VB.Net compiler directives give instructions to the compiler to preprocess the information
before actual compilation starts.

All these directives begin with #, and only white-space characters may appear before a directive
on a line. These directives are not statements.

VB.Net compiler does not have a separate preprocessor; however, the directives are processed as
if there was one. In VB.Net, the compiler directives are used to help in conditional compilation.
Unlike C and C++ directives, they are not used to create macros.

Compiler Directives in VB.Net

VB.Net provides the following set of compiler directives:

The #Const Directive

The #ExternalSource Directive

The #If...Then...#Else Directives

The #Region Directive

The #Const Directive
This directive defines conditional compiler constants. Syntax for this directive is:

#Const constname = expression

Where,

constname: specifies the name of the constant. Required.

expression: it is either a literal, or other conditional compiler constant, or a combination

including any or all arithmetic or logical operators except Is.

For example,

#Const state = "WEST BENGAL"

Example
The following code demonstrates a hypothetical use of the directive:

Module mydirectives
#Const age = True
Sub Main()
#If age Then
Console.WriteLine("You are welcome to the Robotics Club")
#End If
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

You are welcome to the Robotics Club

The #ExternalSource Directive

This directive is used for indicating a mapping between specific lines of source code and text
external to the source. It is used only by the compiler and the debugger has no effect on code
compilation.

This directive allows including external code from an external code file into a source code file.

Syntax for this directive is:

#ExternalSource( StringLiteral , IntLiteral )

[ LogicalLine ]
#End ExternalSource

The parameters of #ExternalSource directive are the path of external file, line number of the first
line, and the line where the error occurred.

Example
The following code demonstrates a hypothetical use of the directive:

Module mydirectives
Public Class ExternalSourceTester

Sub TestExternalSource()

#ExternalSource("c:\vbprogs\directives.vb", 5)
Console.WriteLine("This is External Code. ")
#End ExternalSource
 End Sub
End Class

Sub Main()
Dim t As New ExternalSourceTester()
t.TestExternalSource()
Console.WriteLine("In Main.")
Console.ReadKey()

End Sub

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

This is External Code.

In Main.

The #If...Then...#Else Directives

This directive conditionally compiles selected blocks of Visual Basic code.

Syntax for this directive is:

#If expression Then

statements
[ #ElseIf expression Then
[ statements ]
...
#ElseIf expression Then
[ statements ] ]
[ #Else
[ statements ] ]
#End If

For example,

#Const TargetOS = "Linux"

#If TargetOS = "Windows 7" Then
' Windows 7 specific code
#ElseIf TargetOS = "WinXP" Then
' Windows XP specific code
#Else
' Code for other OS
#End if

Example
The following code demonstrates a hypothetical use of the directive:

Module mydirectives
#Const classCode = 8

Sub Main()
#If classCode = 7 Then
Console.WriteLine("Exam Questions for Class VII")
#ElseIf classCode = 8 Then
Console.WriteLine("Exam Questions for Class VIII")
#Else
Console.WriteLine("Exam Questions for Higher Classes")
#End If
Console.ReadKey()

End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:
Exam Questions for Class VIII

The #Region Directive

This directive helps in collapsing and hiding sections of code in Visual Basic files.

Syntax for this directive is:

#Region "identifier_string"
#End Region

For example,

#Region "StatsFunctions"
' Insert code for the Statistical functions here.
#End Region

VB.NET - OPERATORS
An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical
manipulations. VB.Net is rich in built-in operators and provides following types of commonly used
operators:

Arithmetic Operators

Comparison Operators

Logical/Bitwise Operators

Bit Shift Operators

Assignment Operators

Miscellaneous Operators

This tutorial will explain the most commonly used operators.

Arithmetic Operators
Following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by VB.Net. Assume variable A holds 2
and variable B holds 7, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

^ Raises one operand to the power of another B^A will give 49

+ Adds two operands A + B will give 9

- Subtracts second operand from the first A - B will give -5

* Multiplies both operands A * B will give 14

/ Divides one operand by another and returns a B / A will give 3.5

floating point result

\ Divides one operand by another and returns an B \ A will give 3

integer result

MOD Modulus Operator and remainder of after an B MOD A will give 1

integer division
Comparison Operators
Following table shows all the comparison operators supported by VB.Net. Assume variable A holds
10 and variable B holds 20, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

= Checks if the values of two operands are equal or A = B is not true.

not; if yes, then condition becomes true.

<> Checks if the values of two operands are equal or A <> B is true.
not; if values are not equal, then condition
becomes true.

> Checks if the value of left operand is greater than A > B is not true.
the value of right operand; if yes, then condition
becomes true.

< Checks if the value of left operand is less than the A < B is true.
value of right operand; if yes, then condition
becomes true.

>= Checks if the value of left operand is greater than A >= B is not true.
or equal to the value of right operand; if yes, then
condition becomes true.

<= Checks if the value of left operand is less than or A <= B is true.
equal to the value of right operand; if yes, then
condition becomes true.

Apart from the above, VB.Net provides three more comparison operators, which we will be using in
forthcoming chapters; however, we give a brief description here.

Is Operator - It compares two object reference variables and determines if two object
references refer to the same object without performing value comparisons. If object1 and
object2 both refer to the exact same object instance, result is True; otherwise, result is False.

IsNot Operator - It also compares two object reference variables and determines if two
object references refer to different objects. If object1 and object2 both refer to the exact
same object instance, result is False; otherwise, result is True.

Like Operator - It compares a string against a pattern.

Logical/Bitwise Operators
Following table shows all the logical operators supported by VB.Net. Assume variable A holds
Boolean value True and variable B holds Boolean value False, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

And It is the logical as well as bitwise AND operator. If A And B is False.

both the operands are true, then condition
becomes true. This operator does not perform
short-circuiting, i.e., it evaluates both the
expressions.

Or It is the logical as well as bitwise OR operator. If any A Or B is True.

of the two operands is true, then condition becomes
 true. This operator does not perform short-
circuiting, i.e., it evaluates both the expressions.

Not It is the logical as well as bitwise NOT operator. Use NotA And B is True.
to reverses the logical state of its operand. If a
condition is true, then Logical NOT operator will
make false.

Xor It is the logical as well as bitwise Logical Exclusive A Xor B is True.

OR operator. It returns True if both expressions are
True or both expressions are False; otherwise it
returns False. This operator does not perform short-
circuiting, it always evaluates both expressions and
there is no short-circuiting counterpart of this
operator.

AndAlso It is the logical AND operator. It works only on A AndAlso B is False.

Boolean data. It performs short-circuiting.

OrElse It is the logical OR operator. It works only on A OrElse B is True.

Boolean data. It performs short-circuiting.

IsFalse It determines whether an expression is False.

IsTrue It determines whether an expression is True.

Bit Shift Operators

We have already discussed the bitwise operators. The bit shift operators perform the shift
operations on binary values. Before coming into the bit shift operators, let us understand the bit
operations.

Bitwise operators work on bits and perform bit-by-bit operations. The truth tables for &, |, and ^
are as follows:

p q p&q p|q p^q

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 1 1

1 1 1 1 0

1 0 0 1 1

Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; now in binary format they will be as follows:

A = 0011 1100

B = 0000 1101

-----------------

A&B = 0000 1100

A|B = 0011 1101

A^B = 0011 0001

~A = 1100 0011

We have seen that the Bitwise operators supported by VB.Net are And, Or, Xor and Not. The Bit
shift operators are >> and << for left shift and right shift, respectively.
Assume that the variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13, then:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

And Bitwise AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it A AND B will give 12, which is
exists in both operands. 0000 1100

Or Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either A Or B will give 61, which is
operand. 0011 1101

Xor Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one A Xor B will give 49, which is
operand but not both. 0011 0001

Not Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and Not A will give -61, which is
has the effect of 'flipping' bits. 1100 0011 in 2's complement
form due to a signed binary
number.

<< Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value A << 2 will give 240, which is
is moved left by the number of bits specified by the 1111 0000
right operand.

>> Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value A >> 2 will give 15, which is
is moved right by the number of bits specified by 0000 1111
the right operand.

Assignment Operators
There are following assignment operators supported by VB.Net:

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

= Simple assignment operator, Assigns values from C = A + B will assign value of

right side operands to left side operand A + B into C

+= Add AND assignment operator, It adds right C += A is equivalent to C = C

operand to the left operand and assigns the result +A
to left operand

-= Subtract AND assignment operator, It subtracts C -= A is equivalent to C = C -

right operand from the left operand and assigns the A
result to left operand

*= Multiply AND assignment operator, It multiplies C *= A is equivalent to C = C

right operand with the left operand and assigns the *A
result to left operand

/= Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left C /= A is equivalent to C = C /

operand with the right operand and assigns the A
result to left operand floating point division

\= Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left C \= A is equivalent to C = C

operand with the right operand and assigns the \A
result to left operand Integer division

^= Exponentiation and assignment operator. It raises C^=A is equivalent to C = C

the left operand to the power of the right operand ^A
and assigns the result to left operand.
<<= Left shift AND assignment operator C <<= 2 is same as C = C
<< 2

>>= Right shift AND assignment operator C >>= 2 is same as C = C

>> 2

&= Concatenates a String expression to a String

variable or property and assigns the result to the Str1 &= Str2 is same as
variable or property.
Str1 = Str1 & Str2

Miscellaneous Operators
There are few other important operators supported by VB.Net.

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

AddressOf Returns the address of a procedure. AddHandler Button1.Click,

AddressOf Button1_Click

Await It is applied to an operand in an

asynchronous method or lambda Dim result As res
expression to suspend execution of the = Await
method until the awaited task completes. AsyncMethodThatReturnsResult()
Await AsyncMethod()

GetType It returns a Type object for the specified MsgBox(GetType(Integer).ToString())

type. The Type object provides
information about the type such as its
properties, methods, and events.

Function It declares the parameters and code that Dim add5 = Function(num As
Expression define a function lambda expression. Integer) num + 5
'prints 10
Console.WriteLine(add5(5))

If It uses short-circuit evaluation to Dim num = 5

conditionally return one of two values. Console.WriteLine(If(num >= 0,
The If operator can be called with three "Positive", "Negative"))
arguments or with two arguments.

Operators Precedence in VB.Net

Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression. This affects how an
expression is evaluated. Certain operators have higher precedence than others; for example, the
multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator:

For example, x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has higher
precedence than +, so it first gets multiplied with 3*2 and then adds into 7.

Here, operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with the lowest
appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher precedence operators will be evaluated first.

Show Examples
 Operator Precedence

Await Highest

Exponentiation ^

Unary identity and negation +, -

Multiplication and floating-point division *, /

Integer division (\)

Modulus arithmetic Mod

Addition and subtraction +, -

Arithmetic bit shift <<, >>

All comparison operators =, <>, <, <=, >, >=, Is, IsNot,
Like, TypeOf...Is

Negation Not

Conjunction And, AndAlso

Inclusive disjunction Or, OrElse

Exclusive disjunction Xor Lowest

VB.NET - DECISION MAKING

Decision making structures require that the programmer specify one or more conditions to be
evaluated or tested by the program, along with a statement or statements to be executed if the
condition is determined to be true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition
is determined to be false.

Following is the general form of a typical decision making structure found in most of the
programming languages:

VB.Net provides the following types of decision making statements. Click the following links to
check their details.
 Statement Description

If ... Then statement An If...Then statement consists of a boolean expression

followed by one or more statements.

If...Then...Else statement An If...Then statement can be followed by an optional Else

statement, which executes when the boolean expression is
false.

nested If statements You can use one If or Else if statement inside another If or
Else if statements.

Select Case statement A Select Case statement allows a variable to be tested for
equality against a list of values.

nested Select Case statements You can use one select case statement inside another select
case statements.

VB.NET - LOOPS
There may be a situation when you need to execute a block of code several number of times. In
general, statements are executed sequentially: The first statement in a function is executed first,
followed by the second, and so on.

Programming languages provide various control structures that allow for more complicated
execution paths.

A loop statement allows us to execute a statement or group of statements multiple times and
following is the general form of a loop statement in most of the programming languages:

VB.Net provides following types of loops to handle looping requirements. Click the following links
to check their details.

Loop Type Description

Do Loop It repeats the enclosed block of statements while a Boolean

condition is True or until the condition becomes True. It could be
terminated at any time with the Exit Do statement.

For...Next It repeats a group of statements a specified number of times and a

 loop index counts the number of loop iterations as the loop
executes.

For Each...Next It repeats a group of statements for each element in a collection.

This loop is used for accessing and manipulating all elements in an
array or a VB.Net collection.

While... End While It executes a series of statements as long as a given condition is

True.

With... End With It is not exactly a looping construct. It executes a series of

statements that repeatedly refer to a single object or structure.

Nested loops You can use one or more loops inside any another While, For or Do
loop.

Loop Control Statements:

Loop control statements change execution from its normal sequence. When execution leaves a
scope, all automatic objects that were created in that scope are destroyed.

VB.Net provides the following control statements. Click the following links to check their details.

Control Statement Description

Exit statement Terminates the loop or select case statement and transfers
execution to the statement immediately following the loop or
select case.

Continue statement Causes the loop to skip the remainder of its body and immediately
retest its condition prior to reiterating.

GoTo statement Transfers control to the labeled statement. Though it is not

advised to use GoTo statement in your program.

VB.NET - STRINGS
In VB.Net, you can use strings as array of characters, however, more common practice is to use
the String keyword to declare a string variable. The string keyword is an alias for the
System.String class.

Creating a String Object

You can create string object using one of the following methods:

By assigning a string literal to a String variable

By using a String class constructor

By using the string concatenation operator +

By retrieving a property or calling a method that returns a string

By calling a formatting method to convert a value or object to its string representation

The following example demonstrates this:

Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim fname, lname, fullname, greetings As String
fname = "Rowan"
lname = "Atkinson"
 fullname = fname + " " + lname
Console.WriteLine("Full Name: {0}", fullname)

'by using string constructor

Dim letters As Char() = {"H", "e", "l", "l", "o"}
greetings = New String(letters)
Console.WriteLine("Greetings: {0}", greetings)

'methods returning String

Dim sarray() As String = {"Hello", "From", "Tutorials", "Point"}
Dim message As String = String.Join(" ", sarray)
Console.WriteLine("Message: {0}", message)

'formatting method to convert a value

Dim waiting As DateTime = New DateTime(2012, 12, 12, 17, 58, 1)
Dim chat As String = String.Format("Message sent at {0:t} on {0:D}", waiting)
Console.WriteLine("Message: {0}", chat)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Full Name: Rowan Atkinson

Greetings: Hello
Message: Hello From Tutorials Point
Message: Message sent at 5:58 PM on Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Properties of the String Class

The String class has the following two properties:

S.N Property Name & Description

1
Chars

Gets the Char object at a specified position in the current String object.

2
Length

Gets the number of characters in the current String object.

Methods of the String Class

The String class has numerous methods that help you in working with the string objects. The
following table provides some of the most commonly used methods:

S.N Method Name & Description

1
Public Shared Function Compare strA As String, strB As String As Integer

Compares two specified string objects and returns an integer that indicates their relative
position in the sort order.

2
Public Shared Function Compare strA As String, strB As String, ignoreCase As
Boolean As Integer
 Compares two specified string objects and returns an integer that indicates their relative
position in the sort order. However, it ignores case if the Boolean parameter is true.

3
Public Shared Function Concat str0 As String, str1 As String As String

Concatenates two string objects.

4
Public Shared Function Concat str0 As String, str1 As String, str2 As String As
String

Concatenates three string objects.

5
Public Shared Function Concat str0 As String, str1 As String, str2 As String, str3
As String As String

Concatenates four string objects.

6
Public Function Contains value As String As Boolean

Returns a value indicating whether the specified string object occurs within this string.

7
Public Shared Function Copy str As String As String

Creates a new String object with the same value as the specified string.

8
pPublic Sub CopyTo sourceIndex As Integer, destination As Char(,
destinationIndex As Integer, count As Integer )

Copies a specified number of characters from a specified position of the string object to a
specified position in an array of Unicode characters.

9
Public Function EndsWith value As String As Boolean

Determines whether the end of the string object matches the specified string.

10
Public Function Equals value As String As Boolean

Determines whether the current string object and the specified string object have the
same value.

11
Public Shared Function Equals a As String, b As String As Boolean

Determines whether two specified string objects have the same value.

12
Public Shared Function Format format As String, arg0 As Object As String

Replaces one or more format items in a specified string with the string representation of a
specified object.
13
Public Function IndexOf value As Char As Integer

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified Unicode character in
the current string.

14
Public Function IndexOf value As String As Integer

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified string in this instance.

15
Public Function IndexOf value As Char, startIndex As Integer As Integer

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified Unicode character in
this string, starting search at the specified character position.

16
Public Function IndexOf value As String, startIndex As Integer As Integer

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified string in this instance,
starting search at the specified character position.

17
Public Function IndexOfAny anyOf As Char( ) As Integer

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence in this instance of any character in a
specified array of Unicode characters.

18
Public Function IndexOfAny anyOf As Char(, startIndex As Integer ) As Integer

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence in this instance of any character in a
specified array of Unicode characters, starting search at the specified character position.

19
Public Function Insert startIndex As Integer, value As String As String

Returns a new string in which a specified string is inserted at a specified index position in
the current string object.

20
Public Shared Function IsNullOrEmpty value As String As Boolean

Indicates whether the specified string is null or an Empty string.

21
Public Shared Function Join separator As String, ParamArray value As String( )
As String

Concatenates all the elements of a string array, using the specified separator between
each element.

22
Public Shared Function Join separator As String, value As String(, startIndex As
Integer, count As Integer ) As String

Concatenates the specified elements of a string array, using the specified separator
between each element.
23
Public Function LastIndexOf value As Char As Integer

Returns the zero-based index position of the last occurrence of the specified Unicode
character within the current string object.

24
Public Function LastIndexOf value As String As Integer

Returns the zero-based index position of the last occurrence of a specified string within
the current string object.

25
Public Function Remove startIndex As Integer As String

Removes all the characters in the current instance, beginning at a specified position and
continuing through the last position, and returns the string.

26
Public Function Remove startIndex As Integer, count As Integer As String

Removes the specified number of characters in the current string beginning at a specified
position and returns the string.

27
Public Function Replace oldChar As Char, newChar As Char As String

Replaces all occurrences of a specified Unicode character in the current string object with
the specified Unicode character and returns the new string.

28
Public Function Replace oldValue As String, newValue As String As String

Replaces all occurrences of a specified string in the current string object with the
specified string and returns the new string.

29
Public Function Split ParamArray separator As Char( ) As String

Returns a string array that contains the substrings in the current string object, delimited
by elements of a specified Unicode character array.

30
Public Function Split separator As Char(, count As Integer ) As String

Returns a string array that contains the substrings in the current string object, delimited
by elements of a specified Unicode character array. The int parameter specifies the
maximum number of substrings to return.

31
Public Function StartsWith value As String As Boolean

Determines whether the beginning of this string instance matches the specified string.

32
Public Function ToCharArray As Char

Returns a Unicode character array with all the characters in the current string object.

33
 33
Public Function ToCharArray startIndex As Integer, length As Integer As Char

Returns a Unicode character array with all the characters in the current string object,
starting from the specified index and up to the specified length.

34
Public Function ToLower As String

Returns a copy of this string converted to lowercase.

35
Public Function ToUpper As String

Returns a copy of this string converted to uppercase.

36
Public Function Trim As String

Removes all leading and trailing white-space characters from the current String object.

The above list of methods is not exhaustive, please visit MSDN library for the complete list of
methods and String class constructors.

Examples:
The following example demonstrates some of the methods mentioned above:

Comparing Strings:

#include <include.h>
Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim str1, str2 As String
str1 = "This is test"
str2 = "This is text"
If (String.Compare(str1, str2) = 0) Then
Console.WriteLine(str1 + " and " + str2 +
" are equal.")
Else
Console.WriteLine(str1 + " and " + str2 +
" are not equal.")
End If
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

This is test and This is text are not equal.

String Contains String:

Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim str1 As String
str1 = "This is test"
If (str1.Contains("test")) Then
Console.WriteLine("The sequence 'test' was found.")
End If
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

The sequence 'test' was found.

Getting a Substring:

Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim str As String
str = "Last night I dreamt of San Pedro"
Console.WriteLine(str)
Dim substr As String = str.Substring(23)
Console.WriteLine(substr)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro

San Pedro.

Joining Strings:

Module strings
Sub Main()
Dim strarray As String() = {"Down the way where the nights are gay",
"And the sun shines daily on the mountain top",
"I took a trip on a sailing ship",
"And when I reached Jamaica",
"I made a stop"}
Dim str As String = String.Join(vbCrLf, strarray)
Console.WriteLine(str)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Down the way where the nights are gay

And the sun shines daily on the mountain top
I took a trip on a sailing ship
And when I reached Jamaica
I made a stop

VB.NET - DATE & TIME

Most of the softwares you write need implementing some form of date functions returning current
date and time. Dates are so much part of everyday life that it becomes easy to work with them
without thinking. VB.Net also provides powerful tools for date arithmetic that makes manipulating
dates easy.

The Date data type contains date values, time values, or date and time values. The default value
of Date is 0:00:00 midnight on January 1, 0001. The equivalent .NET data type is
System.DateTime.

The DateTime structure represents an instant in time, typically expressed as a date and time of
day

'Declaration
<SerializableAttribute> _
Public Structure DateTime _
Implements IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible, ISerializable,
 IComparable(Of DateTime), IEquatable(Of DateTime)

You can also get the current date and time from the DateAndTime class.

The DateAndTime module contains the procedures and properties used in date and time
operations.

'Declaration
<StandardModuleAttribute> _
Public NotInheritable Class DateAndTime

Note:

Both the DateTime structure and the DateAndTime module contain properties like Now and
Today, so often beginners find it confusing. The DateAndTime class belongs to the
Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace and the DateTime structure belongs to the System
namespace.
Therefore, using the later would help you in porting your code to another .Net language like C#.
However, the DateAndTime class/module contains all the legacy date functions available in
Visual Basic.

Properties and Methods of the DateTime Structure

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the DateTime Structure:

S.N Property Description

1 Date Gets the date component of this instance.

2 Day Gets the day of the month represented by this instance.

3 DayOfWeek Gets the day of the week represented by this instance.

4 DayOfYear Gets the day of the year represented by this instance.

5 Hour Gets the hour component of the date represented by this

instance.

6 Kind Gets a value that indicates whether the time represented by this
instance is based on local time, Coordinated Universal Time UTC,
or neither.

7 Millisecond Gets the milliseconds component of the date represented by this

instance.

8 Minute Gets the minute component of the date represented by this

instance.

9 Month Gets the month component of the date represented by this

instance.

10 Now Gets a DateTime object that is set to the current date and time
on this computer, expressed as the local time.

11 Second Gets the seconds component of the date represented by this

instance.

12 Ticks Gets the number of ticks that represent the date and time of this
instance.

13 TimeOfDay Gets the time of day for this instance.

14 Today Gets the current date.

15 UtcNow Gets a DateTime object that is set to the current date and time
on this computer, expressed as the Coordinated Universal Time
UTC.

16 Year Gets the year component of the date represented by this

instance.

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the DateTime structure:

S.N Method Name & Description

1
Public Function Add value As TimeSpan As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the value of the specified TimeSpan to the value of this
instance.

2
Public Function AddDays value As Double As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of days to the value of this
instance.

3
Public Function AddHours value As Double As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of hours to the value of this
instance.

4
Public Function AddMinutes value As Double As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of minutes to the value of this
instance.

5
Public Function AddMonths months As Integer As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of months to the value of this
instance.

6
Public Function AddSeconds value As Double As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of seconds to the value of this
instance.

7
Public Function AddYears value As Integer As DateTime

Returns a new DateTime that adds the specified number of years to the value of this
instance.

8
Public Shared Function Compare t1 As DateTime,t2 As DateTime As Integer

Compares two instances of DateTime and returns an integer that indicates whether the
 first instance is earlier than, the same as, or later than the second instance.

9
Public Function CompareTo value As DateTime As Integer

Compares the value of this instance to a specified DateTime value and returns an integer
that indicates whether this instance is earlier than, the same as, or later than the specified
DateTime value.

10
Public Function Equals value As DateTime As Boolean

Returns a value indicating whether the value of this instance is equal to the value of the
specified DateTime instance.

11
Public Shared Function Equals t1 As DateTime, t2 As DateTime As Boolean

Returns a value indicating whether two DateTime instances have the same date and time
value.

12
Public Overrides Function ToString As String

Converts the value of the current DateTime object to its equivalent string representation.

The above list of methods is not exhaustive, please visit Microsoft documentation for the complete
list of methods and properties of the DateTime structure.

Creating a DateTime Object

You can create a DateTime object in one of the following ways:

By calling a DateTime constructor from any of the overloaded DateTime constructors.

By assigning the DateTime object a date and time value returned by a property or method.

By parsing the string representation of a date and time value.

By calling the DateTime structure's implicit default constructor.

The following example demonstrates this:

Module Module1
Sub Main()
'DateTime constructor: parameters year, month, day, hour, min, sec
Dim date1 As New Date(2012, 12, 16, 12, 0, 0)
'initializes a new DateTime value
Dim date2 As Date = #12/16/2012 12:00:52 AM#
'using properties
Dim date3 As Date = Date.Now
Dim date4 As Date = Date.UtcNow
Dim date5 As Date = Date.Today
Console.WriteLine(date1)
Console.WriteLine(date2)
Console.WriteLine(date3)
Console.WriteLine(date4)
Console.WriteLine(date5)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code was compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

12/16/2012 12:00:00 PM
12/16/2012 12:00:52 PM
12/12/2012 10:22:50 PM
12/12/2012 12:00:00 PM

Getting the Current Date and Time:

The following programs demonstrate how to get the current date and time in VB.Net:

Current Time:

Module dateNtime
Sub Main()
Console.Write("Current Time: ")
Console.WriteLine(Now.ToLongTimeString)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Current Time: 11 :05 :32 AM

Current Date:

Module dateNtime
Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine("Current Date: ")
Dim dt As Date = Today
Console.WriteLine("Today is: {0}", dt)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Today is: 12/11/2012 12:00:00 AM

Formatting Date
A Date literal should be enclosed within hash signs # #, and specified in the format M/d/yyyy, for
example #12/16/2012#. Otherwise, your code may change depending on the locale in which your
application is running.

For example, you specified Date literal of #2/6/2012# for the date February 6, 2012. It is alright
for the locale that uses mm/dd/yyyy format. However, in a locale that uses dd/mm/yyyy format,
your literal would compile to June 2, 2012. If a locale uses another format say, yyyy/mm/dd, the
literal would be invalid and cause a compiler error.

To convert a Date literal to the format of your locale or to a custom format, use the Format
function of String class, specifying either a predefined or user-defined date format.

The following example demonstrates this.

Module dateNtime
Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine("India Wins Freedom: ")
Dim independenceDay As New Date(1947, 8, 15, 0, 0, 0)
' Use format specifiers to control the date display.
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'd:' " & independenceDay.ToString("d"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'D:' " & independenceDay.ToString("D"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 't:' " & independenceDay.ToString("t"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'T:' " & independenceDay.ToString("T"))
 Console.WriteLine(" Format 'f:' " & independenceDay.ToString("f"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'F:' " & independenceDay.ToString("F"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'g:' " & independenceDay.ToString("g"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'G:' " & independenceDay.ToString("G"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'M:' " & independenceDay.ToString("M"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'R:' " & independenceDay.ToString("R"))
Console.WriteLine(" Format 'y:' " & independenceDay.ToString("y"))
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

India Wins Freedom:

Format 'd:' 8/15/1947
Format 'D:' Friday, August 15, 1947
Format 't:' 12:00 AM
Format 'T:' 12:00:00 AM
Format 'f:' Friday, August 15, 1947 12:00 AM
Format 'F:' Friday, August 15, 1947 12:00:00 AM
Format 'g:' 8/15/1947 12:00 AM
Format 'G:' 8/15/1947 12:00:00 AM
Format 'M:' 8/15/1947 August 15
Format 'R:' Fri, 15 August 1947 00:00:00 GMT
Format 'y:' August, 1947

Predefined Date/Time Formats

The following table identifies the predefined date and time format names. These may be used by
name as the style argument for the Format function:

Format Description

General Date, or G Displays a date and/or time. For example, 1/12/2012 07:07:30 AM.

Long Date,Medium Displays a date according to your current culture's long date format.
Date, or D For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012.

Short Date, or d Displays a date using your current culture's short date format. For
example, 12/12/2012.

Long Time,Medium Displays a time using your current culture's long time format; typically
Time, orT includes hours, minutes, seconds. For example, 01:07:30 AM.

Short Time or t Displays a time using your current culture's short time format. For
example, 11:07 AM.

f Displays the long date and short time according to your current
culture's format. For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012 12:15 AM.

F Displays the long date and long time according to your current culture's
format. For example, Sunday, December 16, 2012 12:15:31 AM.

g Displays the short date and short time according to your current
culture's format. For example, 12/16/2012 12:15 AM.

M, m Displays the month and the day of a date. For example, December 16.

R, r Formats the date according to the RFC1123Pattern property.

s Formats the date and time as a sortable index. For example, 2012-12-
16T12:07:31.

u Formats the date and time as a GMT sortable index. For example, 2012-
12-16 12:15:31Z.
U Formats the date and time with the long date and long time as GMT. For
example, Sunday, December 16, 2012 6:07:31 PM.

Y, y Formats the date as the year and month. For example, December,
2012.

For other formats like user-defined formats, please consult Microsoft Documentation.

Properties and Methods of the DateAndTime Class

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the DateAndTime Class:

S.N Property Description

1 Date Returns or sets a String value representing the current date

according to your system.

2 Now Returns a Date value containing the current date and time
according to your system.

3 TimeOfDay Returns or sets a Date value containing the current time of day
according to your system.

4 Timer Returns a Double value representing the number of seconds

elapsed since midnight.

5 TimeString Returns or sets a String value representing the current time of

day according to your system.

6 Today Gets the current date.

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the DateAndTime class:

S.N Method Name & Description

1
Public Shared Function DateAdd Interval As DateInterval, Number As Double,
DateValue As DateTime As DateTime

Returns a Date value containing a date and time value to which a specified time interval
has been added.

2
Public Shared Function DateAdd Interval As String,Number As Double,DateValue
As Object As DateTime

Returns a Date value containing a date and time value to which a specified time interval
has been added.

3
Public Shared Function DateDiff Interval As DateInterval, Date1 As DateTime,
Date2 As DateTime, DayOfWeek As FirstDayOfWeek, WeekOfYear As
FirstWeekOfYear As Long

Returns a Long value specifying the number of time intervals between two Date values.

4
Public Shared Function DatePart Interval As DateInterval, DateValue As
DateTime, FirstDayOfWeekValue As FirstDayOfWeek, FirstWeekOfYearValue As
FirstWeekOfYear As Integer
 Returns an Integer value containing the specified component of a given Date value.

5
Public Shared Function Day DateValue As DateTime As Integer

Returns an Integer value from 1 through 31 representing the day of the month.

6 Public Shared Function Hour TimeValue As DateTime As Integer

Returns an Integer value from 0 through 23 representing the hour of the day.

7
Public Shared Function Minute TimeValue As DateTime As Integer

Returns an Integer value from 0 through 59 representing the minute of the hour.

8
Public Shared Function Month DateValue As DateTime As Integer

Returns an Integer value from 1 through 12 representing the month of the year.

9
Public Shared Function MonthName Month As Integer, Abbreviate As Boolean As
String

Returns a String value containing the name of the specified month.

10
Public Shared Function Second TimeValue As DateTime As Integer

Returns an Integer value from 0 through 59 representing the second of the minute.

11
Public Overridable Function ToString As String

Returns a string that represents the current object.

12
Public Shared Function Weekday DateValue As DateTime, DayOfWeek As
FirstDayOfWeek As Integer

Returns an Integer value containing a number representing the day of the week.

13
Public Shared Function WeekdayName Weekday As Integer, Abbreviate As
Boolean, FirstDayOfWeekValue As FirstDayOfWeek As String

Returns a String value containing the name of the specified weekday.

14
Public Shared Function Year DateValue As DateTime As Integer

Returns an Integer value from 1 through 9999 representing the year.

The above list is not exhaustive. For complete list of properties and methods of the DateAndTime
class, please consult Microsoft Documentation.
The following program demonstrates some of these and methods:

Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim birthday As Date
Dim bday As Integer
Dim month As Integer
Dim monthname As String
' Assign a date using standard short format.
birthday = #7/27/1998#
bday = Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.Day(birthday)
month = Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.Month(birthday)
monthname = Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime.MonthName(month)
Console.WriteLine(birthday)
Console.WriteLine(bday)
Console.WriteLine(month)
Console.WriteLine(monthname)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

7/27/1998 12:00:00 AM
27
7
July

VB.NET - ARRAYS
An array stores a fixed-size sequential collection of elements of the same type. An array is used to
store a collection of data, but it is often more useful to think of an array as a collection of variables
of the same type.

All arrays consist of contiguous memory locations. The lowest address corresponds to the first
element and the highest address to the last element.

Creating Arrays in VB.Net

To declare an array in VB.Net, you use the Dim statement. For example,

Dim intData(30) ' an array of 31 elements

Dim strData(20) As String ' an array of 21 strings
Dim twoDarray(10, 20) As Integer 'a two dimensional array of integers
Dim ranges(10, 100) 'a two dimensional array

You can also initialize the array elements while declaring the array. For example,

Dim intData() As Integer = {12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32}

Dim names() As String = {"Karthik", "Sandhya", _
"Shivangi", "Ashwitha", "Somnath"}
Dim miscData() As Object = {"Hello World", 12d, 16ui, "A"c}

The elements in an array can be stored and accessed by using the index of the array. The
following program demonstrates this:

Module arrayApl
 Sub Main()
Dim n(10) As Integer ' n is an array of 11 integers '
Dim i, j As Integer
' initialize elements of array n '
For i = 0 To 10
n(i) = i + 100 ' set element at location i to i + 100
Next i
' output each array element's value '
For j = 0 To 10
Console.WriteLine("Element({0}) = {1}", j, n(j))
Next j
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Element(0) = 100
Element(1) = 101
Element(2) = 102
Element(3) = 103
Element(4) = 104
Element(5) = 105
Element(6) = 106
Element(7) = 107
Element(8) = 108
Element(9) = 109
Element(10) = 110

Dynamic Arrays
Dynamic arrays are arrays that can be dimensioned and re-dimensioned as par the need of the
program. You can declare a dynamic array using the ReDim statement.

Syntax for ReDim statement:

ReDim [Preserve] arrayname(subscripts)

Where,

The Preserve keyword helps to preserve the data in an existing array, when you resize it.

arrayname is the name of the array to re-dimension.

subscripts specifies the new dimension.

Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
Dim marks() As Integer
ReDim marks(2)
marks(0) = 85
marks(1) = 75
marks(2) = 90
ReDim Preserve marks(10)
marks(3) = 80
marks(4) = 76
marks(5) = 92
marks(6) = 99
marks(7) = 79
marks(8) = 75
For i = 0 To 10
Console.WriteLine(i & vbTab & marks(i))
Next i
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

0 85
1 75
2 90
3 80
4 76
5 92
6 99
7 79
8 75
9 0
10 0

Multi-Dimensional Arrays
VB.Net allows multidimensional arrays. Multidimensional arrays are also called rectangular arrays.

You can declare a 2-dimensional array of strings as:

Dim twoDStringArray(10, 20) As String

or, a 3-dimensional array of Integer variables:

Dim threeDIntArray(10, 10, 10) As Integer

The following program demonstrates creating and using a 2-dimensional array:

Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
' an array with 5 rows and 2 columns
Dim a(,) As Integer = {{0, 0}, {1, 2}, {2, 4}, {3, 6}, {4, 8}}
Dim i, j As Integer
' output each array element's value '
For i = 0 To 4
For j = 0 To 1
Console.WriteLine("a[{0},{1}] = {2}", i, j, a(i, j))
Next j
Next i
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

a[0,0]: 0
a[0,1]: 0
a[1,0]: 1
a[1,1]: 2
a[2,0]: 2
a[2,1]: 4
a[3,0]: 3
a[3,1]: 6
a[4,0]: 4
a[4,1]: 8

Jagged Array
A Jagged array is an array of arrays. The follwoing code shows declaring a jagged array named
scores of Integers:

Dim scores As Integer()() = New Integer(5)(){}

The following example illustrates using a jagged array:

Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
'a jagged array of 5 array of integers
Dim a As Integer()() = New Integer(4)() {}
a(0) = New Integer() {0, 0}
a(1) = New Integer() {1, 2}
a(2) = New Integer() {2, 4}
a(3) = New Integer() {3, 6}
a(4) = New Integer() {4, 8}
Dim i, j As Integer
' output each array element's value
For i = 0 To 4
For j = 0 To 1
Console.WriteLine("a[{0},{1}] = {2}", i, j, a(i)(j))
Next j
Next i
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

a[0][0]: 0
a[0][1]: 0
a[1][0]: 1
a[1][1]: 2
a[2][0]: 2
a[2][1]: 4
a[3][0]: 3
a[3][1]: 6
a[4][0]: 4
a[4][1]: 8

The Array Class

The Array class is the base class for all the arrays in VB.Net. It is defined in the System namespace.
The Array class provides various properties and methods to work with arrays.

Properties of the Array Class

The following table provides some of the most commonly used properties of the Array class:

S.N Property Name & Description

1
IsFixedSize

Gets a value indicating whether the Array has a fixed size.

2
IsReadOnly

Gets a value indicating whether the Array is read-only.

3
Length

Gets a 32-bit integer that represents the total number of elements in all the dimensions of
the Array.

4
LongLength
 Gets a 64-bit integer that represents the total number of elements in all the dimensions of
the Array.

5
Rank

Gets the rank number of dimensions of the Array.

Methods of the Array Class

The following table provides some of the most commonly used methods of the Array class:

S.N Method Name & Description

1
Public Shared Sub Clear array As Array, index As Integer, length As Integer

Sets a range of elements in the Array to zero, to false, or to null, depending on the
element type.

2
Public Shared Sub Copy sourceArray As Array, destinationArray As Array, length
As Integer

Copies a range of elements from an Array starting at the first element and pastes them
into another Array starting at the first element. The length is specified as a 32-bit integer.

3
Public Sub CopyTo array As Array, index As Integer

Copies all the elements of the current one-dimensional Array to the specified one-
dimensional Array starting at the specified destination Array index. The index is specified
as a 32-bit integer.

4
Public Function GetLength dimension As Integer As Integer

Gets a 32-bit integer that represents the number of elements in the specified dimension of
the Array.

5
Public Function GetLongLength dimension As Integer As Long

Gets a 64-bit integer that represents the number of elements in the specified dimension of
the Array.

6
Public Function GetLowerBound dimension As Integer As Integer

Gets the lower bound of the specified dimension in the Array.

7
Public Function GetType As Type

Gets the Type of the current instance Inherited from Object.

8
Public Function GetUpperBound dimension As Integer As Integer
 Gets the upper bound of the specified dimension in the Array.

9
Public Function GetValue index As Integer As Object

Gets the value at the specified position in the one-dimensional Array. The index is
specified as a 32-bit integer.

10
Public Shared Function IndexOf array As Array,value As Object As Integer

Searches for the specified object and returns the index of the first occurrence within the
entire one-dimensional Array.

11
Public Shared Sub Reverse array As Array

Reverses the sequence of the elements in the entire one-dimensional Array.

12
Public Sub SetValue value As Object, index As Integer

Sets a value to the element at the specified position in the one-dimensional Array. The
index is specified as a 32-bit integer.

13
Public Shared Sub Sort array As Array

Sorts the elements in an entire one-dimensional Array using the IComparable

implementation of each element of the Array.

14
Public Overridable Function ToString As String

Returns a string that represents the current object Inherited from Object.

For complete list of Array class properties and methods, please consult Microsoft documentation.

Example
The following program demonstrates use of some of the methods of the Array class:

Module arrayApl
Sub Main()
Dim list As Integer() = {34, 72, 13, 44, 25, 30, 10}
Dim temp As Integer() = list
Dim i As Integer
Console.Write("Original Array: ")
For Each i In list
Console.Write("{0} ", i)
Next i
Console.WriteLine()
' reverse the array
Array.Reverse(temp)
Console.Write("Reversed Array: ")
For Each i In temp
Console.Write("{0} ", i)
Next i
Console.WriteLine()
'sort the array
 Array.Sort(list)
Console.Write("Sorted Array: ")
For Each i In list
Console.Write("{0} ", i)
Next i
Console.WriteLine()
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Original Array: 34 72 13 44 25 30 10
Reversed Array: 10 30 25 44 13 72 34
Sorted Array: 10 13 25 30 34 44 72

VB.NET - COLLECTIONS
Collection classes are specialized classes for data storage and retrieval. These classes provide
support for stacks, queues, lists, and hash tables. Most collection classes implement the same
interfaces.

Collection classes serve various purposes, such as allocating memory dynamically to elements
and accessing a list of items on the basis of an index, etc. These classes create collections of
objects of the Object class, which is the base class for all data types in VB.Net.

Various Collection Classes and Their Usage

The following are the various commonly used classes of the System.Collection namespace. Click
the following links to check their details.

Class Description and Useage

ArrayList
It represents ordered collection of an object that can be indexed
individually.

It is basically an alternative to an array. However, unlike array, you can add

and remove items from a list at a specified position using an index and the
array resizes itself automatically. It also allows dynamic memory allocation,
add, search and sort items in the list.

Hashtable
It uses a key to access the elements in the collection.

A hash table is used when you need to access elements by using key, and
you can identify a useful key value. Each item in the hash table has a
key/value pair. The key is used to access the items in the collection.

SortedList
It uses a key as well as an index to access the items in a list.

A sorted list is a combination of an array and a hash table. It contains a list of

items that can be accessed using a key or an index. If you access items
using an index, it is an ArrayList, and if you access items using a key, it is a
Hashtable. The collection of items is always sorted by the key value.

Stack
It represents a last-in, first out collection of object.

It is used when you need a last-in, first-out access of items. When you add an
item in the list, it is called pushing the item, and when you remove it, it is
 called popping the item.

Queue It represents a first-in, first out collection of object.

It is used when you need a first-in, first-out access of items. When you add an
item in the list, it is called enqueue, and when you remove an item, it is
called deque.

BitArray
It represents an array of the binary representation using the values 1 and
0.

It is used when you need to store the bits but do not know the number of bits
in advance. You can access items from the BitArray collection by using an
integer index, which starts from zero.

VB.NET - FUNCTIONS
A procedure is a group of statements that together perform a task when called. After the
procedure is executed, the control returns to the statement calling the procedure. VB.Net has two
types of procedures:

Functions

Sub procedures or Subs

Functions return a value, whereas Subs do not return a value.

Defining a Function
The Function statement is used to declare the name, parameter and the body of a function. The
syntax for the Function statement is:

[Modifiers] Function FunctionName [(ParameterList)] As ReturnType

[Statements]
End Function

Where,

Modifiers: specify the access level of the function; possible values are: Public, Private,
Protected, Friend, Protected Friend and information regarding overloading, overriding,
sharing, and shadowing.

FunctionName: indicates the name of the function

ParameterList: specifies the list of the parameters

ReturnType: specifies the data type of the variable the function returns

Example
Following code snippet shows a function FindMax that takes two integer values and returns the
larger of the two.

Function FindMax(ByVal num1 As Integer, ByVal num2 As Integer) As Integer

' local variable declaration */
Dim result As Integer
If (num1 > num2) Then
result = num1
Else
result = num2
End If
 FindMax = result
End Function

Function Returning a Value

In VB.Net, a function can return a value to the calling code in two ways:

By using the return statement

By assigning the value to the function name

The following example demonstrates using the FindMax function:

Module myfunctions
Function FindMax(ByVal num1 As Integer, ByVal num2 As Integer) As Integer
' local variable declaration */
Dim result As Integer
If (num1 > num2) Then
result = num1
Else
result = num2
End If
FindMax = result
End Function
Sub Main()
Dim a As Integer = 100
Dim b As Integer = 200
Dim res As Integer
res = FindMax(a, b)
Console.WriteLine("Max value is : {0}", res)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Max value is : 200

Recursive Function
A function can call itself. This is known as recursion. Following is an example that calculates
factorial for a given number using a recursive function:

Module myfunctions
Function factorial(ByVal num As Integer) As Integer
' local variable declaration */
Dim result As Integer
If (num = 1) Then
Return 1
Else
result = factorial(num - 1) * num
Return result
End If
End Function
Sub Main()
'calling the factorial method
Console.WriteLine("Factorial of 6 is : {0}", factorial(6))
Console.WriteLine("Factorial of 7 is : {0}", factorial(7))
Console.WriteLine("Factorial of 8 is : {0}", factorial(8))
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Factorial of 6 is: 720

Factorial of 7 is: 5040
Factorial of 8 is: 40320

Param Arrays
At times, while declaring a function or sub procedure, you are not sure of the number of
arguments passed as a parameter. VB.Net param arrays or parameter arrays come into help at
these times.

The following example demonstrates this:

Module myparamfunc
Function AddElements(ParamArray arr As Integer()) As Integer
Dim sum As Integer = 0
Dim i As Integer = 0
For Each i In arr
sum += i
Next i
Return sum
End Function
Sub Main()
Dim sum As Integer
sum = AddElements(512, 720, 250, 567, 889)
Console.WriteLine("The sum is: {0}", sum)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

The sum is: 2938

Passing Arrays as Function Arguments

You can pass an array as a function argument in VB.Net. The following example demonstrates this:

Module arrayParameter
Function getAverage(ByVal arr As Integer(), ByVal size As Integer) As Double
'local variables
Dim i As Integer
Dim avg As Double
Dim sum As Integer = 0
For i = 0 To size - 1
sum += arr(i)
Next i
avg = sum / size
Return avg
End Function
Sub Main()
' an int array with 5 elements '
Dim balance As Integer() = {1000, 2, 3, 17, 50}
Dim avg As Double
'pass pointer to the array as an argument
avg = getAverage(balance, 5)
' output the returned value '
Console.WriteLine("Average value is: {0} ", avg)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Average value is: 214.4

VB.NET - SUB PROCEDURES

As we mentioned in the previous chapter, Sub procedures are procedures that do not return any
value. We have been using the Sub procedure Main in all our examples. We have been writing
console applications so far in these tutorials. When these applications start, the control goes to the
Main Sub procedure, and it in turn, runs any other statements constituting the body of the
program.

Defining Sub Procedures

The Sub statement is used to declare the name, parameter and the body of a sub procedure. The
syntax for the Sub statement is:

[Modifiers] Sub SubName [(ParameterList)]

[Statements]
End Sub

Where,

Modifiers: specify the access level of the procedure; possible values are: Public, Private,
Protected, Friend, Protected Friend and information regarding overloading, overriding,
sharing, and shadowing.

SubName: indicates the name of the Sub

ParameterList: specifies the list of the parameters

Example
The following example demonstrates a Sub procedure CalculatePay that takes two parameters
hours and wages and displays the total pay of an employee:

Module mysub
Sub CalculatePay(ByVal hours As Double, ByVal wage As Decimal)
'local variable declaration
Dim pay As Double
pay = hours * wage
Console.WriteLine("Total Pay: {0:C}", pay)
End Sub
Sub Main()
'calling the CalculatePay Sub Procedure
CalculatePay(25, 10)
CalculatePay(40, 20)
CalculatePay(30, 27.5)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Total Pay: $250.00

Total Pay: $800.00
Total Pay: $825.00

Passing Parameters by Value

This is the default mechanism for passing parameters to a method. In this mechanism, when a
method is called, a new storage location is created for each value parameter. The values of the
actual parameters are copied into them. So, the changes made to the parameter inside the
method have no effect on the argument.

In VB.Net, you declare the reference parameters using the ByVal keyword. The following example
demonstrates the concept:

Module paramByval
Sub swap(ByVal x As Integer, ByVal y As Integer)
Dim temp As Integer
 temp = x ' save the value of x
x = y ' put y into x
y = temp 'put temp into y
End Sub
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 100
Dim b As Integer = 200
Console.WriteLine("Before swap, value of a : {0}", a)
Console.WriteLine("Before swap, value of b : {0}", b)
' calling a function to swap the values '
swap(a, b)
Console.WriteLine("After swap, value of a : {0}", a)
Console.WriteLine("After swap, value of b : {0}", b)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Before swap, value of a :100

Before swap, value of b :200
After swap, value of a :100
After swap, value of b :200

It shows that there is no change in the values though they had been changed inside the function.

Passing Parameters by Reference

A reference parameter is a reference to a memory location of a variable. When you pass
parameters by reference, unlike value parameters, a new storage location is not created for these
parameters. The reference parameters represent the same memory location as the actual
parameters that are supplied to the method.

In VB.Net, you declare the reference parameters using the ByRef keyword. The following example
demonstrates this:

Module paramByref
Sub swap(ByRef x As Integer, ByRef y As Integer)
Dim temp As Integer
temp = x ' save the value of x
x = y ' put y into x
y = temp 'put temp into y
End Sub
Sub Main()
' local variable definition
Dim a As Integer = 100
Dim b As Integer = 200
Console.WriteLine("Before swap, value of a : {0}", a)
Console.WriteLine("Before swap, value of b : {0}", b)
' calling a function to swap the values '
swap(a, b)
Console.WriteLine("After swap, value of a : {0}", a)
Console.WriteLine("After swap, value of b : {0}", b)
Console.ReadLine()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Before swap, value of a : 100

Before swap, value of b : 200
After swap, value of a : 200
After swap, value of b : 100

VB.NET - CLASSES & OBJECTS

When you define a class, you define a blueprint for a data type. This doesn't actually define any
data, but it does define what the class name means, that is, what an object of the class will consist
of and what operations can be performed on such an object.

Objects are instances of a class. The methods and variables that constitute a class are called
members of the class.

Class Definition
A class definition starts with the keyword Class followed by the class name; and the class body,
ended by the End Class statement. Following is the general form of a class definition:

[ <attributelist> ] [ accessmodifier ] [ Shadows ] [ MustInherit | NotInheritable ] [

Partial ] _
Class name [ ( Of typelist ) ]
[ Inherits classname ]
[ Implements interfacenames ]
[ statements ]
End Class

Where,

attributelist is a list of attributes that apply to the class. Optional.

accessmodifier defines the access levels of the class, it has values as - Public, Protected,
Friend, Protected Friend and Private. Optional.

Shadows indicate that the variable re-declares and hides an identically named element, or
set of overloaded elements, in a base class. Optional.

MustInherit specifies that the class can be used only as a base class and that you cannot
create an object directly from it, i.e., an abstract class. Optional.

NotInheritable specifies that the class cannot be used as a base class.

Partial indicates a partial definition of the class.

Inherits specifies the base class it is inheriting from.

Implements specifies the interfaces the class is inheriting from.

The following example demonstrates a Box class, with three data members, length, breadth and
height:

Module mybox
Class Box
Public length As Double ' Length of a box
Public breadth As Double ' Breadth of a box
Public height As Double ' Height of a box
End Class
Sub Main()
Dim Box1 As Box = New Box() ' Declare Box1 of type Box
Dim Box2 As Box = New Box() ' Declare Box2 of type Box
Dim volume As Double = 0.0 ' Store the volume of a box here
' box 1 specification
Box1.height = 5.0
Box1.length = 6.0
Box1.breadth = 7.0
' box 2 specification
Box2.height = 10.0
Box2.length = 12.0
Box2.breadth = 13.0
'volume of box 1
volume = Box1.height * Box1.length * Box1.breadth
Console.WriteLine("Volume of Box1 : {0}", volume)
'volume of box 2
 volume = Box2.height * Box2.length * Box2.breadth
Console.WriteLine("Volume of Box2 : {0}", volume)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Volume of Box1 : 210

Volume of Box2 : 1560

Member Functions and Encapsulation

A member function of a class is a function that has its definition or its prototype within the class
definition like any other variable. It operates on any object of the class of which it is a member and
has access to all the members of a class for that object.

Member variables are attributes of an object from design perspective and they are kept private to
implement encapsulation. These variables can only be accessed using the public member
functions.

Let us put above concepts to set and get the value of different class members in a class:

Module mybox
Class Box
Public length As Double ' Length of a box
Public breadth As Double ' Breadth of a box
Public height As Double ' Height of a box
Public Sub setLength(ByVal len As Double)
length = len
End Sub
Public Sub setBreadth(ByVal bre As Double)
breadth = bre
End Sub
Public Sub setHeight(ByVal hei As Double)
height = hei
End Sub
Public Function getVolume() As Double
Return length * breadth * height
End Function
End Class
Sub Main()
Dim Box1 As Box = New Box() ' Declare Box1 of type Box
Dim Box2 As Box = New Box() ' Declare Box2 of type Box
Dim volume As Double = 0.0 ' Store the volume of a box here

' box 1 specification

Box1.setLength(6.0)
Box1.setBreadth(7.0)
Box1.setHeight(5.0)

'box 2 specification
Box2.setLength(12.0)
Box2.setBreadth(13.0)
Box2.setHeight(10.0)

' volume of box 1

volume = Box1.getVolume()
Console.WriteLine("Volume of Box1 : {0}", volume)

'volume of box 2
volume = Box2.getVolume()
Console.WriteLine("Volume of Box2 : {0}", volume)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Volume of Box1 : 210

Volume of Box2 : 1560

Constructors and Destructors

A class constructor is a special member Sub of a class that is executed whenever we create new
objects of that class. A constructor has the name New and it does not have any return type.

Following program explains the concept of constructor:

Class Line
Private length As Double ' Length of a line
Public Sub New() 'constructor
Console.WriteLine("Object is being created")
End Sub
Public Sub setLength(ByVal len As Double)
length = len
End Sub

Public Function getLength() As Double

Return length
End Function
Shared Sub Main()
Dim line As Line = New Line()
'set line length
line.setLength(6.0)
Console.WriteLine("Length of line : {0}", line.getLength())
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Object is being created

Length of line : 6

A default constructor does not have any parameter, but if you need, a constructor can have
parameters. Such constructors are called parameterized constructors. This technique helps you
to assign initial value to an object at the time of its creation as shown in the following example:

Class Line
Private length As Double ' Length of a line
Public Sub New(ByVal len As Double) 'parameterised constructor
Console.WriteLine("Object is being created, length = {0}", len)
length = len
End Sub
Public Sub setLength(ByVal len As Double)
length = len
End Sub

Public Function getLength() As Double

Return length
End Function
Shared Sub Main()
Dim line As Line = New Line(10.0)
Console.WriteLine("Length of line set by constructor : {0}", line.getLength())
'set line length
line.setLength(6.0)
Console.WriteLine("Length of line set by setLength : {0}", line.getLength())
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:
Object is being created, length = 10
Length of line set by constructor : 10
Length of line set by setLength : 6

A destructor is a special member Sub of a class that is executed whenever an object of its class
goes out of scope.

A destructor has the name Finalize and it can neither return a value nor can it take any
parameters. Destructor can be very useful for releasing resources before coming out of the
program like closing files, releasing memories, etc.

Destructors cannot be inherited or overloaded.

Following example explains the concept of destructor:

Class Line
Private length As Double ' Length of a line
Public Sub New() 'parameterised constructor
Console.WriteLine("Object is being created")
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub Finalize() ' destructor
Console.WriteLine("Object is being deleted")
End Sub
Public Sub setLength(ByVal len As Double)
length = len
End Sub
Public Function getLength() As Double
Return length
End Function
Shared Sub Main()
Dim line As Line = New Line()
'set line length
line.setLength(6.0)
Console.WriteLine("Length of line : {0}", line.getLength())
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Object is being created

Length of line : 6
Object is being deleted

Shared Members of a VB.Net Class

We can define class members as static using the Shared keyword. When we declare a member of
a class as Shared, it means no matter how many objects of the class are created, there is only one
copy of the member.

The keyword Shared implies that only one instance of the member exists for a class. Shared
variables are used for defining constants because their values can be retrieved by invoking the
class without creating an instance of it.

Shared variables can be initialized outside the member function or class definition. You can also
initialize Shared variables inside the class definition.

You can also declare a member function as Shared. Such functions can access only Shared
variables. The Shared functions exist even before the object is created.

The following example demonstrates the use of shared members:

Class StaticVar
Public Shared num As Integer
Public Sub count()
 num = num + 1
End Sub
Public Shared Function getNum() As Integer
Return num
End Function
Shared Sub Main()
Dim s As StaticVar = New StaticVar()
s.count()
s.count()
s.count()
Console.WriteLine("Value of variable num: {0}", StaticVar.getNum())
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Value of variable num: 3

Inheritance
One of the most important concepts in object-oriented programming is that of inheritance.
Inheritance allows us to define a class in terms of another class which makes it easier to create
and maintain an application. This also provides an opportunity to reuse the code functionality and
fast implementation time.

When creating a class, instead of writing completely new data members and member functions,
the programmer can designate that the new class should inherit the members of an existing class.
This existing class is called the base class, and the new class is referred to as the derived class.

Base & Derived Classes:

A class can be derived from more than one class or interface, which means that it can inherit data
and functions from multiple base classes or interfaces.

The syntax used in VB.Net for creating derived classes is as follows:

<access-specifier> Class <base_class>

...
End Class
Class <derived_class>: Inherits <base_class>
...
End Class

Consider a base class Shape and its derived class Rectangle:

' Base class

Class Shape
Protected width As Integer
Protected height As Integer
Public Sub setWidth(ByVal w As Integer)
width = w
End Sub
Public Sub setHeight(ByVal h As Integer)
height = h
End Sub
End Class
' Derived class
Class Rectangle : Inherits Shape
Public Function getArea() As Integer
Return (width * height)
End Function
End Class
Class RectangleTester
Shared Sub Main()
Dim rect As Rectangle = New Rectangle()
 rect.setWidth(5)
rect.setHeight(7)
' Print the area of the object.
Console.WriteLine("Total area: {0}", rect.getArea())
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Total area: 35

Base Class Initialization

The derived class inherits the base class member variables and member methods. Therefore, the
super class object should be created before the subclass is created. The super class or the base
class is implicitly known as MyBase in VB.Net

The following program demonstrates this:

' Base class

Class Rectangle
Protected width As Double
Protected length As Double
Public Sub New(ByVal l As Double, ByVal w As Double)
length = l
width = w
End Sub
Public Function GetArea() As Double
Return (width * length)
End Function
Public Overridable Sub Display()
Console.WriteLine("Length: {0}", length)
Console.WriteLine("Width: {0}", width)
Console.WriteLine("Area: {0}", GetArea())
End Sub
'end class Rectangle
End Class
'Derived class
Class Tabletop : Inherits Rectangle
Private cost As Double
Public Sub New(ByVal l As Double, ByVal w As Double)
MyBase.New(l, w)
End Sub
Public Function GetCost() As Double
Dim cost As Double
cost = GetArea() * 70
Return cost
End Function
Public Overrides Sub Display()
MyBase.Display()
Console.WriteLine("Cost: {0}", GetCost())
End Sub
'end class Tabletop
End Class
Class RectangleTester
Shared Sub Main()
Dim t As Tabletop = New Tabletop(4.5, 7.5)
t.Display()
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Length: 4.5
Width: 7.5
Area: 33.75
Cost: 2362.5

VB.Net supports multiple inheritance.

VB.NET - EXCEPTION HANDLING

An exception is a problem that arises during the execution of a program. An exception is a
response to an exceptional circumstance that arises while a program is running, such as an
attempt to divide by zero.

Exceptions provide a way to transfer control from one part of a program to another. VB.Net
exception handling is built upon four keywords: Try, Catch, Finally and Throw.

Try: A Try block identifies a block of code for which particular exceptions will be activated.
It's followed by one or more Catch blocks.

Catch: A program catches an exception with an exception handler at the place in a program
where you want to handle the problem. The Catch keyword indicates the catching of an
exception.

Finally: The Finally block is used to execute a given set of statements, whether an exception
is thrown or not thrown. For example, if you open a file, it must be closed whether an
exception is raised or not.

Throw: A program throws an exception when a problem shows up. This is done using a
Throw keyword.

Syntax
Assuming a block will raise an exception, a method catches an exception using a combination of
the Try and Catch keywords. A Try/Catch block is placed around the code that might generate an
exception. Code within a Try/Catch block is referred to as protected code, and the syntax for using
Try/Catch looks like the following:

Try
[ tryStatements ]
[ Exit Try ]
[ Catch [ exception [ As type ] ] [ When expression ]
[ catchStatements ]
[ Exit Try ] ]
[ Catch ... ]
[ Finally
[ finallyStatements ] ]
End Try

You can list down multiple catch statements to catch different type of exceptions in case your try
block raises more than one exception in different situations.

Exception Classes in .Net Framework

In the .Net Framework, exceptions are represented by classes. The exception classes in .Net
Framework are mainly directly or indirectly derived from the System.Exception class. Some of
the exception classes derived from the System.Exception class are the
System.ApplicationException and System.SystemException classes.

The System.ApplicationException class supports exceptions generated by application

programs. So the exceptions defined by the programmers should derive from this class.

The System.SystemException class is the base class for all predefined system exception.

The following table provides some of the predefined exception classes derived from the
Sytem.SystemException class:
Exception Class Description

System.IO.IOException Handles I/O errors.

System.IndexOutOfRangeException Handles errors generated when a method refers to an

array index out of range.

System.ArrayTypeMismatchException Handles errors generated when type is mismatched

with the array type.

System.NullReferenceException Handles errors generated from deferencing a null

object.

System.DivideByZeroException Handles errors generated from dividing a dividend with

zero.

System.InvalidCastException Handles errors generated during typecasting.

System.OutOfMemoryException Handles errors generated from insufficient free

memory.

System.StackOverflowException Handles errors generated from stack overflow.

Handling Exceptions
VB.Net provides a structured solution to the exception handling problems in the form of try and
catch blocks. Using these blocks the core program statements are separated from the error-
handling statements.

These error handling blocks are implemented using the Try, Catch and Finally keywords.
Following is an example of throwing an exception when dividing by zero condition occurs:

Module exceptionProg
Sub division(ByVal num1 As Integer, ByVal num2 As Integer)
Dim result As Integer
Try
result = num1 \ num2
Catch e As DivideByZeroException
Console.WriteLine("Exception caught: {0}", e)
Finally
Console.WriteLine("Result: {0}", result)
End Try
End Sub
Sub Main()
division(25, 0)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Exception caught: System.DivideByZeroException: Attempted to divide by zero.

at ...
Result: 0

Creating User-Defined Exceptions

You can also define your own exception. User-defined exception classes are derived from the
ApplicationException class. The following example demonstrates this:

Module exceptionProg
Public Class TempIsZeroException : Inherits ApplicationException
Public Sub New(ByVal message As String)
MyBase.New(message)
End Sub
 End Class
Public Class Temperature
Dim temperature As Integer = 0
Sub showTemp()
If (temperature = 0) Then
Throw (New TempIsZeroException("Zero Temperature found"))
Else
Console.WriteLine("Temperature: {0}", temperature)
End If
End Sub
End Class
Sub Main()
Dim temp As Temperature = New Temperature()
Try
temp.showTemp()
Catch e As TempIsZeroException
Console.WriteLine("TempIsZeroException: {0}", e.Message)
End Try
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

TempIsZeroException: Zero Temperature found

Throwing Objects
You can throw an object if it is either directly or indirectly derived from the System.Exception class.

You can use a throw statement in the catch block to throw the present object as:

Throw [ expression ]

The following program demonstrates this:

Module exceptionProg
Sub Main()
Try
Throw New ApplicationException("A custom exception _
is being thrown here...")
Catch e As Exception
Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
Finally
Console.WriteLine("Now inside the Finally Block")
End Try
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

A custom exception is being thrown here...

Now inside the Finally Block

VB.NET - FILE HANDLING

A file is a collection of data stored in a disk with a specific name and a directory path. When a file
is opened for reading or writing, it becomes a stream.

The stream is basically the sequence of bytes passing through the communication path. There are
two main streams: the input stream and the output stream. The input stream is used for
reading data from file read operation and the output stream is used for writing into the file write
operation.
VB.Net I/O Classes
The System.IO namespace has various classes that are used for performing various operations
with files, like creating and deleting files, reading from or writing to a file, closing a file, etc.

The following table shows some commonly used non-abstract classes in the System.IO
namespace:

I/O Class Description

BinaryReader Reads primitive data from a binary stream.

BinaryWriter Writes primitive data in binary format.

BufferedStream A temporary storage for a stream of bytes.

Directory Helps in manipulating a directory structure.

DirectoryInfo Used for performing operations on directories.

DriveInfo Provides information for the drives.

File Helps in manipulating files.

FileInfo Used for performing operations on files.

FileStream Used to read from and write to any location in a file.

MemoryStream Used for random access of streamed data stored in memory.

Path Performs operations on path information.

StreamReader Used for reading characters from a byte stream.

StreamWriter Is used for writing characters to a stream.

StringReader Is used for reading from a string buffer.

StringWriter Is used for writing into a string buffer.

The FileStream Class

The FileStream class in the System.IO namespace helps in reading from, writing to and closing
files. This class derives from the abstract class Stream.

You need to create a FileStream object to create a new file or open an existing file. The syntax for
creating a FileStream object is as follows:

Dim <object_name> As FileStream = New FileStream(<file_name>, <FileMode Enumerator>,

<FileAccess Enumerator>, <FileShare Enumerator>)

For example, for creating a FileStream object F for reading a file named sample.txt:

Dim f1 As FileStream = New FileStream("test.dat", FileMode.OpenOrCreate,

FileAccess.ReadWrite)

Parameter Description

FileMode
The FileMode enumerator defines various methods for opening files. The
members of the FileMode enumerator are:

Append: It opens an existing file and puts cursor at the end of file, or
 creates the file, if the file does not exist.

Create: It creates a new file.

CreateNew: It specifies to the operating system that it should create a

new file.

Open: It opens an existing file.

OpenOrCreate: It specifies to the operating system that it should open

a file if it exists, otherwise it should create a new file.

Truncate: It opens an existing file and truncates its size to zero bytes.

FileAccess
FileAccess enumerators have members: Read, ReadWrite and Write.

FileShare
FileShare enumerators have the following members:

Inheritable: It allows a file handle to pass inheritance to the child

processes

None: It declines sharing of the current file

Read: It allows opening the file for reading

ReadWrite: It allows opening the file for reading and writing

Write: It allows opening the file for writing

Example:
The following program demonstrates use of the FileStream class:

Imports System.IO
Module fileProg
Sub Main()
Dim f1 As FileStream = New FileStream("test.dat", _
FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.ReadWrite)
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To 20
f1.WriteByte(CByte(i))
Next i
f1.Position = 0
For i = 0 To 20
Console.Write("{0} ", f1.ReadByte())
Next i
f1.Close()
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 -1

Advanced File Operations in VB.Net

The preceding example provides simple file operations in VB.Net. However, to utilize the immense
powers of System.IO classes, you need to know the commonly used properties and methods of
these classes.
We will discuss these classes and the operations they perform in the following sections. Please
click the links provided to get to the individual sections:

Topic and Description

Reading from and Writing into Text files

It involves reading from and writing into text files. The StreamReader and StreamWriter
classes help to accomplish it.

Reading from and Writing into Binary files

It involves reading from and writing into binary files. The BinaryReader and BinaryWriter
classes help to accomplish this.

Manipulating the Windows file system

It gives a VB.Net programmer the ability to browse and locate Windows files and directories.

VB.NET - BASIC CONTROLS

An object is a type of user interface element you create on a Visual Basic form by using a toolbox
control. In fact, in Visual Basic, the form itself is an object. Every Visual Basic control consists of
three important elements:

Properties which describe the object,

Methods cause an object to do something and

Events are what happens when an object does something.

Control Properties
All the Visual Basic Objects can be moved, resized or customized by setting their properties. A
property is a value or characteristic held by a Visual Basic object, such as Caption or Fore Color.

Properties can be set at design time by using the Properties window or at run time by using
statements in the program code.

Object. Property = Value

Where

Object is the name of the object you're customizing.

Property is the characteristic you want to change.

Value is the new property setting.

For example,

Form1.Caption = "Hello"

You can set any of the form properties using Properties Window. Most of the properties can be set
or read during application execution. You can refer to Microsoft documentation for a complete list
of properties associated with different controls and restrictions applied to them.

Control Methods
A method is a procedure created as a member of a class and they cause an object to do
something. Methods are used to access or manipulate the characteristics of an object or a
variable. There are mainly two categories of methods you will use in your classes:

If you are using a control such as one of those provided by the Toolbox, you can call any of
its public methods. The requirements of such a method depend on the class being used.

If none of the existing methods can perform your desired task, you can add a method to a
class.

For example, the MessageBox control has a method named Show, which is called in the code
snippet below:

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs)
Handles Button1.Click
MessageBox.Show("Hello, World")
End Sub
End Class

Control Events
An event is a signal that informs an application that something important has occurred. For
example, when a user clicks a control on a form, the form can raise a Click event and call a
procedure that handles the event. There are various types of events associated with a Form like
click, double click, close, load, resize, etc.

Following is the default structure of a form Load event handler subroutine. You can see this code
by double clicking the code which will give you a complete list of the all events associated with
Form control:

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

'event handler code goes here
End Sub

Here, Handles MyBase.Load indicates that Form1_Load subroutine handles Load event. Similar
way, you can check stub code for click, double click. If you want to initialize some variables like
properties, etc., then you will keep such code inside Form1_Load subroutine. Here, important point
to note is the name of the event handler, which is by default Form1_Load, but you can change this
name based on your naming convention you use in your application programming.

Basic Controls
VB.Net provides a huge variety of controls that help you to create rich user interface.
Functionalities of all these controls are defined in the respective control classes. The control
classes are defined in the System.Windows.Forms namespace.

The following table lists some of the commonly used controls:

S.N. Widget & Description

1 Forms

The container for all the controls that make up the user interface.

2 TextBox

It represents a Windows text box control.

3 Label

It represents a standard Windows label.

 4 Button

It represents a Windows button control.

5 ListBox

It represents a Windows control to display a list of items.

6 ComboBox

It represents a Windows combo box control.

7 RadioButton

It enables the user to select a single option from a group of choices when paired with
other RadioButton controls.

8 CheckBox

It represents a Windows CheckBox.

9 PictureBox

It represents a Windows picture box control for displaying an image.

10 ProgressBar

It represents a Windows progress bar control.

11 ScrollBar

It Implements the basic functionality of a scroll bar control.

12 DateTimePicker

It represents a Windows control that allows the user to select a date and a time and to
display the date and time with a specified format.

13 TreeView

It displays a hierarchical collection of labeled items, each represented by a TreeNode.

14 ListView

It represents a Windows list view control, which displays a collection of items that can be
displayed using one of four different views.

VB.NET - DIALOG BOXES

There are many built-in dialog boxes to be used in Windows forms for various tasks like opening
and saving files, printing a page, providing choices for colors, fonts, page setup, etc., to the user of
an application. These built-in dialog boxes reduce the developer's time and workload.

All of these dialog box control classes inherit from the CommonDialog class and override the
RunDialog function of the base class to create the specific dialog box.
The RunDialog function is automatically invoked when a user of a dialog box calls its ShowDialog
function.

The ShowDialog method is used to display all the dialog box controls at run-time. It returns a
value of the type of DialogResult enumeration. The values of DialogResult enumeration are:

Abort - returns DialogResult.Abort value, when user clicks an Abort button.

Cancel- returns DialogResult.Cancel, when user clicks a Cancel button.

Ignore - returns DialogResult.Ignore, when user clicks an Ignore button.

No - returns DialogResult.No, when user clicks a No button.

None - returns nothing and the dialog box continues running.

OK - returns DialogResult.OK, when user clicks an OK button

Retry - returns DialogResult.Retry , when user clicks an Retry button

Yes - returns DialogResult.Yes, when user clicks an Yes button

The following diagram shows the common dialog class inheritance:

All these above-mentioned classes have corresponding controls that could be added from the
Toolbox during design time. You can include relevant functionality of these classes to your
application, either by instantiating the class programmatically or by using relevant controls.

When you double click any of the dialog controls in the toolbox or drag the control onto the form, it
appears in the Component tray at the bottom of the Windows Forms Designer, they do not directly
show up on the form.

The following table lists the commonly used dialog box controls. Click the following links to check
their detail:

S.N. Control & Description

1 ColorDialog

It represents a common dialog box that displays available colors along with controls that
enable the user to define custom colors.

2 FontDialog

It prompts the user to choose a font from among those installed on the local computer
and lets the user select the font, font size, and color.
 3 OpenFileDialog

It prompts the user to open a file and allows the user to select a file to open.

4 SaveFileDialog

It prompts the user to select a location for saving a file and allows the user to specify the
name of the file to save data.

5 PrintDialog

It lets the user to print documents by selecting a printer and choosing which sections of
the document to print from a Windows Forms application.

VB.NET - ADVANCED FORM

In this chapter, let us study the following concepts:

Adding menus and sub menus in an application

Adding the cut, copy and paste functionalities in a form

Anchoring and docking controls in a form

Modal forms

Adding Menus and Sub Menus in an Application

Traditionally, the Menu, MainMenu, ContextMenu, and MenuItem classes were used for adding
menus, sub-menus and context menus in a Windows application.

Now, the MenuStrip, the ToolStripMenuItem, ToolStripDropDown and

ToolStripDropDownMenu controls replace and add functionality to the Menu-related controls of
previous versions. However, the old control classes are retained for both backward compatibility
and future use.

Let us create a typical windows main menu bar and sub menus using the old version controls first
since these controls are still much used in old applications.

Following is an example, which shows how we create a menu bar with menu items: File, Edit, View
and Project. The File menu has the sub menus New, Open and Save.

Let's double click on the Form and put the following code in the opened window.

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
'defining the main menu bar
Dim mnuBar As New MainMenu()
'defining the menu items for the main menu bar
Dim myMenuItemFile As New MenuItem("&File")
Dim myMenuItemEdit As New MenuItem("&Edit")
Dim myMenuItemView As New MenuItem("&View")
Dim myMenuItemProject As New MenuItem("&Project")

'adding the menu items to the main menu bar

mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemFile)
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemEdit)
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemView)
mnuBar.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemProject)

' defining some sub menus

Dim myMenuItemNew As New MenuItem("&New")
Dim myMenuItemOpen As New MenuItem("&Open")
 Dim myMenuItemSave As New MenuItem("&Save")

'add sub menus to the File menu

myMenuItemFile.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemNew)
myMenuItemFile.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemOpen)
myMenuItemFile.MenuItems.Add(myMenuItemSave)

'add the main menu to the form

Me.Menu = mnuBar

' Set the caption bar text of the form.

Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Windows Forms contain a rich set of classes for creating your own custom menus with modern
appearance, look and feel. The MenuStrip, ToolStripMenuItem, ContextMenuStrip controls
are used to create menu bars and context menus efficiently.

Click the following links to check their details:

S.N. Control & Description

1 MenuStrip

It provides a menu system for a form.

2 ToolStripMenuItem

It represents a selectable option displayed on a MenuStrip or ContextMenuStrip. The

ToolStripMenuItem control replaces and adds functionality to the MenuItem control of
previous versions.

2 ContextMenuStrip

It represents a shortcut menu.

Adding the Cut, Copy and Paste Functionalities in a Form

The methods exposed by the ClipBoard class are used for adding the cut, copy and paste
functionalities in an application. The ClipBoard class provides methods to place data on and
retrieve data from the system Clipboard.

It has the following commonly used methods:

S.N Method Name & Description

1
Clear

Removes all data from the Clipboard.

2
ContainsData

Indicates whether there is data on the Clipboard that is in the specified format or can be
converted to that format.

3
ContainsImage

Indicates whether there is data on the Clipboard that is in the Bitmap format or can be
converted to that format.

4
ContainsText

Indicates whether there is data on the Clipboard in the Text or UnicodeText format,
depending on the operating system.

5
GetData

Retrieves data from the Clipboard in the specified format.

6
GetDataObject

Retrieves the data that is currently on the system Clipboard.

7
GetImage

Retrieves an image from the Clipboard.

8
GetText

Retrieves text data from the Clipboard in the Text or UnicodeText format, depending on
the operating system.

9
GetTextTextDataFormat

Retrieves text data from the Clipboard in the format indicated by the specified
TextDataFormat value.

10
SetData

Clears the Clipboard and then adds data in the specified format.
11
SetTextString

Clears the Clipboard and then adds text data in the Text or UnicodeText format,
depending on the operating system.

Following is an example, which shows how we cut, copy and paste data using methods of the
Clipboard class. Take the following steps:

Add a rich text box control and three button controls on the form.

Change the text property of the buttons to Cut, Copy and Paste, respectively.

Double click on the buttons to add the following code in the code editor:

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles MyBase.Load
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles Button1.Click
Clipboard.SetDataObject(RichTextBox1.SelectedText)
RichTextBox1.SelectedText = ""
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles Button2.Click
Clipboard.SetDataObject(RichTextBox1.SelectedText)
End Sub
Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles Button3.Click
Dim iData As IDataObject
iData = Clipboard.GetDataObject()
If (iData.GetDataPresent(DataFormats.Text)) Then
RichTextBox1.SelectedText = iData.GetData(DataFormats.Text)
Else
RichTextBox1.SelectedText = " "
End If
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Enter some text and check how the buttons work.

Anchoring and Docking Controls in a Form
Anchoring allows you to set an anchor position for a control to the edges of its container control,
for example, the form. The Anchor property of the Control class allows you to set values of this
property. The Anchor property gets or sets the edges of the container to which a control is bound
and determines how a control is resized with its parent.

When you anchor a control to a form, the control maintains its distance from the edges of the form
and its anchored position, when the form is resized.

You can set the Anchor property values of a control from the Properties window:

For example, let us add a Button control on a form and set its anchor property to Bottom, Right.
Run this form to see the original position of the Button control with respect to the form.

Now, when you stretch the form, the distance between the Button and the bottom right corner of
the form remains same.
Docking of a control means docking it to one of the edges of its container. In docking, the control
fills certain area of the container completely.

The Dock property of the Control class does this. The Dock property gets or sets which control
borders are docked to its parent control and determines how a control is resized with its parent.

You can set the Dock property values of a control from the Properties window:

For example, let us add a Button control on a form and set its Dock property to Bottom. Run this
form to see the original position of the Button control with respect to the form.

Now, when you stretch the form, the Button resizes itself with the form.
Modal Forms
Modal Forms are those forms that need to be closed or hidden before you can continue working
with the rest of the application. All dialog boxes are modal forms. A MessageBox is also a modal
form.

You can call a modal form by two ways:

Calling the ShowDialog method

Calling the Show method

Let us take up an example in which we will create a modal form, a dialog box. Take the following
steps:

Add a form, Form1 to your application, and add two labels and a button control to Form1

Change the text properties of the first label and the button to 'Welcome to Tutorials Point'
and 'Enter your Name', respectively. Keep the text properties of the second label as blank.

Add a new Windows Form, Form2, and add two buttons, one label, and a text box to Form2.

Change the text properties of the buttons to OK and Cancel, respectively. Change the text
properties of the label to 'Enter your name:'.

Set the FormBorderStyle property of Form2 to FixedDialog, for giving it a dialog box border.

Set the ControlBox property of Form2 to False.

Set the ShowInTaskbar property of Form2 to False.

Set the DialogResult property of the OK button to OK and the Cancel button to Cancel.
Add the following code snippets in the Form2_Load method of Form2:

Private Sub Form2_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _

Handles MyBase.Load
AcceptButton = Button1
CancelButton = Button2
End Sub

Add the following code snippets in the Button1_Click method of Form1:

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _

Handles Button1.Click
Dim frmSecond As Form2 = New Form2()
If frmSecond.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
Label2.Text = frmSecond.TextBox1.Text
End If
End Sub

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Clicking on the 'Enter your Name' button displays the second form:

Clicking on the OK button takes the control and information back from the modal form to the
previous form:
 VB.NET - EVENT HANDLING
Events are basically a user action like key press, clicks, mouse movements, etc., or some
occurrence like system generated notifications. Applications need to respond to events when they
occur.

Clicking on a button, or entering some text in a text box, or clicking on a menu item, all are
examples of events. An event is an action that calls a function or may cause another event.

Event handlers are functions that tell how to respond to an event.

VB.Net is an event-driven language. There are mainly two types of events:

Mouse events

Keyboard events

Handling Mouse Events

Mouse events occur with mouse movements in forms and controls. Following are the various
mouse events related with a Control class:

MouseDown - it occurs when a mouse button is pressed

MouseEnter - it occurs when the mouse pointer enters the control

MouseHover - it occurs when the mouse pointer hovers over the control

MouseLeave - it occurs when the mouse pointer leaves the control

MouseMove - it occurs when the mouse pointer moves over the control

MouseUp - it occurs when the mouse pointer is over the control and the mouse button is
released

MouseWheel - it occurs when the mouse wheel moves and the control has focus

The event handlers of the mouse events get an argument of type MouseEventArgs. The
MouseEventArgs object is used for handling mouse events. It has the following properties:

Buttons - indicates the mouse button pressed

Clicks - indicates the number of clicks

Delta - indicates the number of detents the mouse wheel rotated

X - indicates the x-coordinate of mouse click

Y - indicates the y-coordinate of mouse click

Example
Following is an example, which shows how to handle mouse events. Take the following steps:

Add three labels, three text boxes and a button control in the form.

Change the text properties of the labels to - Customer ID, Name and Address, respectively.
 Change the name properties of the text boxes to txtID, txtName and txtAddress, respectively.

Change the text property of the button to 'Submit'.

Add the following code in the code editor window:

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspont.com"
End Sub

Private Sub txtID_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)_

Handles txtID.MouseEnter
'code for handling mouse enter on ID textbox
txtID.BackColor = Color.CornflowerBlue
txtID.ForeColor = Color.White
End Sub
Private Sub txtID_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtID.MouseLeave
'code for handling mouse leave on ID textbox
txtID.BackColor = Color.White
txtID.ForeColor = Color.Blue
End Sub
Private Sub txtName_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtName.MouseEnter
'code for handling mouse enter on Name textbox
txtName.BackColor = Color.CornflowerBlue
txtName.ForeColor = Color.White
End Sub
Private Sub txtName_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtName.MouseLeave
'code for handling mouse leave on Name textbox
txtName.BackColor = Color.White
txtName.ForeColor = Color.Blue
End Sub
Private Sub txtAddress_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtAddress.MouseEnter
'code for handling mouse enter on Address textbox
txtAddress.BackColor = Color.CornflowerBlue
txtAddress.ForeColor = Color.White
End Sub
Private Sub txtAddress_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtAddress.MouseLeave
'code for handling mouse leave on Address textbox
txtAddress.BackColor = Color.White
txtAddress.ForeColor = Color.Blue
End Sub

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _

Handles Button1.Click
MsgBox("Thank you " & txtName.Text & ", for your kind cooperation")
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:
Try to enter text in the text boxes and check the mouse events:

Handling Keyboard Events

Following are the various keyboard events related with a Control class:

KeyDown - occurs when a key is pressed down and the control has focus

KeyPress - occurs when a key is pressed and the control has focus

KeyUp - occurs when a key is released while the control has focus

The event handlers of the KeyDown and KeyUp events get an argument of type KeyEventArgs.
This object has the following properties:

Alt - it indicates whether the ALT key is pressed/p>

Control - it indicates whether the CTRL key is pressed

Handled - it indicates whether the event is handled

KeyCode - stores the keyboard code for the event

KeyData - stores the keyboard data for the event

KeyValue - stores the keyboard value for the event

Modifiers - it indicates which modifier keys Ctrl, Shift, and/or Alt are pressed

Shift - it indicates if the Shift key is pressed

The event handlers of the KeyDown and KeyUp events get an argument of type KeyEventArgs.
This object has the following properties:

Handled - indicates if the KeyPress event is handled

KeyChar - stores the character corresponding to the key pressed

Example
Let us continue with the previous example to show how to handle keyboard events. The code will
verify that the user enters some numbers for his customer ID and age.

Add a label with text Property as 'Age' and add a corresponding text box named txtAge.

Add the following codes for handling the KeyUP events of the text box txtID.

Private Sub txtID_KeyUP(sender As Object, e As KeyEventArgs) _

Handles txtID.KeyUp
If (Not Char.IsNumber(ChrW(e.KeyCode))) Then
MessageBox.Show("Enter numbers for your Customer ID")
txtID.Text = " "
End If
End Sub

Add the following codes for handling the KeyUP events of the text box txtID.

Private Sub txtAge_KeyUP(sender As Object, e As KeyEventArgs) _

Handles txtAge.KeyUp
If (Not Char.IsNumber(ChrW(e.keyCode))) Then
MessageBox.Show("Enter numbers for age")
txtAge.Text = " "
End If
End Sub

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

If you leave the text for age or ID as blank or enter some non-numeric data, it gives a warning
message box and clears the respective text:
 VB.NET - REGULAR EXPRESSIONS
A regular expression is a pattern that could be matched against an input text. The .Net
framework provides a regular expression engine that allows such matching. A pattern consists of
one or more character literals, operators, or constructs.

Constructs for Defining Regular Expressions

There are various categories of characters, operators, and constructs that lets you to define
regular expressions. Click the follwoing links to find these constructs.

Character escapes

Character classes

Anchors

Grouping constructs

Quantifiers

Backreference constructs

Alternation constructs

Substitutions

Miscellaneous constructs

The Regex Class

The Regex class is used for representing a regular expression.

The Regex class has the following commonly used methods:

S.N Methods & Description

1
Public Function IsMatch input As String As Boolean

Indicates whether the regular expression specified in the Regex constructor finds a match
in a specified input string.

2
Public Function IsMatch input As String, startat As Integer As Boolean

Indicates whether the regular expression specified in the Regex constructor finds a match
in the specified input string, beginning at the specified starting position in the string.

3
Public Shared Function IsMatch input As String, pattern As String As Boolean

Indicates whether the specified regular expression finds a match in the specified input
string.

4
Public Function Matches input As String As MatchCollection
 Searches the specified input string for all occurrences of a regular expression.

5
Public Function Replace input As String, replacement As String As String

In a specified input string, replaces all strings that match a regular expression pattern with
a specified replacement string.

6
Public Function Split input As String As String

Splits an input string into an array of substrings at the positions defined by a regular
expression pattern specified in the Regex constructor.

For the complete list of methods and properties, please consult Microsoft documentation.

Example 1
The following example matches words that start with 'S':

Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Module regexProg
Sub showMatch(ByVal text As String, ByVal expr As String)
Console.WriteLine("The Expression: " + expr)
Dim mc As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(text, expr)
Dim m As Match
For Each m In mc
Console.WriteLine(m)
Next m
End Sub
Sub Main()
Dim str As String = "A Thousand Splendid Suns"
Console.WriteLine("Matching words that start with 'S': ")
showMatch(str, "\bS\S*")
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Matching words that start with 'S':

The Expression: \bS\S*
Splendid
Suns

Example 2
The following example matches words that start with 'm' and ends with 'e':

Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Module regexProg
Sub showMatch(ByVal text As String, ByVal expr As String)
Console.WriteLine("The Expression: " + expr)
Dim mc As MatchCollection = Regex.Matches(text, expr)
Dim m As Match
For Each m In mc
Console.WriteLine(m)
Next m
End Sub
Sub Main()
Dim str As String = "make a maze and manage to measure it"
Console.WriteLine("Matching words that start with 'm' and ends with 'e': ")
 showMatch(str, "\bm\S*e\b")
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Matching words start with 'm' and ends with 'e':

The Expression: \bm\S*e\b
make
maze
manage
measure

Example 3
This example replaces extra white space:

Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions
Module regexProg
Sub Main()
Dim input As String = "Hello World "
Dim pattern As String = "\\s+"
Dim replacement As String = " "
Dim rgx As Regex = New Regex(pattern)
Dim result As String = rgx.Replace(input, replacement)
Console.WriteLine("Original String: {0}", input)
Console.WriteLine("Replacement String: {0}", result)
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Original String: Hello World

Replacement String: Hello World

VB.NET - DATABASE ACCESS

Applications communicate with a database, firstly, to retrieve the data stored there and present it
in a user-friendly way, and secondly, to update the database by inserting, modifying and deleting
data.

Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects.Net ADO.Net is a model, a part of the .Net framework that is used by
the .Net applications for retrieving, accessing and updating data.

ADO.Net Object Model

ADO.Net object model is nothing but the structured process flow through various components. The
object model can be pictorially described as:
The data residing in a data store or database is retrieved through the data provider. Various
components of the data provider retrieve data for the application and update data.

An application accesses data either through a dataset or a data reader.

Datasets store data in a disconnected cache and the application retrieves data from it.

Data readers provide data to the application in a read-only and forward-only mode.

Data Provider
A data provider is used for connecting to a database, executing commands and retrieving data,
storing it in a dataset, reading the retrieved data and updating the database.

The data provider in ADO.Net consists of the following four objects:

S.N Objects & Description

1
Connection

This component is used to set up a connection with a data source.

2
Command

A command is a SQL statement or a stored procedure used to retrieve, insert, delete or

modify data in a data source.

3
DataReader

Data reader is used to retrieve data from a data source in a read-only and forward-only
mode.

4
DataAdapter

This is integral to the working of ADO.Net since data is transferred to and from a database
through a data adapter. It retrieves data from a database into a dataset and updates the
database. When changes are made to the dataset, the changes in the database are
actually done by the data adapter.

There are following different types of data providers included in ADO.Net

The .Net Framework data provider for SQL Server - provides access to Microsoft SQL Server.

The .Net Framework data provider for OLE DB - provides access to data sources exposed by
using OLE DB.

The .Net Framework data provider for ODBC - provides access to data sources exposed by
ODBC.

The .Net Framework data provider for Oracle - provides access to Oracle data source.

The EntityClient provider - enables accessing data through Entity Data Model EDM
 applications.

DataSet
DataSet is an in-memory representation of data. It is a disconnected, cached set of records that
are retrieved from a database. When a connection is established with the database, the data
adapter creates a dataset and stores data in it. After the data is retrieved and stored in a dataset,
the connection with the database is closed. This is called the 'disconnected architecture'. The
dataset works as a virtual database containing tables, rows, and columns.

The following diagram shows the dataset object model:

The DataSet class is present in the System.Data namespace. The following table describes all the
components of DataSet:

S.N Components & Description

1
DataTableCollection

It contains all the tables retrieved from the data source.

2
DataRelationCollection

It contains relationships and the links between tables in a data set.

3
ExtendedProperties

It contains additional information, like the SQL statement for retrieving data, time of
retrieval, etc.

4
DataTable

It represents a table in the DataTableCollection of a dataset. It consists of the DataRow

and DataColumn objects. The DataTable objects are case-sensitive.
 5
DataRelation

It represents a relationship in the DataRelationshipCollection of the dataset. It is used to

relate two DataTable objects to each other through the DataColumn objects.

6
DataRowCollection

It contains all the rows in a DataTable.

7
DataView

It represents a fixed customized view of a DataTable for sorting, filtering, searching,

editing and navigation.

8
PrimaryKey

It represents the column that uniquely identifies a row in a DataTable.

9
DataRow

It represents a row in the DataTable. The DataRow object and its properties and methods
are used to retrieve, evaluate, insert, delete, and update values in the DataTable. The
NewRow method is used to create a new row and the Add method adds a row to the table.

10
DataColumnCollection

It represents all the columns in a DataTable.

11
DataColumn

It consists of the number of columns that comprise a DataTable.

Connecting to a Database
The .Net Framework provides two types of Connection classes:

SqlConnection - designed for connecting to Microsoft SQL Server.

OleDbConnection - designed for connecting to a wide range of databases, like Microsoft

Access and Oracle.

Example 1
We have a table stored in Microsoft SQL Server, named Customers, in a database named testDB.
Please consult 'SQL Server' tutorial for creating databases and database tables in SQL Server.

Let us connect to this database. Take the following steps:

Select TOOLS -> Connect to Database

Select a server name and the database name in the Add Connection dialog box.

Click on the Test Connection button to check if the connection succeeded.

Add a DataGridView on the form.

Click on the Choose Data Source combo box.

Click on the Add Project Data Source link.

This opens the Data Source Configuration Wizard.

Select Database as the data source type

Choose DataSet as the database model.

Choose the connection already set up.

Save the connection string.

Choose the database object, Customers table in our example, and click the Finish button.
 Select the Preview Data link to see the data in the Results grid:

When the application is run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool bar, it
will show the following window:
Example 2
In this example, let us access data in a DataGridView control using code. Take the following steps:

Add a DataGridView control and a button in the form.

Change the text of the button control to 'Fill'.

Double click the button control to add the required code for the Click event of the button, as
shown below:

Imports System.Data.SqlClient
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles MyBase.Load
'TODO: This line of code loads data into the 'TestDBDataSet.CUSTOMERS' table.
You can move, or remove it, as needed.
Me.CUSTOMERSTableAdapter.Fill(Me.TestDBDataSet.CUSTOMERS)
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim connection As SqlConnection = New sqlconnection()
connection.ConnectionString = "Data Source=KABIR-DESKTOP; _
Initial Catalog=testDB;Integrated Security=True"
connection.Open()
Dim adp As SqlDataAdapter = New SqlDataAdapter _
("select * from Customers", connection)
Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet()
adp.Fill(ds)
DataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables(0)
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Clicking the Fill button displays the table on the data grid view control:
Creating Table, Columns and Rows
We have discussed that the DataSet components like DataTable, DataColumn and DataRow allow
us to create tables, columns and rows, respectively.

The following example demonstrates the concept:

Example 3
So far, we have used tables and databases already existing in our computer. In this example, we
will create a table, add columns, rows and data into it and display the table using a DataGridView
object.

Take the following steps:

Add a DataGridView control and a button in the form.

Change the text of the button control to 'Fill'.

Add the following code in the code editor.

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspont.com"
End Sub
Private Function CreateDataSet() As DataSet
'creating a DataSet object for tables
Dim dataset As DataSet = New DataSet()
' creating the student table
Dim Students As DataTable = CreateStudentTable()
dataset.Tables.Add(Students)
Return dataset
End Function
Private Function CreateStudentTable() As DataTable
Dim Students As DataTable
Students = New DataTable("Student")
' adding columns
AddNewColumn(Students, "System.Int32", "StudentID")
AddNewColumn(Students, "System.String", "StudentName")
AddNewColumn(Students, "System.String", "StudentCity")
' adding rows
AddNewRow(Students, 1, "Zara Ali", "Kolkata")
AddNewRow(Students, 2, "Shreya Sharma", "Delhi")
AddNewRow(Students, 3, "Rini Mukherjee", "Hyderabad")
AddNewRow(Students, 4, "Sunil Dubey", "Bikaner")
AddNewRow(Students, 5, "Rajat Mishra", "Patna")
Return Students
End Function
Private Sub AddNewColumn(ByRef table As DataTable, _
ByVal columnType As String, ByVal columnName As String)
 Dim column As DataColumn = _
table.Columns.Add(columnName, Type.GetType(columnType))
End Sub

'adding data into the table

Private Sub AddNewRow(ByRef table As DataTable, ByRef id As Integer,_
ByRef name As String, ByRef city As String)
Dim newrow As DataRow = table.NewRow()
newrow("StudentID") = id
newrow("StudentName") = name
newrow("StudentCity") = city
table.Rows.Add(newrow)
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim ds As New DataSet
ds = CreateDataSet()
DataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables("Student")
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Clicking the Fill button displays the table on the data grid view control:

VB.NET - EXCEL SHEET

VB.Net provides support for interoperability between the COM object model of Microsoft Excel
2010 and your application.

To avail this interoperability in your application, you need to import the namespace
Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel in your Windows Form Application.

Creating an Excel Application from VB.Net

Let's start with creating a Window Forms Application by following the following steps in Microsoft
Visual Studio: File -> New Project -> Windows Forms Applications

Finally, select OK, Microsoft Visual Studio creates your project and displays following Form1.

Insert a Button control Button1 in the form.

Add a reference to Microsoft Excel Object Library to your project. To do this:

Select Add Reference from the Project Menu.

On the COM tab, locate Microsoft Excel Object Library and then click Select.
 Click OK.

Double click the code window and populate the Click event of Button1, as shown below.

' Add the following code snippet on top of Form1.vb

Imports Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim appXL As Excel.Application
Dim wbXl As Excel.Workbook
Dim shXL As Excel.Worksheet
Dim raXL As Excel.Range
' Start Excel and get Application object.
appXL = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
appXL.Visible = True
' Add a new workbook.
wbXl = appXL.Workbooks.Add
shXL = wbXl.ActiveSheet
' Add table headers going cell by cell.
shXL.Cells(1, 1).Value = "First Name"
shXL.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Last Name"
shXL.Cells(1, 3).Value = "Full Name"
shXL.Cells(1, 4).Value = "Specialization"
' Format A1:D1 as bold, vertical alignment = center.
With shXL.Range("A1", "D1")
.Font.Bold = True
.VerticalAlignment = Excel.XlVAlign.xlVAlignCenter
End With
' Create an array to set multiple values at once.
Dim students(5, 2) As String
students(0, 0) = "Zara"
students(0, 1) = "Ali"
students(1, 0) = "Nuha"
students(1, 1) = "Ali"
students(2, 0) = "Arilia"
students(2, 1) = "RamKumar"
students(3, 0) = "Rita"
students(3, 1) = "Jones"
students(4, 0) = "Umme"
students(4, 1) = "Ayman"
' Fill A2:B6 with an array of values (First and Last Names).
shXL.Range("A2", "B6").Value = students
' Fill C2:C6 with a relative formula (=A2 & " " & B2).
raXL = shXL.Range("C2", "C6")
raXL.Formula = "=A2 & "" "" & B2"
' Fill D2:D6 values.
With shXL
.Cells(2, 4).Value = "Biology"
.Cells(3, 4).Value = "Mathmematics"
.Cells(4, 4).Value = "Physics"
.Cells(5, 4).Value = "Mathmematics"
.Cells(6, 4).Value = "Arabic"
End With
' AutoFit columns A:D.
raXL = shXL.Range("A1", "D1")
raXL.EntireColumn.AutoFit()
' Make sure Excel is visible and give the user control
' of Excel's lifetime.
appXL.Visible = True
appXL.UserControl = True
' Release object references.
raXL = Nothing
shXL = Nothing
wbXl = Nothing
appXL.Quit()
appXL = Nothing
Exit Sub
Err_Handler:
MsgBox(Err.Description, vbCritical, "Error: " & Err.Number)
 End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Clicking on the Button would display the following excel sheet. You will be asked to save the
workbook.

VB.NET - SEND EMAIL

VB.Net allows sending e-mails from your application. The System.Net.Mail namespace contains
classes used for sending e-mails to a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol SMTP server for delivery.

The following table lists some of these commonly used classes:

S.N Class Description

1 Attachment Represents an attachment to an e-mail.

2 AttachmentCollection Stores attachments to be sent as part of an e-mail message.

3 MailAddress Represents the address of an electronic mail sender or

recipient.

4 MailAddressCollection Stores e-mail addresses that are associated with an e-mail

message.

5 MailMessage Represents an e-mail message that can be sent using the

 SmtpClient class.

6 SmtpClient Allows applications to send e-mail by using the Simple Mail

Transfer Protocol SMTP.

7 SmtpException Represents the exception that is thrown when the SmtpClient is

not able to complete a Send or SendAsync operation.

The SmtpClient Class

The SmtpClient class allows applications to send e-mail by using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SMTP.

Following are some commonly used properties of the SmtpClient class:

S.N Property Description

1 ClientCertificates Specifies which certificates should be used to establish the

Secure Sockets Layer SSL connection.

2 Credentials Gets or sets the credentials used to authenticate the sender.

3 EnableSsl Specifies whether the SmtpClient uses Secure Sockets Layer

SSL to encrypt the connection.

4 Host Gets or sets the name or IP address of the host used for SMTP
transactions.

5 Port Gets or sets the port used for SMTP transactions.

6 Timeout Gets or sets a value that specifies the amount of time after
which a synchronous Send call times out.

7 UseDefaultCredentials Gets or sets a Boolean value that controls whether the

DefaultCredentials are sent with requests.

Following are some commonly used methods of the SmtpClient class:

S.N Method & Description

1
Dispose

Sends a QUIT message to the SMTP server, gracefully ends the TCP connection, and
releases all resources used by the current instance of the SmtpClient class.

2
DisposeBoolean

Sends a QUIT message to the SMTP server, gracefully ends the TCP connection, releases
all resources used by the current instance of the SmtpClient class, and optionally disposes
of the managed resources.

3
OnSendCompleted

Raises the SendCompleted event.

4
SendMailMessage
 Sends the specified message to an SMTP server for delivery.

5
SendString, String, String, String

Sends the specified e-mail message to an SMTP server for delivery. The message sender,
recipients, subject, and message body are specified using String objects.

6
SendAsyncMailMessage, Object

Sends the specified e-mail message to an SMTP server for delivery. This method does not
block the calling thread and allows the caller to pass an object to the method that is
invoked when the operation completes.

7
SendAsyncString, String, String, String, Object

Sends an e-mail message to an SMTP server for delivery. The message sender, recipients,
subject, and message body are specified using String objects. This method does not block
the calling thread and allows the caller to pass an object to the method that is invoked
when the operation completes.

8
SendAsyncCancel

Cancels an asynchronous operation to send an e-mail message.

9
SendMailAsyncMailMessage

Sends the specified message to an SMTP server for delivery as an asynchronous

operation.

10
SendMailAsyncString, String, String, String

Sends the specified message to an SMTP server for delivery as an asynchronous

operation. . The message sender, recipients, subject, and message body are specified
using String objects.

11
ToString

Returns a string that represents the current object.

The following example demonstrates how to send mail using the SmtpClient class. Following points
are to be noted in this respect:

You must specify the SMTP host server that you use to send e-mail. The Host and Port
properties will be different for different host server. We will be using gmail server.

You need to give the Credentials for authentication, if required by the SMTP server.

You should also provide the email address of the sender and the e-mail address or addresses
of the recipients using the MailMessage.From and MailMessage.To properties,
respectively.

You should also specify the message content using the MailMessage.Body property.
Example
In this example, let us create a simple application that would send an e-mail. Take the following
steps:

Add three labels, three text boxes and a button control in the form.

Change the text properties of the labels to - 'From', 'To:' and 'Message:' respectively.

Change the name properties of the texts to txtFrom, txtTo and txtMessage respectively.

Change the text property of the button control to 'Send'

Add the following code in the code editor.

Imports System.Net.Mail
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub

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

Try
Dim Smtp_Server As New SmtpClient
Dim e_mail As New MailMessage()
Smtp_Server.UseDefaultCredentials = False
Smtp_Server.Credentials = New Net.NetworkCredential("[email protected]",
"password")
Smtp_Server.Port = 587
Smtp_Server.EnableSsl = True
Smtp_Server.Host = "smtp.gmail.com"

e_mail = New MailMessage()

e_mail.From = New MailAddress(txtFrom.Text)
e_mail.To.Add(txtTo.Text)
e_mail.Subject = "Email Sending"
e_mail.IsBodyHtml = False
e_mail.Body = txtMessage.Text
Smtp_Server.Send(e_mail)
MsgBox("Mail Sent")

Catch error_t As Exception

MsgBox(error_t.ToString)
End Try

End Sub

You must provide your gmail address and real password for credentials.

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, it will show the following window, which you will use to send your e-mails, try it
yourself.
 VB.NET - XML PROCESSING
The Extensible Markup Language XML is a markup language much like HTML or SGML. This is
recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium and available as an open standard.

The System.Xml namespace in the .Net Framework contains classes for processing XML
documents. Following are some of the commonly used classes in the System.Xml namespace.

< td>XmlUrlResolver

S.N Class Description

1 XmlAttribute Represents an attribute. Valid and default values for the

attribute are defined in a document type definition DTD or
schema.

2 XmlCDataSection Represents a CDATA section.

3 XmlCharacterData Provides text manipulation methods that are used by

several classes.

4 XmlComment Represents the content of an XML comment.

5 XmlConvert Encodes and decodes XML names and provides methods

for converting between common language runtime types
and XML Schema definition language XSD types. When
converting data types, the values returned are locale
independent.

6 XmlDeclaration Represents the XML declaration node <?xml

version='1.0'...?>.

7 XmlDictionary Implements a dictionary used to optimize Windows

Communication Foundation WCF's XML reader/writer
implementations.

8 XmlDictionaryReader An abstract class that the Windows Communication

Foundation WCF derives from XmlReader to do
serialization and deserialization.

9 XmlDictionaryWriter Represents an abstract class that Windows

Communication Foundation WCF derives from XmlWriter
to do serialization and deserialization.

10 XmlDocument Represents an XML document.

11 XmlDocumentFragment Represents a lightweight object that is useful for tree

insert operations.

12 XmlDocumentType Represents the document type declaration.

13 XmlElement Represents an element.

14 XmlEntity Represents an entity declaration, such as <!ENTITY... >.

15 XmlEntityReference Represents an entity reference node.

16 XmlException Returns detailed information about the last exception.

17 XmlImplementation Defines the context for a set of XmlDocument objects.

18 XmlLinkedNode Gets the node immediately preceding or following this

node.
19 XmlNode Represents a single node in the XML document.

20 XmlNodeList Represents an ordered collection of nodes.

21 XmlNodeReader Represents a reader that provides fast, non-cached

forward only access to XML data in an XmlNode.

22 XmlNotation Represents a notation declaration, such as <!NOTATION...

>.

23 XmlParserContext Provides all the context information required by the

XmlReader to parse an XML fragment.

24 XmlProcessingInstruction Represents a processing instruction, which XML defines to

keep processor-specific information in the text of the
document.

25 XmlQualifiedName Represents an XML qualified name.

26 XmlReader Represents a reader that provides fast, noncached,

forward-only access to XML data.

27 XmlReaderSettings Specifies a set of features to support on the XmlReader

object created by the Create method.

28 XmlResolver Resolves external XML resources named by a Uniform

Resource Identifier URI.

29 XmlSecureResolver Helps to secure another implementation of XmlResolver

by wrapping the XmlResolver object and restricting the
resources that the underlying XmlResolver has access to.

30 XmlSignificantWhitespace Represents white space between markup in a mixed

content node or white space within an xml:space=
'preserve' scope. This is also referred to as significant
white space.

31 XmlText Represents the text content of an element or attribute.

32 XmlTextReader Represents a reader that provides fast, non-cached,

forward-only access to XML data.

33 XmlTextWriter Represents a writer that provides a fast, non-cached,

forward-only way of generating streams or files containing
XML data that conforms to the W3C Extensible Markup
Language XML 1.0 and the Namespaces in XML
recommendations.

34 Resolves external XML

resources named by a
Uniform Resource Identifier
URI.

35 XmlWhitespace Represents white space in element content.

36 XmlWriter Represents a writer that provides a fast, non-cached,

forward-only means of generating streams or files
containing XML data.

37 XmlWriterSettings Specifies a set of features to support on the XmlWriter

object created by the XmlWriter.Create method.

XML Parser APIs

The two most basic and broadly used APIs to XML data are the SAX and DOM interfaces.
 Simple API for XML SAX : Here, you register callbacks for events of interest and then let
the parser proceed through the document. This is useful when your documents are large or
you have memory limitations, it parses the file as it reads it from disk, and the entire file is
never stored in memory.

Document Object Model DOM API : This is World Wide Web Consortium recommendation
wherein the entire file is read into memory and stored in a hierarchical tree-based form to
represent all the features of an XML document.

SAX obviously can't process information as fast as DOM can when working with large files. On the
other hand, using DOM exclusively can really kill your resources, especially if used on a lot of small
files.

SAX is read-only, while DOM allows changes to the XML file. Since these two different APIs literally
complement each other there is no reason why you can't use them both for large projects.

For all our XML code examples, let's use a simple XML file movies.xml as an input:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<collection shelf="New Arrivals">

<movie title="Enemy Behind">
<type>War, Thriller</type>
<format>DVD</format>
<year>2003</year>
<rating>PG</rating>
<stars>10</stars>
<description>Talk about a US-Japan war</description>
</movie>
<movie title="Transformers">
<type>Anime, Science Fiction</type>
<format>DVD</format>
<year>1989</year>
<rating>R</rating>
<stars>8</stars>
<description>A schientific fiction</description>
</movie>
<movie title="Trigun">
<type>Anime, Action</type>
<format>DVD</format>
<episodes>4</episodes>
<rating>PG</rating>
<stars>10</stars>
<description>Vash the Stampede!</description>
</movie>
<movie title="Ishtar">
<type>Comedy</type>
<format>VHS</format>
<rating>PG</rating>
<stars>2</stars>
<description>Viewable boredom</description>
</movie>
</collection>

Parsing XML with SAX API

In SAX model, you use the XmlReader and XmlWriter classes to work with the XML data.

The XmlReader class is used to read XML data in a fast, forward-only and non-cached manner. It
reads an XML document or a stream.

Example 1
This example demonstrates reading XML data from the file movies.xml.

Take the following steps:

 Add the movies.xml file in the bin\Debug folder of your application.

Import the System.Xml namespace in Form1.vb file.

Add a label in the form and change its text to 'Movies Galore'.

Add three list boxes and three buttons to show the title, type and description of a movie from
the xml file.

Add the following code using the code editor window.

Imports System.Xml
Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
ListBox1().Items.Clear()
Dim xr As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("movies.xml")
Do While xr.Read()
If xr.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Element AndAlso xr.Name = "movie" Then
ListBox1.Items.Add(xr.GetAttribute(0))
End If
Loop
End Sub
Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
ListBox2().Items.Clear()
Dim xr As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("movies.xml")
Do While xr.Read()
If xr.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Element AndAlso xr.Name = "type" Then
ListBox2.Items.Add(xr.ReadElementString)
Else
xr.Read()
End If
Loop
End Sub
Private Sub Button3_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
ListBox3().Items.Clear()
Dim xr As XmlReader = XmlReader.Create("movies.xml")
Do While xr.Read()
If xr.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Element AndAlso xr.Name = "description" Then
ListBox3.Items.Add(xr.ReadElementString)
Else
xr.Read()
End If
Loop
End Sub
End Class

Execute and run the above code using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool
bar. Clicking on the buttons would display, title, type and description of the movies from the file.
The XmlWriter class is used to write XML data into a stream, a file or a TextWriter object. It also
works in a forward-only, non-cached manner.

Example 2
Let us create an XML file by adding some data at runtime. Take the following steps:

Add a WebBrowser control and a button control in the form.

Change the Text property of the button to Show Authors File.

Add the following code in the code editor.

Imports System.Xml
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim xws As XmlWriterSettings = New XmlWriterSettings()
xws.Indent = True
xws.NewLineOnAttributes = True
Dim xw As XmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create("authors.xml", xws)
xw.WriteStartDocument()
xw.WriteStartElement("Authors")
xw.WriteStartElement("author")
xw.WriteAttributeString("code", "1")
xw.WriteElementString("fname", "Zara")
xw.WriteElementString("lname", "Ali")
xw.WriteEndElement()
xw.WriteStartElement("author")
xw.WriteAttributeString("code", "2")
xw.WriteElementString("fname", "Priya")
xw.WriteElementString("lname", "Sharma")
xw.WriteEndElement()
xw.WriteStartElement("author")
xw.WriteAttributeString("code", "3")
xw.WriteElementString("fname", "Anshuman")
xw.WriteElementString("lname", "Mohan")
xw.WriteEndElement()
xw.WriteStartElement("author")
xw.WriteAttributeString("code", "4")
xw.WriteElementString("fname", "Bibhuti")
xw.WriteElementString("lname", "Banerjee")
xw.WriteEndElement()
xw.WriteStartElement("author")
xw.WriteAttributeString("code", "5")
xw.WriteElementString("fname", "Riyan")
xw.WriteElementString("lname", "Sengupta")
xw.WriteEndElement()
xw.WriteEndElement()
xw.WriteEndDocument()
xw.Flush()
xw.Close()
WebBrowser1.Url = New Uri(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "authors.xml")
End Sub
End Class

Execute and run the above code using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool
bar. Clicking on the Show Author File would display the newly created authors.xml file on the web
browser.
Parsing XML with DOM API
According to the Document Object Model DOM, an XML document consists of nodes and attributes
of the nodes. The XmlDocument class is used to implement the XML DOM parser of the .Net
Framework. It also allows you to modify an existing XML document by inserting, deleting or
updating data in the document.

Following are some of the commonly used methods of the XmlDocument class:

S.N Method Name & Description

1
AppendChild

Adds the specified node to the end of the list of child nodes, of this node.

2
CreateAttributeString

Creates an XmlAttribute with the specified Name.

3
CreateComment

Creates an XmlComment containing the specified data.

4
CreateDefaultAttribute

Creates a default attribute with the specified prefix, local name and namespace URI.

5
CreateElementString

Creates an element with the specified name.

6
CreateNodeString, String, String

Creates an XmlNode with the specified node type, Name, and NamespaceURI.

7
CreateNodeXmlNodeType, String, String

Creates an XmlNode with the specified XmlNodeType, Name, and NamespaceURI.

8
CreateNodeXmlNodeType, String, String, String

Creates a XmlNode with the specified XmlNodeType, Prefix, Name, and NamespaceURI.

9
CreateProcessingInstruction

Creates an XmlProcessingInstruction with the specified name and data.

10
CreateSignificantWhitespace

Creates an XmlSignificantWhitespace node.

11
CreateTextNode

Creates an XmlText with the specified text.

12
CreateWhitespace

Creates an XmlWhitespace node.

13
CreateXmlDeclaration

Creates an XmlDeclaration node with the specified values.

14
GetElementById

Gets the XmlElement with the specified ID.

15
GetElementsByTagNameString

Returns an XmlNodeList containing a list of all descendant elements that match the
specified Name.

16
GetElementsByTagNameString, String

Returns an XmlNodeList containing a list of all descendant elements that match the
specified LocalName and NamespaceURI.

17
InsertAfter
 Inserts the specified node immediately after the specified reference node.

18
InsertBefore

Inserts the specified node immediately before the specified reference node.

19
LoadStream

Loads the XML document from the specified stream.

20
LoadString

Loads the XML document from the specified URL.

21
LoadTextReader

Loads the XML document from the specified TextReader.

22
LoadXmlReader

Loads the XML document from the specified XmlReader.

23
LoadXml

Loads the XML document from the specified string.

24
PrependChild

Adds the specified node to the beginning of the list of child nodes for this node.

25
ReadNode

Creates an XmlNode object based on the information in the XmlReader. The reader must
be positioned on a node or attribute.

26
RemoveAll

Removes all the child nodes and/or attributes of the current node.

27
RemoveChild

Removes specified child node.

28
ReplaceChild

Replaces the child node oldChild with newChild node.

29
SaveStream

Saves the XML document to the specified stream.

30
SaveString

Saves the XML document to the specified file.

31
SaveTextWriter

Saves the XML document to the specified TextWriter.

32
SaveXmlWriter

Saves the XML document to the specified XmlWriter.

Example 3
In this example, let us insert some new nodes in the xml document authors.xml and then show all
the authors' first names in a list box.

Take the following steps:

Add the authors.xml file in the bin/Debug folder of your application it should be there if you
have tried the last example

Import the System.Xml namespace

Add a list box and a button control in the form and set the text property of the button control
to Show Authors.

Add the following code using the code editor.

Imports System.Xml
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
' Set the caption bar text of the form.
Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"
End Sub
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
ListBox1.Items.Clear()
Dim xd As XmlDocument = New XmlDocument()
xd.Load("authors.xml")
Dim newAuthor As XmlElement = xd.CreateElement("author")
newAuthor.SetAttribute("code", "6")
Dim fn As XmlElement = xd.CreateElement("fname")
fn.InnerText = "Bikram"
newAuthor.AppendChild(fn)
Dim ln As XmlElement = xd.CreateElement("lname")
ln.InnerText = "Seth"
newAuthor.AppendChild(ln)
xd.DocumentElement.AppendChild(newAuthor)
Dim tr As XmlTextWriter = New XmlTextWriter("movies.xml", Nothing)
tr.Formatting = Formatting.Indented
xd.WriteContentTo(tr)
tr.Close()
Dim nl As XmlNodeList = xd.GetElementsByTagName("fname")
For Each node As XmlNode In nl
ListBox1.Items.Add(node.InnerText)
Next node
 End Sub
End Class

Execute and run the above code using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool
bar. Clicking on the Show Author button would display the first names of all the authors including
the one we have added at runtime.

VB.NET - WEB PROGRAMMING

A dynamic web application consists of either or both of the following two types of programs:

Server-side scripting - these are programs executed on a web server, written using server-
side scripting languages like ASP Active Server Pages or JSP Java Server Pages.

Client-side scripting - these are programs executed on the browser, written using scripting
languages like JavaScript, VBScript, etc.

ASP.Net is the .Net version of ASP, introduced by Microsoft, for creating dynamic web pages by
using server-side scripts. ASP.Net applications are compiled codes written using the extensible and
reusable components or objects present in .Net framework. These codes can use the entire
hierarchy of classes in .Net framework.

The ASP.Net application codes could be written in either of the following languages:

Visual Basic .Net

C#

Jscript

J#

In this chapter, we will give a very brief introduction to writing ASP.Net applications using VB.Net.
For detailed discussion, please consult the ASP.Net Tutorial.

ASP.Net Built-in Objects

ASP.Net has some built-in objects that run on a web server. These objects have methods,
properties and collections that are used in application development.

The following table lists the ASP.Net built-in objects with a brief description:

Object Description

Application
Application
Describes the methods, properties, and collections of the object that stores
information related to the entire Web application, including variables and
objects that exist for the lifetime of the application.

You use this object to store and retrieve information to be shared among all
users of an application. For example, you can use an Application object to
create an e-commerce page.

Request
Describes the methods, properties, and collections of the object that stores
information related to the HTTP request. This includes forms, cookies, server
variables, and certificate data.

You use this object to access the information sent in a request from a
browser to the server. For example, you can use a Request object to access
information entered by a user in an HTML form.

Response
Describes the methods, properties, and collections of the object that stores
information related to the server's response. This includes displaying
content, manipulating headers, setting locales, and redirecting requests.

You use this object to send information to the browser. For example, you use
a Response object to send output from your scripts to a browser.

Server
Describes the methods and properties of the object that provides methods
for various server tasks. With these methods you can execute code, get
error conditions, encode text strings, create objects for use by the Web
page, and map physical paths.

You use this object to access various utility functions on the server. For
example, you may use the Server object to set a time out for a script.

Session
Describes the methods, properties, and collections of the object that stores
information related to the user's session, including variables and objects
that exist for the lifetime of the session.

You use this object to store and retrieve information about particular user
sessions. For example, you can use Session object to keep information about
the user and his preference and keep track of pending operations.

ASP.Net Programming Model

ASP.Net provides two types of programming models:

Web Forms - this enables you to create the user interface and the application logic that
would be applied to various components of the user interface.

WCF Services - this enables you to remote access some server-side functionalities.

For this chapter, you need to use Visual Studio Web Developer, which is free. The IDE is almost
same as you have already used for creating the Windows Applications.
Web Forms
Web forms consists of:

User interface

Application logic

User interface consists of static HTML or XML elements and ASP.Net server controls. When you
create a web application, HTML or XML elements and server controls are stored in a file with .aspx
extension. This file is also called the page file.

The application logic consists of code applied to the user interface elements in the page. You write
this code in any of .Net language like, VB.Net, or C#.

The following figure shows a Web Form in Design view:

Example
Let us create a new web site with a web form, which will show the current date and time, when a
user clicks a button. Take the following steps:

Select File -> New -> Web Site. The New Web Site Dialog Box appears.
Select the ASP.Net Empty Web Site templates. Type a name for the web site and select a
location for saving the files.

You need to add a Default page to the site. Right click the web site name in the Solution
Explorer and select Add New Item option from the context menu. The Add New Item dialog
box is displayed:

Select Web Form option and provide a name for the default page. We have kept it as
Default.aspx. Click the Add button.

The Default page is shown in Source view

 Set the title for the Default web page by adding a value to the

To add controls on the web page, go to the design view. Add three labels, a text box and a
button on the form.

Double-click the button and add the following code to the Click event of the button:

Protected Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _

Handles Button1.Click
Label2.Visible = True
Label2.Text = "Welcome to Tutorials Point: " + TextBox1.Text
Label3.Text = "You visited us at: " + DateTime.Now.ToString()
End Sub

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, the following page opens in the browser:

Enter your name and click on the Submit button:

Web Services
A web service is a web application, which is basically a class consisting of methods that could be
used by other applications. It also follows a code-behind architecture like the ASP.Net web pages,
although it does not have an user interface.

The previous versions of .Net Framework used this concept of ASP.Net Web Service, which had
.asmx file extension. However, from .Net Framework 4.0 onwards, the Windows Communication
Foundation WCF technology has evolved as the new successor of Web Services, .Net Remoting and
some other related technologies. It has rather clubbed all these technologies together. In the next
section, we will provide a brief introduction to Windows Communication FoundationWCF.

If you are using previous versions of .Net Framework, you can still create traditional web services.
Please consult ASP.Net - Web Services tutorial for detailed description.

Windows Communication Foundation

Windows Communication Foundation or WCF provides an API for creating distributed service-
oriented applications, known as WCF Services.

Like Web services, WCF services also enable communication between applications. However,
unlike web services, the communication here is not limited to HTTP only. WCF can be configured to
be used over HTTP, TCP, IPC, and Message Queues. Another strong point in favour of WCF is, it
provides support for duplex communication, whereas with web services we could achieve simplex
communication only.

From beginners' point of view, writing a WCF service is not altogether so different from writing a
Web Service. To keep the things simple, we will see how to:

Create a WCF Service

Create a Service Contract and define the operations

Implement the contract

Test the Service

Utilize the Service

Example
To understand the concept let us create a simplistic service that will provide stock price
information. The clients can query about the name and price of a stock based on the stock symbol.
To keep this example simple, the values are hardcoded in a two-dimensional array. This service
will have two methods:

GetPrice Method - it will return the price of a stock, based on the symbol provided.

GetName Method - it will return the name of the stock, based on the symbol provided.

Creating a WCF Service

Take the following steps:

Open VS Express for Web 2012

Select New Web Site to open the New Web Site dialog box.

Select WCF Service template from list of templates:

 Select File System from the Web location drop-down list.

Provide a name and location for the WCF Service and click OK.

A new WCF Service is created.

Creating a Service Contract and Defining the Operations

A service contract defines the operation that a service performs. In the WCF Service application,
you will find two files automatically created in the App_Code folder in the Solution Explorer

IService.vb - this will have the service contract; in simpler words, it will have the interface for
the service, with the definitions of methods the service will provide, which you will implement
in your service.

Service.vb - this will implement the service contract.

Replace the code of the IService.vb file with the given code:

Public Interface IService

<OperationContract()>
Function GetPrice(ByVal symbol As String) As Double

<OperationContract()>
Function GetName(ByVal symbol As String) As String
End Interface

Implementing the Contract

In the Service.vb file, you will find a class named Service which will implement the Service
Contract defined in the IService interface.

Replace the code of IService.vb with the following code:

' NOTE: You can use the "Rename" command on the context menu to change the class name
"Service" in code, svc and config file together.
Public Class Service
 Implements IService
Public Sub New()
End Sub
Dim stocks As String(,) =
{
{"RELIND", "Reliance Industries", "1060.15"},
{"ICICI", "ICICI Bank", "911.55"},
{"JSW", "JSW Steel", "1201.25"},
{"WIPRO", "Wipro Limited", "1194.65"},
{"SATYAM", "Satyam Computers", "91.10"}
}

Public Function GetPrice(ByVal symbol As String) As Double _

Implements IService.GetPrice

Dim i As Integer
'it takes the symbol as parameter and returns price
For i = 0 To i = stocks.GetLength(0) - 1

If (String.Compare(symbol, stocks(i, 0)) = 0) Then

Return Convert.ToDouble(stocks(i, 2))
End If
Next i
Return 0
End Function

Public Function GetName(ByVal symbol As String) As String _

Implements IService.GetName

' It takes the symbol as parameter and

' returns name of the stock
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To i = stocks.GetLength(0) - 1

If (String.Compare(symbol, stocks(i, 0)) = 0) Then

Return stocks(i, 1)
End If
Next i
Return "Stock Not Found"
End Function
End Class

Testing the Service

To run the WCF Service, so created, select the Debug->Start Debugging option from the menu bar.
The output would be:
For testing the service operations, double click the name of the operation from the tree on the left
pane. A new tab will appear on the right pane.

Enter the value of parameters in the Request area of the right pane and click the 'Invoke' button.

The following diagram displays the result of testing the GetPrice operation:

The following diagram displays the result of testing the GetName operation:

Utilizing the Service

Let us add a default page, a ASP.NET web form in the same solution from which we will be using
the WCF Service we have just created.

Take the following steps:

Right click on the solution name in the Solution Explorer and add a new web form to the
solution. It will be named Default.aspx.

Add two labels, a text box and a button on the form.

We need to add a service reference to the WCF service we just created. Right click the
website in the Solution Explorer and select Add Service Reference option. This opens the Add
Service Reference Dialog box.

Enter the URLlocation of the Service in the Address text box and click the Go button. It
creates a service reference with the default name ServiceReference1. Click the OK button.

Adding the reference does two jobs for your project:

Creates the Address and Binding for the service in the web.config file.
Creates a proxy class to access the service.
 Double click the Get Price button in the form, to enter the following code snippet on its Click
event:

Partial Class _Default

Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

Protected Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _

Handles Button1.Click
Dim ser As ServiceReference1.ServiceClient = _
New ServiceReference1.ServiceClient
Label2.Text = ser.GetPrice(TextBox1.Text).ToString()
End Sub
End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual
Studio tool bar, the following page opens in the browser:

Enter a symbol and click the Get Price button to get the hard-coded price:

Processing math: 4%