Introduction to Visual Basic

Dr. A. Malathi M.Sc.,M.Phil.,Ph.D.,M.Sc(Psych)

Assistant Professor
PG and Research Department of Computer Science
Government Arts College
Coimbatore - 641018
 UNIT I
• Introduction - VB Environment – VB
Fundamental: Constants, Variables, Data
Types, Data Declaration – Operators –
Expressions – Library Functions.

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 History of Programming Languages

• Machine language
• Procedure-oriented languages
• Object-oriented languages
• Event-driven languages
• Natural languages

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 History of Programming Languages

• Machine Language
– different for each computer processor
• Procedure-Oriented Languages
– BASIC
– FORTRAN
– COBOL
– Pascal
– C
– C++
– JAVA
– Ada

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 History of Programming Languages

• Object-oriented languages
– Smalltalk
– C++
– Java
– Ada 95
• Event-driven languages
– Visual Basic
– most Visual languages

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 History of Programming Languages

• Natural languages
– computer will accept a user’s native or natural
language, such as English
– AI, ML, DL
– Researchers continue to work in this area

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 Background of Visual Basic
• BASIC
– Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
– By John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz
– Designed to teach programming to beginners
– BASIC language interpreter, one of Microsoft’s first
products

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 Background of Visual Basic
• BASIC
– Included with DOS
– QBASIC - included with DOS Version 5 - subset of BASIC
• Visual Basic
– 1992 - Visual Basic 1 for Windows 3
– Visual Basic 4 - for Windows 95
– Visual Basic 5 - for Office 97
– Visual Basic 6 - for Windows 98 & Office 2000

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 Visual Basic Editions
• Learning Edition
• Professional Edition
• Enterprise Edition
• Included in Visual Studio suite (analogy Office
for programmers)

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 Introduction to Visual Basic

Hands-On Exercise 1
– Start Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
– Open the Welcome Project
– Open the Welcome Form
– Run the Welcome Project
– End the Welcome Project
– Exit Visual Basic

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 VB Environment

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Visual Basic 6 Interactive Development Environment

Project
Toolbox Explorer

Form
Designer
Window

Properties
window

Code Editor
Window

Form Layout
Window
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 MSDN Library

Navigation Topic Pane

Pane

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 MSDN Library

• Visual Basic Documentation

– Documentation Map
– What’s New
– Programmer’s Guide
– Samples
– Reference Guidebooks
– Component Tools Guide
– Data Access Guide

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 VB Fundamentals
• Constant
• Variable
• Data Types
• Declaration

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 Variables and Constants
Variable
– Memory locations that hold data that can be
changed during project execution
– Example: customer’s name
• Named Constant
– Memory locations that hold data that cannot be
changed during project execution
– Example: sales tax rate

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 Variables and Constants

• In Visual Basic when you declare a Variable

or Named Constant
– An area of memory is reserved
– A name is assigned called an Identifier
– Follow rules and naming conventions

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 Data Types

• Boolean • Short (-32,768 to 32,767)

• Byte (0 to 255) • Integer (-2,147,483,648 to
• Char 2,147,483,647)
• Date • Long (larger whole numbers)
• String • Single (floating point accuracy to 6
• Decimal digits)
• Object • Double (floating point accuracy to 14
digits)

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 Data Types – Memory Usage
• Boolean – 2 bytes • Short – 2 bytes
• Byte – 1 byte • Integer – 4 bytes
• Char – 2 bytes • Long – 8 bytes
• Date – 8 bytes • Single – 4 bytes
• String – varies • Double – 8 bytes
• Decimal – 16 bytes
• Object – 4 bytes

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 Default Values for Data Types
Data type Default (Initial) value
All numeric types Zero (0)
Boolean False
Char Binary 0
String or Object Empty
Date 12:00 a.m. on January 1, 0001

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 Declaring Variables

• Declared inside a procedure using a Dim

statement
• Declared outside a procedure using Public,
Private or Dim statements
• Always declare the variable’s data type
• May declare several variables with one
statement
• Use IntelliSense to assist in writing statements
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 Data Declaration
• The Dim statement is used to associate variables
with specific data types.
• The Dim statement is written as
Dim variable name 1 As data type 1, variable name
2 As data type 2, etc.
Examples:
Dim Counter As Integer
Dim Area As Single
Dim StudentName As String
Dim StudentName As String * 30
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 Named Constant
• It is also possible to define named constants in
Visual Basic.
• variables can be reassigned different values
within a program, whereas named constants
remain unchanged throughout a program.
• The Const statement is used to declare a named
constant.
• This statement has the general form
• Const constant name As data type = value
• Const TaxRate As Single = 0.28

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 Suffixes
Suffix Data Type
% integer & long integer
! Single
# double
$ string
Variable Data Type
Index% integer Counter& long integer
TaxRate! single
Ratio# double
CustomerName$ string

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 Declaration Examples

Dim customerNameString As String

Private totalSoldInteger As Integer
Dim temperatureSingle As Single
Dim priceDecimal As Decimal
Private priceDecimal As Decimal

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Conversion Methods

Method Convert To
Integer.Parse Integer
Decimal.Parse Decimal
.ToString String

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 OPERATORS AND EXPRESSIONS
• Special symbols, called arithmetic operators,
are used to indicate arithmetic operations such
as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
and exponentiation.
• These operators are used to connect numeric
constants and numeric variables, thus forming
arithmetic expressions

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 Arithmetic Operations

Operator Operation
+ Addition
– Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
\ Integer Division
Mod Modulus – Remainder of division
^ Exponentiation

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 Hierarchy of Operations

• Order of precedence in arithmetic expressions

from highest to lowest
1. Any operation inside parentheses
2. Exponentiation
3. Multiplication and division
4. Integer division
5. Modulus
6. Addition and subtraction

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 INSERTING PARENTHESES

• Note the use of parentheses to control

order of precedence

3+4*2 = 11 Multiply then add

(3+4)*2 = 14 Parentheses control: add then multiply
8/4*2 = 4 Same level, left to right: divide then multiply

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 Using Calculations in Code
• Perform calculations in assignment statements
• What appears on right side of assignment
operator is assigned to item on left side
• Assignment operators
=, +=, -=, *=, /=, \=, &=

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Displaying Messages in Message Boxes
• Use Show method of MessageBox to display
message box, a special type of window
• Arguments of Show method
– Message to display
– Optional Title Bar Caption
– Optional Button(s)
– Optional Icon

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 String Expressions
• Numerical operations cannot be performed on string
constants or string variables.
• strings and string variables can be concatenated (i.e.,
combined, one behind the other).
• In Visual Basic we use either the ampersand (&) or
the plus sign (+) as a string concatenation operator.
• Str1 = "TEN“
• Str2 = "THOUSAND"
• Then the string expression
• Str1 & " " & str2 & " DOLLARS"
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 ASSIGNING VALUES TO VARIABLES
• The equal sign (=) is used to assign a numeric
or string value to a variable. The general form
is
• Variable = Expression
• X = 12.5
• Cmax = X
• Area = 3.141593 * Radius ^ 2
• Label = "Name: "
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 DISPLAYING OUTPUT – THE Print
STATEMENT
• The Print statement is used to display information within the
currently active form, beginning in the upper left corner.
• it is very convenient for displaying the results of very simple
programs, and it provides a way to view the results of small
program segments during the development of a large project.
• The Print statement consists of the keyword Print, followed
by a list of output items.
• The output items can be numeric constants, string constants,
or expressions.
• Each new Print statement will begin a new line of output. An
empty Print statement will result in a blank
• Print "Name:", Student, X, (C1 + C2) / 2
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 Library Function
• Visual Basic contains numerous library functions that provide a quick and
easy way to carry out many mathematical operations, manipulate strings,
and perform various logical operations.
• These library functions are prewritten routines that are included as an
integral part of the language.
• They may be used in place of variables within an expression or a
statement.
• presents several commonly used library functions.
• A library function is accessed simply by stating its name, followed by
whatever information must be supplied to the function, enclosed in
parentheses.
• A numeric quantity or string that is passed to a function in this manner is
called an argument.
• Once the library function has been accessed, the desired operation will be
carried out automatically.
• The function will then return
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the desired value
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 Examples
• Abs()
• Cos()
• Len()
• Rnd()
• Str()
• Sqt()

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 References
• SCHAUM'S OUTLINE OF THEORY AND PROBLEMS OF
PROGRAMMING WITH VISUAL BASIC
• http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/esm/deitel/vb_htp_2010/c
odeexamples.html

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 The End

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